Update, Again

On the 22nd of January I wrote about two couples who I saw frequently in my clinic. (See "A Difficult Week") It might interest you to know that the first couple have had their child, safe and sound, at 36 weeks, and they brought her to see us, a real little charmer. It's always nice when the parents bring in the kid, especially if we've followed them through fertility treatment, and the subsequent pregnancy.

The second couple I mentioned are still getting injections to help maintain the twin pregnancy, and the pregnancy is continuing, but they aren't out of the woods yet, so I've got fingers, toes, and my eyes crossed.

Sent another woman to hospital this week, who is in her 22nd week of pregnancy. She has had problems in previous pregnancies at about this time, and she is exhibiting some worrisome symptoms now. She has been something of a nudnik since the beginning of this pregnancy (who can blame her?) and some of the nurses get a bit exasperated with the lists of questions and complaints she brings to every clinic visit but when she walked in the door of my office this week, all my mental alarm bells began ringing. Sometimes all it takes is a glance to see that, this time, the complaints are real.

Whenever I read some "birthin's naatural, man" nonsense, I think of people like these. The percentage of women who can deliver on the kitchen table and an hour later go hoe the garden is really very low; the percentage who need every iota of medical technology to conceive and carry a pregnancy to viability is also relatively small. The majority fall somewhere in the middle --but anyone who works in obstetrics and thinks the potential for catastrophe isn't always lurking in the shadows, is a fool.