Appointment Annoyance (05/02/13)

Yesterday was supposed to be the first of many happy prenatal doctors’ appointments. What actually happened was far from it.  The purpose of the appointment was to get a referral to an OBGYN.  The reason is, our doctor does not deliver babies.  This is a question we covered ages ago.  Everywhere I called and asked on what I need to do, ie maternity clinics, and OBGYN offices, was to go to my family doctor and get a referral.  It was what should have been a simple task.  It ended with me vibrating from anger for wasting both Deb’s and my time, which we had to take off work. 

Our doctor knows we were trying to get pregnant via fertility clinic, as we had some hassle in the beginning of this journey getting the required referral to the fertility clinic from him in the first place.  His original stance was that, we don’t have any fertility issues per se, so he couldn’t refer us to the clinic.  Even though I had talked with the fertility clinic and they assured me I did need a referral, and I mentioned this to our doctor point blank.  He just said, you don’t need it, so I won’t give it to you.  “Just give them a call” he said.  Well when I called the fertility clinic back they assured me I needed the referral, our technical fertility issue is we DON’T HAVE SPERM.  So we had to go back to our doctor, explain again that we did need a referral.  The second appointment he gave us one.  Talk about annoying start to the process. 

At some point last week, Deb and I were in our doctor’s office getting refills of prescriptions.  At which appointment we discussed the most recent insemination and the fact that hopefully we would be coming in for a referral for a doctor that deliver’s babies.  It was at this point he could have mentioned what was needed to be done.  Alas, he did not. 

That brings us to yesterday’s appointment, and I’m positive a lot of my anger is enhanced by the pregnancy hormone.  That doesn’t change the fact that I left fuming. 

We book the appointment for first thing in the morning so both Deb and I could make it to the appointment to discuss which doctor I was getting referred to, etc.  Even though it was early, we both had to miss work to make it to this appointment.  But in our heads it was worth the time off.  We wait for our appointment, which was delayed because our doctor took a personal call on his cell.  Not a big issue, we were excited to be talking about baby doctors, so it didn’t matter at the time. 

Once we finally got to the appointment and told him I was pregnant, and we needed a referral to an OBGYN.  This is when he said he needed a letter from the fertility clinic saying they did the IUI, to deem this pregnancy as high risk.  I explained that the IUI does not automatically deem this high risk, there are unfortunately a few factors that he can choose from (weight, asthma, crohns), but the IUI does not.  He was then raising his voice saying he NEEDED the letter or certificate from the fertility clinic saying they did the IUI. 

I tried to move past that and said, do you want to order blood work to show that I am pregnant, or something.  He then said I need to book my first prenatal appointment with him, which he will do the Pap test, and exam and all the blood work order, and ultra sound order.  But he needed the letter from the clinic first, and he won’t order the blood work until after he does the exam. 

This is something he could have easily explained on our previous visit, but didn’t.  He raised his voice unnecessarily.  I tried to remain calm throughout that appointment, but as we left I was vibrating with his demeanour, and the waste of our time.

Before leaving the office we booked our first “prenatal” appointment for Tuesday, once again having to miss work. I also have two calls into the fertility clinic (one today and one yesterday) to try and get this letter he wants, but no one has returned my call, as of yet.