Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

If I had been going through problem after problem, throwing up, bed-rest, high blood pressure, baby weight scares…ANY of that…I’m guessing that Karma would have evened things out and made the rest of the process pretty pain free, right? Well, I didn’t deal with any of that, so guess who Karma is kicking in the butt now?!

Jon and I took most of Saturday to attend a birthing class at the lovely Salt Lake Regional Hospital. Aside from the general feeling of “whoah!  I can’t do that!” at the end of the six hour class, it was very educational and we felt good about the hospital. The staff are great, the nurses know their stuff, the birthing rooms are even pretty plush. All the rooms have private bathrooms equipped with jetted tubs for relieving stress, dvd and cd players to assist in whatever mood you wanted to set while in labor, as well as several rooms that have two beds in them so that dad can sleep next to you during the whole stay and not have to go home and leave you lonely and solo every night. They also have an in-room policy, which means that, unless there are complications, even the baby gets to stay in the room in her little rolling crib thing…unless you need the break and ask the nurses to take her for a babysitting break at the Nursery…so right from the beginning, the whole family can be together and keep mom boosted and calm. During the lunch break from class we stopped at the reception desk and pre-registered. We filled out paperwork and got our insurance on file so that when we are in labor we won’t have to go through all of that stuff and can go strait to our room. We even tested out the cafeteria in the basement for a lunch break, and they were pretty great! If the hospital food sucked for one of my meals, Jon promised to head downstairs for me and bring back a burger or a coke or something from the deli. I can handle that! Despite the ick factor of what my body actually has to do to get this kid to come into the world…and that’s a BIG ick after all is said and done…we felt better knowing that the location and the people would ease the whole process. Life was pretty good on Saturday.

Monday was our next big visit to the doctor. She checked me all out and everything is still progressing normally. Baby is good. Blood pressure, good. Diet, just right because I only gained one pound, which is exactly what the doctor likes to see. Heartbeat normal. She even said that some of the aches I’d been having in a less than happy place were totally textbook because it was the hormones kicking in to soften ligaments and bones down in the birth canal over the next and final month which will make it possible for baby to make her appearance. Okay. So the feeling of splitting in two is okay? Yes. If you say so! She felt the bump and said that baby was even head-down, at least that day, so we were right on schedule and if I went into labor any time now we’d be fine. I asked my questions and we had some good give-and-take about how the whole thing is going to go and what to expect. She even told me NOT to come back for two weeks if I didn’t want to because she was busy and I am progressing so well that I don’t need to be there every few days like some of her patients. Okay! She had no worries. Thanks, doc!

She did notice something in my paperwork after the examination that peaked her interest though. She wondered why we had put down that we were delivering at Salt Lake Regional. I gave her the reasons and let her know that we’d really enjoyed the tour over the weekend and then she paused and asked if our insurance had changed. No, still the same thing we’ve had from the very beginning. “Uh…that insurance isn’t accepted at Salt Lake Regional.” WHAT?! She started to explain that we could call…that we SHOULD call…and check with the hospital because she was 99.9% sure that Salt Lake Regional wouldn’t take Select Health. “But…YOU take Select health and you deliver at Salt Lake Regional…the little receptionist at the desk didn’t say a word! She copied our card and we thought it was all good to go!” Doc was adamant, and wished that it wasn’t so, but told me to call asap and make sure so that we didn’t just show up at Regional and then get stuck with a huge bill that we had to pay out of pocket. She said that the receptionist should have told us during the birthing class that the insurance we had wasn’t acceptable with them. Doc also assured me that she delivers at LDS Hospital and she knew that THEY accepted our insurance, so she suggested that we call them and take a tour and get things registered there so that we didn’t have any problems with them come the day of delivery.

Crap.

I couldn’t process it all at that moment, so I just told her I’d take care of it, and then once I was dressed again and on my way to the car I called Jon and burst into tears. I’d asked the doc who we gave our birthing plan to, and she said to just give it to her because she would send it over to the hospital with our prenatal file when we were ready to come in for the birth. Okay. Then she asked what our birthing plan WAS so that she could be in on it ahead of time, but I couldn’t go into detail because if the whole hospital had changed, then maybe our birth plan had too! If they don’t have the jetted tubs or procedures about music, walking, and cutting the cord at LDS Hospital like they had a Regional I was back at square one and I didn’t know what our plan was any more. I just punted and told her that I couldn’t remember it all right then, and that my husband had the plan, so I’d get it from him and bring it with me to the next visit. Jon was very sweet and just let me vent it all out, but then I was back at my office and had to get it under control so that I could work for another couple of hours before heading home. I knew that he had a lot of work to do himself, so I didn’t want to burden him, but when Jon offered to call around and find out what we needed to do, I about took him up on it. It was later in the afternoon at that point though, so I told him that we’d deal with it the next day, not stress with it any more right then.

I was all of a sudden so tired and depressed because we’d felt so ahead of the game but now we were losing ground. We’d done everything that needed to be done. We’d checked things off our lists. After that birthing class all we had to do was wait until the baby came. It’s not like each hospital requires that you take the class over again, so that’s still finished, but at this stage in the game any steps backwards are bad steps. The other drama is that everyone that we know that has ever dealt with LDS Hospital has nothing but bad things to say about them. The word on the street is that they’re crowded, short-handed, and just not as roomy or plush as any other hospital. No one that we talked to really raved about Regional either, but given the comparison, everyone said that at least Regional would be better than LDS. Great. Now we’re screwed and HAVE to use LDS and the comparison is moot.

Well, I’ve called around and searched their sites, and yes, it looks like our doctor was exactly right. Regional is out and LDS is our only option. The crazy thing is that the list of insurances that Regional DOES accept is as long as my arm! They just don’t take MINE. I think I’ve realized a connection though. The reason LDS was so horrible for so many people is that LDS DOES accept Select Health…formerly known as IHC…the most generic insurance carrier in the Mountain West. They may have revamped their look and their name, but they still only cover so much and are still restrictive in where they will work, but they’re cheap, and so a majority of the valley has no other option. LDS is so cramped and constantly understaffed because they are the one place that will accept the insurance that the majority of people have so that’s where a majority of the people are. Regional and the rest of them accept the better insurance plans and programs, and so they can be more selective and keep their rooms open and lovely. Their staff is less harried and easier to work with because there just aren’t as many needy people pressing on their time.

It’s like getting a good table at a nice restaurant where the waiter is all yours. It’s actually easy to do because the majority of people can’t afford a nice restaurant even though the restaurant has plenty of space. You have a quiet and calm eating experience and your glass is never empty.

The drive-thru at McDonald’s is constantly packed because it’s fast and cheap, but you don’t want to know what’s in the back freezer.

Hurray for fast food health insurance…

~ by bylorena on November 21, 2007.