Friday, September 19, 2008

A Conversation With Doc

I hashed out a whole detailed plan of what I was going to say to doc today... was gonna ask her about the rationale of being on a med to stop pre-term labor when I wasn't actually in pre-term labor... in hopes that she would agree and tell me it was ok to go off the drug.


But the fact of the matter is that I've already taken myself off the drug and feel 100x better than I did while I was on it. I figured it would be best to be honest and just tell her that I took myself off it because it was just not tolerable. And I'm fine. Still some contractions but nothing that's causing alarm at this point. Doctors should listen to their patients desires, right?


I felt nervous to tell her that I'd made my own decision about not taking that Terbo drug. Why do we feel like we can't question what our doctors tell us? I was a pharmaceutical sales rep for five years and in that time it became quite clear to me that while doctors know a lot, and typically more than we do, that they are human and don't always know everything*... so we shouldn't blindly assume that they always do. Not that any of us know everything either. But I think sometimes when a doctor says something, we feel like we have to take what they say as gospel and not question it... Maybe even more so when you're seeing an OB about an impending birth because its not just about you anymore. It's about doing the best thing for this little baby inside you.


Anyway, the appointment actually went really well. I told her I was feeling much better, and then just blurted out that I stopped taking the drug- citing my inability to sleep due to my heart pounding through my chest as the main reason. I didn't go into all the other reasons I had because I didn't want to make it seem like I was questioning her judgement... which turned out to be the right thing because she said something about how its good that I have it so if I start to feel major contractions I can start taking it again. I nodded my head, but didn't mention that merely looking at the bottle of pills makes me feel like I'm going to puke...


Now I'm on the weekly appointment plan so she'll keep checking each week to see if my cervix is changing. So far its still all closed up. Now if we could just get baby to turn itself head down we'd be all set.


So this is how I'm spending the majority of my time these days. At least I have a cool cat to keep me company.










*Q: What do you call the person who graduates last from Medical School?


A: Doctor.

3 comments:

rr said...

Hey - your body knows best when it comes to this baby stuff.. glad you listened to your instincts. I had Sky at 36 weeks and she was just right.. and that pregnancy was way better than my 42 week one!

I cannot believe you are 33+ weeks already! Turn baby, turn.. head down! (those are vibes)

Allison Chapple said...

So glad that you were able to talk to your doc honestly. Most of all, I am glad you're feeling better! That heart-racing feeling must have been awful.

Clare said...

good job. and i LOVE your cat!!!! nice to have company i'm sure!