Last Monday, April 16th, I had to go to an appointment that my OB had setup with a Maternal/Fetal Counselor. To be honest, I had no idea why I was really going, except for to talk about my medicines and that had seemed to have been wrapped up in other conversations with other doctors.
Nonetheless, I go. I was frustrated immediately because I had parked in the wrong spot, entered the hospital in the wrong place, and the employees trying to help me were of no help at all.
By the time I finally reached the doctor's office, I was ready to just leave. They get me all checked in. After a brief wait I'm called into the office.
I'm not sure what I was expecting. Maybe a setup similar to most doctor's offices. No, this was like legit counselor setup. I was greeted by an older man wearing nice dress pants, a white button up shirt with a tie, sitting in a chair with one of his ankles pulled up and crossed over his other knee. I was given the option to lay on the nice, black leather couch, or one of the two matching black, leather chairs.
I chose a chair.
He starts right into a little questionnaire for me. After answering all of the questions he seems to be shocked as to why I'm there too. This only added to my frustration.
We finally make it to discussing my asthma and how it could effect me during pregnancy as well as my baby. I felt some relief at the topic, but that relief soon faded and mixed in with my growing list of annoyances in regards to the entire visit.
We talked in circles so much that I was starting to get a little snippy. I just felt like he kept asking me the same questions over and over again, that we kept talking about the same medicines over and over again, that I gave him information about symptoms I have over and over again.
Finally, I got around to the answers I needed. None of my daily medications are considered risks during pregnancy. None have been linked to any sort of pregnancy and/or fetal problems. The prednisone steroids have been loosely linked to some birth defects if taken during the first trimester. This was good to find out, because now I know that I can continue taking all of my daily medications and then I can just avoid the steroids. It took forever to get there, but I finally got there.
He also stressed - as every doc I've been to thus far has - that I need, need, need to keep up with a pulse oximeter journal and keep a close eye on that during pregnancy.
Other than that, I'm good to go! He told me the first step in having a healthy baby is having a healthy pregnancy and to do that it means mommy has to be well taken care of, I have to keep my asthma under control and to do that I have to upkeep my current medicines.
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