Doctor vs. Midwife

And I think I can now rant about why I love my MW better than my doctor already. I went to my doctor on the 7th and saw the MW on the 9th. Both were very nice to me but you can so see the difference in their scope of practice.

Doctor's Appt
- showed up at 1:20 for a 1:30pm appointment
- clinic was full and backed up so I wasn't seen till 2:15pm and initially it was by a nurse
- peed in a cup and was asked for my LMP date
- told her it was Nov 17 but that I didn't ovulate at CD 14, weird cycle, I'm chartin so I know this, etc etc... didn't listen to me and said it doesn't matter
- saw the doctor, had a Pap (not fun), had an internal to see if a vaginal birth is feasible (even more uncomfortable), asked about my LMP... told him the same thing about CD 14... he at least gave me the courtesy of pretending to listen but didn't note anything down on my chart except that I'm at 7.5 weeks
- asked me if he had ordered bloodwork yet, I said no, so I got a requisition and then told me to see another nurse about the triple screen (I had no idea at the time what that meant)
- so I saw the other nurse about the triple screen and she made a note on my requisition and handed me some reading literature (which now I know is a bit outdated)

I went and got my bloodwork done on the 8th. Six viles of blood and a urine test later.... ugh.

Midwife Appointment on the 9th
- Showed up at 3:55pm for 4pm appointment
- was given a tour of the clinic right away, explained where everything is, how the lending library works (books and dvds!!)
- asked to test my own urine before each appt (for glucose) and let my MW know if there's any deviation from the norm - was shown where the testing strips are and how to do it
- met my MW and sat and talked for 45 minutes about Midwifery care, etc.
- asked about LMP, explained about the whole O on CD 23 not CD 14 thing - she asked if I had my charts with me (of course I did!) and she LOVED them... asked which program I used to track and apologized for getting excited over charts
- had a good laugh as we both seem to be anally retentive in a good way
- agreed to schedule a dating ultrasound so we could find out if my due date is Aug 24 or Sep 2

Some things I already love about my MW:
- talked to me about all the testing that will be coming up in the near future (like the triple screen which is actually called IPS) and is giving me all the information so I can make an informed decision on whether or not to get it done
- giving me statistical information so I can make a decision on where to have the birth (the two hospitals I was considering have much more differences between them than I thought - one has a 38% c-section rate!!!!!!!!)
- the MW will come out to my house (yes, you read that right) when I first go into labour to see how far I'm dilated to save me a trip to the hospital
- I have her pager number so I can call her anytime
- I've been assigned a MW team so I will always have 2 MWs at the birth guaranteed. I get to meet the rest of my team at my 3rd visit

And I'm sure the list goes on....