Friday, March 31, 2006

The Mean Lady in the White Coat

From Friday to Saturday I gained 4 lbs, which can only be a result of water retention from the Vietnamese food we ate on Saturday.

Background: I have always been, shall we say 'weight conscious', some might even say obsessive, maybe even a touch of body dimorphic-ness.
I work out, we have no car and therefore I walk everywhere the T can't take me. Bottom line, I get my workout on.

This morning I woke up puffy, but nothing unusual--my rings still fit.

We walked to the train. I sat on the train and watched my fingers turn into sausages.

This had me a bit worried and had me thinking I had a raging case of preeclampsia.

I get to work, call the clinic and they tell me to come in immediately to see a Dr.--my midwife wasn’t in today.

Background: My opinion of MIT medical? Let's just say I don't much care for it. Bedside manners have a lot to be desired there, which is why I went with a midwife, and even that decision wasn't without it’s problems (The downs syndrome scare of 2006).

So I get to the clinic this morning and the nurse says it's weighing time. I told her I had divorced the scale but she begged to differ. The number was as I expected.

Background: I decided last Sunday night that the next morning's 20 week appointment was going to be the time I rebel against the scale. After himming and haaing about my Vietnamese water weight, I decided to divorce the Drs office scale. At my appointment I declared "You will not be weighing me from this appointment forward". The nurse was of course a bit taken aback but I felt totally justified because my first visit with my midwife she told me that if I ever got to a point where seeing the scale numbers was too much to bear that they would just stop weighing me. She let me know that this was very unconventional in MIT's eyes and the Drs at MIT are very old school. She told me that there is no evidence that weighing expectant mothers does any good--they don't usually do anything with the numbers except berate you if they're too high. She said they don't weight in the UK and as long as it's clear I'm not starving, which it is, then I can decide to take the scale or leave it.

I'm put in a room for the usual extended Dr. wait time. She finally arrives.

Question: What's the first thing she says to me?

Answer: "Gaining too much weight, that's your problem." "You need to see a nutritionist and exercise." I wanted to cry but held it together. What this has to do with the puffiness and water retention I called about, I have no idea.

She ordered some lab tests which she said were unnecessary because there's nothing wrong with me other than gaining too much weight.

I go to the lab. They draw the blood. I leave the lab and blood starts gushing out of my arm, dripping all over the floor. They put me in the emergency room until I stop blood letting.

The blood didn't freak me out but the people in the ER thought I was clearly shaken because they could see I was teary-eyed. What they didn't know what that it was because of the meany in the white coat who made me feel like Miss Piggy.

On the way back to my office someone asked me if I was due in May--don't I wish jerk!

The End.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

cenjnThey do weigh you in Germany...but would never suggest anything about too much weight gain. Stick in there!There are many mean people out there...just be glad you aren't one of them! Good luck from a mother of four!

nancy said...

Excuse me? Gaining too much weight? My midwife would die of shame at this comment. She told me that I should never, never worry about the weight. Just eat healthy, walk, and have fun. Take it from me - I once gained 8 pounds in 1 week! We have always been very similar...:-)