GM, NOT GA

My OB's office is next to VH hospital. However, she is affiliated with HM hospital where Max was born which has the highest level NICU in the area and where I plan on delivering the twins and GA hospital where my RE's office was located and where I have had two surgeries and am very familiar having spent more time there than probably anyone who hasn't actually worked there. When I was diagnosed with GD, I was given the option of meeting with a dietitian in in G where GA is located or P where HM is located. I chose G since it is closer to my house. None of these places are really close to my house, they are all about 45 - 60 + minutes from my home depending on traffic. However, GA in G is the closest.

I had a busy morning with Max's vision and hearing check by LAUSD which is needed for his assessment mid June and of which he passed. Then, rush back for a work meeting. Then, I needed to dash out to G for my GD appointment. I arrived at GA just in time for my appointment and was told to go to the main entrance to admitting and then I would be taken to the dietitian. I go through what I thought was the main entrance and down to admitting to be told that no, this admitting was only for surgeries (and in fact where I had gone when being admitted for my two surgeries), the person at the information desk there didn't know where I was supposed to go, but I was told to take a bridge to the other part of the hospital. I couldn't find said bridge, but in asking around, I found out that on the other side of the parking lot from which I entered was really the main entrance. I head over there and find another admitting department, but was told after a few phone calls that no, I was supposed to be in admitting in the West Tower (the new addition) all the way on the other side of the hospital and on the side of the hospital that I am most familiar since that is the back side where my fertility clinic/RE's office was. However, I was told to wait for an escort to take me over. After 8 minutes or so (by now I'm about 15 - 20 minutes late for my appointment) an escort shows up and we head to the west tower. I must have been looking especially pathetic or something because I kept getting asked if I wanted a wheel chair and was I sure I didn't want a wheel chair. Granted, it is a bit of a hike, but still I just wanted to get to my appointment. I really hate being late.

I make it over to the West Tower, get passed the admissions info. desk and got admitted. Then, was told to go wait in the lobby and someone will come get me. I'm getting pretty annoyed and frustrated by now and I wait and wait and wait. Finally after about 18 minutes, I go asked and am told they will call again and just to go wait. After another 20 or so minutes, I get called to the front desk to talk to Terri, the GD person, who doesn't know who I am and says she doesn't have an appointment with me today. She takes some information from me including my OB's phone number and I'm told to wait and she will call back. I wait and wait and wait some more. Finally, I get called back up to the front desk to find out that I was referred to and my appointment was at GM, not GA hospital.

Seriously, I kid you not. I've been admitted and waiting around and getting frustrated and I'm not even at the right place. I've never heard of GM. My OB has no affiliation with GM. I have never been to GM. And, I have no idea how to get to GM. And, at this point I'm at least 1.5 hours if not 2 hours late for my appointment. I can feel myself tear up and am mentally telling myself not to loose it and that some time in the future I will be able to laugh about this. No, not now, but sometime. I take some deep breaths until I'm pretty sure I can call GM without bursting into tears. I call and explain what happened and apologize and ask what they want me to do and should I just reschedule (I had taken the earliest appointment 3 weeks prior). The nurse was so nice and said, no, no, just come on over and she gave me very good directions and I waddled back across the entire hospital with only random tears escaping and not a major meltdown to get back to my car. If she had told me, yes I need to reschedule, I know I really would have lost it and started sobbing. I was so almost there. As I leave the parking lot and go to get my money to pay, I see that maximum charge it $6 and apparently I only have a $5 bill. I pull up and start looking to see if I have any change and wondering what to do and .... my ticket is scanned and I only owe $5. Whew! Better yet, while looking for coins, I find that some bills, enough to pay for parking at the other hospital were in the coin pocket for some odd reason so I don't have to worry about trying to find a bank on the way to GM when I am already so so so late.

The directions are good and I make it to GM. As I drive I wonder if I was and I probably was told that it was GM, instead of just G or GA. However, the 'm' in GM is the same word as 'm' HM and I know unless someone specifically told me that it was a different hospital, I would have shown up at GA. I had no idea there was a hospital called GM and again my OB has no affiliation (she does not deliver from this hospital) so on any other given day, the same thing probably would have happened. I'm taking deep breaths and thinking it's a good thing that a blood pressure check is likely not going to be checked and in general trying to calm myself down.

I get checked in, meet with the dietitian, watch a video, meet again with the dietitian (and an intern this time) to get a meal plan, meet with the nurse to find out how and when to do the blood checks, and made it home only 30 minutes late. I'd like to say that things went smoothly with no problems at GM, but alas no.

I was given a form to fill out that was in Spanish and apparently an English version could not be found or reprinted because the dietitians old PC had crashed loosing everything so it will need to be recreated.

We are almost completely done reviewing the meal plan and the dietitian is showing me the pregnancy growth curve and how I'm WAY below it (still several pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight) when I make some comments about how surprising it is especially considering I'm expecting twins to which the dietitian says, what do you mean twins, and everything had to be redone to adjust accordingly.

When meeting with the nurse, and getting the GD kit, she asks for my insurance card (which I had given up in admitting) so she can give the information to the pharmacy they use to replace the kit she is giving me and I realize that my regular ID card will not work and that prescription drugs was farmed out and I have a separate ID card for that which, of course, I don't have with me.

They want me back in a week, but based on their working hours and my schedule we can't make a follow up appointment until 12 days out.

And, I get home and go to record my first after meal results and realize I don't have the form I'm supposed to fill out and that it must still be sitting on the nurses desk.

So, while I can't say that things went completely smooth at GM, I can say that everyone I met with was really, really nice and understanding and that by the time I left I was closer to smiling that sobbing.

I come home, 6.5 hours after I left, to find out that Max actually napped today so that while I'm completely exhausted I can't put him to bed for awhile and I have some work I really had to get done tonight and I ate way more for dinner than I normally would to try to meet the portions for the meal plan and probably manage half of what they wanted but now I feel like I could easily just vomit it all up and have horrible heartburn (of which I really haven't had much since the first tri) and I'm still supposed to eat a snack tonight before bed, which just isn't happening. I'll be sick for sure.

And, so went my GD appointment and my day. Sometimes, it's either laugh or cry. Sometimes its both at the same time. Good thing I tend to be an easy going kind of gal and wanted this pregnancy so much, because it seems like every time I turn around something else comes up to just make it harder and rockier and more challenging. And, I remind myself that no matter how long this pregnancy has seemed and how long it feels like I still have to go, that it is just such a short period of time in the whole scheme of things and it will be all worth it if it works and I get healthy happy babies in the end. Staying focused on the prize at the end, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (such that it has been), is really the only way I can get through days like today especially.