2003-08-06 - 6:05 p.m. - Cycle day: 36 weeks, 3 days

Back again. It's a busy week in Suspenseville ...

Our doula's kids got sick overnight, so she wasn't able to join us for the OB appointment. Which was just as well, since they put us in the teeniest exam room and it was hard enough for The Husband to find someplace discreet to look while they were doing my exam. Although it actually wasn't an exam - it was a culture. Dr. Hippie doesn't start checking for dilation or effacement until 38 weeks, so this week's paper gown fashion show was just so he could do the Group B strep screening. Which I actually told him last week I didn't want to do, but by this week he forgot and I pretty much changed my mind, so he went ahead. Why my change of heart? I started thinking how awful I'd feel if something did happen to the baby, and I could have done this one little thing to help prevent it. I also thought I'd rest better knowing whether or not I'm even positive - if I'm not, I can stop thinking about this entirely. Otherwise, if I started showing risk factors in labor, they would have treated me like I'm positive anyway. So I'm hoping I get a negative result and can stop worrying about exposing my newborn to unnecessary antibiotics. And if it's positive, I know from talking to my doctor that he will treat based on risk factors and not arbitrarily prescribe antibiotics just because I'm a carrier. I think my mind will be at greater peace either way.

The rest of the appointment went just fine. Dr. Hippie said he wanted to frame my chart and show it off as an example of perfect pregnancy, so that's always nice to hear. He also said that the baby is exactly the size he likes to see - not a peanut, but not huge. Here are the stats:

Weight: 137.5 lbs (same as last week)

Blood pressure: 108/72

Fundal height: 36.5cm

Baby's heart rate: 140

After the appointment, we went over to check out our other hospital option. We got a private tour with one of the birthing center nurses, so that was nice. She knew Dr. Hippie, and also asked if I have a birth plan, so she must somewhat expect his patients to be less mainstream than most. The facility was much smaller than the hospital we toured the other day. This one only has 8 rooms (the other had 40-some), and assessment, L&D and post-partum recovery all take place in the same room. Because they're multi-purpose, the rooms are bigger. Plus they have refrigerators. Woo! No stereos, though - we'd have to bring our own. The beds were wood-framed instead of hospital plastic, and there were rocking chairs in each room. Little things, but it made it seem more inviting. The nurse giving us the tour did spout off a number of routines that we plan to avoid - Vitamin K shot (we got a scrip for an oral dose), putting the baby in a warmer, administering eye drops (we actually heard a doctor ask where the silver nitrate was, which made us both nervous). She also mentioned that the fridge was for The Husband's use during labor. I was thinking "Okay, just try to stop me from keeping a pint of Ben & Jerry's in there" when she mentioned that all the rooms are video monitored. That ooked me out a little. The Husband, too, who said later in the car "What if we need to do nipple stimulation and they sell the tape on the Internet?" We did learn that the bathrooms aren't under surveillance, though, so we know where to go if we want privacy or plan to flout a couple useless rules. All in all, I greatly prefer this hospital to the newer, larger one. It just felt more personal, and I figure there can't be more then two or three women in active labor at a time, so they're more likely to remember that we have unusual requests. I may not even have to put up the big "Natural childbirth in progress - thank you for not offering pain medication" sign I made (in purple, curly font so as to appear less confrontational, of course).

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