In the healthcare world there are two visit types: Outpatient and Inpatient. We have been admitted inpatient, and there are dozens of notes and datum to be generated by staff going over our visit.
Our labor OB/GYN doctor has come in. She's not our normal doctor that we've been seeing. Its Christmas time and unfortunately the regular is on vacation. We shook hands with this new doctor and she left by telling our nurse Brooke, "Okay, i'm going to sleep - call me if you need me."
We are disheartened by it, not knowing her personally, but all I care about is that she is capable and smart enough to deliver for us. That is all that matters. Its to be expected anyways, and this was established by our doctor from the beginning that things won't turn out completely how we want it.
After a while you recognize that this is a real instance of care that nurses do most of the work, and the doctor takes all the credit. (Very common.)
In the room I have grandma laying down on the stretch couch, mommy is being monitored, and daddy (me) - is waiting for the next update or development.
So far, we are relieved to have finally passed the first stepping stone to real labor. There are a few things we clarified to the nurse as important:
- how late/early can anesthesia (epidural) be administered? :: for this facility, it is never too late. there is an anesthesiologist always on call.
- when does pediatrics see our child? :: within 24 hours post-birth, YES your own doctor can be called in. Our pedriatic guy is the bomb, he speaks like seven languages and can rock the deaf hand talk.
- we want to donate our cordblood, can we decide where that goes? :: the baby's cord blood can be donated to the Puget Sound Blood Center or the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Cord blood donation was very important to us from the beginning of our pregnancy. A co-worker of mine mentioned it to me, in addition to fun things to do with the placenta. Then I found a couple family members did the same. Most of all, mommy and i know many people through work and our lives that are afflicted by genetic diseases that can be treated with the cells found in umbilical cord blood. Some people can bank the cord blood for themselves. We don't roll like that. Among Asian people, there is a low level donation for ethnic and/or mixed ethnicity among Americans.
Anyways, contractions have moved up to about every 7 minutes again.
We are going to rest for a while.
2 comments:
Hi--this is Jo's mom here in Houston (she sent me the blog site--guess she got tired of my asking if the baby had arrived yet!). This is so exciting, & I wish you as easy a labor & birth as possible. Look forward to seeing lots of pictures. It's amazing to read how many things you have learned about childbirth!
Yes, check back again. Actual pictures of the baby could be up very very soon.
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