Why Going to the Ob/Gyn Always Raises My Blood Pressure (and other randomness)

Today I had an appt with my relatively new ob/gyn (referred to as #4 in past posts, though I realized today he is technically #5-yikes!)  This is the one I switched to after the birth of Charlie.  For the story on that, click here.  I have a tip for any of you who might potentially be switching doctors. Even if you think you are only doing it once, instead of sending a copy of your medical records to your doctor directly, get that copy for yourself instead (and then ask any doctors you see to copy them from yours).  The reason being that there is usually a fee-sometimes cheap and sometimes ridiculous.  One of my past ob/gyn charged $16 and then 56 cents a page (why isn't there a cents sign on the keyboard!).  Anyway, thank goodness my state has a law that they can't charge over $50 as I have quite a chart!  I made the mistake of paying that $50 to have them transferred to a doctor, and then the doctor couldn't transfer them to my new ob/gyn because of HIP.PA.  They can only send records that have originated in their office.  A pain! 

Now I have had some bad ob/gyn experiences, but the worst is detailed here.  Because it is a long post (aren't they all?!) that includes my 2nd pregnancy, I highlighted the relevant part in dark blue.  I was going to my appt today for an annual as part of my "things to do before you start ttc" list (I had x-rays last week at the dental office, have consumed massive amounts of raw cookie dough and moderate amounts of alcohol-yes, sometimes at the same time). 

Going to the ob/gyn is always a bit of a nerve racking experience, and I am sure you ladies can probably relate.  First there is the fact that you have lots of information to tell them.  And it's all very important.  If you are like me, summarizing doesn't come easily.  And you know they don't have a lot of time.  And you don't want to come off psycho.  To combat this, this time I brought my records from the 2 ob/gyns that matter-the one I had miscarriages with and the one that delivered my son.  Then last night I drew up a summary sheet.  This idea was inspired by another blogger, and also because I was appalled at all the errors I read in my previous charts (information that supposedly came from me was misquoted).  I made myself limit it to one page, but I had to go front and back.  It started with a chart-diagnosis in one column, treatment in another, and how it was discovered and by who in the 3rd.  Then I had a short paragraph summarizing each of my 3 pregnancies.  I often have my docs fax each other, so their names and contact information was in the header.  I love organization and have a weird love of treating IF like an occupation (still waiting for the paycheck), so I was pretty proud of myself.  He genuinely seemed to appreciate it.  Secondly (have you forgotten point #1 already? I don't blame you, it was a lot of words ago!), the information is usually unpleasant to talk about.  For example, why must they ask "how many pregnancies?"  and "how many live births?"  That has to be the most insensitive question ever!  And then they confirm: "because of miscarriage?"  Seriously?  I mean, first I had to fill it out on the paper and then you have to make me verbalize it?  But it made me think, why else?!  And then I had that "duh" moment where I realize people who actually don't want to get pregnant but do, and in way too many of these cases, they abort.  Sobering thought.  Then I realized some of those women probably don't like that question either.  I imagine there is enough of us, between both camps, to get a petition going.  Anyway, between these two reasons, my blood pressure is always elevated at the ob/gyn!

The appt went as wonderfully as an annual can go.  First of all, I had to get rid of some pesky yeast (sorry TMI), as you can imagine that would put a damper on ttc; getting it was unavoidable since my 40 days of antibiotics (nothing spiritual about the # in that context; also not the norm-I take 10 days of biaxin cyclically, then doubled amox last month so 10 days due to long mucus phase, 5 day z-pack for infection tied to respiratory junk that stays in your system 10 days and then, bam, time for another 10 days biaxin cyclically again!)  I was a little dense though and let it get raging bad before I called Dr. H for diflu.can and it was not doing the trick.  So ob/gyn did see that on the slide and gave me another script (this time with 5 refills for future-good to have! Esp b/c I forgot to ask for one for dh-Dr. H always gives it to both of us).  Secondly, I was worried about bladder infection because despite the crazy load of antibiotics, I have had blood in my urine (my only symptom).  They tested and found something.  Interesting.  They are going to do further tests since they hate to put me on more antibiotics unless it's necessary.  Which leads me to wonder what the hell can survive all that has already been given?  Scary.  More on that later.  The third thing I wanted to get accomplished today was to remind my ob/gyn who I am since I have only seen him once, and what my ttc and pregnancy protocols are.  He totally wowed me by doing his homework before he walked in and confirming all of that before I opened my mouth.  He got triple bonus points for rejecting my gift of "Physicians Healed" since he already owns it, read it, loved it (he doesn't prescribe contraception-part of why I switched).  And he recently bought Dr. Hilgers' text book and is really enjoying it.  Hoping and praying that he will get trained in Omaha as he is Catholic, totally living it even as an ob/gyn, and we have zero napro trained ob/gyns in my area, shockingly.

