Finally!

I JUST finally had my first prenatal check up here in wonderful Troy, NY

we moved here in mid August.


you see, it took a while for medicaid in Jefferson Co. to transfer all my records here to Rensselaer Co. then, here we needed a managed care plan, something that we didn't have back home. so we had to go to the DSS office and sign up for one, which we did.

while there it was discovered that my old doctor never told medicaid that I was pregnant, so technically I wasn't covered because Bill made too much money as a grad student (HA!) but that was easily fixed by faxing my old doctor a request. (the upper income limit is higher if you are pregnant, so I'm still eligible)
then we discovered that due to some weird rules even if they had my proof right then, I wouldn't officially be covered in Rensselaer Co. until the beginning of October.
this was way back in the beginning of September.

:: heavy sigh ::

so thinking everything was taken care of we headed home, and made a OBGYN appointment for today, faxed the release forms to my old doctor, and waited.

we received my new medicaid ID, but the managed care plan (CDPHP) never sent us anything, so on Monday I called the OBGYN to find out what I could do, they said I didn't need the card as long as I had my ID and Group #'s, so I Called the DSS office to get them, this is when I found out that medicaid STILL didn't know I was pregnant, and not only that, but even though we were told that coverage was immediate when we signed up, CDPHP coverage didn't actually come into effect until NOVEMBER!

keep in mind, I'm 7 months pregnant by now, and should have been seeing a doctor regularly and should have started going every two weeks about a month ago.

:: slight sobbing ::

after I recovered, Bill and I talked it over and decided that I was NOT going to reschedule AGAIN (we had already had to reschedule a couple times, before everything was 'straightened' out) we would just have to go in as uninsured, and pay for the visit out of pocket.

:: gnashing of teeth, and worrying looks at bank account balance ::

yesterday afternoon I called my mother, who (thankfully) happens to be the Nurse Manager of where I went back home, to figure out why they never sent my proof of pregnancy to medicaid, and then explained the insurance problems to her.

my parents are awesome (or just really eager to have a healthy grand baby) and offered to reimburse us any medical bills we acquired until medicaid and CDPHP got their heads out of their butts, and then mom called my old doctors office to make sure all my records got send where they needed to go.

:: joy! ::

so this morning at the but crack of dawn I was up and getting ready. Bill and I had no trouble finding the office, and even got a good parking spot. (YAY!)
there had been a slight mix up about appointment times, and we ended up having to wait about 45 minutes for the office to open, and then another 20 or so to be called in, but I brought knitting, so it wasn't that bad.

when we signed in we told the receptionist about our insurance issues, and she called somebody (their Nurse Manager?) who looked up the medicaid information, and saw that everything was in order, just being stupid and slow, so they told us that they were not going to bill us for any of our visits until we got our managed care coverage. once we got that information, we have to give it to them, and they were retroactively bill us so that we don't have to pay anything out of pocket.
WOO HOO!!

:: happy dance ::



everybody at the office was super nice, and awesome, the doctor we saw today (Dr, Melody Bruce, there are several doctors, and nurse midwives there, and they like to rotate, so that when you go into labor, you will have seen whoever is on call at least once) was totally sweet and nice, and was super gentile during the checkup and pelvic exam. then we listened to the baby's heartbeat (nice and strong!). we discussed the usual pregnancy aches and pains, and diet etc.
afterwords we made our next two week appointment, which will also be another ultra sound to double check the due date, and also to be sure that Tommy is getting into the proper (head down) birthing position.

everything is coming together so well now, and this OBGYN group seems so awesome, I'm finally beginning to feel a bit more relaxed about this whole baby thing! :d