New Mama on the Block

So as soon as your baby is born, you need to take him to the doctor. This means you should have a pediatrician chosen ahead of time. I’ve been reading up on all the parental advice sites and apparently some parents already have pediatricians chosen before they even conceive. Wow. and I thought I was an early planner.

So Hubs and I are on the hunt for a doc for baby boy. We asked for referrals from our OB, and I promptly did the research I needed to on her referrals.

First, I checked out whether they’re certified by the Academy of American Pediatrics, then I made sure they didn’t have any reprimands on the State Medical Review Board.

Then I wondered, “how do you hold a pediatrician interview?” and luckily Babycenter.com has an interview sheet you can bring with you when you meet the pediatrician for the first time.

I worked in healthcare for several years, and I know doctors don’t have a lot of time to sit with people and chat. They’d love to, but they exist in a world regulated by HMO’s and fixed rates that don’t allow them the quality time we as patients, and they as doctors, wish we could have. So I think it’ll be pretty darn interesting sitting there with Hubs and the doc and asking her questions like “What are your views on bottle feeding and circumcision?” I’m sure she’ll answer, plus I want to know her answers, but I can’t help but wonder if in her head she’ll be thinking “great, she’s going to be one of THOSE moms.”

I so don’t want to be one of THOSE moms.

I used to get irritated at parents who jumped at each and every scratch, bruise, and sniffle their kid got. I have a large extended family and grew up babysitting babies and children (my mom has 12 siblings, my dad has 9). My family overall has a philosophy of “eh, let ‘em brush it off” when they’d fall, and I don’t recall ever going to the emergency room when I was a kid.

There was one auntie who married into our family. She’d have a panic attack any time her first born exhibited any kind of stress. She’d rush him into the ER all the time, much to the amusement of my mom and other aunties, who saw her as a nervous rookie on the mommy field.

Being pregnant now though, I already get paranoid if I don’t feel my baby move around after 30 minutes. It gets to where I start rubbing my belly and playing music until I feel his familiar taps and swooshes. I’m probably waking the poor child up from a nap. Bad me.

Earlier in the pregnancy there was an incidence where I ate smoked salmon, then read later on that night it could contain listeria. The fright made me vomit it out and I even called my doc to make sure I didn’t just poison my unborn son. She reassured me, at 11:30PM, that he’s fine and a small amount like that in one day wasn’t going to hurt him. I felt so sheepish I brought her daffodils the next day.

So yah, I can swear up and down right now that I’m going to be the kind of mom who will take things in stride, who will stay calm and know what to do when problems arise, but that’s bull. Realizing that early on in the game will hopefully help.

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