Gail saves the day!

My life isnt terribly interesting and my pregnancy has been kinda ho-hum, so I dont have as much to write as I thought I would. Today, I am going to rant. I am pissed. I havent been very happy with my OB office, it's a very large practice, and having come from a practice where there was just one gynecologist, I kinda feel like a cow being herded along. My pregnancy has been fairly easy, no complications and overall relatively comfortable considering there are two other people living in my body. But it's still a high-risk pregnancy and should be treated as such, and it hasnt.

I had been hoping that into my 3rd trimester that they would ramp up the level of care I received, but I'll never know because the day before yesterday they called to drop me as their patient. I am the card-holder for the insurance, but because I am part-time and have been working at this job for less than a year, I was worried that if I had to go on bed-rest or deliver early, that I would lose my benefits. So I applied for state assistance as a back up plan. My primary insurance covers everything at the moment, but I gave them the Medicaid card at my last visit just so they'd have it.

Well, they dont take Medicaid. Okay, thats fine...just bill my regular insurance and be done with it. No...they refuse to take Medicaid patients. I went 'round and round with the lady on the phone. I worked at a pharmacy for 6 years, I have a very strong understanding of different insurances and how they work, so its not like I wasnt talking out of my ass, here. Well, she said either I had to drop the Medicaid or they could no longer see me. Do what? Really, lady?

At this point I was done, if they were so ready to drop me this late in the game (with twins, goddammit!!) over a trivial ass insurance issue, then it was very obvious to me that my care was not a concern and they could go get fucked. I'm not going to drop my back up plan because they dont know how to dual-bill insurance. So, I asked her where I was supposed to find an OB at 27 weeks? She gave me a number and when I called, it was a listing for free clinics. Um, I'm sorry, but no.

So I spent all of yesterday morning calling different doctors offices. Some of them I could tell didnt quite believe my story (because it makes no fucking sense) and thought I was dropped for other reasons, or couldnt take me because I was over their 26 week cutoff. I was seriously about to lose my shit.

So I called my old gynecologist office and asked to speak with Gail the nurse, who sadly knows me on a first name basis (I had bleeding issues a couple years back and was seriously going to the office like every month). She was like, "Okay, heres what I want you to do...take down this number and ask for Karen, tell her I told you to call her and explain to her what's going on". So I called right after I got off the phone with Gail and was able to patch right through to Karen. She asked a couple questions to clarify and I could tell by her tone that she didnt think it made any sense either. But she got me an appointment for next week, the same day I was supposed to have one with the old office. Whew! What a load off my shoulders. I called Gail and thanked her profusely for her help. I may try to bring her something when I go to my appointment.

The only downside is that this office and the hospital is about an hour away. I like the hospital a lot (it has a jacuzzi), but the distance is the reason why I didnt chose an office associated with in the first place. But really, it's my first pregnanacy, it's not like I'm going to just pop em out in the car ride there or anything. I'm a little concerned, my new OB has been doing this for like, over 40 years, and I've heard he's a little old-fashioned, so I'm worried he'll push me into having a c-section, which I dont want unless the babies or my life is in danger. I have an appointment next week, we'll see how it goes.

Don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys

Rodeo season has just started up in my area, and my husband has recovered from his cancer surgery and radiation just in time to help out working the gates. He's expressed his desire to get on "one more time". Nope. Not happening. So I go with him to make sure he doesnt do anything silly. I was able to make it this week without crying through the mutton-bustin' (where 5-7 year olds ride a sheep for 4 seconds). Those little boys just look so cute in their little chaps, belt buckles and protective vests.

Thats what I wanted so bad, little cowboys of my own. I had their names all picked out, they'd be Fisher David Alan and Hunter John Heath (how incredibly redneck, I know!). They would ride little sheep, and go hunting with dad and fishing with me, they'd splash in the mud and make tracks in the carpet when I called 'em in for lunch, if there was a bug in the house, they'd take care of it. What the hell am I going to do with two more girls?

Everyone tells me I'm going to love them once they get here, and I'm sure they're right, but I just can't help but wonder if I'd love them more if they had penises.

School Troubles

I have a lot of sympathy for teachers. They have to deal with a lot of crap; on a limited budget and limited means of disciplining their students. For example:

Police pepper-spray 8 year old during a temper tantrum at school - NBCActionNews.com - Kansas City

Poor teachers had to barricade themselves from this little pipsqueak because if they did anything to defend themselves, they'd be the ones on the news and in the unemployment line!

However, I was a little irritated when I got a letter* from the school more or less saying our 13 year old, R, was being disruptive in class.

*It wasnt so much a letter as an evaluation straight out of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for ADHD

Not that she's a perfect little angel, no, far from it. I was upset that they waited FIVE MONTHS before saying anything to me about it. And then basically telling me that she needs to be medicated. First off, they're not qualified therapists and had no business making an evaluation without our consent anyway. Second off, we're not drugging the kid. I'm sure there are plenty of children who legitimately need to be medicated, but having worked in a pharmacy for 6 years; more often than not parents just want a easy fix to a hard problem.

So I had a meeting with the guidance counselor (whom I've already had to set straight after she called DSS on us without calling first), R's math teacher, reading teacher and the nurse. We came to the general consensus that R is starved for attention and thats why she acted out. They were all quick to assure me that R doesnt disrupt the other students, which was my main concern. Finally I told them point blank that we were not interested in putting her on medication and were looking into alternative parenting methods to correct her behavior. I found this great book Ritalin is Not the Answer by Dr. Stein at the used bookstore, it's a little dated but I really liked some of the ideas. I told them that we had been using some of the ideas and that they seem to be helping, such as putting R in time out, which I suggested the teachers try. They were horrified. "We cant do that!" Wait. What? You cant put a kid in time out anymore? Really?

And this is why we'll be seeing a lot more news stories like the one linked above. I may consider home schooling the twins.

Welcome to the herd

I've never done this blog thing before, so let's see how long I can keep it up. Let me start by introducing myself and my family:

I am 23 and am in my 24th week of pregnancy with twin girls. My husband is 41 and works on a farm, he's my cowboy. We have three children in our home; ages 11, 13 and 16. The two youngest are girls, the 13 year old is my husbands biological daughter while the other two are her siblings. They all call us "mom" and "dad" (it is a little awkward coming from someone 6 years younger, I admit) and we're all just one big huge happy hunky-dory family. Okay, not quite, we've only been married for 10 months today after dating for 14, and this is the first year the kids have lived away from their mom, so it's been quite the learning experience for all of us.

Having spent the past week reading mother-of-twin blogs, I am terrified. Before, I was worried about how uncomfortable my pregnancy might be, pre-term labor, not wanting a c-section. I realize now that it'll be over in 3 months (or less) but I'll have to spend the next 10+ years of two children being completely dependent on me for everything. Also, I'm just now starting on my baby registry on Babies R Us and it's so overwhelming....what could two tiny little people possibly need?