Meeting with the Pediatrician

Oh wait, as I'm reminded every time I say pediatrician (in ANY context, as in "the pediatrician we had in MD . . .") to any of the office staff, she's NOT a pediatrician, or an ob/gyn, she's a family practitioner who treats women & children LOL (apparently this is significant to some insurance companies, so they are vigilant about making sure this is clear).

ANYWAY . . . I needed her to sign a letter for the midwives (giving the birth center's nurse permission to do the newborn infant procedures at the homebirth), so, since I hadn't met her, we went for a consult, that she ended up billing as an appointment for me, since she DID give me advice on supplementation & drew my blood to check my Vit D (and I'm not sure what else, but they took 2 vials of blood) levels.

I can't begin to tell you how refreshing it is to sit down w/ a doctor & have her start in immediately asking about my overall nutrition, suggesting supplements for ME ("we don't want the baby to have anything but your milk, so we need to make sure your milk has everything the baby needs!" what a NOVEL IDEA!!). After we'd talked about Vitamin D supplements (for me, and while we're at it, the girls & dh, but NOT the baby, thankyouverymuch!), omega3s, etc. She explained that she tries to focus on preventative measures so that we don't have to worry about the actual sicknesses. Also talked about the importance of me being exposed to everything baby is exposed to, so that my body produces and passes on the necessary antibodies (which I knew, but I've had enough people look totally lost when I mention it (when the girls were babies) that this is obviously information that needs to be made more widely known). They don't even recommend any vaccines until age 2, a nice change from the "norm" :)

The girls decided it wasn't fair because THEY didn't get to talk enough (LOL) but other then that, it was a very good, and informative visit. She actually used the same practice I'm using (though I think some, if not all, of hte midwives have changed in the last few years) for a homebirth for her last child, and she used to do homebirths (I think at the practice she was at prior to this one). She was aware of the letter, and so signed it with no problem. She said she'll actually be on vacation right around my EDD, but then laughed & said "which is probably as good a time as any to be gone, babies rarely come ON their due date" but said if she's not available the other doctor in the practice who covers for her when she's gone is on the same page wrt everything we'd talked about, so no biggie.

Anyway, it was wonderful! I left being all the more sure that it is well worth the drive to go to this practice, woo-hoo!!

And now, to round out our too busy day, I'm off to a midwife appointment LOL.