Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!
Apr. 23rd, 2007 05:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tropeI got the next call from my HMO today about how my pregnancy is going. I hate to brag, since I know not everyone has been nearly this lucky, but all of my friends and family and even most of my coworkers have been remarkably respectful and open-minded about the information they share and our decisions during my pregnancy. Not so with the insurance company! They call about once a month to "see how I'm doing," which mostly means going down a checklist of questions about my conduct. It's like a phone visit with a nurse I don't know, and their "bedside manners" vary but for the most part they're pretty businesslike. For the record: they found my weight gain unremarkable (20 lb at 34 wks, for those keeping track), am pleased that my doctor has given me such a clean bill of health despite their insistence that I am "high risk". They asked me again about my illegal drug use (none, though I might have to pick up some stims if I don't get some more energy soon) and wanted to know how my move went before cautioning me not to lift anything heavy. They wanted to know the results of my alphafetoprotein test (I told them I hadn't had one) and she said pretty sharply, "You declined?" Yes, yes I did.
She asked again if I was planning to breastfeed (yes) and if the baby was going to sleep with me. I told her Bonzo would sleep in our room in a co-sleeper (since I know the Establishment's right answer to this question) and she reminded me that the baby should never sleep with me because it was very dangerous and he could suffocate or one of us could roll over on him and blah blah until visions of scary baby death were dancing in my head. That sleeping on a couch, cushion, or easy chair was never safe for a baby and that he needed to be on his back in a crib for every sleep. She asked if I knew the signs of preterm labor and said that if I felt I might be going into labor I knew I shouldn't waste time calling anyone but an ambulance, right? Right. "Because that situation could be very dangerous for both you and your baby and you'll need immediate medical attention." Right, I got it. When was my last checkup? When is my next? So I'm going twice a month now? Yep. She said that because I was "high risk" they would call me next month just to check on things, assuming I hadn't delivered the baby yet, and that I could call them any time with questions. And then she finally stopped wasting my cell phone minutes and let me go.
I understand it's really important to get some basic health facts out to women, and it is important to connect the dots between maternal health and baby's health, but I've gotten pretty mistrustful of mainstream medicine's fear of liability. I'd also love to think that they'll be just as interested in my kid when he is three years old, but I doubt they'll be calling me then. In my city we have an anti-SIDS campaign on all the buses and train advertisements that say something along the lines of, "A baby's safety starts with the wisdom of a grandmother", or something like that, and couches their advice in terms of family tradition (which is not totally accurate, but a nice effort nonetheless). It's far more effective to get baby-care advice from family or friends or someone that has built a trusting relationship with the parents instead of a telemarket-y phone call. I wonder if the HMO is vending this advice as a way to justify the fact that they only allow docs to bill 10 minutes with a patient. They should be warned that I'm far less likely to heed advice from a disembodied voice from Houston or New Delhi claiming to be a nurse, even if her name is Grace.
In other news, we had our second childbirth class last night, and once again C had to pick me up off the floor after my little freak-out about, "I'm really going to have a baby?" Then he put together the crib frame, which was made for my grandfather by his grandfather and I'm very excited about using, although it is practically at knee-level and won't be useful for more than a month or two. It's nice to have some tradition left, even if it would send Ms. HMO Nurse into a tizzy to see how wide the slats are. (Hey, it has a brand-new mattress!) And tonight I get to meet the first of the doulas, who will hopefully soothe me a little about this whole birth experience.
(crossposted to pg forum)
She asked again if I was planning to breastfeed (yes) and if the baby was going to sleep with me. I told her Bonzo would sleep in our room in a co-sleeper (since I know the Establishment's right answer to this question) and she reminded me that the baby should never sleep with me because it was very dangerous and he could suffocate or one of us could roll over on him and blah blah until visions of scary baby death were dancing in my head. That sleeping on a couch, cushion, or easy chair was never safe for a baby and that he needed to be on his back in a crib for every sleep. She asked if I knew the signs of preterm labor and said that if I felt I might be going into labor I knew I shouldn't waste time calling anyone but an ambulance, right? Right. "Because that situation could be very dangerous for both you and your baby and you'll need immediate medical attention." Right, I got it. When was my last checkup? When is my next? So I'm going twice a month now? Yep. She said that because I was "high risk" they would call me next month just to check on things, assuming I hadn't delivered the baby yet, and that I could call them any time with questions. And then she finally stopped wasting my cell phone minutes and let me go.
I understand it's really important to get some basic health facts out to women, and it is important to connect the dots between maternal health and baby's health, but I've gotten pretty mistrustful of mainstream medicine's fear of liability. I'd also love to think that they'll be just as interested in my kid when he is three years old, but I doubt they'll be calling me then. In my city we have an anti-SIDS campaign on all the buses and train advertisements that say something along the lines of, "A baby's safety starts with the wisdom of a grandmother", or something like that, and couches their advice in terms of family tradition (which is not totally accurate, but a nice effort nonetheless). It's far more effective to get baby-care advice from family or friends or someone that has built a trusting relationship with the parents instead of a telemarket-y phone call. I wonder if the HMO is vending this advice as a way to justify the fact that they only allow docs to bill 10 minutes with a patient. They should be warned that I'm far less likely to heed advice from a disembodied voice from Houston or New Delhi claiming to be a nurse, even if her name is Grace.
In other news, we had our second childbirth class last night, and once again C had to pick me up off the floor after my little freak-out about, "I'm really going to have a baby?" Then he put together the crib frame, which was made for my grandfather by his grandfather and I'm very excited about using, although it is practically at knee-level and won't be useful for more than a month or two. It's nice to have some tradition left, even if it would send Ms. HMO Nurse into a tizzy to see how wide the slats are. (Hey, it has a brand-new mattress!) And tonight I get to meet the first of the doulas, who will hopefully soothe me a little about this whole birth experience.
(crossposted to pg forum)
