So I've begun the process of attempting to choose a pediatrician for Addiston. All of the books say I should have started this process weeks ago but I didn't see the rush and frankly didn't know where to start. I've never known anyone to go and interview prospective doctors before and I found the concept a little bit perplexing however decided to embark none the less.
Two weeks ago I asked my OBGYN if she had any that she would recommend, she had 2. One was a practice which she said many other moms that go to her use and they are always very pleased and the other was a practice that she took her children to but she did confess it was simply because of location.
The first practice I visited on Monday. It has recently moved to a brand new facility and is very nice. There are separate waiting rooms for sick and healthy children. (not just a pathetic half wall and paper signs saying sick side/well side.) I was very appreciative of this as newborns are much more susceptible to illness. (1 point) There were a variety of magazines and a few toys mainly coloring books and crayons. The lollypops they hand out are organic (2 points) and there was a flat screen tv (good for avoiding awkward I'm sitting next to you in a doctor's office small talk.) The staff was very friendly (both when I called to make the appointment and when I arrived) making sure my insurance was accepted, confirming my due date and showing me to the restroom. (3 points) The wait time to see the doctor was acceptable, I didn't keep track, but had time to flip through a small local magazine. The doctor is originally from Nashville but went to medical school at the University of Cincinnati and did her residency at Cincinnati Children's hospital, (has been ranked in the top 10 in the U.S for the past decade) (4 points) Besides the fact that she shares my love for Skyline chili and LaRosa's (I want to give points for this but will abstain) she has children (5 points.) This is something I thought to be important but didn't see the necessity in until I got pregnant. Truth be told, people without kids just function differently. It's not a bad thing, it takes all sorts of people to make the world work. It's just a fact of life, I've noticed it more so in my friends and family lately than I ever have before and the thought of going to a pediatrician without children is perplexing to me as I don't possibly see how they would be able to relate, react, or comfort new parents.
Now, on to the second practice I visited yesterday. However I feel as if it is necessary to bring up the fact that I had to call this office 3 times in order to make an appointment each time was treated rudely, (once by the answering service, once got disconnected, once by the lady who actually made the appointment) my GPS got me a little confused (2 buildings, 1 driveway, both medical suites) so I was a little bit late. When I called to asked where to go exactly the nursed acted like i was a moron. (consensus? rude nurses=-1 point) The office is just outside of the hospital where I will be delivering and is older which isn't a big deal except they have one giant room with sides designating where sick and well patients are suppose to sit, as if germs can't cross the great divide of air. (I mean really) (-2 point) The wait time to see the doctor was a bit longer but I can't complain about it because I was 15 minutes late for my appointment. This office does have a private room for nursing if necessary while I'm at the office (back up to -1 points) When I did get to see the doctor, I loved her. She has nothing to do with Cincinnati so I was all prepared to automatically not like her but she is sweet and energetic and fun. She's a bit younger, she went to medical school at Vanderbilt University and did her residency at Vanderbilt Medical Center (which has the only children's hospital in the city, Nashville's weird) She has been with that practice for 2 years and loves it. She told me a lot about herself and was very curious and seemed to want to genuinely get to know me. She is someone I could be friends with, I liked her quite a bit. ( back up to 0 points) After talking for almost half an hour I did learn that she has no children, not a deal breaker but is something I would appreciate.
So I really thought going into the second doctor that I had already made up my mind, The first practice was exception and the doctor more than acceptable. The second practice was frustrating and rude but then the doctor made me love her. I was truly torn!
After talking about it with Jared last night and sleeping on it we decided this morning to go with the first practice. If you think about it when you go to the doctor's office most of your time is really spent with the staff. The receptionist checks you in, the nurses weigh the baby, take their temperature, blood pressure, and ask you all the developmental questions as well as measuring length/height. The doctor comes in reviews things and does the shots. So for a 30 minute appointment your usually only with the doctor for 5-10 minutes. Not to mention anytime I call concerned or to make an appointment I'm going to be dealing with the staff.
So that's one huge thing crossed off of my "before she gets here to-do list" and I can move on the pre-registering at the hospital!
Some interesting things I learned from both doctors:
~You can't put sunscreen on babies till they are 6 months old. They don't have the ability to sweat yet which is why they shouldn't be out in the sun, not because of sensitive skin.
~If Jared takes a blanket that Addiston was in home from the hospital before we bring her home for good, the cat's are less likely to be all over her when she get's home, because they will know her smell. (this is true for any animal)
~The only true way to tell a babies temperature is rectally.
