Apologies in advance for the length of this post.
After a weekend of feeling stressed over today's scheduled induction at 39 weeks, an induction that the midwives at my OB's office told me I must do (or else!), I decided to defy them. Dh told me last night that he would support my decision 100%, and he was so wonderful about it. He more than made up for going a bit ballistic last week about his scheduling at work.
Well, the induction had been scheduled for 11:00am, but over the phone on Friday, in addition to trying to "strong arm" me, the midwife said that the appointment had been switched to 6pm. This morning I was waiting around for 9:00am when the office opens to tell them that I was not going to come in (and was prepared to go elsewhere if they don't want to treat me), when I got a call from the hospital. They wanted to know why I hadn't shown up for my induction at 6:00AM.
: 
Apparently, the midwife meant 6 in the morning because this works better with their schedule, since an induction 9-6pm would interfere with their regular appointments...I don't know if this is standard procedure, but somehow I see this as another strike against the practice. As if induction isn't scary enough, must I get up at the crack o' dawn, too?
Midwife number 2 called some 10 mins after this. I told her about my issues with the induction. Actually, this was a repeat of the same stuff I mentioned to the other midwife last week:
1. Why must I be induced at 39 weeks as opposed to 40 weeks when I show no signs of pre-eclampsia other than the high BP that I only get in their office?
2. Why aren't they concerned at all about me going into the induction with pain in the back of my right hip. I've had this for a few days now-- the result of overdoing the walking to possibly kick start natural labor.
3. Why must they use Cytotec/Miso, when there are alternatives out there?
I got no answers from the midwife, only a chuckle and then a comment that I am a "researcher". This is not the word she used, actually. It was another one that I didn't catch, and when I asked her what it meant she said that it refers to patients who look up information about conditions and try to negotiate treatment. Then she said, "OK, then, to be continued."
I knew then that of course I would not be dropped. Fifteen mins after this, the doctor herself called (after almost two weeks of silence) to answer my questions. Here is the gist of her comments.
1. Starting with the question about the Cytotec. According to her, this is what EVERYONE uses. She went on to name every major hospital in the Boston area. She said that this drug is cheap and effective and totally safe. Sure, it's not approved by the FDA for gynecological use, but, (supposedly) neither are most drugs used in prenatal medicine.
She said that no other drug works well enough. The other alternative is to have me wear some type of catheter contraption for 36 hours...
:
2. As to the question re: 39 weeks vs. 40 weeks...At this point she got really stern. Don't I realize that I've been measuring high EVERY SINGLE TIME I come to the office. Sure, that could be white coat hypertension but it's been shown that often this really turns out to be hypertension period, the kind that's hard to measure. The placenta ages VERY RAPIDLY in later pregnancy because blood pressure causes blood vessels to atrophy. Then she threw in the comment that, granted, I do not have pre-ec right now, but I am at EXTREMELY high risk because because of my age.
3. My hip would not get better according to her because it's sciatic pain caused by the pressure in my pelvis. I told her that this did not follow; I had similar pain in the other hip a month ago and that it cleared on its own after ten days of taking it easy.
In the end, she said we could postpone the induction but that I would have to have an NST at the hospital twice this week, a longer appointment at her office later this week, and another ultrasound on my due date to monitor my amniotic fluid. And there is NO WAY that I would be allowed to go past 41 weeks.
What's really interesting is that shortly after I got off the phone with her, my dad came over with his manual BP monitor, and, for the first time ever, found a high measurement of 145/95.
This got me a little rattled that maybe something's really wrong with me after all...
But, it looks like I got what I want-- for now.
After a weekend of feeling stressed over today's scheduled induction at 39 weeks, an induction that the midwives at my OB's office told me I must do (or else!), I decided to defy them. Dh told me last night that he would support my decision 100%, and he was so wonderful about it. He more than made up for going a bit ballistic last week about his scheduling at work.
Well, the induction had been scheduled for 11:00am, but over the phone on Friday, in addition to trying to "strong arm" me, the midwife said that the appointment had been switched to 6pm. This morning I was waiting around for 9:00am when the office opens to tell them that I was not going to come in (and was prepared to go elsewhere if they don't want to treat me), when I got a call from the hospital. They wanted to know why I hadn't shown up for my induction at 6:00AM.
: Apparently, the midwife meant 6 in the morning because this works better with their schedule, since an induction 9-6pm would interfere with their regular appointments...I don't know if this is standard procedure, but somehow I see this as another strike against the practice. As if induction isn't scary enough, must I get up at the crack o' dawn, too?
Midwife number 2 called some 10 mins after this. I told her about my issues with the induction. Actually, this was a repeat of the same stuff I mentioned to the other midwife last week:
1. Why must I be induced at 39 weeks as opposed to 40 weeks when I show no signs of pre-eclampsia other than the high BP that I only get in their office?
2. Why aren't they concerned at all about me going into the induction with pain in the back of my right hip. I've had this for a few days now-- the result of overdoing the walking to possibly kick start natural labor.
3. Why must they use Cytotec/Miso, when there are alternatives out there?
I got no answers from the midwife, only a chuckle and then a comment that I am a "researcher". This is not the word she used, actually. It was another one that I didn't catch, and when I asked her what it meant she said that it refers to patients who look up information about conditions and try to negotiate treatment. Then she said, "OK, then, to be continued."
I knew then that of course I would not be dropped. Fifteen mins after this, the doctor herself called (after almost two weeks of silence) to answer my questions. Here is the gist of her comments.
1. Starting with the question about the Cytotec. According to her, this is what EVERYONE uses. She went on to name every major hospital in the Boston area. She said that this drug is cheap and effective and totally safe. Sure, it's not approved by the FDA for gynecological use, but, (supposedly) neither are most drugs used in prenatal medicine.
She said that no other drug works well enough. The other alternative is to have me wear some type of catheter contraption for 36 hours...
:2. As to the question re: 39 weeks vs. 40 weeks...At this point she got really stern. Don't I realize that I've been measuring high EVERY SINGLE TIME I come to the office. Sure, that could be white coat hypertension but it's been shown that often this really turns out to be hypertension period, the kind that's hard to measure. The placenta ages VERY RAPIDLY in later pregnancy because blood pressure causes blood vessels to atrophy. Then she threw in the comment that, granted, I do not have pre-ec right now, but I am at EXTREMELY high risk because because of my age.
3. My hip would not get better according to her because it's sciatic pain caused by the pressure in my pelvis. I told her that this did not follow; I had similar pain in the other hip a month ago and that it cleared on its own after ten days of taking it easy.
In the end, she said we could postpone the induction but that I would have to have an NST at the hospital twice this week, a longer appointment at her office later this week, and another ultrasound on my due date to monitor my amniotic fluid. And there is NO WAY that I would be allowed to go past 41 weeks.
What's really interesting is that shortly after I got off the phone with her, my dad came over with his manual BP monitor, and, for the first time ever, found a high measurement of 145/95.
This got me a little rattled that maybe something's really wrong with me after all...
But, it looks like I got what I want-- for now.
:
Way to stand up for yourself.
