Week 14 - Meeting My Obstetrician
Meeting Dr. Maxwell
I was so excited for my first OB appointment! I had done a ton of research leading up to now, to find an OB that would be a good fit for me. My criteria? A kind and talented doctor with a good reputation in the plus size community. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?
I scoured blog posts, expectant mother chat rooms, Google reviews and RateMDs. Not surprisingly, I didn’t find a very long list of doctors that specialize in plus size birth, or who had positive reviews from plus size Moms. But I wouldn’t be deterred and continued my search. And then I found her, my unicorn OB, Dr. Cynthia Maxwell.
The article I found about Dr. Maxwell started like this, “Dr. Maxwell is making pregnancy seamless, safe and stigma-free for women with obesity.” Say no more, and sign me up! When I spoke to my IVF doctor and told him of the OB I’d found, he confirmed this as an excellent choice. He said, “I did my residency with Dr. Maxwell, she’s wonderful.” My heart sung! To this point, my IVF journey had been surrounded by the kindest, most professional team, and I was over the moon to have that level of comfort and support carryover, as I transitioned from the fertility clinic to OB at 12 weeks.
I didn’t actually get to meet Dr. Maxwell until my 14th week, but she was so worth the wait! I had an early morning appointment and was greeted by a very kind woman who welcomed me at the intake desk. Her warm smile put me at ease instantaneously. I filled out some paperwork (that’s an understatement, haha) and waited patiently.
In Good Hands
Soon I was greeted by another bright, smiling face. She introduced herself as Nurse Lucie. She immediately took me to be weighed. Ugh, the dreaded scale. This is actually the first time in my whole IVF journey that I had to step on the scale. It was one of those older style scales, that also has a vertical arm to measure your height. To my surprise, I hadn’t gained any weight! A bloody miracle given all the white and brown food I’ve been consuming over the past few weeks. She also took my blood pressure, which was also normal. Hurrah! These two small things put me even more at ease… I’d been bracing for… not a scolding per se, but you know, strong medical words. They didn’t come.
Nurse Lucie led me to a private examination room. I was immediately impressed. It was a large, spacious room. It felt like there was lots of space for all of the furniture, equipment, and me! The chair was a nice extra wide chair, I didn’t have to squeeze myself into it. And beyond that there was an extra wide examination bed, positioned a good distance away from the wall. Again these seemingly small details put me at ease. It felt like this room was created with my comfort in mind. I belonged here.
I had a great chat with Nurse Lucie who walked through my intake paperwork in great detail. It really did feel like a chat. She was kind and friendly, and it didn’t feel like she was rushing through to get to a specific set of questions. She left me with a booklet of information about the Special Pregnancy Program at Mount Sinai, and said the doctor would be in soon.
Dr. Cynthia Maxwell came in and greeted me by name with a warm, broad smile. What a calm and gentle presence! She introduced herself, talked a bit about her background and the program, all the while taking care to choose positive words and language. Right from the beginning it was clear that she not only has a big, caring heart but she is a highly skilled doctor, with specialized experience guiding women like me through the pregnancy journey.
