Nothing will make a pregnant woman more worried and paranoid than talking to other pregnant women.
Unfortunately, I often resist going to the doctor for some reason or another. Usually I understand that I am just being paranoid, but mostly I just don't want to admit that something might be wrong.
I ended up freaking out at work yesterday, so I called my doc. She told me to come in and they would check for the heartbeat to make sure everything was alright. Well, to leave work and not be penalized, I needed a note from the doctor so that it will go against my FMLA. The doctor does not write notes. It's just their policy. She said that I could get a note from the emergency room, but unfortunately, FMLA requires a note from my OB, not the emergency room or any other doctor... just her.
So I was freaking out and someone went to talk to a Supervisor about it. She came over and explained that I could leave, but I would have to take points. With our attendance policy, you get X amount of points for however many hours of work you miss. When you get too many points, you are terminated. I'm not dangerously close to termination, but close enough that I will not leave work unless I've got severe bleeding or I lose a limb.
After talking to me for a bit, she realzied that I was not leaving-- the plan was to just stay at work and freak out until my shift ended, then go to the ER.
She finally went to talk to scheduling and they approved the rest of the day off for me. I rushed to the doc.
Everything was fine, but I got scolded for not coming in sooner. Then they gave me a list of reasons to come in right away... sure enough "decreased fetal movement" is on there in big, bold letters.
However, now I seem like this crazy lady that doesn't care about her fetus. I know that my baby should be more important than my job, but... my job pays the bills... and buys things I want... and feeds me so that the baby can grow.
Maybe it's because, deep down, I knew that everything was fine. Maybe I'm just crazy. Either way, it would have killed me to know that my delay had caused a problem, but I would have been equally upset to put my job in jeopardy when everything was alright.
How do you know when it's okay to freak out?
2 comments:
umm..I am concerened that your doctor doesn't write notes when she tells you to come in, that doesn't make sense. I hope you really like your doctor or maybe you need to get a new one?
I would love to get a new doc but since the Air Force is paying, I have to make do with the office on base. :(
They don't write notes because they don't want women coming in just to get out of work. It clogs up the office and keeps people from actually being seen.
I totally get their reasoning, but they just don't understand that I can't miss any work or I might get fired.
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