You don’t realize the ever growing list of “to do” items that suddenly creep up on you when you are pregnant. Some are easy to tackle and others, well, I would assume ignore. For some reason finding a pediatrician was one of those I really wanted to ignore on the list.
I wish I could give you a reason why. Perhaps it is because we have had such a hard time with our vet. Yes, I’m comparing my soon to be newborn to my dog. I have stressed about my vet, clashed with him, and in general it has caused tears. I kept thinking, if I can’t even find a vet I like, how will I find a pediatrician? Just googling pediatricians in the area is enough to make your head explode.
We live in a very small town and could easily choose to just see a family doctor at our local clinic. If my Husband or I are sick we just go to that clinic and use their walk in service that they have 7 days a week and we see whatever doctor is on call. After living here for 15 years you know the doctors and they are good enough to me to diagnose a sinus infection and write a prescription for an antibiotic. However, we wanted a more specialized pediatrician in the city for our nugget.
I started by asking around for referrals from friends and family and made a list from there. We knew we had a few requirements-young, from the area, woman, clinic in the city, preferably in the hospital where I will deliver, was ok with me not breastfeeding and ok with chiropractic care. It was the part where we had to go in and sit down with these docs that I was truly dreading. I was unsure of what to ask and so forth.
With some nudging from my Husband I made a few calls and set up times to meet with a few doctors. Yesterday we met with our first one and an hour later walked out with her as our pediatrician. Cut to the point, we are not meeting with any others. I am a big “gut feeling” person and both my Husband and I just knew. There were zero red flags, we had a great conversation, we agreed on a ton of topics, she met all of our requirements, and I wanted to hug her when we walked out. Could it have just been that easy? The Husband and I stood in the parking lot trying to come up with a reason to meet with other docs just in case but we couldn’t. Why not just call it good and cross this “to do” off the list. So we did just that.
Through My Mistakes 
Oh my gosh. I feel the same way and I have no idea why! I haven’t called any yet and I’m now almost at 38 weeks. Oops!
It is such a weird fear for some reason! I have had friends that went into labor and their nurses were all annoyed if you couldn’t fill out pediatricians name on the sheet yet. Good grief!
It’s a tough decision! It’s a pain to have to switch doctors for adults and even more so for children. I have a guess on who we will use but I still haven’t called to have a meeting. I just keep putting off. I do not understand lol
I completely understand. We had a pediatrician for our first son that I absolutely loved. Unfortunately they doctor’s office where she worked stopped taking our particular insurance so we couldn’t go there anymore and I was very upset. I haven’t been happy since as far as my son’s health care provider.
It is such a huge, nerve racking decision! Sorry, you have to go through finding another. Good luck!
How do you find a pediatrician? Do you just call them up and be like “I’d like to meet with you…?”
Yep, that is what we do around here. We called and asked for an appt to just meet with the doctor. Apparently these are done at a set time of day, ours was 12:15, in her office. By only having set times we realized some doctors were booked over a month out for this. I’ve heard some can run as short as 5 minutes. Ours lasted an hour but that may be because we had good conversation going. Also, we were not charged for this time with her. Whew!
Kudos to you for going with your gut. We haven’t started working on a pediatrician, or daycare, for that matter. I definitely need to get on that!
Daycare is my next headache to tackle! Ugh!
Finding a pediatrician WILL make your head explode. In my opinion, you made the best decision in going with referrals. With my first, I was recommended to pull pediatricians from the list that my insurance covered. Worst. Idea. Ever. I could’ve spent my entire pregnancy calling and meeting with pediatricians! The list was ridiculously extensive and it was more of a hit-AND-miss situation with the ones I did call out to. So then I decided to ask around. In doing so, we found one right away. It’s a breeze for baby #2 as we are happy with our pediatrician and can use the same one.
I’m happy you could cross that to-do off the list!
That sounds like a nightmare! At least once you have a pediatrician then that is something you don’t have to worry about fo rbaby #2! Yay!