Stephanie: Early on in my pregnancy, I was about eight weeks along, I went to the emergency room of my prior doctor, my prior OB/GYN. I was bleeding very heavily, there was also tissue. I drove myself to the emergency room. I know that probably wasn’t the best idea but it wasn’t very far from where we lived. I got there and they told me I had dilated and was passing everything and having a miscarriage.
Stephanie: I wasn’t given a full explanation of what was happening to me. Why was I bleeding like that? The explanation I was given was ‘we just don’t know; some women do that’. Well, that doesn’t tell me anything so I knew I was going to have to find someone else.
Dr. Siewny: Stephanie came in mid-pregnancy. She had some symptoms. They could have been serious or they could have been very minor. The best thing you can do as a physician is to listen to the patient.
Stephanie: I was really surprised when I found out I had gestational diabetes because I never would have known. When they told me some of the symptoms that went along with it, then I recognized what it is.
Dr. Siewny: Gestational diabetes is very common in pregnancy. It’s a disease you’re hearing more and more about. It can range from people who have it having very large babies that are healthy or it can even be a danger to the pregnancy. So we want to know if anyone has diabetes.
Stephanie: I guess they take them on earlier on in the pregnancy and it’s better to catch it earlier but obviously I was with a different doctor. Another reason why I’m glad I chose to find a different doctor because if I didn’t change to a different doctor I would have never known and not gotten the treatment I needed.
Dr. Siewny: A doctor can’t always guarantee you a perfect outcome. I wish I could do that but to be honest with you, if anybody tells you that, run away. Nobody on earth can promise you perfection. What I can promise patients is that, #1 I’m going to do my very best for you every moment of the day, every time. And #2 I’m going to be honest with you.
Stephanie: Because of gestational diabetes, you are at a higher risk of a premature delivery, so getting the care I needed when I did probably stopped me from delivering even sooner than I did.
Stephanie: I thought I was having Braxton hicks but it wasn’t. It went from two to three minutes apart to one to two minutes apart within 30 minutes. Before I knew it they were on top of each other. We knew we had to get to the hospital. I felt like I was about to deliver in the house. We got to hospital and to the emergency room door and they whisked me away quickly, very quickly. They got me in a wheelchair and got me to labor and delivery in seconds.
Dr. Siewny: If you come to our hospital and you’re having a nice, pleasant, easy, gentle safe delivery that’s fine. Stephanie was a little different. She had what is called a high risk condition.
Stephanie: Dr. Siewny came in and had just enough time to check me and put his smock on and told me he was going to have to break my water.
Dr. Siewny: She did happen to go into labor all at once; went into labor at home and within two hours was here and delivered her baby.
Stephanie: Thankfully I went to the right doctor and the right hospital at the right time so I was able to have a healthy normal pregnancy. Even though it was a little bit premature, my baby was as healthy as she possibly could be even though I had gestational diabetes.
Stephanie: This is Audrey Noelle Washburn and she is four weeks old on Tuesday but she was born at 34 weeks. She was born about five and a half weeks premature.
Dr. Siewny: There are a lot of good quality OB hospitals in fact I don’t know of a bad hospital. But one thing our hospital does better is our personal care. Our nurses are one on one, our lactation consultant helps people personally get through breastfeeding. I think you’ll have a more wonderful, careful bonding experience when you leave here.
Stephanie: Because you’re not being treated like a patient; you’re being treated like a person. Your child is not the only focus; the whole family is the focus. If there wasn’t that factor I would not have chosen Atrium. I would have continued my search looking for a doctor somewhere else. I think because I was diagnosed when I was and got the treatment I did it made all the difference in the world.
