Monday
I've never done this whole pregnancy thing. It's been rough on me a lot of the time. I cut my hours at work. I lay around when I can. I have a book that tells me week be week how the baby is developing and information about me. I read baby magazines. I try not to stress about things or overexert myself.
Well, I woke up Monday morning with a backache. I really just couldn't get comfortable no matter what. I usually don't work Mondays, but this Monday, I was asked to cover a shift from 3-9 pm. I knew it was going to be rough for two reasons: it was Monday and people tend to flock to the doctor's then the pharmacy on Mondays, and my back was hurting. By the end of my shift, on my feet the whole time (because I was too stubborn to sit down.....not that there was time to) I was in major pain. Not only my back but I was a little crampy in my lower stomach area. I could barely walk.
So, I get in my car and call my mom, of course. She sounded a little concerned about me and put my stepdad on the phone (he's a paramedic). He told me to call my doctor and let her know how I was feeling. That was not what I wanted to do because I have never in my life called a doctor's emergency line. But, both my mom and stepdad insisted. Plus, I knew when I got home, that Mr. S would insist the same.
I call. I leave my message with the answering service. (this was about 9:30 pm) A nurse immediately returned my call.
Nurse Amanda: I'm returning an emergency call.
Me: yada yada yada...I tell her how I am feeling
Nurse Amanda: (with attitude) Well, did you call during office hours?
Me: No, I wasn't hurting that badly earlier.
Nurse Amanda: Well, take some Tylenol, it's on your list of approved medications, get off your feet. If it gets worse, don't even call back, just go to the hospital.
Me: Ok....click
***I've already checked with SillyHily. This was NOT her sister who is also a nurse at my doctor's office
Now, that doesn't sound too bad maybe, but I was in tears wanting reassurance that everything was fine. Not a lecture about calling during office hours and taking Tylenol. There was no empathy, no concern in her voice. Just that I had irritated her.
Luckily, Mr. S had taken off that night so he could play golf ALL DAY LONG (36 holes). So, he was home to settle me and take care of me. He wouldn't let me get up for anything. Good thing I didn't have to pee.
Has anyone else had any experience with the on-call people at doctor's offices? Was I out of line for calling?
Well, I woke up Monday morning with a backache. I really just couldn't get comfortable no matter what. I usually don't work Mondays, but this Monday, I was asked to cover a shift from 3-9 pm. I knew it was going to be rough for two reasons: it was Monday and people tend to flock to the doctor's then the pharmacy on Mondays, and my back was hurting. By the end of my shift, on my feet the whole time (because I was too stubborn to sit down.....not that there was time to) I was in major pain. Not only my back but I was a little crampy in my lower stomach area. I could barely walk.
So, I get in my car and call my mom, of course. She sounded a little concerned about me and put my stepdad on the phone (he's a paramedic). He told me to call my doctor and let her know how I was feeling. That was not what I wanted to do because I have never in my life called a doctor's emergency line. But, both my mom and stepdad insisted. Plus, I knew when I got home, that Mr. S would insist the same.
I call. I leave my message with the answering service. (this was about 9:30 pm) A nurse immediately returned my call.
Nurse Amanda: I'm returning an emergency call.
Me: yada yada yada...I tell her how I am feeling
Nurse Amanda: (with attitude) Well, did you call during office hours?
Me: No, I wasn't hurting that badly earlier.
Nurse Amanda: Well, take some Tylenol, it's on your list of approved medications, get off your feet. If it gets worse, don't even call back, just go to the hospital.
Me: Ok....click
***I've already checked with SillyHily. This was NOT her sister who is also a nurse at my doctor's office
Now, that doesn't sound too bad maybe, but I was in tears wanting reassurance that everything was fine. Not a lecture about calling during office hours and taking Tylenol. There was no empathy, no concern in her voice. Just that I had irritated her.
Luckily, Mr. S had taken off that night so he could play golf ALL DAY LONG (36 holes). So, he was home to settle me and take care of me. He wouldn't let me get up for anything. Good thing I didn't have to pee.
Has anyone else had any experience with the on-call people at doctor's offices? Was I out of line for calling?
posted by Lucky Gem at
9:28 AM
4 Comments:
Girl, those people probably go sooooo tired of me calling them all the time when I was pregnant with Alyssa, and she was my 2nd! That is what they are there for!! You absolutely never know, something that seems so insignificant and simple could signal a problem. Better safe than sorry for the little one and for yourself. Don't feel guilty for calling and if you think it needs to be reported to the Dr.'s office then you should do that. Hope you feel better!
By
Rachel (Crazy-Is), At
10:58 AM
You are a first time Mommy, of course you're going to call over everything. They should and usually do expect it. Who cares if she was irritated? It's her J-O-B to handle those calls. Period. If there is any cause for conern, call. You would have never known for sure and would have stressed yourself out if you hadn't. Plus, if something HAD been wrong, you wouldn't have known! Her attitude is totally not cool. In fact, if it were me, I'd say something to the doctor about it next time you were in. Anyway, glad to hear your hubby took care of you and hopefully it's passed.
By
It's Kimpossible!, At
11:48 AM
I had an exact same experience when I was pregnant with Gavin.. I bawled... cried my eyes out for hours because the lady gave me such and attitude on the phone...
First.. tell your doc next time you go in...
Second.. it is her damn job and if you would have called me.. I would have told you to call too. You did the right thing and you should not feel bad about it.. period.
By
What The Hell Is This?, At
9:02 AM
With my sister being a nurse now, I hear both ends of everything. Working where you work also, I'm sure you get some pretty stupid calls. Calls that people should NOT call for. Calls that are just common sense. But those people on the other line don't know any better.
There are women who literally call in and say "Um, I just had a gush of fluid come out." To which, she will be asked if she is pregnant and how far along she is. "Um, like, 9 months pregnant." Hellllooo, your water broke, get thee to the hospital! Or, women will call in and say, "I have a headache, can you get me a something called in." That? Is not an emergency.
Now, those are extreme cases and it's possible that Nurse Amanda got a call like that right before yours so she was already a little "off." I'm not saying any of this to excuse her rudeness, I'm only trying to explain where she might have been coming from.
Thankfully I never had to deal with on call nurses b/c I had my sister. B/c they deal with that stuff every single day, they seem to forget that women who become pregnant for the first time have heard horror story after horror story and don't know what to do. THAT is why they are there for YOU. They need to remember that. You have the most important thing that will ever happen to you in your body right now and if anything out of the ordinary goes on, you SHOULD be concerned about it and should call if you feel the need to! Don't feel bad about that. Brush her rudness off (or at least try to.) Like others said, she gets PAID to answer those calls, no matter how stupid SOME of them (NOT yours) might be. Trust me.
You did the right thing.
Next time if you are unsure about something though and don't want to call the off hours line and talk to the nurse, call me and tell me what's going on and I'll call my sister and then call you back. Casey did it. My sister won't mind. Makes her feel smart. :-)
Love you! Glad everything is okay and glad Mr. S took care of his TWO babies.
About that whole back thing though, you might want to invest in some sort of brace since you are so thing. That tummy is going to really throw your frame off...big time! Let me know if you want to get one and I'll tell you where to go to get the best.
(sorry for the longest comment ever)
By
Silly Hily, At
10:19 AM
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