30 Something Baby Doc

I was seeing a patient today for her routine pre-natal care visit. She was about 35 weeks pregnant. She had no major complaint other that the usual TOBP stuff (tired of being pregnant). We listened her baby's heart beat and I measured her belly. Everything was normal and appropriate. I told her I would have her follow up with me for another appointment in one week. I directed her to the waiting room. A few minutes had past and she came in from the waiting room with concerned look on her face. She nervously asked me if I could be sure about her due date. She wanted to know exactly how far along she was in the pregnancy. Because she had an early ultrasound, I told her we could be pretty sure about her dating. I made bold move and asked her why she was so concerned about her pregnancy dating and was there a question about who who was the father of her baby. She said she was unsure about who the father was because she slept with her current boyfriend and ex-boyfriend in very close proximity (5 days apart). I told her if she was really concerned she could always do paternity testing. She said she couldn't do it because then her current boyfriend would know she was unfaithful. I tried to comfort her by explaining to her it may not be a big deal if both potential fathers looked alike (As I'm writing this post , I assure you I completely realize the ignorance of my latter statement). Unfortunately the patient said both gentlemen look totally different and as her due date approaches she becomes more and more anxious. I sat down with her and meticulously reviewed her dating. I was able to assure her with about 95% accuracy that she was likely 3-4 weeks pregnant already before she cheated on her boyfriend. So she could be fairly certain her boyfriend was the father. She felt a little better. I'll still try to avoid the delivery room when she's in labor (just in case) ;-)