WOW

Today was the day that I saw my new not-downtown-but-closer-to-home-nonetheless OB. I had already been mildly impressed by the fact that his secretary had called and left such a detailed message (complete with the doctor's Web site) on our voicemail. Was this a taste of things to come? Drum roll please...

YES!

All I can say is that I am bloody impressed! After filling out a series of never-ending forms, we had to sit for a while. That didn't bother me so much because I've learned to accept the fact that doctors are seldom on time. Sad, but true.

I scanned the waiting room. It wasn't too full. There were two couples and one woman on her own. One couple caught my eye. I would best describe them as Angelina Jolie in the movie "Hackers" married to Harry Potter. :P

In scanning the room further, I noticed that the walls were plastered with thank-you cards from his obstetrical patients. Some patients got really fancy and made him really fancy picture frames with a collage of pictures of their new-born baby. Some were just plain old thank-you cards with really nice messages thanking him and his staff for their services. My impression from seeing all of these pictures is that he really loves what he does and his patients know it too. If they didn't appreciate him as a doctor, I doubt that they would be sending him these nice pictures.

I talked to the nurse about my medical history, had my blood pressure taken, and was weighed. I was weighed on one of those old-school scales where they fiddle around with the counter-weights to figure your weight, so I couldn't read the number, and I wasn't able to steal a glance when she wrote it down. But I digress...

So, the nurse was super-nice. As far as doctor's office nurses go, she definitely didn't fit the mold of nonchalant and bitchy. In fact this was the complete opposite. She was cheerful and chatty, and definitely made me feel at home.

After waiting a bit longer, we got called into the doctor's office, where we waited a teensy bit for him. As far as doctors go, this guy is super high-tech. He had a couple of printers, a digital camera, and two LCD monitors - one facing him, and another facing his patients. Impressed I was!

Enter the doctor. Tethered to him was a med student. I'd read on his Web site that he often has med students interning with him. I think that's a fantastic idea. The doctor himself was a very pleasant British fellow - love the accent! He was very chatty and didn't at all make us feel like he was trying to push us through an assembly line of patients. After a brief chat, he told us to go to the room next door to see the baby. Pardon?

I did a bit of a double-take because, given my recent experiences, I was led to believe that only movie doctors had ultrasound machines on-site. I guess I was wrong. This doctor DID have an ultrasound machine on-site.

Since it was my first visit to his office, he did a more extensive exam. He performed an abdominal exam, did a pelvic swab (bleh), checked my heart rate, and of course, did the ultrasound. He also measured my preggo belly - apparently it's 27cm, which he deemed normal, so who am I to complain.

The ultrasound machine wasn't one of those big fancy machines that you see in the ultrasound labs. It was a bit fancier than the little laptop ultrasound that was used on me when I fell several weeks back. The setup in the room was pretty cool. There was an LCD monitor facing me as I lay on the bed. This screen was hooked up to the ultrasound machine so that I could look straight ahead rather than turn my neck to see what was on his little monitor. I have to admit that I didn't really see much, but he saw what he needed to see, so that was good enough for me. According to him, the baby is in breech position, and my placenta is apparently a posterior placenta. He wasn't too concerned over the fact that PK is in breech. After all, she has 3 months to invert herself. In the meantime, I think I'll take the advice given in my pre-natal classes and start watching TV on all fours for 10 minutes a day. Not the most elegant of positions, but if it means that I'll avoid a c-section, then so be it.

After the exam, we went back to his office where he gave us a PowerPoint presentation (!) outlining office hours, patient expectations, basic pregnancy nutrition, emergency contact information, etc. I swear this guy just kept impressing me!

Before we left, we were given a little folder with some pamphlets about the doctor, the hospital, and a hodge-podge of other things.

I think that today was the first time that I actually saw my healthcare tax dollars put to good use. It's a shame that most doctors are apathetic and treat their patients like they were part of a huge assembly line. The little things done at his office to make us feel important make a world of difference. Also knowing that I can e-mail him with questions, that there's an after-hours # where I can reach him, and that he works for an hour on some Saturdays and Sundays are nice touches. Doctors don't need to do these things, and most doctors don't. It's just nice that there's someone out there who actually cares about what he's doing.

So I guess at this point, even if an OB affiliated with a hospital closer to home happened to pop up, I don't think I'd go for it. Today's experience made me realize the value of good medical service. When you've got a good thing, you definitely don't want to throw it away.