Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Babies R' Us

The lobby of the Women's Health center contains tons of magazines for the patient who may be waiting awhile. In fact all the doctor and dental offices I've ever been have ample supply of reading material. Usually there's a healthy mix of junk (People), "women's" (Good Housekeeping, Fitness, etc), "men's" (Sports Illustrated) and general interest (NewsWeek, Time, National Geographic).

Women's Health? Well, they're dealing with Women, right? So clearly Sports Illustrated is out. But you'd expect to still find magazines which fit all interests and mental levels; a good mix of Good Housekeeping, a few Fit Pregnancies maybe, and a plethora of NewsWeek, Time, National Geographic; heck, a local newspaper would do.

Today, during my 45 minute wait for my 5 minute appointment, I sat in the lobby with nothing to read because the only concession the Women's Health Center lobby made to the mantra "Women are People with Brains Too" was a bland, badly edited edition of Skiing Magazine. The rest of the scattered reading material was on babies, more babies, having more babies, or trying to have more babies all the while keeping your house clean and your body thin and sexy after you have your babies so you can have even more babies. Don't worry about politics or current events, dear. We all know what stress does to the baby.

Being bored out my skull is much much better.

The appointment? This is what they did:
  1. took a urine sample
  2. weighed me
  3. took my blood pressure
  4. asked if I was okay
  5. listened to the baby's heartbeat

On Number Five, my husband made the mistake of trying to engage the doctor in the health care debate and so, while the sonogram dutifully recorded the baby's heartbeat, neither the doctor nor my husband were listening to it. These two would be the only interested parties, since I happen to know the baby is in there.

I cancelled a meeting for this?

Next time I'll mail them my weight, blood pressure, a urine sample and a recording of a baby's heartbeat, and skip the appointment altogether. I won't interrupt my workday, they can see more patients, and I can read Benjamin Franklin's biography in peace without feeling like a heterosexual tomboy freak of nature.

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