So, the appt went great and all continues to be on track to ttc when fertile CM decides to appear (CD 14 and nothing yet) if I can get rid of this UTI and yeast infection!

Goodbye ob/gyn no. 3, Dr. A. Hello, ob/gyn no. 4, Dr.S.

Well, I appear to change ob/gyn's faster than handbags (maybe that isn't saying much, I think I mentioned I am shamefully ignorant in all things female, but you get the point).  DH is starting to get annoyed with me.  We both liked ob/gyn #3-he went to our church, he listened to what I had to say about Dr. Hilgers and Dr. Toth and he followed through on the IV, etc; I guess I would say even though he wasn't initiating, he participated.  And that should have been enough right?  I mean, there are not any Napro ob/gyns in the area and the family practitioners I have issue with (one with a really disorganized office, one that says he is napro but seems to water it down and mix in his own ideas, not up on the training...the 3rd is new and seems okay...she is my family practitioner but so far I keep the ob/gyn to the specialists) Maybe I will really regret this, but the ob/gyn also told a single friend of mine that I had talked into charting that it was a "waste of time."  That really got me going.  I mean, he knew our success story and the HUGE role that CrMS had played.  I felt like I had been slapped in the face, even lied to.  Why was he nodding and smiling my direction and then saying that to my friend?  So, when a potentially better ob/gyn came along, I jumped at the chance and immediately switched following my 6 week follow up.  I had seen a write up about him in the diocesan newspaper.  He was an ob/gyn, he was local, and he not only stopped preforming sterilizations, but he had recently quit prescribing the pill due to basically "being hit by the God bat"!  I was impressed!  I had no reason to visit this doctor other than to "interview him."  I was able to get in quickly due to a cancellation and I was spared the dreaded paperwork that states "how many pregnancies?  how many live births?" (who the heck was the insensitive person that designed that form?!)  Still my nervousnes was apparent when they took my blood pressure, as usual.  He seemed very nice and accepting of my hx.  I tried not to scare him away with my appreciativeness and all I had to say (I can come on a little strong, imagine that!)  Anyway, I hope I didn't jump the gun here-he is not training in CrMS yet and even passed up a recent symposium opportunity I spoke at that he was explicitly invited to.  Hmmm...I mean, if you are telling folks to get off the pill, that there are better things out there...don't you think you should know what those are?  But, we have a huge Catholic community that are now going to him and are all, nicely, asking him to get trained so he can support their charting.  So we will see.  I guess, regardless, I won't be any worse off than with the one that thinks its a sham.  And you've got to admit, him not prescribing the pill anymore, that is a huge step for an ob/gyn.  I wrote a very nice letter telling my ob why I was leaving him and a very nice letter telling my new ob why I am switched to him.  I am a firm believer of constructive feedback :)  Anyway, we will see if ob/gyn #4 follows through with his support of my unconventional ways (they always seem to act like it is no big deal in the beginning...).  If not, I might have to go crawling back to ob/gyn #3!

More preparation for pregnancy #3-hello ob/gyn #3

In preparing to get pregnant, I knew I would need a local ob/gyn for hcg, ultrasounds, and delivery. He would have to be Catholic and ProLife and he would have to be willing to listen to Dr. Hilger’s and Dr. Toth. I found this man in Dr. A. Unfortunately, he was just two floors above my old ob/gyn and I hated going into the building and the memories it stirred up for me. I was on the verge of tears before I even made it into the elevator for the consultation.
Dr. A was warm and comforting. He didn’t say “wow, I am fascinated by Dr. Toth’s research or anything of the sort. But he said he would try it, it couldn’t hurt, and he would help in any way he could. He would try to do the IV locally.
So, once I heard from Dr.Toth we were for sure doing the IV, I called Dr. A and asked him to please try to find out how to get an IV ordered locally and ambulatory. At the same time I booked a refundable flight to NY in case Dr. A couldn’t do it. Thank goodness we had a free Southwest ticket or we would have been looking at $600 for the late notice and, of course, we would need the IV right around Thanksgiving! And if we didn’t get pregnant, this month, then it would be right around Christmas! I learned from Dr. Toth also that I would have to be recultured in NY two months after the iv, so I could always rebook the flight for then.