Oy! Rhogam

So naturally, my blood type is negative which means for each of my pregnancies, I have been RH negative.  It's a curse which I've gotten use to and means I have to have a shot of Rhogam at 28 weeks and after delivery if the baby is positive in blood type.

My first experience with Hayden's doctor, the nurse did something funky because my butt hurt for a couple weeks straight.  No kidding.  Was totally not fun and wasn't looking forward to getting it ever again.  The good news was that they do them at the hospital more often and I had a great nurse give me my post delivery shot so that was good.  Hadley's doctor was good too.  Didn't hurt too bad and I didn't have to get one after her delivery because she is negative too.  Bad news for her when she has kids of her own though.  This time, apparently, they have stopped giving the shots at the OB offices now.  The second admitting clerk I talked to at the hospital thinks that it is because the shots have gotten so expensive that the doctors can't afford to order them for their patients in advance.  Sad.  So here is a recap of my exciting adventure to try and get my rhogam shot.

After Hayden's doctor appointment, we went over to the hospital to get my rhogam shot.  Naively, I thought it would be a quick piece of cake and I'd be done.  WRONG!  I went in and starting the paperwork at admitting and a few phone calls were made and it turned out that the prescription they gave me to get it was not authorized by my insurance even though they handed it to me saying, "You're all authorized to get it done."

Apparently, the doctor's office was going off old notes from my insurance saying they didn't need authorization for this shot when really, they do.  SInce it was so late in the afternoon, there was no way I could get things cleared in time to get it done that day so the nice lady had me fill out all of my paperwork ahead of time while I was there to register for the rhogam shot, delivery and baby.  Once that was all done, I went and collected Hadley from a friend's house and we went home.

The next morning, my doctor's office called me and I was given clearance to go in and get the shot finally.  I again figured, I did all the paperwork so I just have to go in quick and get it done.  I set up to have both kids be over a friends house while I went to get it done.  I got there and had to wait for two people ahead of me at admitting and then it was my turn.  I told them I was there to get a rhogam shot and that I did all the paperwork yesterday.  She looked me up in the computer and couldn't find me anywhere.  It turns out that the last lady never scanned in my sheets and what not so the second lady had to do it all real quick.  While she did it, she talked about the guy who signed in after me, keeps giving her dirty looks and she didn't like it.  She was fun to talk to.  Finally, I got my bracelet on and headed up to the maternity ward for my shot.  There, I had to fill out another piece of paper and wait.  THey asked if I had a copy of my prescription and blood test in my paperwork.  I didn't have my blood test proving negative in there so they had to call and get it faxed over.  Yeesh!

Then they said, it would be about an hour to wait because they had to mix the shot up and get it ready.  I immediately freaked out in my head because I was going to be late to get the kids back from my friend so she could pick up her son.  FInally, they said I could leave and come back so I did.  On the way, I tried calling a couple people and one friend said it'd be fine to move the kids over to her house while I finished up the process.  Grateful, I trucked the kids on over and returned to the hospital where I waited another 20 minutes or longer and finally went in to get the shot.  They took me to their triage labor and delivery overflow and hooked me up to the machine and created a profile for me and then gave me the shot.  

The nurse had me lay down and told me to relax my leg.  She warned me that I would feel a pinch and immediately as she poked me I jumped really bad and she told me to relax.  I told her I was trying and she finished putting it in.  She rubbed the area a little after which I think helped out and I was finally done and off.  Luckily, when I got home, it was nap time for the kids and I could lay down and work off the shot too.  It only hurt a little while lying down but eventually went away.  Anywho, that was the story to my rhogam woes.  Thanks to all three people who helped my shuffle my kids during it.  It would have been an even bigger nightmare wrestling kids the whole time.  I really appreciated it.