The anti-climatic consultant's app

So, we had our consultant's appointment scheduled for Tuesday, 15th Jan at 2.20pm. We turned up, with very high hopes that we'd get a possible birth-date for the blue pea, and possibly the opportunity to discuss birth plans, how a typical c-section goes and what we need to know. None of that happened.

For one, we didn't even get to see the consultant we were booked in to see. We saw one of his minions.... who was possibly one of the worst doctors I've ever met (and that's saying alot).

We got to the hospital on time - waited at reception to be told what to go and what to do (I'd never been for a consult at this hospital before!). The receptionist ignored me (she was doing something else, but hey, she could have acknowledged my presence?!). The husband then turned up and she then paid attention. hmph. She asked my name and obviously since my married surname doesn't quite relate to the colour of my skin, she asked then to confirm my details (never had to do that before?!). She asked if I'd brought a wee sample with me - no I did not. She then went into this long spiel as to why we need to bring a sample everytime we have an ante-natal visit. But, we weren't going to see the midwife - we had an appointment with the consultant! I didn't know we had to bring a wee sample anyway! Oh well. So she gave me a bottle to wee in and told me where to go and wait.

We saw a midwife and all she did was take my blood pressure, and tested the wee - both of which were fine. Then we got told where to wait to see the consultant. I was still very bouyant about the whole meeting thinking that we'd be able to speak to him finally.

Whilst waiting our turn, I saw this man who looked like a doctor walking around with my hospital notes (I knew for sure that they were my notes because of various things I had filed in them). He walked around for about 20 minutes and kept popping his head into various consultant rooms. He finally called my name and I realised with a sinking heart that he was going to take this particular appointment. I should have been more assertive and asked why I wasn't going to see Mr Bel, but I didn't.

Anyway, during that consult, amongst other things, he suggested that I should be admitted there and then (!? 4 weeks before my c-section?!), I will have a very high chance of being knocked out with General Anaesthetic and therefore D won't be allowed in with me into the theatre (?!) and when we asked why, he said it's because I'll be bleeding. However, when I asked more, he admitted that I wouldn't be bleeding anymore than any other woman undergoing the same procedure - since my placenta was posterior and not anterior (ie, they won't have to cut through the placenta to get to the baby). He also suggested that we will have an internal scan in 2 weeks time (?! strange since I'm not supposed to have an internal anything due to the risk of bleeding) and that we'll then decide when to have the c-section at that meeting. Oh, and the final thing he said was, that the blue pea can come out safely as of now (34 weeks) since he'll be very viable, and therefore, he's not too concerned if we did the c-section at weeks 37 or 38 or 39. I said, yes I understand what you are saying but shouldn't we try and keep the baby in there for a longer period so that he has the opportunity to put on some weight and fat and basically be more 'normal'...? He said, "we're not concerned about baby's weight from now". And I thought, what a load of toss! It can't be right since so many publications, both lay and medical say that the bigger the baby, or the closer to term the baby is, the safer the baby is, plus his chances of developing illnesses as he grows up are lessened! (e.g. heart defaults, etc).

If this didn't concern a major operation, I would have liked so dearly to punch him in the face and given him a piece of my mind!

Thankfully though, when we left the room, Mr Bel, the consultant that I was supposed to see was about and I went to say hello to him and tell him about the consult that I'd just had! Told him about how his colleague was trying to scare me into staying in hospital from then - he completely contradicted his colleague there and then and said that I didn't have to stay at all (not from yesterday at least!) and that this was something that I probably would have had to do say 10-15 years ago, when medicine wasn't so advanced, when not all families had cars etcetc. And to drive home the point, he asked jokingly whether I could file and type letters because his office was in a mess, and if I was to stay for the next 4 weeks I could make myself useful by helping him tidy up his office. I retorted and said that actually, my own office needed tidying up and I needed a secretary to do that for me! So, there's that.

The good news is, I get to see Mr Bel (I am so going to kick up a fuss if it's this other person - heck as long as it's not this person, I don't care who I see) in 2 weeks time and hopefully it'll be a good consult then. I also have fortnightly appointments with the midwife now, so it looks like I will be seeing a medical person every week from now on, which is good.

grr - I was not impressed... I hope we'll do better next appointment!

On a separate note - re friend from NCT, it turns out that she had spent a very long time in labour at the birthing unit (as opposed to consultant-led hospital) and they then transferred her to the consultant-led hospital when her labour wasn't progressing. She was there for about an hour, when the baby's heartbeat suddenly plummetted and they then decided to have an emergency c-section. And that was when the baby was stillborn. It's soooo sad. Not sure what one can say under such circumstances... that they should have gone to the consultant-led unit from the start? That they should have been transferred earlier? That they should have had a caesarean earlier?

Pam and the blue pea
34+2 weeks