30 Weeks!

With only 10 weeks till the baby comes I figured it would be a good idea to meet the doctor. I posted last time that Dr. Xu was seeing too many patients in January and so we needed to find a new doctor. There are about 4 or 5 other doctors at this office so I just read through their profiles and picked a woman named Dr. Jia. I called and made an appointment last week for today at 11 am. On Saturday I received a text message from the doctor's office that said I had an appointment on Monday at 10:30 with Dr. Xu! I was beyond excited! I didn't know how this was possible but felt so happy that we were able to get in with her. A few hours later, I got another text message from the office saying that I had an appointment at 10:30 with Dr. Jia. Oh Geez. So I called and asked to confirm my appointment. The girl took my info then told me I had an appointment at 11 am with Dr. Jia. I told her I had received a text earlier and told her what it said. She just replied by telling me to come at 11 and see Dr. Jia. So I asked her who sent me the text messages. "My colleague," she said. So I said, "Why did they send me those text messages? I just got one that said I have an appointment at 10:30." She told me the same thing again, to come at 11 am. Luckily, I had told Jimmy about the text messages and he reminded me that we were in China and not to get my hopes up because something weird was probably going to happen, so I had kind of mentally prepared myself. It was still a tad disappointing though.
So Monday rolls around and I go to my appointment... at 11.... with Dr. Jia. I was happy to finally meet my doctor and was trying to keep optimistic all morning.

The first thing the doctor asked me when we got in the room was how big Ali weighed at birth. When I told her she weighed 8 lbs 3 oz she informed me that if I wanted to have a natural birth this baby couldn't be more than 8 pounds. I'm not sure exactly how she meant for it to sound but it felt like a threat. I'm sure my eyes got big and I think the blood drained out of my face. She then explained to me that I needed to not eat and to exercise more. I really didn't know what to say.... all I could think of was to tell her that I walk everywhere and never take taxis. She told me I need to exercise more. Then I got up on the table so she could measure him. She measured his belly then put this stat on a chart. She showed me where he was measuring now and that in 10 weeks he would be 4 kilos. "At 4 kilos, you cannot have a natural birth," she said. She went on to state that he needed to be 3.5 kilos. Does this lady realize that, and correct me if I'm wrong, if I were to have a baby that was only 3.5 kilos (7.7 lbs) it would be the lightest baby that any of the women in my family have delivered so far?
The appointment only lasted about 2 more minutes and it involved her guiding me down the hall while repeating the same advice she had already given me.

The thing is, I have not gained any weight since my last appointment. I am the exact same weight that I was 10 weeks ago in Texas. I am trying to keep the weight down but she's telling me that unless I produce a miracle baby at 7 lbs, I will not have a natural birth. So the little one is coming in 10 weeks and I find myself questioning who will be there when it's time to deliver. Is it going to be this lady? I allowed myself to cry on my walk home, not even caring who saw me.
Once I got home, I told Jimmy about what had happened and we talked about whether we just stay with this doctor and plan on not letting her jump to a c-section just because the baby weighs more than 8 lbs, or whether we should go to another hospital. I plan on spending this week looking for another doctor.... and not eating and exercising more. Just kidding.

It's amazing to see the huge difference in my last doctor and this one. Dr. Hulme never made any comments like this to me. I remember how funny it was when he would refer to her as hefty (I think that's the word he used) and that her head size was generous but he never threatened to not let me have her natural. And maybe he knew that if she got much bigger I really couldn't have a natural birth but he still never stressed me out by telling me to stop eating. I realize even more how blessed we were to have had him as our doctor. Maybe he would like to come on a little China vacation around January 14th. Hehehe.
Something will work out. We'll just have to see what that something is in the coming weeks and try not to break out in hives in the meantime.