Waiting....

If I know it would take this long I would have done something different. How many times have we said that as we've waited for someone?

I started this blog as a required project for work, but the project is over and now I must apologize in advance as I think it is going to get a lot more editorial.
Every few month we get a printout of patient surveys. I must admit I rarely look at them anymore. I can usually identify those who made the most venomous comments, which fortunately are few. The old stand-by complaint, though, is wait time.

Now, I'm an OB. You'd think that pregnant women, of all people, would understand that babies come at random times. You'd think they should also understand, that if in the middle of the night, fear suddenly grips you about your unborn child, and you become somewhat irrational, that you will probably need a few additional minutes at your appointment, that was added into an already full schedule, to reassure you. Regardless of the other patients in the waiting room.
I'm not trying to say that all women are inpatient, in fact, there are probably just a scant few. But those few can sure complain a lot. I have also had 4 children myself and have spent many hours in the waiting room of my doctors office. I understand.

But today, I've felt the need to complain about how much time I spend waiting for my patients. I don't think you all realize how much of my time I waste waiting for you. I've currenlty been in the hospital, on my day off, a Saturday none-the -less, for 3 hours, waiting for someone to delivery. Fourth baby,thought it would go fast....the thought, "If I had known.." has crossed my mind many times. My children and husband are at home waiting to see what we can do today. I'm on call next weekend so this is the last day in 14 that I can do anything with them, and yet I'm here, waiting... I wait for patients to go to the bathroom (they didn't have time while they were in the waiting room I guess). I wait for them to call their husbands to help them make decision, I wait while they change their babies diaper, I wait for them to get off the phone, close their book, finish their magazine. I'm not trying to say that things should change, I just sometime wish I would get a survey on each patient. Rate on a scale of one to five, Was she nice? Did she seem concerned? Was she intellegent? Was she clean? Did she make you wait?

Should I get a flu shot in pregnancy?

Okay, a quick blog this time. I get asked frequently if I encourage a flu shot in pregnancy-of course I do!. There are two main strains of flu in the vaccination-the common strain and the H1N1.
Last year we were hit by the H1N1 and in hindsite it is apparent how bad it really was for pregnant women. This is a bad flu anyway, but it hits pregnant women harder than others. There were many deaths from this flu in otherwise healthy young women. These were terrible deaths, in the ICU, on ventilators, doing emergency c-sections to try and save the baby. Not something that you want to go through. Even here in Cache Valley we had several mothers who were incredibly sick, some even transferred to Salt Lake for further care.

The other strain is the more common strain. I head a lot of people say, "I only get the flu in the years that I get the flu shot.". This has been studies and is just not the case. I think a lot of people are confused at what the flu is. It is not jut the stomach virus that gives you vomiting and diarrhea. The flu is a virus that causes respiratory illness and body aches. It can make every hair on your body hurt. Most people-no matter how strong you are-lie around in bed wishing they were dead. It costs the US millions of dollars in lost wages from missed work. It usually lasts about 10 days and is really not something that you want. Can you image having this flu and then going into labor? I've seen it- it's not pretty. These women can hardly remember having a baby.

I think that I've seen quite a decrease of women with both of these flu-a testament in my mind that the vaccines work. There is really no down side to the vaccine except a sore arm for a couple of day. It does cross the placenta some and may be the only way to protect a newborn from the virus as well.

So the answer is yes! Get the vaccine if you are pregnant