Guess what?! We got some good news today! They won’t be starting the construction on our apartment line until Sept 08!!!!!! WHOO HOO!!! They are, though, still going ahead with construction on the apartment line next door to us, so it’s not like we’ll have peace and quiet until September (who are we kidding? We’ll have a BABY!) but it is the absolute best news in a bad situation! Sure, it will be VERY loud in the apartment, but hopefully not totally unbearably so. We have seriously been considering a hotel. I’m hoping the absolute worst of it will only be about a week or two and our bedroom is the farthest point from the drilling, so maybe, just maybe, we can stay at home! I’m not sure I can tell you what a tremendous relief this is.
Tonight is supposed to be our last childbirth class, but the weather is pretty crappy. I hope it doesn’t get postponed because I’d really like to be done with it. Also, tomorrow we’re going for a prenatal pediatrician appointment. When I called to make the appointment they asked me the baby’s last name. Can I tell you? I totally hesitated! It’s not that I don’t know what the baby’s last name will be but more like OH MY GOD THIS KID IS REAL WITH A LAST NAME AND EVERYTHING!! So exciting! And scary! And wonderful! All you parents out there: what’s the one thing you wish you had asked your pediatrician that you never did? Just curious!
Thank you for all of your good wishes! I can’t tell you how much we all (the three of us!) appreciate them!
I love the beautiful FAMILY blanket. ANY family would love that FAMILY blanket. Really.
Ask about how they handle after-hours calls and questions. Of course I hope you never need to call, but it’s helpful to know how cooperative and flexible they seem (my girls always seemed to develop the weird rashes and coughs in the middle of the night). Good luck!
Yeah!!
On the questions: what happens after hours and when the ped is on vacation. Also what services do they do in house, like blood. I had one ped who drew blood in house which made it much easier then taking the child/baby to a lab (miss him) Also about appointments, like when said child is sick and you call how long before an appionment (same day next day or squeezed in right away)
Good luck. Write as many questions down as possible (it is amazing how many you can forget until afterwards)
=)
The suggestions other people wrote are great. I would also want to know who the other doctors/nurses are and who you might want as a backup. Some of my friends have found that sympathetic nurse practitioners are much more available than the doctors, who get overbooked.
Mine wasn’t a question, but something I wish I had checked out before….if the practice is bigger than one doctor, see the other doctors at some time also to get a feel for who you like. There was one doctor in our practice who I HATED and it only took one visit with him to know that.
You also don’t want to be saddled with a doctor that doesn’t view things the way you do. My SIL’s doctor had her making her own baby food…which made her crazy beyond her normal crazy….with a colicky baby to boot!
We asked lots of questions about the first few months, about how to reach them off-hours, about vaccines, etc. What we didn’t bring up was attitudes and philosophy about sleeping and feeding. It’s helpful to know what their outlook is on helping your child to sleep and when they recommend introducing solids and WHY they might recommend each of those. The sleep questions were especially difficult for us, but once we figured out our strategy, things have been much better!
I just knew it would work out!
More than a question, really. Do you connect with them, what is the vibe of the doc/office/staff? When oldest was about 3 months old I switched practices because I just wasn’t getting what my family needed. We still use the “new” pediatrician (7 years on)and love him to bits. When Duncan was born there were some problems and this man came to the hospital everyday and let me cry on his shoulder. I trust him completely and consider him a total asset to our family’s well being. So, go with your gut (ha!)- I don’t care if everyone and their uncle says so and so is the best, if it doesn’t work for Mama, it simply doesn’t work! Nice squares, by the way!
Woot! What good news. At least you folks will have relative peace to bond with baby.
That blanket it coming along beautifully!
Ask them about their thoughts on the MMR vacine and possible links to autism and whether you should split the shots and give your child a memps shot, a measles shot and the rubella shot. Ask them aboth the presevatives in children’s vaccinnes. Ask them their thoughts on giving children cold medicines. Ask them their thoughts on crazy over protective mothers who are older (we should talk sometime, we have similar stories that I don’t want on the internet).
Reading about your noise concerns during the construction made me remember how my daughter (the worst sleeping baby in the world) took the best naps of her life when we were having the roof on our house replaced and the guys were pounding essentially on the ceiling of her room. It might work out for the best!
