Pediatrician Woes

I don't recall if I told you about our pediatrician interviews or not. I solicited a few recommendations from coworkers. Most of them go to one practice (and only two of the four doctors in that practice), so that one (and those doctors, plus a third one) was on my list. There were a scattered few other recommendations that I got, so I only selected one other practice based on all of the information that my coworker gave me. I only wanted to interview the recommended doctor there. We went there first.

The doctor was pretty old - practicing medicine since 1976. So he could have been MY pediatrician. But he seemed nice enough, helpful enough and very knowledgeable, if a bit strict with certain things. He did make some weird jokes, but sometimes old guys make weird jokes. What I really liked was the practice. The office manager was really great and shared lots of information. The nursing staff also seemed really helpful. Lots of people worked there and the waiting room was filled with toys. Two policies I really liked were that 1. It's no problem to switch doctors within the practice, and 2. After-hours calls are free and unlimited, and they have a round-the-clock nursing staff who can answer lots of questions.

The second practice, where we wanted to talk to three doctors, was sort of a different story. It was a beautiful office, but did not feel particularly kid-friendly. But that was okay. The desk staff seemed fine, if a bit lean for such a large practice. I asked to talk to the three doctors, and I was told that since they like to discourage competition among their doctors that they would only allow me to interview one of them. That was weird. But I picked the one that nobody recommended, because she seemed like a good fit based on the on-line bio.

I really liked her. She was very enthusiastic, positive, smart and friendly. We seemed to have similar philosophies on raising children, and she was young so I knew she probably wouldn't retire before my kid hit kindergarten.

But besides the weird office policy of not swapping doctors, they also charge $10 per after-hours call. As first-time parents, this was not a good deal for us. So as much as I liked this doctor better, I let Hubby-poo convince me that the first place was the better option.

Fast forward to our hospital stay - the doctor we selected was not on hospital rounds either day. The first day a young, female doctor came in and checked out Jocelyn. I really, really liked her. Probably would have switched right off the bat, but she's pregnant and due in September, so there would be a big chunk of the early stuff that she wouldn't be around for. The second day, another guy came in to check her. He was fairly nondescript. So at least we had an option with that practice if we decided we didn't like the original doctor.

Fast forward again to Monday afternoon and our first doctor's appointment with Jocelyn. We were set to meet with the original guy, and I was very open-minded and wanted to like him. But I just didn't. He's not the warmest person, which is a quality I want in a pediatrician. And he seemed to have a whole list of weird jokes that he would tell. Except that instead of making the jokes about Hubby-poo, he made them at Jocelyn's expense. They were harmless - made fun of her for being a red head, joked about how her being a girl would be trouble down the line - stupid stuff. I'm sure he has 'material', so makes the requisite hair color joke, gender joke, bad baby joke, etc. But it annoyed me. You don't make fun of somebody's kid! What's wrong with you?

On top of that, I didn't really feel like he took my questions too seriously. I am a new parent and you have been a pediatrician for more than 30 years. I get to be naive and ask stupid questions. You DON'T get to dismiss them as though they are not important.

So when we left there I was in tears. Hubby-poo felt awful for twisting my arm into choosing a pediatrician that I wasn't completely comfortable with, and who I turned out to hate.

I was upset the entire day. Seriously. Every time I thought about it my blood would start to boil.

The next morning, the first thing I did was call the office and ask to be switched to the lady who saw us at the hospital. In order to not create awkwardness for future run-ins, I gave the reason that since I would be talking a lot about lactation I preferred to have a female doctor. But before I even gave a reason, the receptionist did not sound surprised when I said I wanted to switch. So maybe I'm not the only one.

Anyway, that was a LONG, drawn out story leading up to WHY I am so glad we stuck with that practice, even if we switched doctors. Today, after only knowing her for 5 days (her first day was only 30 minutes), I could tell my baby was different. She was lethargic for most of the day, fussy during that one 'between feeding' stint where she refused to nap, and then finally fell asleep when her next feeding was due to begin. And she never really did want that feeding, even after getting a bunch of sleep. My girl is a good eater and a terrible sleeper, so I knew something was up. We totally took advantage of the after-hours nurses tonight. They think it might be from jaundice, so they will call us first thing tomorrow morning and can see us tomorrow.

Of course, I'm a WRECK! I mean, MY BABY IS SICK! My 6 day old baby! That's not good for any Mama's heart. Of course, their answer was, 'come in tomorrow and we'll check everything out', and NOT, 'oh crap - get her to the ER, STAT!' So I may be overreacting a teeny, tiny bit. But I SO don't care. It's my baby, I can cry if I want to!