Healthcare Costs and Crazy Mommy (In All Seriousness Though)

OK, so you already know how much I love our pediatrician.  As a frantic first-time (and now soon to be frantic second-time) parent, he is the perfect doctor for us.  We've certainly been to the office several more times than just our usual "well" visits, fortunately for reasons related more to Mommy's anxiety-over-being-a-bad-parent-and-overlooking-something than serious illness.  But with healthcare costs being what they are, I wonder if we would be able to visit him so often if it weren't for the fact we have amazing health insurance through my husbands job at a large hospital system.  

Here is a great blog post he has written about the healthcare system.   The Problem With Being Told What To Do. It really is something to ponder. Please go read it!

I Heart Our Pediatrician - Part 2

OK, so you know I love our pediatrician. I think I made that clear in Part 1.  Here are some of the actual reasons why I think he is a great doctor (Aside from the vast medical knowledge.)

1. He has a fantastically caring personality.
2. He doesn't rush in and out of the appointment's. He takes time for each patient and their crazy parents.
3. He is not judgmental about whatever style or method of parenting you have chosen and makes you feel good about your choices. I can go in there feeling like a parenting failure and by the time I leave confident that I am doing the right things.
4. He will do whatever it takes to make you and your child comfortable and safe. (Doctors visits can be scary to a child!)

It is this last point that leads me to today's story: Honeybee's 2 year check-up.

I Heart Our Pediatrician - Part 1

I absolutely adore our pediatrician!
Yes, I will shout it from the rooftops!


We're lucky, I know. I hear so many stories from friends about not completely liking their pediatricians, and family doctors. The problem is, at least around here that many doctors are maxed out on patients and cannot take anymore, making it that much harder to find a good one.  Now, I suppose I should be clearer in saying a "good" doctor.  It's not that we actually have a lack of competent doctors around here, in fact quite the opposite - we are fortunate enough to live in a medical hub so to speak.  What I mean by "Good" is simply a doctor that agrees with your parenting style and doesn't make you feel like a failure of a parent (we have enough of those moments as it is!). And most of all, someone who you feel comfortable allowing them to make decisions about your child's health.

I am not a doctor. Even though I come from a science based family, the closest I get to science is planting flowers in the backyard! (And yes, it is probably best to keep it that way.) It's for this reason that I needed to have a good pediatrician.

When I was 7 months pregnant, I was finally reading the paperwork from the hospital that stated "If your pediatrician cannot examen  your baby at the hospital, we will provide one during your stay."

My Pediatrician? Oh CRAP! I didn't even think of that! (Cut me some slack here, I had violent morning-noon-and-night sickness for almost my entire pregnancy. I could hardly manage getting myself across a room let alone anything else- but that's another blog post for another day.)

I frantically called my- not my pending baby's-but MY pediatrician's office from when I was a child.  He was really the only pediatrician I knew of.

" Hi, I'm having a baby in a few months and guess I need to find a pediatrician?"
" I'm sorry, Dr. Awesome is not taking any new patients at this time"
"Oh, um, ah, er" at this point I burst into a flood of babbling and tears (thanks preggo hormones!)

"Do you know anyone else I can call? Because Dr. Awesome was MY pediatrician and I absolutely loved him, and I don't know anyone else and I was hoping my daughter would have the same doctor I did and my sister was also his patient, and now brings her kids to him, so I can't ask her who she goes to because it's him and if he's not taking patients I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!" ( I think there may have been more but at this point I can't remember - you get the idea though.)

The poor girl who answered the phone must have thought I was nuts.
"Hold on please. She said calmly.
"Ok, so I just talked to Dr. Awesome, and he said of course we can take your daughter since you were his patient too. We're just not taking new patients, just former patients children and siblings."

Thank goodness too, because at the time I really knew NO ONE except for Mommy L and one other mommy who also brought her kid to Dr. Awesome. Apparently Dr. Awsome still remembered me even though it had been years since I'd seen him!

So I made an appointment for Honeybee's first check up sighed a huge sigh of relief. Crisis averted!

(Stay tuned for part 2!)

Mommy J's Random thought for the day....March 21, 2011

I won a contest! I'm so excited! I never win anything!!!

Is it completely sad that I won a book on organizing and I am this excited....  Yeah probably.

Have a happy Monday everyone.

Mommy J