This isn’t exactly a question, more like a feature: Does the office waiting room have a well-baby area? So many times when you bring in your healthy baby or toddler for a well-baby check, other people are bringing in their very sick children. Do you have to wait in the same germ-filled area? I really appreciated our ped’s separate waiting areas.
I don’t have children so I have no advice to offer about questions to ask. I grew up in Ontario and I just had a family doctor (he was great). In terms of noise – Laurie’s comment reminded me of myself. In our house my mom would run the washer/dryer even while I was asleep. Now when I have trouble sleeping I throw a load in the dryer and it lulls me to sleep. I suppose my point is: kids are weird. And the blanket looks wonderful.
Ask about basic lifestyle issues. For example, I wanted a doctor who was known to be pro-breastfeeding and supportive of SAHMs. I called the local breastfeeding center and asked them who might meet that criteria. They asked around and recommended the family physician we have and love.
Also, doctor’s are for treating illness, not telling you how to feed your baby or get your baby to sleep. Pediatricians get zero hours of breastfeeding training in medical school. They also are not trained experts on sleep or when to introduce solids or other things like that. Their advice is about as qualified as the guy bagging your groceries, though people always want to know what they think and quote them freely (which is probably why they dish out advice freely too). If you have a nursing issue, talk to a lactation consultant. Sleeping issue – Elizabeth Pantly’s No Cry Sleep Solution is excellent. There are all sorts of qualified resources out there. Let your pediatrician be the one to decide whether or not your child has an ear infection by looking in their ear, not what your child should eat at what age.
VERY IMPORTANT: After hours and weekend situation with your pediatrician group. Do they take calls? Do they expect you to use the ER in place of them after hours and weekends? Do they have an in-house lab and with med techs?
ASK EVERYONE YOU KNOW…..or everyone you see who their pediatrician is, why they chose him or her, what they like about them and what they don’t like about them. Pretty soon, you will hear some consistent names come up and you will find one you like.
I understand the previous comment about well vs. sick waiting rooms, but keep in mind that your well kid may very well go right into an exam room that a sick kid just left. And if you think they disinfect every room after every visit your in for a big disappointment. So just make sure you “click” with the doctor. That you believe he or she is someone who is going to listen to you. And always have disinfectant wipes on hand to wipe down the exam room! Good Luck!
I don’t have any advice (good or bad) for you, but had to tell you that when I saw the title of your post I leapt to a conclusion about the topic, and thought “She didn’t puke today! SWEET!”
The Family Blanket squares ARE gorgeous.
I only read a few of the other comments, but I came in to talk about exactly what Natalie did. My pedi was all concerned about the nursing and sleeping arrangements our family had and finally I said this to him: I come here to be my consultant and partner on MEDICAL issues. I do not know your wife or children, but I do know my friends and their kids and if I see that we have similar philosophies and the kids are turning out okay then I feel okay about nursing for as long as we decide and sleeping where we do for as long as WE decide.
I think it is important to communicate to your dr. exactly what you want from him/her. My pedi was never the end all or god to me. I always researched and consulted others when we needed to. The minute I told him I considered him my medical consultant we became fast friends. He never once after that told me how to raise my kids unless I asked. His medical knowledge is something that I don’t have and pay him for, as for personal child rearing-he could be home screaming at his kids and letting them cry and doing all sorts of things that I think are not so good. BTW-as far as I can tell his kids are awesome. Bright and caring, they all go to wonderful colleges (or have graduated) and have given time to charitable organizations, travelling all over the world.
The other thing I love about him? When we brought Erin in for weird things, like Pete spilling boiling water on her legs or the sharp knife that landed on (in) her foot, he had gotten to know us well enough that he didn’t call DSS. Heh. I even joked about that to him, but having that relationship is key. The number of times that I took Erin in for accidents. Ha. They probably could have taken her for her own safety. But then again, most of them were caused by her active nature. 😉
I hope you love this pediatrician.
All the suggestions are great…I found out the hard way that my doctor was adament about breast feeding. I had every intention of breastfeeding our 2nd cild like I had with the 1st…but the babay had other ideas. I tried for 6 weeks and this baby refused to do it. When I talked to the pediatrician about it she made me feel like the worst mother in the world…I left crying and hysterical…until my mother and some friends convinced me that only I knew what was best for my child. So my advice is to find a doctor that you see eye to eye on and who won’t make you feel guilty.
