Can't wait until I have no more OB appointments.

Yesterday I found myself at the doctor's office for the first time in three weeks. I wasn't actually supposed to go that long between visits, but I canceled last week because I was effectively crippled from my lovely long walk. No huge loss, I'd say - not like they do a whole lot besides check heartbeat, urine, etc.

Anyway, I was there yesterday for almost two hours, fifteen minutes of which were spent with the doctor. Everything seemed normal - good blood pressure, normal urine whatevers, proper growth (I've quit measuring ahead - he's been exactly on track for the last few visits), good heartbeat. I gained less than half as much weight between 35 and 38 weeks than I did between 33 and 35 weeks, which amused me a bit. Hopefully I can keep the weight gain to a minimum for the rest of this pregnancy. Oh, and I'm negative for the group B strep, which is great. Alas, the test apparently is only good for a few weeks, so if I don't have the baby this week (don't get any ideas, Jim - STAY!), they're going to retest on Monday just to make sure I'm still negative.

I also got my doctor to have a look-see at my birth plan to make sure everything would work. For the most part, she was pretty supportive. Exceptions:

• Electronic monitoring - I'd sooner just get checked with the doppler or something once or twice an hour, but apparently they're really big on electronic monitoring here and won't do that. Fortunately, they do have the telemetry version, so I won't be strapped to a bed or anything.
  
• IV - She said it'd be fine to just get a hep lock instead of an IV, which is exactly what I wanted, but then said that they might want me to get IV fluids if I've been there for a while, since they don't allow any liquids by mouth. This seems incredibly dumb to me. "No! Don't drink any water! Oh, now you're dehydrated? Damn. Who could have guessed? Let's hook you up to a bunch of medical shit!" I get that the no-liquids-by-mouth is to prevent aspiration in the event of an emergency C-section, but every study I've seen has shown that to be no longer an issue.
  
• Pitocin - Apparently they like to start that within a few hours of getting to the hospital if your water is broken. This is the only one of the things she listed that I will probably fight them on, but hopefully I can avoid the issue altogether by just staying at home until things are well under way.
  

The only other thing I did while there was get a recommendation for a pediatrician. I've got this baby due in two weeks, see, and it suddenly occurred to me that he should probably have a doctor ready. So I am now off to investigate the guy they recommended and give a call. I have no idea how this pediatrician thing works (do I set up an appointment now? call them after he's born? will he come to the birth?), so hopefully they'll be helpful and used to dealing with noobs.