Why I don't like Nurse Practitiners (17 weeks)

I have been trying for over a week now to get my next routine baby check up with a real live Doctor rather than an NP. A new friend asked me why this was so important to me. Well first I think it will help with the panic, I saw a Dr on Saturday in the ER and she calmed me down immensely. Oh wait you guys don't know about the ER trip. Basically I was having a stabbing vaginal pain with some yellow white discharge and then had a panic attack thinking I might be losing the baby which caused abdomen cramps. So off to the ER we went. Baby is fine, cervix is fine, I am fine and the OB Dr on call was great. She spent 30+ minutes with us calming me down. We talked alot about my stress levels and my anxiety, and she seemed to understand. The vaginal pain is not normal but the good news is that it isn't enough to open dialiate or change my cervix. She also reminded me how rare it would be to have something go wrong. Which made me feel a billion times better, some how giving me the actual risk of my cervix failing me was comforting.

Okay but I am getting WAY off track. Why I don't like NPs: I don't trust them. I am sure the majority of them are great but I have shitty luck with them. Lets start with my most recent one who said I most likely do have Gestational Diabetes but wanted me to wait on the test for it. And the one before that who at my fist Kaiser appt told me the cramping wasn't normal and increased my risk of m/c but when I talked to my regular Dr she said LOTS of women cramp and most of them don't have a m/c. If we work our way back further to when I was between the age of 16-22 (before R). I had a condom break on my boyfriend and I. You can get the lovely story about how I went in for the plan b and came out in tears because the nurse told me that I must have been "doing it wrong". Talk about freaking me out. I went home and cried for hours thinking not only was I going to get pg (she wouldn't give me plan b till the next day!) but that I was also bad at s.e.x.

This all translates into little faith in Nurse Practitioners, and thus little faith in the care I am currently receiving, but the good news is it does look like I will get an appt with my Dr! The first one they gave me is ten minutes before my "BIG U/S" and thus won't work because I have to be in radiology for that and I have to check in 10 minutes before my time. I have yet to figure out how to be in two places at one time so that won't work. I am just awaiting word on if there is another time available to see the Dr. hopefully that day!

Baby this week from thebump.com "Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints. " And she is the size of an onion!

This week has been an emotional on for us, obviously, with the whole Zoe thing. I have cried a lot about it but will be okay. Emotionally I am feeling better about this pregnancy and that is good. I am also looking forward to seeing the baby in a week and three days at the u/s.