I’m getting so excited for you guys!
Tip-if you make your normal amount of noise and maybe a little more, once the baby arrived he/she will be so used to it so that no other noise will bother them! My kids…I did that with them, now they’ll sleep through an earthquake!!
i just started following your blog so if i am missing something vital, forgive me.
i got a depo-provera shot while breastfeeding and while it isn’t *supposed* to dry up your milk, it did mine. beware of that. also, something to research before you have the baby is rooming in, yours and the hospitals policies on that may clash. and, if you have a boy, make sure you know what you want to do about circumcision before it’s time to decide.
Love Love Love the family blanket!
Make sure you meet the office staff and nurses. I just left my ped. after 6 years because of his new office manager and front office staff. They were awful to work with. I even tried to meet with him to disscus the issues (as a paid appointment) and they would not make an appointment for me. I loved him and we has been through a lot together my youngest son has a lot of problems when he was born and he was right there for me. I just wish he had been able to keep the same staff as his office grew and changed locations
I too am from Ontario – I didn’t use a pediatrician – both my kids have always gone to my family practitioner – here at least these docs are specialized in pediatrics, general medicine and geriatrics – it has been the best arrangement and I’m really equiped to understand where the doc is coming from in terms of philosophy etc. because I have been her patient and so naturally could also relate when I’ve been there with my little patients. After all so much of the experience of visiting the doctor for babys and little kids comes from what they pick up from their parents while in the office!
This is a little “me too” but the things I would ask:
1) Personal philosophy for things that are important to you: breastfeeding, vaccinating, circumcising, sleep training, etc.
2) Ask them to explain something complicated to you (like how a vaccine works or pros and cons of vaccination) and make sure that they can explain it to you in a way that you understand and that you feel comfortable asking more questions about if you need clarification — after my pregnancy and my dad’s heart surgery, we’ve run into our share of medical professionals who like to skimp on this part.
I asked my OB to recommend someone who had a good sense of humor and who could deal with overeducated crazy scientst moms. She made a great rec for me — he’s not perfect, but he’s great with Z and I don’t leave feeling like a terrible mom when I make decisions to hold off on things (like a flu vaccine for a 6 month old who doesn’t interact with many other children) that I feel uncomfortable about.
And your blanket makes me want to go out and buy all sorts of denim and cotton yarn… I just love that idea!
one thing i would have asked? “will you be staying in this practice for the forseeable future?” god, what a nightmare to have your doctor leave, then the next doctor leave, then the whole practice leave.
but i’m sure that my situation was pretty unique (let’s hope.)
So much good advice! I agree with Robin in VA. Live your lives, play the music, do dishes. The baby will adapt. We were remodeling the house when the kids were born. The workshop was under the bedrooms and the babies slept through the table saw and drill press noise. A few years later my oldest said she missed the noise. She would always fall asleep knowing we were in the house.
Don’t worry about throwing up so late in the game. I didn’t throw up once with the 1st but threw up almost every day for 9 months with the second and she was worth it. She’s a wonderful 24 year old daughter – couldn’t ask for anyone better.
The log cabin fanily blanket is beautiful!! I would love to make that.
If you already have pretty strong opinions on certain subjects that will occur past the newborn stage(bedtimes, crying, holding) ask for their views. In our family, we’ve always let the baby “cry it out”. When we were getting to that point, I asked our ped about bedtime rituals. Even though I knew what I’d do, I was happy to hear him say the same thing. I just didn’t think about those types of questions while I was pregnant. Everyone raises their kids differently, it’s just nice to have a ped with the same thoughts.
Hey at least with the noise your baby will learn to sleep through anything!! 🙂
Hope your last prenatal class is on for you! We have our FIRST prenatal class tonight. Topic: labour and delivery. I’m expecting to see something gory… I think it’s a poor move on the nurses’ part to open with this topic…
I LOVE this family blanket soo much I want to blatantly rip it off for myself..Do you think Tahki cotton classic would work as the center patch? I know you have lots of experience with that yarn..
