Cognosco

I had an appointment with my midwife on Wednesday (and yes, it’s taken me this long to write about it). It was an appointment where she and her assistant came to my house and we did all the medical history forms, etc. and then she did a belly exam. It was really cool, and it really makes me wish that I’d made this decision sooner. When I would go to the doctor, I always had to leave a urine sample, but I didn’t know what happened to it after it disappeared behind the little metal door. The doctors never said anything about it one way or another, and I don’t even think they usually got the results before they saw me that day anyway. So I had no idea what it was used for. Well, the midwife made me pee on a stick that had several little colored squares on it and tests for things such as infection, glucose, ketones, protein, etc. 

Anyway, after I peed on the stick, she had me compare it to a little diagnostic chart of colors. So I was able to see for myself that there was a little protein in my urine (probably need more fluids), some ketones in my urine (I was hungry), and my pH was a little off (not surprising). By the way, these are not pictures I took–I simply stole them from somewhere else. None of these deviated from normal enough to be of real concern. But you have to understand that I’m an overachiever. And had I been able to see this little stick all along in pregnancy, I guarantee you I’d have been drinking enough water and whatever else was necessary to get the perfect pee-stick score.

The other thing that she gave me is a sheet to keep track of my diet. Now, having read 15+ books on pregnancy, I have had more than one opportunity to make use of a diet sheet to keep track of what I was eating. I just didn’t. And I haven’t eaten badly—I just didn’t really give it too much thought. But when someone else gives me a sheet to use, that’s different. And it’s not mandatory. She’s not going to drop me as a client if I don’t fill out the sheet. She’s not going to send me to my room, either. And besides, I could just lie on the sheet. But just the fact that someone else is encouraging me to monitor my food and actually gives a damn about my diet made me actually start using the sheet. And I’m getting more protein than I thought I was but have discovered that I just don’t eat enough grains. Period. Unless corn chips, tortillas, or white bread count. In fact, I’m lucky if I get in one whole grain serving per day, let alone FOUR. So in the past two days, when I got hungry for a 9 p.m. snack, I was able to look at the sheet and figure out something to eat that optimized the categories I hadn’t already fulfilled. I still am coming up a little short, but I refuse to eat when not hungry, so it’s a tricky balance. Nonetheless, I am already eating better than I was a week ago simply because someone asked me to pay attention.

After we did all of the medical-form-informed-consent-form-diet-sheet-agreement-to-pay stuff I laid down on my bed (which was weird but very cool) and she did a belly exam. I’d had a terrible fear that the baby was not going to turn ever since the ultrasound tech uttered the words “bicornuate uterus” at 12 weeks. Which in and of itself was not scary. Until I googled it. Oops. Don’t do that. But, apparently the baby is already head down, so I am less concerned now and can move on to obsessively worrying about other things.

Then I called my insurance companies on Thursday. The woman at the corporate office for my primary insurance said midwives were covered, but she was clueless about homebirth. And actually, I had to tell her where to find the midwife info on their own website. I talked to our insurance rep at ASU who looked at some fine print documents that said that midwives are only covered under doctor supervision and if they deliver in hospitals. Which is crap because they cover birth centers. (???). Anyway, for the form that is going to the midwife’s biller, I just wrote down what the corporate rep said because she really should be able to give me accurate information. So, United will be a crapshoot. However, I am covered under my husband’s Starbucks Aetna policy as well. So I called them too. And after asking what state I live in they said yes, without a doubt, licensed midwives are covered and so are homebirths. Which is awesome. So again, there’s one less thing for me to worry about.