PPD Test... is it safe for me?

Well, this seems to be the question of the week for me.  It all started with Part I of my physical exam required for my employment at Samaritan Hospital.  Employees are required to take a PPD (Tuberculosis) test unless otherwise noted by their physician.  I was advised by my future director to discuss the PPD test with my OB to determine if it's safe during pregnancy.  The director has indicated that other employees had opted to wait until after their babies were born to have the test done.  So I went online to do some research and found some sites that stated the test was completely safe and valid during pregnancy.  Other sites recommended against having the test because they stated it was a Class C injection, which meant that animal reproduction testing had not been done for the substance.  I also talked with a friend who is a nurse who told me that she waited with both of her pregnancies to have the test done.  Now, I've always taken a "better safe than sorry" approach to my pregnancies so I decided not to get the test done.  No problem, right?!?  WRONG!!!  I went to my routine OB visit on Friday and everything went fine, despite the rather monotone bedside manner of my physician, until I asked him to write a note excusing me from the test.  He refused to write the note and explained that the test was completely safe and he felt he couldn't lie and recommend that I not have it done.  

Well, needless to say, I was extremely upset when I left the office.  I'd had problems with scheduling of appointments with the practice in the past and was met with resistance by my doctor at another occasion and ultimately felt that I couldn't trust that my doctor would be on my side and communication with me throughout the pregnancy.  So I choose to request my medical records and now I'm in the process of finding a different OB and a different hospital.  I'm so frustrated because I feel like I've gone out of my way to ensure that everything goes smoothly with my doctor's office, yet it seems that no matter how much I try, it all ends up a mess anyway!  I just hope that I can find a doctor soon that will be supportive and informative so that I don't have to worry about all of this crap!  The doctors that delivered Alex and Emily gave me a hard time about WHERE I was going to deliver and tried to scare me into going to Albany Med instead of St. Peter's.  I even had to lie to my OB when I was in labor with Emily because she was arguing with me at 2am about which hospital we were meeting at (despite the fact that I made it VERY clear during the prior 9 months where I would be going).   I had hoped so much that I wouldn't have to deal with that sort of thing for this pregnancy, but sadly, it seems that with the way our healthcare system is run these days, my hopes may never be a reality.

First OB Appointment

Well, today I had my first OB appointment and it was somewhat anticlimactic. Since I'm a new patient to my doctor's office, I wasn't sure of ALL that I could expect from the appointment. The doctor seemed nice enough, although very monotone and serious, and the nurse was very friendly and chipper. The doctor was relatively thorough in going over my medical history and following our discussion, he completed the exam. He said that it seemed as though I'm around 8 weeks along and so he wouldn't even attempt to look for a heartbeat with the Doppler since he would likely NOT hear one (the instrument usually isn't sensitive enough to pick it up until 10 weeks). He scheduled me for an ultrasound next week just to get an accurate due date and check things out. So I walked away from the office, happy that I met the doctor and encouraged by his promptness in getting me in to the exam room, but disappointed that I didn't get to even hear a heart beat. Oh well, I guess it will be worth the wait another couple of days to get an ultrasound and see everything and hear a heart beat that way! Another disappointment - I learned today that they do not allow videography during delivery..... something that I was hoping to capture in a relatively non-graphic form since I wasn't allowed to tape Alex's birth and we accidentally taped over Emily's arrival! Hmmm..... Maybe I can get my sister to somehow sneak some shots of labor.... (wink wink) if she's there with us!

Update on Medical appointments

Well, we've had a busy month (and it's not over yet) for follow-ups on medical issues but this seems to be the month to clear the air! Alex had his 6 year old checkup a couple of weeks ago with his pediatrician and everything seems to be normal. We brought Alex on Tuesday morning to Dr. Bulford to get the lab results and follow-up on the minor lesion removal from his lower lip. Dr. Bulford said that, as suspected, the lesion was a mucoscele which he described as a spit gland that got clogged with saliva. He said it shouldn't recur and we don't need to see him again. Also, this afternoon, we visited with Dr. Cevera (ENT) to re-check Alex's ears. Several months ago, Alex developed fluid in his ears that caused a very mild hearing loss. It's taken many months of wait and see and a long course of Nasonex, but today the doctor said that all of the fluid is finally gone (Yay... no tubes!) and that we'll just re-check again in 3-4 months to be certain that the fluid hasn't come back. He'll go back to the doctor in January which will be a good time since that would probably be the timeframe (cold season) for the fluid to come back if it were going to.

And lastly, I have my first prenatal visit with my new OB/GYN doctors this coming Monday. I'm excited about the first visit. Although it's all sort of "old hat" for me, this last pregnancy will be different in some ways. The first difference is that this baby will be born at St. Mary's Birthing Center instead of at St. Peter's Hospital and the doctors/midwives that will deliver the baby will be from a different practice. My first appointment next week has been scheduled a little early (with my last two pregnancies, I didn't have the first appt. until I was about 10 weeks along) and so I'm not sure that they will do much more than review my medical history and confirm the pregnancy with a test. Normally they'd listen to the baby's heartbeat but, again, I don't think you can hear it until around 10 weeks so I'm not getting my hopes up for anything too exciting. I should be about 7 weeks pregnant at my first appointment and if my calculations are correct, the estimated due date is May 19th, 2009.