I’m not a pediatrician (I’m an OB/GYN) but I have to disagree with Tana’s statement. The training you receive in residency shapes the way you practice; blanket statements about the speciality, any speciality really, are often biased and lead to misconceptions and miscommunication between doctor and patient. The peds program at the hospital in NYC at which I trained during RESIDENCY actually encouraged breastfeeding and the doctors were very useful for developmental stages, like when to introduce solids; especially since a lot of people start them too soon (i.e. before 6 months and the kid is able to hold their head up on their own and not choke). A main goal of the pediatricians I know is preventing illness, say like, keeping the ear infection from happening. I would ask about the other doctors/providers in the practice,the call schedule, any special field of interest of the doctor. Most important however, is your rapport with the physician and his staff. I think the interview before the baby comes is a great idea. Good luck to you.
I have 2 children and both had issues at birth. Both had different peds. as well. (just 2 1/2 yrs. apart). My biggest advice is follow your gut. On everything! If you don’t click with the dr. try again. All the advice above is good, but the best is to follow your gut.
I would be sure to ask your pediatrician about his/her view on the use (overuse) of antibiotics. Some pediatricians will prescribe an antibiotic for the sniffles. I’m not sure if this is to make the parents feel like they are doing something to help the child get better or if the doctor truly thinks the child needs the medicine. Some parents that I know actually get angry with their kids’ doctor if they leave the office without some sort of script. My pediatrician group will not give a prescription for antibiotics unless they truly believe that it is needed. This is important to me because you want the meds to work when they are really needed. My pediatrician was very up front about this policy of not prescribing unless it is truly necessary. We were in total agreement. My older daughter (now almost 13) has taken penicillin once in her life for strep throat and my younger daughter (almost 10) was givin amoxicillyn for ear infections very sparingly and they worked every time. Too many of my friend’s kids have to take much more powerful meds because they have been over medicated and the less strong ones don’t work anymore.
Here’s the question (ok, 2 questions) I REALLY wished I had asked my pediatrician: Just how long will it take for me to get a HUMAN on the phone when I call in a panic over my baby/child’s injury/fever? Just how long will I have to wait to get a call back from YOU, Mr./Ms. Doctor, after I wade through your answering system and leave a message on your call-back line?
Seriously, this is the source of huge frustration at my pediatrician’s office. If I had to do it again, I would make sure to find a doc with a human answering the phone, and a chance of getting a call back in a reasonable amount of time.
I wish I had asked my primary Pedi if his popularity and hotness would end up being a problem for us later. We go to a practice with more than one doctor which is nice cause you have more of a chance of getting seem right away. The problem is the doctor that we liked that made us want to go there is sooo popular (and nice looking) that we only get to see him when we schedule a Well child visit way head of time. We have since started requesting another doctor that we love there too. She is not hot but very nice. I miss hot doctor!!
question for the pediatrician: is it normal that this kid only poops once every 3 days? I worried about it for years. Turns out it is normal for that kid.
Our kids are going on 18 and 11 now, and we have been with the same pediatrician the whole time (very lucky). I have always loved the woman because she trusted me and that helped me trust myself in taking care of my kids. She also always showed respect for the kids and listened to them from when they could talk. She is very good at checking them out and not making them feel like they are being checked. She is very matter of fact and knowledeable and it makes everyone around her feel safe and secure.
Also, a good pediatrician checks to see how the MOM is doing, especially in the early days.
HTH!
Love the blocks. I hope you will take more pictures for your cards.
I agree with what everyone else has posted here, ask about vaccinations, feeding, overall philosophy on antibiotics, etc. I also think it is good to get a sense of how often they refer out to specialists and how that decision gets made.
One thing that I never asked is whether they do stitches in the office. And that has been huge, because the nurse practitioner does them, and we have been in and out in less than 20 minutes and it has saved us a 4-5 hour ER visit! I should also add that I adore the nurse practitioner at my ped’s office, so I am delighted to see her for virtually anything, but if you really want to see the doc all the time, you should ask how they determine who you see. Some practices have you alternate appointments, one with the doc, one with a nurse. Not a bad thing, in my opinion, if the nurse is great, but everyone is a little different.
