Let me start by saying that the paperwork packet that they give you to complete before going in is stupid - most of the crap I had no idea what they were talking about and the other half was medical history that you aren't sure if they are referring to yourself or to your family's (or hubby's) medical history... IDK why I felt so confused by the 20 odd pages, but other than sign-here and date I really wanted to skip most of it for fear that I was filling out the wrong information... Plus with the REI clinic having put me on Thyroid and Blood Pressure meds, I was a little concerned that I might be categorized wrong while filing out all the blanks?? I mean yes my blood pressure when seeing the REI folks is always sky high, but when taking it at home or seeing my primary care it was "normal" or only slightly high... and the thyroid thing I'm still lost on altogether since I was told it was "normal" for a non-preg the 1st time and second was "normal" for a preg... so why am I on meds again?
Anyways, must show up 30 minutes early for what's going to be a 2-3 hour appt - I'm thinking that either they'd better have some snacks for us or my stomach is going to be trying to outdo whoever would be speaking to my group... so I had stuck a couple granola bars in my purse, just in case of course, but ended up not needing them because breakfast stuck around long enough to make it through the lovely tutorial...
Show gets started with them handing us multiple sheets of survey questions to fill out along with forms for "opting in" for programs such as Relay Health and Center Care (which I'm still not sure what that is, but ok) or to extend our current coverage insurance through Tri-Care, which I'm going to guess is for those that are on the way out of the army?? We also got a packet of information and a little booklet that the nurse refers to several times as the pregnancy bible, apparently this "bible" is the only book we'll ever need to answer any question we could have about a normal pregnancy so if we'd bought another book we should look into returning it... Right! Next we are treated to several speakers talking about the standards and phone numbers to call for what situation, bet money that over half the group calls the emergency number for everything and the other half never calls a single number for anything until it's time for baby to come... they also "pointed" us around the hospital for different appt areas instead of having an actual tour of the floor. Last we are shown a video on how to quieten a crying baby using the 5 S's (Swaddle, Side/Stomach, Shhhing, Sucking) as they call each individual to the back to confirm what options that they would like to opt-in or out of... Unfortunately for me this also included a note to go to the lab for 8 vials of blood drawn.
All in all - to me this was an utter waste of time!! Everything that they gave us or had us fill out could have easily been done at the first appt while the nurse was taking vitals (well other than the video and the blood draw)... Best part of the day was being lazy about getting ready this morning to go since I didn't need to be out the door for an extra hour later than normal - AND - Olive Garden for lunch!! Yum!!!
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