OB Round-Up

Now that I am treated to bi-weekly visits to my OB's office, I think I have met most of the doctors who might be on-call when I go into labor. Unless I schedule a C-section, which I'm still undecided about for reasons that will become apparent as we Meet the Docs....

First up, Doctor Newbie, my regular doctor. Well, she's new to the practice, not necessarily to being a doctor -- although she's plenty young, so she can't be that far past her residency. I like Dr. Newbie pretty well. She's confident and knowledgeable, just a teeny bit brusque, but I can deal with that. At my first OB visit, she told me that as a practice, the doctors had all decided to schedule C-sections if one twin is breech. This is important, as we had quite a lengthy discussion about it. She told me that since not all the OBs were comfortable trying a version during labor, they had all agreed not to do it.

Next, Dr. Frownyface. She's got a good 25 years on Dr. Newbie. We didn't discuss labor and delivery because she was too busy freaking me out by scheduling a fetal fibronectin test. It was negative, for anyone interested. (Also, negative is good.) Even though I don't know Dr. Frownyface's opinion on the C-section debate, I feel pretty confident in saying that she would not be my first choice to deliver my babies (not because she ordered the test -- caution is good -- just because I didn't feel comfortable with her).

At my next visit, I met Dr. Man -- the only male OB I've met so far. According to Dr. Man, if the presenting twin is vertex, I can try for a vaginal delivery. Once that baby is delivered, he said, we'd try to turn the other one. (Really!? Reeeeeaaaallly.) His only caution to me was that I'd have to be prepared for a C-section if that baby wouldn't turn. I liked Dr. Man, he was very personable. He did, however, use a portable ultrasound machine rather than Doppler to look for the baby's heartbeats. This, he told me, is because he "has trouble" finding two separate heartbeats with the Doppler. Confidence-inspiring, yes?

Yesterday's appointment was with Dr. Amish. Another young, female doctor, which I appreciate. But... the heat index in Minneapolis has been hovering around 100 Degrees for the last several days. The air conditioning in the clinic, while effective, isn't exactly what I'd call Arctic. Yet Dr. Amish entered the exam room in a crisp white long-sleeved shirt buttoned up to her neck, a wool (!) cardigan, and a heavy black ankle-length skirt. Fortunately she is capable of using words like "cervix," or we might've had a serious problem.

Actually, in one of those ironic twists I so enjoy, Dr. Amish's one-twin-is-breech policy is the most liberal yet. Not only did she assure me that I could attempt a vaginal birth if I so chose, but she even suggested that a breech delivery of the second twin was possible if a version failed. Dude. Their staff meetings must be fascinating.

Next time I go, I'll see Dr. Newbie again, and one way or another she and I are going to have another long discussion about this. I don't feel the need to have my birth plan all set in stone right now, but I would really like to understand how I could've misunderstood her so badly at our first meeting.

As for that birth plan, I have a lot of mixed feelings. I would like to try a vaginal birth if I can. I don't want to have to recover from abdominal surgery while trying to care for three children. On the other hand, I don't want to go through labor and one vaginal birth only to need a last-minute Cesarean. That would mean having to recover from BOTH. Yuck.

There's also the argument that by scheduling the surgery, I would have some control over the timing and the doctor who would preside over the birth. Since they do have such differing opinions, it might be nice to know what to expect. And it might make things easier for Raisin if everything was scheduled. No need for a scene like, "Mommy's water just broke! Um, don't worry!"

Basically, I have no sense of The Right Decision. For now, I have decided not to decide. Procrastination rules!