The latest news here is that Peanut will become a big sister next year! "Tex" will make his/her appearance in early spring 2007! We thought "Tex" was appropriate as the hospital forms pointed out, we will not just be having a baby, but a new Texan.
We're excited all around and, blogwise, I'm excited about lots of posting ideas comparing pregnancy in the US and Finland.
Its already been a vastly different experience even though we're only a few months along.
To begin with, the doctor wanted to see us as soon as we thought we might be pregnant. In our case that was barely 6.5 weeks along when the tell-tale signs were confirmed with an at-home pregnancy test.
In Finland, I had been advised to wait a bit later before contacting the neuvola - I called around 9 weeks. When I did call, the first question was "Was this a wanted pregnancy?" so they could determine which side of the health clinic to connect me to.
Here, we met the doctor right away. At our first visit, I gave up at least 6 viles of blood for a variety of standard tests: blood type, Rh, blood count, immunity for Rubella, screen for antibodies, hepatitis, syphilis and HIV.
Then, the doctor did a sonogram. I was amazed that you could see/hear anything so early! But, "Tex" was there - a little blurry blob with no distinguishable features, except a strong and clear heartbeat. It was the heartbeat the doctor was after. He was very enthusiastic and explained that once you hear a heartbeat the chance for miscarriage already diminishes to just around 5%.
In Finland, our first meeting with the doctor and a sonogram was at 12 weeks. Before then, we just assumed everything was normal and met with our midwife.
So far, we've paid $15 as our insurance co-pay. However, I've seen what the doctor's office is billing the insurance company:
$960 for blood tests
another $960 for sonograms and doctor's consultations.
Yikes!
2 comments:
This is from an email a friend in the US sent.
C.C.'s Mom says
"I think most of the differences you aredescribing in your prenatal care are Dr/Nurse vsMidwife care. I went to midwives and my experiencewas much more laid back and informative - sounds similar to your first pregnancy."
An emailed comment from a Finnish mama friend living here in Texas:
Only $960 for a blood test?
My first blood test cost the insurance company $1800! Probably because I was a high-risk pregnancy due to my age and high blood pressure.
In Finland, when I took my papers, the doctors just laughed at all the unneccessary tests that had been performed on me here.
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