s/o two week appts

pitterpatter129

I'm a STM and feel stupid asking, but WHY every two weeks and then once a week?  I honestly see no point in it.  I can report if I feel less movement and I can even take my bp at home and report that if needed.  I can see maybe checking for pre-e., but I don't need you to talk to me for five minutes every two weeks, and definitely not once a week!  I haven't had an appointment yet I didn't have to wait for 45-1 hour for and they last all of ten minutes once I get in the exam room!  My  new OB is the absolute only OB anywhere near me (There are two in the state!) that will allow vbacs, so he's my guy, but the waiting time is awful.  He's good though, so I wait.  However, I can't do that every single week and not every two weeks either!  I'm refusing cervical checks this time - they hurt and are unnecessary - so what's the point??  Anyone shed some light for me?

 

 

light52

I had a child preterm and it was during a two week appointment that the OB discovered I might be delivering early.  If it hadn't have been for that appointment, I would have been caught totally off guard when I went into labor exactly a month before my due date.

JuliaBug

Talk to your OB. At my next appointment I am going to see what he thinks about me coming in less often than is the norm. 

I am also refusing cervical checks this time around. My last OB, who I did not deliver with and am not seeing this time around, stripped my membranes without my consent. I felt so violated. I still get angry thinking about it almost 2 years later.  

pitterpatter129

Good to know ladies! I guess I just don't know what they are feeling around for on the external exams because I'm not a doctor! I remember going in those last few weeks and she asked how I was feeling and poked at my belly and away I went. I was never there for more than five minutes total. It's good to know they can actually catch a problem in that two seconds of poking.

I just don't know how I'm going to do it this time around. I teach and if I leave for an hour, then I am forced to take an entire day of absence because they have to hire a substitute. There is no one this year for extra coverage for a few hours due to budget cuts. I don't have enough sick days to take an entire day off for an hour long wait/ten minute appointment. It's about a twenty minute drive one way too, so I can't just pop in and out of work quickly. The doctor's office is open the same hours as school and not at all on Fridays, so scheduling late or early appointments is not an option either. Sigh. I just keeping saying, it will all work out. It will all work out.

pitterpatter129

JuliaBug:

Talk to your OB. At my next appointment I am going to see what he thinks about me coming in less often than is the norm. 

I am also refusing cervical checks this time around. My last OB, who I did not deliver with and am not seeing this time around, stripped my membranes without my consent. I felt so violated. I still get angry thinking about it almost 2 years later.  

Wow.  I think I would filing a complaint about that!  I really hated cervical checks and knew nothing about it then.  There is no point to them really.  I had no idea as a first time pregnant person that I could decline medical procedures of any kind.  I'm not sure why I thought that!  This time, no checks for me please, unless of course, there seems to a medical reasoning behind it that makes sense.

 

 

MouseInLux

Our doctors office also starts monitoring the baby at two week apts so I get to hang out for 30 min listening to the heart beat then go for my checkup.

Internals don't always catch when you'll go into labour, I had one the afternoon before going into labour with DD, doctor said there's no chance of baby coming any time soon!

light52

While I think cervical checks at the end aren't always needed, don't be afraid to have them earlier if needed.  While doing my strep B swab, the OB decided to do a check and found out I was already 2 cm and 90% effaced.  I had my baby two days later.  He normally doesn't do a check then but felt for some reason that it needed to be done.  I'm glad he went with his gut or I would have been completely caught off guard.