Good luck! Can’t’ wait to see the family wrapped up in the family blanket! (We also had nothing in the house before our first was born and although some people could not imagine how that would work, it was no problem at all.)
I may be repeating something said above, but it’s good to see if they have a newborn section and/or a healthy vs sick kid section in the waiting room. Ours has a newborn section but doesn’t separate the sick from the healthy, so I have to try to keep other kids away from my kid when we take him in sick.
As long as you feel like they listen to you while you are there, that for me is the most important part. It’s nice if you agree philisophically, but there will likely be things you listen to and go home and do differently, so just make sure you feel like you are heard and your concerns matter because sometimes you will be asking about what seem like insignificant things to others but are super important to you!
Oh, and we asked about the hospital, too (when/if they would come and check the kid out before we took him home). Just good information to know ahead of time, how the whole hospital/discharge thing works.
I have my first parent/teacher conference tomorrow! Wish me luck. 🙂
Love the family blanket! Keeping positive thoughts for all three of you.
I wish I’d asked the doctor “Why?” more often.
Never had a Pediatrician that doesn’t have children themselves. 🙂
Be sure your pediatrician is a parent. Ours isn’t and I’d NEVER choose one that isn’t again. We think about changing all the time, and just haven’t yet.
The blanket is beautiful! Love the saturated colores.
Re: Pediatrician: Does he (or she) trust YOU? To not be histrionic, crazy or panicky… so that when you are concerned he really listens and RESPONDS to your questions and concerns.
Everyone else has good advice. Here’s the question I actually HAVE been asking my pediatrician(s) for four years now, but don’t have a good answer yet:
“What the hell is wrong with his toes?”
Pediatricians don’t seem to care much about slightly weird toes.
I was really surprised that my obgyn performed my sons circumscion about two days after he was born. Just a few seconds notice, my husband wasn’t even there! But I had decided before hand, sort of. Also a quick parent advice thing. Kate wouldn’t sleep for love or money at my in-laws house. Daddy had the bright idea of putting her in the car seat and taking her byebye where she always fell asleep. She didn’t even make it out of the driveway…Then we were all able to sleep.
My advice is the same as Johanna’s – make sure the pediatrician is a parent. If s/he hasn’t actually been through parenting I think s/he would have a hard time really relating to what you will be going through as a parent.
We never had a ped, just a family Dr. And the funny thing is, we always picked them by the name. Like when we first moved to FL, I totally didn’t want to, and thought, fine, if he’s making me live here, he’s gonna get FL, so I went out and bought a crappy tacky pink flamingo shower curtain, and when the health ins kicked in, I picked a dr named Beach. He was fantastic, and in spite of not wanting to like him, I did. He had kids as well, and was very informed. A few years later, we moved about 1/2 hour away, and after several visits of driving 1/2 hour to this dr, we sadly decided to switch to a dr in town that we knew through church. He was with a clinic, and they were always so busy. It was only a 5 minute drive, but I’d be sitting in the waiting room for 30 to 45 minutes or longer. We finally asked ourselves, which is better, a 1/2 hour drive and a 5 minute wait, or a 5 minute drive and a 1/2 hour wait? Plus, we just really missed Dr. Beach. There wasn’t anything wrong with the new guy, we just never saw him, the clinic was always referring us to a nurse practicioner or another dr. So, the only advice for the ped is the same advice for just about everything else in parenting. You have to go with your gut. Doesn’t matter if all your friends like the dr, or if there’s reviews from the parenting mag’s about him/her, if you don’t get the warm fuzzies, then it’s not right. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.
i wish i would have asked her about her views on breastfeeding. i had some issues and her answer was “start giving him formula” not, “here’s the number of a lactation consultant, give them a call and then we’ll see if you need to use formula”. in general just wanting a pediatrician who’s child rearing views are more in line with mine.
good luck!! i’m due with #2 in june and i think i’m blocking it all out: the fact that i will have 2 kids.
Noise is good! Get’s the baby used to not needing absolute quiet to sleep. I could vacuum and not wake Abby! Really came in handy for daycare naps.
I switched pediatricians because I disliked the front desk staff. I suggest calling the office to see how your call is handled–there will (soon) come a day when you will need: school forms filled out, copies of immunizations, etc. I hated that the staff at the first office always seemed to not understand what I needed: “you need a what? a school form? uhhhh…” My new office has a website from which I can download pdf’s of various documents–very handy. I like the “get one who is also a parent” suggestions–very good advice.
