Backtracking - Cyst and Insurance

When I called Mesa Midwives on Friday, the 13th (funny, huh!?), I was frustrated because I wasn't able to get that temporary B 4 Babies card (basically medicaid) that morning, when G and I went to their office. We went early that morning, in hopes to fill out the application, saying that we made less than $2800/mo., the number we had heard from at least 3 sources was the cutoff for medicaid. The reason we want to use the medicaid, as opposed to CHP (which we definitely qualify for), is because I can keep my health insurance. So, we specifically had gotten our income down to that $2800. When we went to the office, we started filling out the application, and then were told that we weren't going to be able to be seen until Monday at the earliest, and we in fact needed to make less than $1500/mo. to qualify!!! That's almost NOTHING! We were pretty frustrated because we had heard that it was $2800 from at least three sources (G and I had both heard this). And here I was so nervous about this pain, and I had to wait through the weekend! My fallopian tube could rupture in that time! And all because of stupid money. Another reason I wanted to get the medicaid at this point was that I could get that temporary card and it would be effective immediately, so I could go to the doctor. With CHP, we have to wait until my insurance is canceled (have to wait for it to cycle through at the end of the month), THEN apply - so it could be another month before I could even make a doctor's appointment! Argh! We should've gotten on this sooner, RIGHT when we found out, esp. with the worries I was having. Anyway, I called Mesa Midwives and talked to Janet who said if I had any severe pain over the weekend, to call the ER, and in the meantime scheduled me for an ultrasound the next Wednesday. I had told them on the phone that I was pretty sure I was going to have a temp card by next week. Otherwise, I still COULD'VE gone to get an ultrasound, it just would've cost $250, and I would've had to bring a $300 deposit to MM. I waited it out until my appt. Monday morning. G couldn't go - I was kindof frustrated (he had to work), but I had to do it - I needed to go. So he had new pay stubs from Over the Edge printed out, and we whittled my income down, so we could get well below that $1527. I felt guilty, because we do make more than we said we do (from my studio and OTE), but when you take into account Gatseos Investments West, which loses money on paper, and all our expenses we really only make like $500/mo. I'm not exactly sure how honest this is though, because I don't understand why we can subtract ALL our expenses but someone who isn't self employed can't. Anyway, like I said, we easily could qualify for CHP ($3,800/mo or less), but it would be a pain to drop my health insurance, and then pick it back up again after I've had a baby, and since I felt it imperative to get into the doctor immediately, we chose the medicaid route (they both cover everything). Also, we did get approved for medicaid, but only by $3! I'm not sure how they figured it because according to G and I's calculations we were only at $1300-something. She said that because we were on the cusp, the national (or 'head') medicaid office might still question it, and ask for more proof, but they're 2-3 months behind, and so we won't know that until like October or November. That would stink, but if that happened we would just go ahead and get the CHP, and drop my insurance. The medicaid will pay for all my services up to that point.

Anyway, after talking to Janet on the phone about my pain, and her asking about my risk factors (there are certain things that make you more susceptible to ectopic pregnancy, like STD's, previous abortions, etc.), she determined that it was fairly unlikely that it was ectopic. Rather, it sounded like it could be a cyst. I researched this and found many women who had cysts while pregnant, and it didn't affect the baby at all. I was SOOOOOO relieved!!! I can TOTALLY deal with a cyst! So that kept me going through the weekend. I was hopeful.

Then I went to the B for Babies office Monday, got my temp card, went to MM today (see post), she did a pelvic exam and then the doctor did an ultrasound, and voila - NOTHING!!! Not even a cyst! She said the pain was probably this certain ligament that stretches when my uterus starts growing. I'm still a little confused because that 'ligament' was bothering me I think before I was even pregnant, or maybe RIGHT when I got pregnant. I don't know. I just know that my baby is safe for the time being, and so little shooting aches and pains I have I'm going to consider normal! From now on, I will try to not be so paranoid (though difficult, from what I've heard of any mother, to do when you're pregnant - esp. with your first!).