Now I’m not so sure. I talked with my husband about how my appointment went and he said that even he would think that I might want to find a new doctor. I suppose just the fact that I’m considering switching doctors would probably be a good sign that I should.
Here are some of the problems I had with my first visit. First making the appointment didn’t go well at first. I tried calling to make an appointment and it wasn’t handled very professionally. So I nearly decided not to go to that office in the first place but since I thought there were two doctors in that office, I decided to try the other doctor’s number. It turns out that the other doctor has just closed her practice.
Second, I was a little surprised by the grafitti in the bathroom. That in itself struck me as different from all the other doctor’s offices that I’ve visited and with each of my four previous pregnancies I have had a different Doctor each time. This is the first with a grafittied bathroom. Most try to have the nice clean appearance in their bathroom. I guess the fact that one part of the bathroom had been left unpainted causes people to want to write all over it. I don’t know.
The third problem I had was the fact that the doctor has a pretty bad accent. She has been in practice for 42 years. I would think she would get tired of her patients saying, “Huh?” I get confused pretty easy and was hoping that I was answering her questions right. I mean it’s pretty bad when you think she was asking you a question about your husband but she was actually talking about your youngest son. Hmm…
Next, the part that concerned my husband was all the shock over my delivering an 11lb. 4 oz. baby (Jonathan) without intervention. I didn’t even use an epidural. But I had him just fine. It took about 8 hours after they broke my water but the doctor and nurse were real good that helped in his delivery. They didn’t give me any doubt that I could deliver him. I’m afraid that this doctor might have insisted on a C-section. Scott thinks so too by the way she kept asking, “And you didn’t have any complications?” I should have asked her the question that popped in my head at the time, “What’s the biggest baby you’ve ever delivered?” I don’t know why I don’t sometimes say what I’m thinking.
Finally, she never found the baby’s heartbeat. I know it’s in there but she didn’t even put the gel that they normally put on your tummy to get a better sound. She just put the monitor to me and moved it around a bit and then told me she wanted me to have an ultrasound to make sure we have the date accurate. I was really looking forward to getting to hear the baby’s heartbeat. They found it with the ultrasound I had before. The heartbeat as you can see in this picture I’m posting was quite healthy. I don’t know the more I type the more I feel I probably should keep looking.
I did like the nurses though. They were real friendly, even the one with the tattoos that took my blood. My husband wasn’t real crazy about that. He asked me did they even wear nurse outfits. I wasn’t too sure. Anyway, I may be overreacting a little bit. I tried at first to make myself feel better about everything. But the longer I talked with my husband with some of my concerns the more I wondered if I was doing the right thing. My husband has visited a patient in that hospital before and he said that it would be the smallest hospital I’ve ever delivered at. He’s pretty sure they would just put me in a regular room for my delivery. Maybe it’s worth an half hour’s extra drive to go to a bigger hospital with a slightly more professional doctor.
It’s funny because they make you feel at the office that you’ve made your final decision on your first visit. My husband explained that’s how they keep their patients by making you believe that they are your doctor from the first. Not even giving you a chance to ask, “Can I think about this?” One nurse even told me that she thinks I’m having a girl. This is my first visit! And I was feeling like I should stay with this doctor so that the nurses could know if I’m having a girl or boy.
I’m so glad that I have a good husband that helps me be reasonable with myself. I have a hard time worrying about hurting someone’s feelings if I don’t feel completely satisfied with my visit. I realize I can switch and the earlier the better but then I feel bad because this doctor could be better than my first impression allows. Then again, the more appointments I keep with her the more I feel committed with sticking it out. I mean if I was feeling committed after the first visit how much more so after the second or the third.
Joshua and Ruth stayed in the waiting room and watched Hannah and Jonathan and of course nickolodeon that was showing on the T.V. The office space and hallway were pretty small. But they didn’t have any problem with the kids staying in the waiting room.
