We Have a New Doctor!!!

This will come as a big relief not just to me and Ben but especially to my mom and mother-in-law: We've chosen a new doctor. He comes recommended by both a surgeon and a pregnant woman, both friendly patrons at the library where Ben works. We think Dr. Arof is really great, and he's already started working on my case. My records are being transfered over today. I have an appointment next week for a 32-week ultrasound and a non-stress test, and he wants to see me weekly.

We were impressed right away by the friendliness of all the staff, from receptionist to nurses, and the homey environment of the waiting room and exam rooms. The exam room also had a consulting desk and cabinets in wood, and shelves with family photos, and the walls had four boards filled with pictures of the doctor with various newborn babies and parents. I've never seen anything like it. There are only five doctors in the practice (instead of the multitudes at the other practices we've seen) and I can meet them all personally before the birth so that I know whoever might be on call before labor, which is really good. Dr. Arof has a great bedside manner, and while he didn't actually say anything different in the end from what the other doctors we've seen have said (he doesn't want me to go beyond the due date and may induce if I do, etc.) he said it differently. The last doc at Prentice we saw was all disclaimers and anxiety, but this doc was relaxed and communicative. And said he would try to help me have a different birth experience than I had last time. And while the last doc we saw wouldn't examine me unless she had my records "for legal reasons," this doc gave me a full exam and talked in depth about the care I could receive from here on out. Also, you might be surprised that I've chosen a man and not a woman doctor. Well, when rotating through the various doctors the three days I was in labor with Tyler, the one who impressed me most, the one who made them let me walk the halls with my IV pole and ordered real food for me, was a man. He was so nice. So I abandoned my rule about only women Ob/Gyn docs. In theory it's a good basis; a woman doc for women's issues. But not necessarily a guiding principle anymore. We are really impressed with this doctor.

This also means that I'm having the baby at Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago, in the new building, which we toured recently (and I reported on in this blog last month). As Ben says, and he wants credit for this quote, "This is the most shi-shi, frou-frou, la-la hospital in the Chicagoland area we could possibly find!" And he's right. I'm going to schedule a tour for my parents and maybe drag along a friend. It's a very impressive facility, and the entire building is focused on women's health and there are no scary back hospital hall mazes to wind through to find the L&D unit, you enter the front door like a queen. Or a five-star hotel guest. Check out: http://www.grandhopening.org/tour-slideshow.html

I'm excited now about giving birth, and am really interested to see how the experience goes, and feel more awake and involved than I have been--much more "up." Dr. Arof also connected me immediately with a gestational diabetes expert to help me get a handle on my blood sugar levels and nutrition (a consulting doctor associate) and I'm very pleased to have some guidance in that area. I feel energized, and am ready to attend La Leche League meetings now before the birth, and find and schedule a lactation consultant to do a house call after the birth. I can cross reference the list of references from La Leche with the list from Prentice's on-staff lactation consultants. And Ben and I are very seriously considering a doula, and I have a handful of leads already on that score. Though, this will be expensive! The hospital is expensive, the parking is killer, the lactation consultant won't be cheap and a doula can run up to a thousand, tho I've heard of discount rates for doula's in training, as low as $400. But honestly, I'd pay anything to ensure a better experience, and especially to get the breastfeeding latch right this time around. You know, I'm a list-maker, and next I will make a shorter bullet-point birth plan (easier to refer to than last time), and make a list of what to pack for the hospital, and all that. Woo woo! Let's go!