Uglyhead

We are technically on standby for the induction tomorrow. We got a call around four-thirty today from the person who handles our obstetrician’s schedule. She said that East Ridge was full and that we would need to call at 4:00 AM to see if they had a bed available. If not, then we would have to deliver on Monday because the doctor is going out of town for the weekend. Needless to say, Pamela and I were frustrated and angry.

The situation has since been ironed out to where we are at the top of the waiting list and are likely to get a bed at some point tomorrow. If the labor goes beyond 11:00 PM, then we will get a different doctor to see us through the birth. Hopefully it will not come to that, as we did not know the doctor who delivered Aidan (and would not recommend him). Pamela’s doctor did deliver Isabel, and she is absolutely wonderful at what she does. I just wish that we could say the same about her office crew. For the most part they are great, but it only takes one rotten apple to ruin the bunch.

***WARNING: The remainder of this post constitutes a rant.***

There are several reasons why a seemingly simple schedule change caused us so much grief and concern. The fact that out of town family was in route was frustrating, but has nothing to do with real reasons why were mad. The first problem was that the person lied to one of us. I asked her if Erlanger was full, to which she responded yes. When Pam asked the same question, the answer was that she did not have authority to contact another hospital. Only the doctor could make that call and she happened to be home already. It sounded to me like someone else wanted to be home, too.

The second (and main) problem was that an assumption was made by the office clerk that this was just some sort of run-of-the-mill induction, as if a few days delay did not matter. Did she expect us to say, “Oh, sure. That’s fine. We just felt like having a baby tomorrow, but we can do it next week, too. Thanks, and bye-bye. Have a good weekend!”

What seems to have occured is that East Ridge called the person at the doctor’s office to say that they were full, who in turn called us without first consulting the doctor. In my opinion this was a huge mistake (and the O.B. did apologize for it later). We had all sorts of medical questions that the clerk was not qualified to answer! I’m off my blood-thinner medication, how long can I wait before re-dosing? The amniotic fluid levels were getting lower last week, don’t I need to see the high-risk specialist before Monday rolls around? We don’t care who delivers or where it is, so long as the baby is safe…that’s why we’re inducing at thirty-eight weeks, so can we move this to another hospital?

You hear about clerical errors happening in hospitals all of the time that cause unnecessary deaths. What if we were pushovers and just accepted what the scheduler said? What if we had not had the foresight of mind to call back and demand to speak to the doctor or her nurse? Why on earth would we see two separate doctors a week during the last trimester for a condition that threatens both the life of the mother and the child, only to get lax in the last days? Something could go wrong with Pam’s blood levels (i.e., blood clot), or the amniotic fluids might reach a critical low, while we waited over the weekend. It is also interesting that this is the very same person who we have had to repeatedly contact to get our specialist referrals straightened out. It all makes me wonder what we would do if another child came along. Would we switch doctors? Maybe. If you love your doctor, but the office is poorly run, then perhaps you ought to be asking yourself the same questions.