Antibiotics

Today, as I was giving my daughter her last doze of the antibiotics she had been taking twice a day for the last 10 days, praising her for not complaining too much about it (on some days) trashing the left overs of the sticky white-orange smelling liquid to the sink and saying "told you it would be over in no time, now you can forget about the whole thing, you are officially healthy" I smiled and my daughter cheered to herself and went back to play with her brother. I caught myself staring at the empty pharmacy bottle, wondering how it could be like being in that very same situation, only holding an Insulin vial, telling the same encouraging words to my daughter but instead of referring to a respiratory bacterial infection I would be referring to her diabetes.

OBGYNs

Obviously, the next thing on my agenda, after breaking the good news to hubby was to find a good OBGYN for prenatal visits. Seemed like an easy task in theory, since the one I have already seemed pretty good for the routine stuff. So I scheduled an appointment for what I calculated to be around weeks 7-8, not too early and not too late. In Israel that's the perfect time to come for your first prenatal appointment and usually you would be sent directly to a sonogram or best known as ultrasound. That's when you are supposed to get a glimpse at your brand new unborn baby and if it's not too early and everything is fine you are also supposed to get an extra reassurance by watching the tiny heartbeats on the big screen. But that wasn't quite as I expected. After exhausting myself for 55 minutes in the waiting room I was called for some blood tests and some more tests that seemed exactly like a routine visit at your OBGYN plus some more tests, even though I did mention I was pregnant, more than once. The doc explained some basic facts and asked if I had any questions, thinking maybe that since I already have two kids I know all the tricks. "Well, yes" I answered, since for me it's like the first time, I have never been pregnant away from home... "when are you doing the first ultrasound?" I asked, who cared about all these blood tests at that point. "Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to that on later stages, first we have to confirm that you are pregnant" he said. You mean besides from the fact that I peed on the stick and it turned blue? Combined with the fact that my period is late by two months? What other confirmations does one need in order to get an ultrasound here?! And what could make a better confirmation than viewing the actual baby on the screen?
I tried to ask all that in a nice, calm, polite and educated way but, as with others I guess, it's not that easy to express yourself in your non native language when you are upset. And I was upset, especially after waiting 55 minutes in the waiting room. Did I mention there was not even a single good magazine there?
Well, the doc gave some explanations but seemed overall surprised. He also said that I was not in Israel anymore and in other words that I should let him do his job without so much questioning and comparisons. Then he asked if I needed anything for my morning sickness (oh, why should I get that if I we weren't sure I was pregnant?) and when I answered that that wasn't too bad and that I could deal with it without introducing chemicals to my baby, doc gave me a strange look and asked: "but these are available, why suffer?"
I explained that I preferred the natural ways and that I also gave birth to my two kids without Epidural, which was a source of pride for me up until that moment when he shrugged his shoulders and responded: "so you like to suffer..."
The truth was that I was more afraid of the Epidural procedure than I was of the whole birth process itself, and that the labor pains are over once the baby is born while Epidural's induced back pain (although maybe rare) could last much longer after. Not to mention the possible complication. And regardless, that was my choice and it was never questioned before. So maybe finding the right OBGYN for your prenatal follow ups is not that easy after all...