Hospital Visit #2

Rich and I went back to the hospital for repeat tests today.   It mostly went well.  The baby is doing great, and both of us love getting to hear her heart beating on the speakers.  My blood pressure is fine now, but my blood work came back with slightly lower platelet counts than my Thursday levels.  This can be associated with pre-eclampsia in some instances, and could lead to clotting problems during labor, so my doctor decided to administer prostaglandin gel to soften up my cervix and get the process started somewhat naturally in case we do need to induce.  And 5 hours later, we were sent home.  Five seems to be the magic number of hours that we stay in the hospital.  Can I hope for a miracle and ask for a five hour labor, perhaps?  Right.  No responses necessary on that one. 

I find it funny that my mind keeps going back to the medical ethics courses I took in college, when I was an idealistic pre-med student.  We had an entire lecture about the topic of Informed Consent, which should be obtained before all medical procedures.  It's a pretty basic concept, with both words being equally important: informed (meaning the patient is educated about all risks, benefits, and alternatives to the procedure) and consent (meaning the patient willingly and without coercion elects to undergo the procedure).  I haven't really been informed or given my consent during any of the medical procedures that I have undergone during this pregnancy.  I don't want to be that annoying patient who asks too many questions or acts like they know better than the doctor, but it is frustrating to be given partial pieces of information and to be 'told' what will be done instead of being asked.  And so I try to hold my tongue most of the time, unless I really feel the need to pipe in with a question or concern.  But when it comes to quality medical care, I feel like this is an important component.  Am I crazy?