Saturday, January 24, 2009

Aaaaaaarrrrgggghhh

Things have been a bit nutsy around here lately. I am the proud recipient of two thoughtfully given awards I need to acknowledge but will have to do that another time. Thanks, by the way!

My sister-in-law has been under the care of a less-than-stellar navy doctor since her move to the north. I have thought all along that she wasn't really getting the best care, but aside from some small suggestions have tried to keep my big bazoo shut. They were only seeing her every six weeks instead of every four, they lost her sugar test results and then, after re-testing, determined that she had a ferocious case of gestational diabetes but didn't really do anything about it...it all seemed like very casual care. Her last visit to her OB lasted all of five minutes, they didn't check her, didn't even measure her fundal height, I'm not entirely positive the doctor even read her chart. This doctor told her everything looked good, her sugar numbers looked fine, and that she could go past her due date, which was February 13th.

She went yesterday to see a high-risk specialist, a routine visit since she has the GD, and the specialist was horrified - by the sporadic visits, and by the fact that at one visit she actually only saw a nurse and not a doctor. Her fasting sugar numbers were actually so bad that she was prescribed insulin shots to be started that very night. Then they checked her cervix and she was 50% effaced and 3cm dilated (I must confess to feeling a pang of envy - since I have a cervix of steel, and all). They did an ultrasound and the baby already weighs 7 1/2 pounds. So they said she could deliver any day now. The specialist called the other OB my sister-in-law had been seeing and canceled her appointments and notified them that she was taking over her care. Hooray!

They also set an induction date, just in case she doesn't go into labor on her own. And what date did they select? Why, February 4th, of course! Which also happens to Bubba's birthday. And my birthday. I jokingly told them that sharing my birthday with one cute kid was bad enough, I didn't want to share it with two. But I think that will be neat, to have three birthdays on the same day. Makes them easier to remember!

So that means that things around here have kicked into overdrive. My mother-in-law is flying out Tuesday to stay with them, so I'm looking for a babysitter. And in order for her to be able to celebrate Bubba's birthday, we had to schedule an impromptu family birthday party for Sunday. As in tomorrow. So I've been busy cleaning and trying to work out the logistics of party planning over a two-day period. It's nothing big, just family, but that doesn't make it any less stressful.

So that's what I've been up to.

And I will leave you with this story: my husband was just driving me absolutely bonkers yesterday before he left for work. He couldn't find anything he needed, and he was tired and grumpy to boot, and was just rather unpleasant to be around. When he finally left I dialed my sister-in-law's number and, after I heard an answering 'hello', I said, "I am so glad your brother finally left for work, he was driving me bananas". And then I heard Brian reply, "You called me, genius". Oops! We both laughed about it, but I felt rather silly. Hee-hee.

1 comment:

Aimee said...

Wow, that really does sound like some slip-shod OB care! You don't mess around with gest. diabetes - glad she's got a new doc!

And that was pretty funny about you calling Brian - oops! :)