36 Week Doctor Appointment Continued...

So to complete the post about my 36 week doctor appointment... I didn't stop having contractions that day. In fact, shortly after that, Dale came home to take me up to the hospital. I called the hospital first to see what they thought I should do. They told me the best bet was to just go ahead and come in and they could hook me up to the monitor to check and make sure, so that is what we did. After all was said and done, it was a complete waste of my time.

We arrived at the hospital and went straight up to labor and delivery. When we got to the nurse's station we told them that I thought I was having contractions and that I had leaked a little bit, so we weren't sure what was going on. They told us that we would have to wait because both of their triage rooms were full right then, so they sent us to the waiting room and told us they would be with us shortly. Well, shortly turned into 20 minutes, which of was 20 minutes of waiting that I didn't mind too much because I wasn't in pain, just uncomfortable. Dale on the other hand was getting extremely irritated. So he went back up to the nurse's station and asked them what was going on and how much longer it was going to be. They told him not much longer and that they were cleaning up room right then and would come get me in a minute. Well that minute turned into another 25 minutes. We were fixing to get up and leave when they finally came to get us. We had to wait 45 minutes! By that time I was irritated.

When we got to the room the nurse had me change, and left the room for another 10 minutes before they came back in to hook the monitor up to my belly. At that point it was a different nurse, a RN by the name of Cynthia Popejoy. Her name is important because this nurse is by far the rudest, most incompetent, unprofessional nurse I have ever met. When she came in she asked what was going on and I explained everything to her. She then told me that if I wasn't in a lot of pain that I couldn't be in labor because contractions would be making me bend over in pain. I told her, no not necessarily because I was put on bed rest because I was in labor and that my contractions that the doctor said I was having then were lighter than the pains I was currently feeling.

She then hooked me up to the monitor and proceeded to pretty much explain to me how being pregnant worked and treated Dale and I like we were stupid and had no clue what was going on or what we were talking about which really started to irritate me. I don't need to be told to come into the hospital to be treated like a 5 year old. Throughout the conversation with her I kept telling her, "Yeah I know" thinking she would get the point that she didn't need to explain everything to me. I also told her that Dr. Fletcher is the one who put me on bed rest, that Dr. Fletcher took me off of the medicine, and that Dr. Fletcher and I had already discussed everything that was going on with me being in pre-term labor so early.

The nurse then asked if we were wanting to have Brooklyn that day. Dale and I both told her no, but if I was in labor and she was coming that there was nothing we could do about it and that I was scheduled to be induced on the 2nd anyway. She then went into a whole tangent about the risks of having Brooklyn early and treated us like we weren't aware of the fact that she could have under developed lungs. She continued saying that she might be under developed and have to be put in NICU for weeks before they would release her and that NICU was at Norman and that I needed to be aware of the fact that if she came early that I might not be able to be with her and that she would be taken away.

By now I was about to snap. I told her that I was fully aware of the risks and that Dr. Fletcher and I had already discussed everything that was going on and what the risks were, but that we were also sure that if she did come, she wouldn't have to be put in NICU because of her weight and that Dr. Fletcher was inducing me in less than a week anyway.

So then the nurse checked my cervix to see how dilated I was, which, usually when Dr. Fletcher does this, it's uncomfortable, but it doesn't hurt. When nurse Popejoy did it, IT HURT! It hurt so bad that it made me cry. When she was done I told her what Dr. Fletcher had told me I was dilated to that morning. The nurse then tried to tell me that the doctor was wrong and I wasn't as far as she said. The nurse was trying to play my doctor, which is a big no no. Dr. Fletcher is the only one that I trusted telling me anything about my condition or my baby.

The nurse then asked me if I was having anymore contractions. I told her yes, that I felt like I was having one at the time. She looked at the monitor and said "Well I don't see where you are having on right now. We'll keep you hooked up a little bit longer though and I will go call your doctor and see what she wants to do. We will probably keep you hooked up for about an hour and then just send you home." She then left to room for about 10 minutes before returning. When she returned she told us that the doctor was going to go ahead and release me and that I was going to be sent home, even though I was still having what I thought were contractions.

Then the real bomb dropped. This nurse then asked me "So why were you wanting to have the baby today?" I told her "I wasn't wanting to have the baby today." She then said "Well that isn't what you told me a second ago."

That was it! I snapped! I told her " No what I told you was that if she came today then she comes. I told you that my doctor has scheduled me to be induced next week and that there is nothing I can do about it and honestly, it pisses me off that you come in here accusing me of trying to have my baby early when it s the doctors orders that I am going to be induced next week. I don't appreciate you coming in here and treating us like we are stupid when you guys were the ones that told us to come in the first place so I could be monitored because I wasn't sure if I was having contractions!!" I'm pretty sure I said a few other things too, but that was about the gist of it. The nurse didn't say another word and just had me sign my papers and walked out of the room.

I was SO mad that I was shaking. I could not believe that they would accuse me of coming into the hospital just to try to have Brooklyn early. If it were up to me she wouldn't have come as early as she did! My fluid count was low in the first place, which was the whole reason the doctor wanted her here no later than the 2nd of December. So I got dressed and left. As Dale and I were walking out I heard nurse Popejoy saying something to the other nurses about how I was being induced at 37 weeks like it was my choice.

That experience with the nurse and Moore Medical Center was the final straw for me. I called my doctors office to see if Dr. Fletcher practiced anywhere else because I did NOT want to have Brooklyn there. They told me no, that she doesn't. I informed them of what had just happened and they said that they would make sure that nurse Popejoy was not on my case and that she would have nothing to do with Brooklyn or be allowed anywhere near her. The doctors office then went through and answered my questions about how I was feeling and what I needed to watch out for in case I went into real labor which to hospital neglected to do.

I then called the patient liaison and filed a formal complaint against to nurse as well and informed them that if it wasn't for the fact that their hospital was the only facility my doctor practiced at that I would not be returning there. This wasn't the first bad experience I had with their facility. Now that I have had Brooklyn, I don't ever plan on going back to that hospital. I also learned from my stay in the hospital giving birth that their monitors for the contractions don't always pick up the contractions. So I very well could have been having contractions that day and the monitor just wasn't positioned right to pick them up.

So that was how the rest of my day went for November 25th. I'm sure there is something that I am forgetting to talk about from that day, but this post is long enough as it is and I have too many other good things to move on to and talk about. Just avoid nurse Cynthia Popejoy if you have to go to Moore Medical Center to have a baby!!

Love,
Jennifer