Survived the doctor’s appointment yesterday. The only drawback for this one was that for the first time Dr. R was running behind, by almost an hour, so D actually missed the first portion of the appointment, because he had to run an errand and left to do that, and of course, as soon as he left I got called in.

I’ve put on 7 pounds since the last appointment, which means 24 pounds overall, which Dr. Ritch said is about average and is good, considering to begin with I was actually losing weight. Baby still has a strong heartbeat, which has slowed down just a little bit, which is also fine, given he’s growing.
I do not have gestational diabetes, which is also good ^^ especially for me. Yay, chocolate!

She gave us a quick lowdown on some of the things we shouldn’t bring in the hospital bag because the hospital will provide them, like diapers. The main things to actually bring being clothes and toiletries for me, and a going home outfit for Baby. She said most people do overpack and that’s fine, better to be safe than sorry, but the hospital has diapers and all.

She also said they wouldn’t schedule the ultrasound until we hear from Medicaid that we’ve qualified. She said from what she understands the max you can make annually and get Medicaid is $40′000, and so I paranoidly double checked this morning and D’s wages put us at just under $30′000. Although I remember them also saying just over $2000 a month for something and we make about $2100 a month…but it’s government regulations and they have to make them confusing.
She said there’s a good chance that they’ll only cover us through the pregnancy. I had a feeling that afterwards they might only cover Baby and not me. She said sometimes they won’t cover Baby if the husband’s employer has insurance, which D does. So, we shall see.
She was asking if I had any idea who I was going to select as my pediatrician and I hadn’t even thought about it, given I was sorta hoping she did pediatrics as well, but she doesn’t. If we are on Medicaid I think we’re limited to one, maybe two choices, from what she was saying, so again that’s something that has to ‘wait and see’.

I did get the last part of the Medicaid paperwork to LH.R. on Tuesday, but they wouldn’t give it back to me, said they had to fax it directly to Medicaid after it was filled out. So, I had to call them back yesterday with Medicaid’s fax number. I’m going to call Medicaid again today to make sure they have the paperwork all in, and see if I can find out how long they estimate before we know if we do have the funding or not, and then perhaps call back every two or three days just to make sure. Hopefully I can pull this off without being annoying. Dr. R said in her experience it’s best to opt for ‘concerned & polite’ rather than ‘annoying/harrassment’. Take the whole, “I’m really sorry to keep calling, but I’m two months away from delivery, and I really have to have another ultrasound because of low-lying placenta, and my doctor doesn’t want to schedule it until she knows I’m not going to be bankrupted…” that sort of thing. She said she’s seen too many mothers who wait too long on even going on their husband’s insurance and then wind up pre-term delivering and getting slammed with a $30′000 hospital bill, which she doesn’t want to see happen with us. (We don’t want to see that either o.O;;). So, please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Interestingly I was telling Dr. R that the woman at Medicaid had asked me why I didn’t just go on ‘Family Medical Leave’ and Dr. R said that we wouldn’t have actually been covered under insurance for the delivery at all with FMLA. I just would have been guaranteed not to lose my job. So, I’m glad we didn’t try for that. Dr. R’s new assistant was also a bit shocked that I’m right now in ‘limbo’ given my BCBS (work insurance) coverage ended on the last day of employment, and Medicaid hasn’t picked up yet. She said in Pennsylvania where she’s from employers have to cover you for a certain amount of time after you leave, especially if you’re pregnant. Dr. R said that we do have an option down here called COBRA which LHR had offered me, but it’s hideously expensive (about $600 a month), so there was no way that was happening. It makes it actually cheaper to pay for Dr’s visits (at least) out of pocket, given they’re only about $200.

In other news D’s settling into dayshift, and should soon be qualified to use and carry a tazer. Car fires seem to be on the rise at the moment. D’s been called to two within the past week or so, and I saw one, or at least the remains of one, while I was in downtown Tavares on Tuesday. A car in the court house parking lot had caught fire and caught the minivan next to it as well. Thankfully, my car was parked four spaces up from them, so was safe.

I have my occupational license for hypnotherapy now, so I’m finishing up work on the website for that, and debating if I’ll advertise in the yellow pages, or wait until after I’m settled after baby is born, and do so then, given I don’t want people calling at all hours while I’m recuperating.

We have our next Dr’s appointment scheduled for March 22nd. Hopefully we’ll find out about Medicaid soon, and they can schedule the ultrasound for sometime in the middle.