The next day after I got my referral letter we drove to the hospital to schedule our first appointment with the obstetrician.
You know it is a European maternity hospital when you see 2 pregnant women smoking 2 feet away from the entrance to the hospital. We just followed the smoke right into the Reception. The receptionist provided us with the first-class Irish customer service: ignored us for 5 minutes, when Dennis tried to say something the receptionist interrupted him by raising her hand and shushing him, then finally I think she asked what can she do for us, but by the time I said: “This is my first time here… ” the phone rang and I was immediately shushed. Finally…. after her-royal- highness-receptionist finished her conversation I was graced with her attention. I know I’ve adjusted to Ireland because I wasn’t surprised when she said that the “Appointment Department” was closed and I will have to call the next day. We followed the smoke to find our way out of the building.
The next day I called the “Appointment Department”. The appointment lady was almost nice and almost politely collected all of my information. She got a bit confused with some dates that I gave her, because I gave them in American format – month/date/year.
“Oh, you Americans can never get it right, can you?”
I assumed this was a rhetorical insult and did not respond.
“Would you like a private or a public doctor?”
“What’s the difference?”
“Private doctor is not free but you will be able to see the same doctor throughout your pregnancy”
“How much would it cost?”
“€3000 your first visit”
“hmmm… I will go with the public doctor”
“Ok. The next available appointment is on the 24th of September”
“Is there anyway I could see the doctor before that?”
“No – this is a standard wait time”
Surely, I thought, there has to be a hospital in Ireland that would see me before my 4th month of pregnancy…. So I called my GP to see if they could find me a hospital with a shorter wait time and was informed that none of the hospitals will see me until I’m at least 15 to 16 weeks pregnant. Apparently nobody considers you pregnant until you are into your 4th or 5th month.
In one of my pregnancy books I read that in the old days women used to go all 9 months without ever seeing a doctor… and then give birth in a barn… and I’m sure they didn’t even have the Internet… and maybe preparation is overrated…
It’s all good. Breath in. Breath out. Repeat.