~Jaundice is hereditary (we're screwed)
Also this week I had a doctors appointment for me. I'm measuring perfectly an my weight gain is still on track! Hopefully no 10 pound babies! The nurse did comment that she was interested how I'm breathing as Addy is so far up in my ribs it was amazing. I told her "I don't" and that's pretty much true. One more week until I'm considered full term and this little one can make plans to come out! Yikes!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Pieces of childhood
As we put the finishing touches on the nursery, things are seeming more real. As if this watermelon growing on my front side isn't evidence enough, I daily get reminders that soon I will be the parent, the provider, the healer of ouchies, the responsible one. Sometimes it's scary and I can hardly breathe thinking about it. Most of the time it's sheer joy at the anticipation of meeting our little miracle and watching her grow.
Well, today everything just sort of shifted into place. Ya see there's this shelf. It's really not important at all, it wasn't made by a family member like some of my husbands furniture, it isn't the finest quality, it isn't even that unique. It is a plain wood shelf that was purchased and Minges Pumpkin Festival when I was a kid.
The Minges Pumpkin festival is a annual thing in my home town that I have missed only once since I was able to remember. It's not flashy or that big, it's important to my family but to the rest of the world it's just another fall festival. There are crafts for kids, a ton of fair style food (meaning very tasty unhealthyness) and tents full of hand made crafts and home goods, everything from jams and candles to furniture...like my shelf.
According to my mother, I needed a shelf in my room. I didn't know why, I didn't ask questions, she said I needed it and we were at the Pumpkin festival and she bought one. It was naked wood, a light wood if I remember right, those of you more knowledgeable about such things may be able to identify it, but really it's irrelevant!
We painted it green, a light airy green, sort of like the color of a banana before it turns yellow, the faded green that's got hints of white in it, not the harsh green of a banana that needs another day before it's eaten. My room was multi-colored at the time, white with slashes of color all over the walls, and my mom felt that green was the best color, so green it was painted. I kept tea pots shaped like elephants on it for years. I would hide candy in them because my older brothers (both of whom have an insatiable sweet tooth) would raid my room for goodies when I wasn't home because they knew I hoarded them. They never found that particular hiding spot, those elephant tea-pots. They were the best!
When I entered junior high we moved. My room in the new house was yellow with white accents and I got to choose what color to paint the shelf this time, apparently I was old enough for my parents to trust not to pick a completely putrid color. Ha, little did they know. It got painted bright pink! I'm talking almost neon, 80's leg warmer pink! Through junior high, high school, and college it kept many things, from cheerleading memorabilia, to prom photos and pictures drawn my my nieces and nephews. When Jared and I got married the shelf was hung in the spare bedroom/office. It remained pink but housed a model car, a diploma, and a plant. It was a grown-up's shelf, collecting dust and all, but it was still bright pink :)
Well this week I decided that Addiston's room needs a shelf. (yeah, yeah I'm a little like my mother) I have no use in our new house for my pink childhood shelf, it doesn't match any of the spare bedroom's and I think Jared frankly would rather see it burned than hang it in the den, so today I found myself standing in the garage painting it brown. It's the perfect brown, I promise, it was color-matched by some high tech machine at Home Depot so that it would perfectly match the color brown in our little one's bedding. And as I stood there painting the shelf, remembering where it hung in my different bedrooms growing up, what items were deemed important enough to have a place of honor where I could barely reach, it hit me, this indescribable feeling and reality all wrapped up into one.
I'm the mom.
Well, today everything just sort of shifted into place. Ya see there's this shelf. It's really not important at all, it wasn't made by a family member like some of my husbands furniture, it isn't the finest quality, it isn't even that unique. It is a plain wood shelf that was purchased and Minges Pumpkin Festival when I was a kid.
The Minges Pumpkin festival is a annual thing in my home town that I have missed only once since I was able to remember. It's not flashy or that big, it's important to my family but to the rest of the world it's just another fall festival. There are crafts for kids, a ton of fair style food (meaning very tasty unhealthyness) and tents full of hand made crafts and home goods, everything from jams and candles to furniture...like my shelf.
According to my mother, I needed a shelf in my room. I didn't know why, I didn't ask questions, she said I needed it and we were at the Pumpkin festival and she bought one. It was naked wood, a light wood if I remember right, those of you more knowledgeable about such things may be able to identify it, but really it's irrelevant!
We painted it green, a light airy green, sort of like the color of a banana before it turns yellow, the faded green that's got hints of white in it, not the harsh green of a banana that needs another day before it's eaten. My room was multi-colored at the time, white with slashes of color all over the walls, and my mom felt that green was the best color, so green it was painted. I kept tea pots shaped like elephants on it for years. I would hide candy in them because my older brothers (both of whom have an insatiable sweet tooth) would raid my room for goodies when I wasn't home because they knew I hoarded them. They never found that particular hiding spot, those elephant tea-pots. They were the best!
