Finding another pediatrician

I was dreading this part of moving. We had finally found a pediatrician we absolutely loved in North Augusta and then I was going to have to start all over again. I had a lot of thought and prayer behind my first interview with a doctor here.

I asked some of the ladies at MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) for some suggestions and the one with the most recommendations was Dr. Slade. So I did some research and read his bio on the practice's website. He's a christian and actually went to MCG. Okay, I'm interested. The practice even has after hours care where the doctor's rotate during the evenings. How nice. Because your kid never gets sick when it's convenient - hence Thanksgiving this year. Corben got sick a few days before Thanksgiving and then by Thanksgiving day - I had a sore throat, Chad had flu symptoms and the baby had a cough. LOVELY! Luckily my stuff was just minor so I could take care of everybody else. It wasn't exactly the Thanksgiving we imagined but we still had a lot to be thankful for.

Back to the pediatrician - I set up an interview with him this past Thursday. I was nervous. I consider myself a pretty weird mom. Back home I didn't feel so weird because I had other mom friends that had similar philosophies. But I know we aren't the norm so it makes me feel like a little bit of a freak but oh well. If being a vaccine skeptic, natural remedy peddler, breastfeeding, baby-wearing, cloth diapering, anal about how much processed food my kid has, pro-organic, anti-daycare, mom makes me a freak... I think I'm okay with that. I think. A lot of it has to do with loving my kids and then the other half is my need to be an over-achiever. If I'm going to do something I'm not going to do it half way - especially if it comes to my kids. I do give myself a break though... I don't start twitching when thinking about giving Corben Chicken nuggets from a fast food place. LOL! I've toned down a lot, I promise!

Anyway back to the pediatrician... again! I mainly just wanted to get a feel for him as a person and his medical philosophy. I want someone that is practical, laid back, respects my role as the parent, is an educator as well as a doctor, doesn't over-medicate or "medicate the parents," and won't treat me like I have three heads if I want to go about things in a different way. I want an environment that encourages open conversation. We started off with the general conversation about moving to Macon and then he asked if I had any questions. I shared with him about our previous doctor and the not-so-great experience we had with our first. And basically wanted to know his experience and medical philosophy on alternate vaccine schedules, breastfed babies, natural remedies etc etc. His responses were very positive. Of course he is totally behind vaccines but wasn't condescending about it at all. He gave his son all the vaccines on the normal schedule, etc. But he followed that with, in the end the parent has to be comfortable with the decisions. Bingo! That's where I am right now in my decision about vaccinating. I don't feel comfortable doing the normal schedule. Something deep down just doesn't feel right, so I can't do it. If something happened and I went against my gut instinct I could never forgive myself. He was very nice and laid back and even cracked a few jokes. And he kept talking about how cute Devlin was. It's always a plus when a pediatrician loves kids :). He said that this was not a practice that medicated the parent and that there are a lot of things that will go away on their own without antibiotics etc. He talked a lot about working as a team and that in the end the parents are with the kids all the time so they will have to make the final decision on what is best.

So my conclusion... I like him. That's exactly what I want in a pediatrician. Someone working along side of me to make sure my kid is as healthy as possible. I'm so glad I didn't have to do multiple interviews. God's looking out for me, once again!