Dr. Doom

I have a Dr. Doom visit tomorrow. I am getting increasingly more and more nervous about it. I don't know why, I just am.

A friend of mine said that it is time for him to get another name. He's no longer doom and gloom she said...I can't bring myself to rename him. He is always doom and gloom to me. On the days that I get good news, I still feel like I have managed to sneak away without him really knowing who I was. Had he known, surely he would have told me bad news. (I am not saying what I think is logical, it's just what I think.) On top of that, I NEVER go into that office without EXPECTING some sort of major drama. Sigh.

It is a bit interesting that I would think this way about him when you consider that he is only in the exam room for a VERY short time. Most of the appointments are spent with the techs. They take the measurements. They are the ones to answer my questions about what lengths and sizes. I like most of the techs...but not all of them. Anyway, Doom only pops in for approximately 5.3 seconds at the very end of the appointment. That is when he'll say, "All looks good. See you in 2-3 weeks." or "Life as you know it is over and you totally suck at this whole pregnancy thing." Okay. He might not say the last thing exactly, but you know what I mean.

I hate going to these appointments alone. I always try to get Is.aac to go with me. Some of our biggest fights during this pregnancy have happened around these stupid appointments. He doesn't get it, especially now that things seem to be going well. He thinks I should be going on my own and not have a problem with it. I. Just. Can't. Bring. Myself. To.

The man, this Dr. Doom, instills a fear in me like no other person.

For comparison, the neurosurgeon I also fear, is about three or four levels below Dr. Doom. Now that should tell you something.

There is not much I can do about it. Going to another peri would mean traveling at least an hour north or south. Plus, I'd have to fight with my insurance company to get someone else covered. Doom is literally my only choice around here.

That is why everyone else I know has to go to him, too.

My poor neighbors were subjected to his treatment. He treated them a bit different, in that he would NOT say anything to them at all, just send reports to their OB to interpret. The message was the same, though. Your pregnancy is doomed. In the end, I guess he had called it correctly. While the pregnancy went to just before term, poor No.ah was very, very sick. Doom didn't know exactly why, but I suppose that didn't matter.

Is.aac's cousin is also going to Doom.

She is just three days behind me in her pregnancy--a complete surprise as she was not supposed to be able to get pregnant again. Her last pregnancy, over 8 years ago, ended in premature delivery at 33 weeks and 5 surgeries in the months that followed. She developed sepsis from retained placenta after delivery and was later diagnosed with placenta accreta. She did not have a hysterectomy but came close. In the end, she was left with a lot of scarring. Not exactly the best place to grow a baby.

In the beginning, she went to Doom to check to see if the placenta of this pregnancy looked like it was growing in a safe place. At 19 weeks, all looked good she said, but she did say that the tech mentioned that she was starting to funnel. Doom said that was fine because her cervix was long and closed. Um...okay. He didn't want her back for 8 weeks! I was shocked by that. She had funneling and he didn't want her back?

At 26 weeks, she went to the OB for cramping that was bothering her. Yep, contractions at 5 minutes apart. OB (same one I go to) put her on terbutaline and sent her back to Doom. Surprise, when she got to Doom's office, she had virtually no cervix and was FUNNELED. Duh. Oh, and let's not forget that she is a finger tip dilated. Doom put her on complete bed rest, gave her procardia, and told her to take P17 shots. Okay...

Fast forward again to 29 weeks, her cervix is holding, but now she is not dilated a finger tip. Doom tells her that she misunderstood the tech. Yes, the tech is the one who told her, so it had to be wrong. Oh, but now the baby has the cord around her neck. He'll see her next week. The tech suggested she start having NSTs each week to be safe. Doom didn't tell her that, though. He acted like it was no big deal.

While the cousin's situation is not the same, it is eerily similar to what I went through. It was one crisis after another, yet when you'd expect him to act, he didn't. In my case, at 16 weeks, he scares me into the amnios and then tells me the cramping I am having afterward is BHs. Oops, you have a cervix of 1.2 at 20 weeks and have funneled! Get yourself to the OB and have him stitch you! Then he tells me that I didn't rupture my membranes at 26 weeks, but wait! SURPRISE! The very next week I am told your water is low on Baby A--head to the hospital immediately. Maybe you did rupture...

Ugh. You can see why I don't trust the man.

My OB said that all would be great until Dr. Doom threw a shit bomb on the table and put me on bed rest. The OB acted like I'd get little warning before it happened. That is how I am thinking about this appointments.

I am waiting for Doom to take his shit...

I'll update tomorrow after the appointment. Fingers crossed that Doom's feeling constipated.

(Man, this was longer than I thought it would be.)