Hello, Baby

Here is one of the latest images of Baby Girl, taken this past Wednesday, August 1!

26 weeks 4 days

I have been really lucky to have an EXCELLENT Dr. here. She is wonderful, and her office is completely state-of-the-art. Not at all what I would have expected in this tiny African nation. 

It is actually much nicer than the very nice solo private practice Dr. I go to in Arizona. When I was visiting AZ in May, my Dr. was amazed that the Dr. here in Botswana has a 4D/3D imaging machine in her office -- and does them at every appointment.

I do love both Drs., but let's just compare the experience:

My Dr. here (who is German and runs ON TIME) has her receptionist text a reminder the day before the appt. At 1 min. past the appt. time, the receptionist texts to ask if I'm coming (yes, I've received that text as I am walking in from the parking lot). I have never had to wait more than 10 min. past the scheduled time and usually I am called in right at the appt. time.

Contrast that with my visit to the Dr. in AZ in May -- they knew I had come all the way from Africa, but no matter, I waited 45 min. to be called in to the exam room, where the nurse did vitals and then I waited another 15 min. until the Dr. saw me.

With my Dr. here in Botswana, we go straight into the Dr.'s office, where she sits at her desk and we sit on the other side and discuss how I'm feeling, test results, what will come next, she answers any questions we have, and tells us what the appointment will be about today.

Then I am shown to a little changing room and I come out the other side into her Mission-Impossible control center-looking examination room -- it is huge, gleaming, black, white and stainless steel, with high-tech instruments, an exam chair (for the close look) and an exam bed for the ultrasound. There is a big flat-screen on the wall to watch the ultrasound.

No nurse here; the Dr. herself first weighs me and takes my vitals, then does the exam, then we get to see the baby! Every visit! I have 6 collections of ultrasound images from different appointments, and the last 4 include 3D images.

The ultrasound at every appt. is something they did in Argentina, too. Although the hospital care in the States is second to none, I think the Dr.'s office experience in the U.S. pales in comparison to that outside of the States.

The Dr. here takes all the time in the world to explain everything we're seeing, answer our questions, and do a long ultrasound scan so we get our fill of seeing the baby. The 4D means it is live action, watching the baby move around on a video screen. She switches back and forth to 3D and regular black and white ultrasound to explain and measure things, and to show internal organ function and growth. The same day, she e-mails me a set of images from the appointment that I forward to family in the States so they can see the baby, too. Very cool!

Of course, it goes without saying that after an hour wait, my Dr. in AZ -- who again, is lovely and I am happy to have her at the delivery again -- has the nurse come in first to do vitals, etc. and then breezes through the appt. because she is already running behind. I probably get 15 min. of face time with her.

Just an interesting, unexpected contrast.

At any rate, I am very happy with my care here and also very happy to go back to the good old U.S. of A. to trust the delivery to a fully functional, first-world hospital.