Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Finding a Doctor

I'm super stoked right now!  Every time we move comes the agony of finding a new pediatrician.  We don't like doctors in general who dictate, and add that ego to a pediatrician and well it's a recipe for disaster.  Seeing as Hannah was born at home, you can already guess we would like a pediatrician who works with our wishes and respects them.  One of those being, we choose not to vaccinate.  Since we arrived here, I've been researching pediatricians in the area more so for a day like today.  This morning Hannah was going down the stairs, with Sergio's supervision.  She was going down backwards, as Grandma taught her.  Sergio said when she came to the bottom, last step she turned forward and stood up.  Looked at the step, then ground, and decided to take a forward step off.  Which then led her into a tumble.  I was in the shower and heard her crying.  Sergio brought her upstairs and told me what happened.  She quickly calmed down and that was the end of it.  After I came downstairs and found them asleep on the couch.  I woke them both and off we went to Hannah's swim lesson.  We had a great time at the pool.  When we came back home, I placed Hannah in her high chair to eat lunch, then she cuddled on the couch with me.  Up to this point she had been carried everywhere since her fall.  After cuddling on the couch I placed her on the floor to play, and she stood, took a couple steps and tripped.  Stood again, couple steps, tripped.  Then started crawling.  Stood, a step or 2, and tripped.  Instantly I began to worry, and called Sergio into the room.  He checked her leg, and noticed nothing, neither was she crying.  It was getting close to her nap time, so we put her down.  Which is where she is now sleeping.  In the mean time I called a local midwife to find a recommendation for a pediatrician.  She was very helpful.  I called the doctor, but the operator only takes messages.  She didn't know about the office policies on accepting non-vaccinated children.  Even though I had been told by the midwife he works with families like us, I always like to confirm before making an appointment.  While waiting for a call back, I called another doctor recommended by some Mom's online.  That doctor does see non-vaccinated children but happens to be gone for 3 days, so her office recommended going to the ER for x-rays because they would be needed anyways.  Which put my worries aside about going into the ER without a pediatrician who supports us.  A few minutes later, my phone rang and it was the doctor the midwife recommended.  First the doctor himself called me, not his staff, and we're not even his patient yet.  That spoke volumes to me.  He is fine with seeing Hannah, and taking precautionary measures because she is not vaccinated.  And to my concern at the moment Hannah's leg, he does not want to give Hannah an x-ray immediately because of the risk of unnecessary exposure.  He said it is most likely a strain, so to watch it for 24 hours.  He made an appointment with us for Friday.  If she seems to be fine in 24 hours then, we can cancel our appointment.  In love with our new doctor.        

2 comments:

  1. Awww... yay! Awesome news! That's similar to how we came across our pediatrician as well. Our family doctor kept mentioning he thought Kevin had asthma, but wouldn't do anything about it, even though he kept getting sick and couldn't seem to beat it (we're talking old-man racking off that chills the bones type-of-sick). We finally called when we were out of town and he was clearly having problems breathing. The doctor that responded to our inquiry immediately prescribed a low grade inhaler and Kevin has done worlds better since then. He only needs to use the inhaler 2 times a year, but those few times are huge for us. She really trusted my instinct as a mother, and it meant the world to me. We switched over right away and she is great about delayed immunizations, etc. I vaccinate, but only for certain ones, delay the others, and only when the kids seem to be as healthy as possible. I support your decision not to. I actually have a LOT of friends that don't.

    I'm thinking of you guys! Let me know how Hannah is!

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  2. Thank you for the support! Glad you found a pedi for the kids too. In Mississippi, we went to 2 different pedis and both wouldn't see Hannah anymore because I wouldn't allow them to give her vaccinations. The 2nd pedi used to work with families, but he said the week before I came in his colleagues in the office told him he could no longer do so. Which made me sad to see he gave into the pressure from his colleagues. In TX we found a wonderful pedi because he was quoted in a news article in support of parents like us. When she gets to school age we may consider doing some, but will cross that bridge when we get to it.

    She is doing better, but is still favoring crawling over walking. So I kept our appointment. Time to go get ready for it actually.

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About Me

Family is my life. I'm a stay at home mom to Hannah, and wife to a wonderful Naval Aviator.