When I entered junior high we moved. My room in the new house was yellow with white accents and I got to choose what color to paint the shelf this time, apparently I was old enough for my parents to trust not to pick a completely putrid color. Ha, little did they know. It got painted bright pink! I'm talking almost neon, 80's leg warmer pink! Through junior high, high school, and college it kept many things, from cheerleading memorabilia, to prom photos and pictures drawn my my nieces and nephews. When Jared and I got married the shelf was hung in the spare bedroom/office. It remained pink but housed a model car, a diploma, and a plant. It was a grown-up's shelf, collecting dust and all, but it was still bright pink :)
Well this week I decided that Addiston's room needs a shelf. (yeah, yeah I'm a little like my mother) I have no use in our new house for my pink childhood shelf, it doesn't match any of the spare bedroom's and I think Jared frankly would rather see it burned than hang it in the den, so today I found myself standing in the garage painting it brown. It's the perfect brown, I promise, it was color-matched by some high tech machine at Home Depot so that it would perfectly match the color brown in our little one's bedding. And as I stood there painting the shelf, remembering where it hung in my different bedrooms growing up, what items were deemed important enough to have a place of honor where I could barely reach, it hit me, this indescribable feeling and reality all wrapped up into one.
I'm the mom.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
In the mean time
So the nursery is almost done.
Painting and decorating is done, bed constructed and ready for our little one to be tucked into, clothes hung neatly in the closet, everything as it should be except one minor thing... we don't have the dresser/changing table. So a massive amount of baby sheets, blankets, and onesies lay folded on the floor waiting the arrival of their back ordered home. :( We have been assured it will be here before the baby so no worries.
Addiston has flipped (positioned head down) and has recently discovered my ribs. she kicks them a lot especially when I am still for too long. whenever I lay down she stretches out and pushes her feet out as far as my stomach will stretch, which is absolutely amazing and a little freaky at the same time. This morning in church i swear she was dancing to the music as my stomach looked like it was about to detach and wiggle on the floor like jello. Her kicks have gotten less sudden and abrasive, (I'm told because she's running out of room) but I still am amazed at feeling her wiggle and stretch out inside of me. She gets the hiccups about twice a day, which I feel in the underside of my belly. They can't be felt from the outside, and it's a hard feeling to describe, it's like you having hiccups but not just an internal organ having them and you're unaffected, you just feel the little jolt in a steady pattern.
I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning and intend to ask her about the annoying amount of Braxton Hicks contractions I've been having. They aren't the real one's just practice (my body getting ready for the real ones) but I have been having them at least every other day and they have gotten a lot stronger. I'm getting good and laying down and drinking lots of water (which makes them go away) when I have them but I just want to make sure every thing's ok!
Painting and decorating is done, bed constructed and ready for our little one to be tucked into, clothes hung neatly in the closet, everything as it should be except one minor thing... we don't have the dresser/changing table. So a massive amount of baby sheets, blankets, and onesies lay folded on the floor waiting the arrival of their back ordered home. :( We have been assured it will be here before the baby so no worries.
Addiston has flipped (positioned head down) and has recently discovered my ribs. she kicks them a lot especially when I am still for too long. whenever I lay down she stretches out and pushes her feet out as far as my stomach will stretch, which is absolutely amazing and a little freaky at the same time. This morning in church i swear she was dancing to the music as my stomach looked like it was about to detach and wiggle on the floor like jello. Her kicks have gotten less sudden and abrasive, (I'm told because she's running out of room) but I still am amazed at feeling her wiggle and stretch out inside of me. She gets the hiccups about twice a day, which I feel in the underside of my belly. They can't be felt from the outside, and it's a hard feeling to describe, it's like you having hiccups but not just an internal organ having them and you're unaffected, you just feel the little jolt in a steady pattern.
I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning and intend to ask her about the annoying amount of Braxton Hicks contractions I've been having. They aren't the real one's just practice (my body getting ready for the real ones) but I have been having them at least every other day and they have gotten a lot stronger. I'm getting good and laying down and drinking lots of water (which makes them go away) when I have them but I just want to make sure every thing's ok!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Bargain of the Day!
So today my friend Tiffany came to visit and see all the loot I got at my Baby shower back home. We looked through several dozen outfits, discussed the fact that although Addiston will be well dressed, at this point we actually have very little to actually take care of her.
So on that whim I thought I'd share these. The cutest little things I have purchased for our girl!
At Target on Clearance!
Like I said, we don't have much as far as necessities for taking care of her, but she'll be well dressed!
So on that whim I thought I'd share these. The cutest little things I have purchased for our girl!
Boots!
They're soft and warm, and will fit her perfect when winter comes!
At Target on Clearance!
Like I said, we don't have much as far as necessities for taking care of her, but she'll be well dressed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)