The OB Visit

On December 26th Ray and I went to Madigan for my scheduled OB appointment. Earlier that morning Ray had been online researching pregnancy and Sickle Cell disease. Ray was shocked at the amount of things that were not done for me during my pregnancy. He printed out the information and we took it with us along with that bottle of pee I was asked to bring in.

Going to the OB always starts with a bit of a battle for Ray and I. The reason is that Madigan has this policy of bring the pregnant woman in first and then later bringing in the husband. The reason is due to what they call, 'Patient Confidentiality'. This always makes me laugh because the only thing they do when they take me to the back room is get my weight, height and blood pressure.

Well, earlier in my pregnancy, after about the second OB visit, Ray decided that he had every right to be with me every second of my appointment. This got him into some heated arguments with the nurses every time we came. Despite their best efforts and their worst threats, Ray would not leave my side. And this day was no different.

Before the nurse could get a word out Ray blurted out, "I know what your policy is, but I'm not leaving my wife alone. She is pregnant and not feeling too well today so I'm staying with her. You are not doing anything that I can't be allowed to watch."

This particular nurse tried to block Ray from coming down the hall behind me. Using her most stern nurse voice she stated to Ray that I would only be away from him for just a moment and if he would so kindly wait in a room, that I would join him shortly.

"Why do I have to wait in another room?"

"We have to protect the privacy of our patients. This is why we ask you to wait outside, so if you..."

"What privacy? That's my wife. You're not even doing anything but taking vitals. What? I'm not allowed to see how much she weights? No, I'm not going to another room, I'm staying with her. If you want to stop me then we'll just both leave and you can tell the doctor why we left."

She still continued to put up a fight, but Ray was no longer listening. He pushed his way pass her and joined me just as another nurse was helping me get up on the scale.

After the vitals were done we were escorted to a room to wait for the doctor.

A nurse came in to inform us that the doctor I was scheduled to met with was pulled away to do an emergency C-section and that I would be seeing one of the other OB's.

To our surprise, this other doctor was an Airforce doctor. Not what you would usually find at an Army hospital. This doctor was very nice and it was a relief to find out that he actually knew a little about Sickle Cell. We let him know our complaints and how I felt unfairly treated during my last crisis. He understood our concerns and apologized for the actions of those that had treated me while I was admitted.

Ray noticed the doctor's ranking on his uniform. When the doctor had to step out of the room for a moment, Ray turned to me.

"Honey, in Army ranking he out ranks every doctor we've ever seen here at Madigan. He even outranks the MFM's. In the Navy he would be like right above my CO."


The doctor returned and we went over the notes from my last visit. The January 2nd induction was thrown out the window. We instead talked about a possible induction on the 16th in which time our baby's lungs would be fully ready for the outside world. Ray and I left the OB appointment feeling very relieved. We still didn't feel to great about the whole induction but the doctor gave us a lot of information to think over to help us make a decision.

Later that evening I got a call from Dr. Yee, who I was suppose to meet with that day. He saw in his notes that I would not be coming in on January 2nd for an amnio and induction. He apologized for not being able to meet with us and told me that he put in the paperwork to have my induction rescheduled for the 16th.

I still wasn't sure about the whole induction thing, but now I knew I had some time to research the facts and make an informed decision.