Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Wham, Bam, Thank You Ma'am!

I had another pre-natal appointment for Tex this morning. It was the usual drill - sit in the waiting room for 20 mins, meet the nurse for 5 mins to measure weight and check blood pressure, quick trip to the bathroom, sit waiting in the doctor's room for 15 mins and, then, at long last, meet the doctor for a quick, clinical 10 mins to measure my belly, listen to the heartbeat and answer "no, no, no" to "any cramping, any bleeding, any questions?"

"Ok, great, see you again in two weeks."

In a way its efficient and we all get to know what we need to know. I don't have so many questions this time around since I've been through this before and, fortunately, nothing unusual is happening.

My pre-natal appointments for Peanut in Finland covered the same basic health checks, but then the midwife also was interested in how was I feeling - really - and how were things at home otherwise. Were we getting everything ready? Was I eating, sleeping, emotionally feeling OK? She also usually checked my hands for signs of swelling. And, then we spent a bit more time discussing how my measurements were tracking since she hand wrote them all into my Neuvola booklet which I carried with me. I always knew exactly what month/day we were at and how much weight I had gained compared to last week and how much my belly had grown.

No comments: