Monday, March 26th

Wow, it's less than a month from my due date. Hope is eternal! I remember the day when Rob was violently banging his fist against the steering wheel yelling that this baby will not make it to full term, that I was going to have a c-section and this baby was going to be in the NICU. Well, this baby will be considered full term in two weeks (37 weeks); I am having a boatload of "practice" contractions and there are no indications that this baby will be in the NICU. Back in January, I held my ground firmly believing that everything was going to be okay. I wasn't in denial nor was I not listening to the counsel of my doctors. I simply had faith that everything was going to okay. This caused a lot of strife in my marriage; to the point that we did not know how we were going to stay together. In the end, Rob is getting what he wants... to have this baby at Women & Infants. I am going to pick my battles and let him "win".  I rather be happy than right. (Now if only Women & Infants would allow Pediatric ENT privileges to see newborns, then I would be fully comfortable, but that isn't going to happen.)

I should be working on my annual performance review right now but I am going to take a moment to write about the Vietnam Vet doc (perhaps tomorrow, I will write about the church situation). Since I am now going to a large OB/GYN practice again (there is about 8 docs), I decided to find out what makes each doctor tick. I think I will do this for the rest of my life when dealing with the game changers/decision makers in my life (i.e. doctors, real estate agents, lawyers...people who can really effect your quality of life or change your life). I ask them... Why did you become a OB/GYN? Dr. David Beitle (sp?) who is widely liked and respected gave this answer: I love surgery but found it to be boring. There is no thrill taking out tumors but surgically delivering babies is a lot of fun. (It makes senses that his c-section rate is 60%). Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh gave the answer: I wanted to be an OB/GYN because it encompasses much of the life cycle of women from puberty to childbearing to older women who have incontinence or reproductive cancers. Plus dealing with women has a strong psychological component to it. I like dealing with the whole woman (In my book, good answer!). At the same practice as Dr. Cavanaugh, Dr. John Bert told me an interesting story why he became an OG/GYN. He recalled his time in Vietnam being a combat surgeon. He loved the excitement of putting people back together. Once he came back to the United States, he found surgery to be less than exciting due to practical nature of taking out gall bladders and tumors, etc. He decided that surgically delivering babies was closer to his experience in Vietnam. (Yikes! I hope he doesn't have a flash back when I am on the table). Next week, I am going to meet the doctor who is scheduled to deliver this baby via Gentle C-section; pray tell she has a good reason on why went into this line of work.