OB Orientation

This morning I had my OB orientation. It started about a half an hour late, at 9:30, because there was an accident on the Beltway and tons of people were late. Fortunately the accident didn't affect my travel time, and I had a book, so I just enjoyed the air conditioning, LOL.

I actually enjoyed the orientation more than I thought I would. It turns out that people from Annapolis, Ft. Meade, and Ft. Detrick all have to come to Bethesda to deliver, and so although they can have their routine appointments at satellite clinics at their bases, they were also at this thing. The nice OB nurse realized they weren't coming back for any more "classes", so she laid out how everything is done, even in labor and delivery, so that was very useful and practical. I know I'm not coming back for an all-day childbirth class, jsut so I can get a tour and figure out l&d procedures!

What did I learn? Hmmm . . . Bethesda has a level 3 NICU (hope we don't need that); they have 23 beds in their ward (usually only half are used as labor/recovery rooms, and then they move people to another room on the other side of the ward for the rest of the time); midwives deliver only Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings (otherwise it's residents--this is a teaching hospital, like Wright-Pat), and children are welcome at all OB appointments, and even at the delivery itself, should I so choose (no, LOL). It's good to have all the phone numbers I should need, and to know what to do if I should get something like strep (call the OB acute care number), or go into labor in the middle of a snowstorm (call L&D, who will refer you to the nearest hospital and fax your records there).

We made up our OB records too--we all filled out all the info for ourselves. After this baby, if we have anymore, Nathan will get knocked off the history part, because they only want info on your previous 6 births! LOL! They did not disappoint--we did have to fill out the crazy mental health survey. You have to read the statements very carefully. The answer choices are "strongly disagree, disagree, nuetral, agree, and strongly agree". One statement will be something like, "I feel very supported in this pregnancy by my partner" ["strongly agree"], and then the next statement will be "I have often considered leaving this relationship" [ack!! "strongly DISagree"!]. The whole thing is pretty funny. Here are some more sample statements: "I feel like a total failure" followed by "someone in my life makes me feel good about myself" (awwww)/ Or how about "my parents frequently shouted at each other and threw things" or "I can think of several situations where it would be okay for a wife to slap her husband's face". LOL!! Pretty funny!

Anyhow, I got blood work done, scheduled my first appointment for Aug. 1, and picked up a prescription for prenatal vitamins. Bob held down the fort with the kids and the A/C guys. We're still talking about our options with that. Let's just say that whatever we choose will be pricey, LOL. Today was a much cooler, less humid day, however, so that was a real blessing.