the DREADED annual...

Today the babies & I went to see Dr. V, my OB/GYN. He is such an AWESOME guy! He actually attends the same church that we do. I tell everyone that the Lord brought him to us at just the right time, I just know it! Anyhow, I had my annual appt. I brought the babies BY MYSELF & they did wonderfully! I warned his staff prior to my appt that I would be bringing snacks & stuff for them just in case he ran late. (They have signs up all over the place saying no food or drink). They said it would be ok for me to feed them. Little do they know that whether they said yes or no I was going to feed them! They surprised me & did VERY well so I never had to break out the stash of goodies. You all know the drill when you go to the Doctor. You have to get on the scale & get weighed. I SO did not want to get on that scale! ugh! It seems that I am finally up to my pre pregnancy weight, actually I have gained a few pounds more. I feel it too! You would think with all the chasing I do of these children that I would be the same weight if not lighter. Oh the scale was not good to me! I never weigh myself & really do not care about my weight EXCEPT when it comes to how my clothes fit. When they start feeling tight I know I need to lose a few pounds. Looks like losing weight is going to be #1 on the New Years Resolution list! Dr V did not keep us waiting & we actually got to chat a little about the babe's. He actually reads their blog! YAY! I owe so much to all of my doctor's for getting me through such a high risk pregnancy. I am SO happy to have my four HEALTHY babies but have no intention of having another. SO, we had the talk about what type of contraception would be best for me. I had already done my homework & decided on the Mirena. He agreed that it would be good for me & hoped it would be covered by my insurance. Heck, when I was pregnant with the babies my Peri had to get prevenative monitoring covered by my insurance. Can you believe that!? They had to have my Peri call them & EXPLAIN that it would save them thousands so they gave in & covered it. I can just imagine what they think about birth control! Insurance coverage & benefits is a struggle any way you look at it! Now my next obstacle is a mammogram. YIKES! Since my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last year he wants to make sure I get my screening done. I have NEVER had a mammogram before & have only heard horror stories about them. Needless to say I am NOT looking forward to it! I am just so glad to be done with..


the DREADED annual...

insurance shmearance...

I cannot tell you how many times our "wonderful" , I use this word loosely, insurance company has SCREWED up our insurance cards. For some strange reason they cannot figure out who is suppose to have which number. This in turn messes things up for me when I take one of the babies to the Doctor. They submit a claim & the Insurance company denies it because that is not that childs ID #. The saga goes on & on! Why can they not figure this out?! The way I would do it is put us all in age order. That is how our life runs anyhow. We go down the line from oldest to youngest when I share anything about them ie: their names, birth weights, etc. That way the first card would be Michael & it would go down from there. You see the reason for this post is an upcoming Cardiologist appt. for my "Mr. B". He has a hole in his heart that has not changed one iota since birth so we need to see if he needs to have surgery to close it. Heart surgery, just the thought of it freaks me out!! This means I need to get referral after referral due to the type of insurance we have. The things you do just to save a buck when you have so many kids!! I am so not looking forward to his appt. I try to think positive & find the "silver lining" in this. That being that we have some wonderful hospitals near us that are only a short drive away. YAY! I would hate to have to pack up our family for a trek even further away! I am just grateful that my hubby has a job & that we have insurance! Could you imagine if we did not!?


insurance shmearance...

a trip to the ER...

It was a CRAZY morning. The babies were all over the place when Camryn started sobbing. This is unusual for even her. She kept grabbing her left arm and wanted to be held. I checked her ALL over & could not find any swelling or most importantly blood. We could not figure out what had happened to her. After about 20 minutes of hearing her cry I decided I better seek some medical advice. I called the Pediatrician's office & they told me to go to an Urgent Medical Care or ER. I then called Michael to tell him that he needed to leave work & come to Grandma's to care for the other three. Luckily Uncle Bob was nearby so he came and watched them until Daddy got here. As I put her in her car seat she cried so I knew that she was hurt in some way. I decided to take her to an Urgent Medical Care near my work they seem to have a shorter wait time than a hospital. As I am driving I realize that I did not have her insurance card. Uh Oh! I better call Humana to get her card # since I did not know each babies ID #. After TOO much discussion the insurance lady had me in tears saying that they would not cover our visit there since they were not on the provider list. What is that!!? I was SO upset!! I called Michael, who was now on his way to Grandma's, and he said to take her to Holy Cross. So I was now headed there. Mind you Miss Camryn was now only fussing a little. We decided it was better to be safe than sorry so off I went. After filling out some forms and explaining about her insurance card, etc. we were waited for about 45 minutes to be seen. I do not like hospital ER's. There is TOO many sick people with G-E-R-M-S! As the time passed she got better & better. You would never know her arm even hurt her! Little stinker! I just think she wanted some "mommy time"! The Dr finally came in & checked her out. After checking a few things he determined that she had what they call a "nursemaid's elbow". It is a pediatric version of a dislocated elbow. It already went back into place by the time we were seen in the ER. He said it is VERY common with children especially under the age of 3 and gave us paperwork on it. $50.00 later she is fine, jumping around and being a normal 20 month old! I do feel better having a Dr tell me that everything was ok. However I could have not used...

a trip to the ER....