TMI Tuesday: Appointments

It seems that whenever we take our son to the doctor there is always another appointment to be scheduled. Thankfully, he is actually pretty good in the waiting room and even on the examination table so long as we are there and there is plenty of tissue paper to play with. However, the service that we have received from his current pediatrician has fallen far short of the expectations of quality care. The last two appointments are indicative of this level of service.

With our overachieving son deciding to cut about a half dozen teeth at the same time, we have run into a few bumps both during the night and throughout the day. It has interrupted his sleep patterns which have always been pretty good and it has had an impact on his eating. While he is still healthy and generally happy he does have his moments and once things had continued for some time we decided to bring him in to see the doctor. Keep in mind that this was after we called and were told to bring him in to see said doctor if things continued.

While I am not usually a stickler for these things when I make an appointment to see the doctor, especially when acting upon their own advice, don’t give us a hard time making the appointment and make sure that we see the doctor not just someone you call “doctor”. On top of that, it would be nice if this “doctor” would follow the same plan as the actual doctor instead of contradicting almost everything that we have been told and arguing with us each time we said anything.

That was just the first example. The second is the fact that one of the nurses, who too frequently handle the appointments, insisted that we take our son to an Ophthalmologist because he would probably need either glasses or a temporary eye patch. I honestly never noticed a lazy eye but we made the appointment to get it checked out and my wife and I spent some time trying to figure out how to deal with this new situation as we waited for the scheduled day to arrive. A couple of weeks ago, we took our son to see the specialist and it didn’t take but maybe 10 seconds for him to tell us that there was nothing wrong.

It wasn’t even a question… he found nothing. And, while he wasn’t about to say anything directly, we had a little conversation about how we should have probably never been sent there. Nice to have a professional back up the opinion that I have already been forming in my head about the current office. Needless to say, it has not been an easy experience and continued to be a difficult process simply getting someone on the phone at times as well as every time we try to schedule an appointment. Goes to show, sometimes the most well-meaning opinions and advice that you received about a place beforehand are, at the very least, subjective and experience is what really matters.

A Family Of Three

Sometimes the easiest and hardest thing you can do is to ask someone for help. This is especially true when you have your first child. While there was a part of us that just wanted to do it ourselves, we knew that with everything that was going on around us it would, at the very least, be a difficult undertaking. It is with this in mind that we decided to have a doula (also known as baby nurse or postpartum nurse) assist us during the first month.

We first met one of the doulas when we were still in the hospital trying to center ourselves again after all that had transpired over the first 24 hours as a family. With our son arriving a little earlier than expected, there were a number of projects around the house that we had yet to complete. This is when we experienced one of the big perks of having this extra help as I was able to take her to the house and show her a few of the things that we would like taken care of before we got home (mostly laundry, dishes, and a few organization projects).

When we opened the door, there were a number of things checked off our list. Maybe the most important one was that we were able to go to bed that night and sleep on clean sheets. This support continued for the next several weeks as we became more comfortable with having a newborn in our life and while we had to deal with a variety of other events beyond our control.

As time passed, the help continued to be appreciated (most recently while I was on my annual business trip) but the need to be alone with our son continued to grow. Our routine was taking shape and we looked forward more and more to the times when it was just the three of us. It was time to do things on our own and look to family and friends for the advice we needed from time to time (we still sought the advice before but now it is what we solely rely upon when needed).

We still question whether we held on to the doula safety net too long but, in hindsight, we know that there were moments early on when it would have been a struggle without their presence. But now we have our routine and our son expects to see us rather than someone else when he gets fussy or wakes up in the middle of the night. While the constant support may be good for some for a long period of time, it is not something that we wanted to last and now we can enjoy life as a family of three.

Birthing Class, Pizza, And A Hospital Visit

Having gotten up early the day before and out of the apartment all day, Sunday was not a fun experience getting out of bed. But we had good reason for an early rise as we were off to class yesterday! We had signed up for the birthing class about a month ago and opted for the one day variety instead of the multi-week long process that just doesn’t agree with either of our schedules at this point.

A little sluggish and having been held up by anything and everything along the way, we were the last ones to arrive but thankfully the class had only started a couple minutes prior to our arrival. Obviously, we jumped right in as soon as we were able to take our coats off and take a seat. Another new experience during this new adventure.

The class went well offering up a lot of information and answering numerous questions that everyone had. It was led by one of the nurses from Bryn Mawr Hospital whom you could tell was well verse in fielding all of the different questions that new parents have. While the class was interesting it was a little repetitive and the warm room did not mix well with the lack of sleep from the prior week. I did stay awake and pay attention but there were a few touch and go moments here and there.

Halfway through we all left to get some lunch with a time set to resume the educational portion of the day. I didn’t have to say much knowing that my wife would probably like to go to Peace of Pizza. Not surprisingly, we found the majority of the class at the counter ordering their meals when we walked in the door.

There were also a number of families there for lunch with gaggles of young kids circling them like hyper sharks. We didn’t think anything of it and smiled at the situation before taking another few bites. However, my wife and I were amused when we saw the looks of terror on the faces of our classmates. I guess they weren’t quite ready for the dose of reality.

We returned to the class and finished up the sitting portion of the day with a few games that brought a little perspective to the situation. After these we completed we got back in the car and we all met at the hospital for a tour of labor and delivery. While those terrified looks seemed to creep back onto many of their faces I could feel the two of us getting more and more excited (and more nervous). Time is going so fast and it won’t be very long before we return expecting to leave as a family of three.