I’ll be honest here, rememer that Kodak commercial from years ago? The father dancing with his little girl and all the memories come to him then she says, “Dad, I’m ready” and he has to walk her down the isle? Yeah, that one. I knew my 1st was a girl and was pregnant whe I saw that and it sent me into crying jags thinking OMG, I someday have to let my little girl go? I wished the pediatrician told me I’d be letting go all her life…in many ways…Oh, and the teen thing.
Oh, and have to chime in on noise also. Noise is good. Get them used to noise!
I think best advice I can give re: pediatricians is to make sure they agree with your lifestyle choices. A previous poster mentioned that ped’s aren’t qualified to talk about feeding or sleeping issues… this is true. They have handouts from baby food companies (like G*rber), f*rmula companies, etc. and just pass them out, never mind that the materials are marketing materials NOT medical advice. The best thing I did (I think) was to go into the pre-visit well researched, so that my ped knew that I knew that babies aren’t supposed to be eating solids at 4 months, that breastfeeding should go on at least a year, etc. You are both experts. You will be an expert on YOUR baby, and she/he will be an expert on the medical care of children. So, you both need to be able to listen to each other in order for your child to get the best care possible.
Something else I’d ask would be how well they stick to their appt schedule. While I like that our ped takes her time with each of her patients, I HATE that if I have anything less than the first appointment of the day, I’m waiting around for an hour (plus!) past my appointment time to get to see her. Not cool, especially when my finnicky sleeper needs her nap.
Wow…the family blanket is just gorgeous! I love how the blues all meld together and then the center squares just POP! You are a constant inspiration Cara, and you are going to be a great Mom!
I have taught more parents how to cut baby nails – it is something that is hard to just figure out on your own or from a book. Ask the nurse to SHOW you, or get another parent of a small child who still has the paper thin nails to show you. Or bite them off yourself. Seriously old skool, but you won’t worry about waving clippers around baby. It is not difficult or dangerous unless you were planning on doing it with garden shears, just really WTF when you see that their little nails are so different and not always clearly separate from the fingertips at first.
Find out what their after-hours policy is: do they have an on-call program, or are you expected to just call the hospital if the baby gets sick after 5pm?
Also, what’s their sick-visit policy? Will they squeeze a sick baby/child in no matter what, or is it off to the hospital for you? I didn’t think to ask those questions at our pre-natal ped appt, but our ped offered up the info, and it was such a relief to already know what to do “in case”.
Sorry about the drilling, although it may not be an entirely bad situation. Babies who get used to sleeping through noise will eventually sleep through anything! This is very good for later, and a lot of parents find it out the hard way when they’re tiptoe-ing around their house trying not to wake the kid up!!
The blanket squares are lovely! I can’t wait to see the whole blanket!!
September huh? That’s terrific news! Enough time to find a new home (do I remember you mentioning moving to a house someday?) well if not that’s still great news!! Constant construction noise is the worst…I’m a New Yorker so I can relate. 🙂
Yay for a little bright spot – you deserve it. I like the bright spots in your squares, too!
I love the blanket!
We didn’t meet with a pediatrician ahead of time, because you can always switch if you don’t like him or her. We picked a practice based on a friend’s recommendation and then went with the doctor who was there on days which were more convenient to us.
Questions that you might want to ask though:
-What is the availability of afterhours care or a nurse line?
-How long do you spend with each child during the appointment?
If you have a family history of something, you might want to ask what signs to look for. Especially if you or your husband has a food allergy or asthma.
As far as questions to ask–I think the actual question is not so important, but the way the doc answers is. Your doc should be interested in what you have to say, and should answer your questions (seems like a given but some people skirt around the actual answer). You might want to know how many doctors are on staff. How likely are you to get your doctor when coming in to a sick visit (usually you get who ever is available). What are their office hours/call schedule. Do they see patients in another office? My husband is a pediatrician at a large practice. They have 18 pediatricians, 3 nurse practitioners (many many medical assistants) and 5 offices, he works at two of them (so to make an appointment with him, or one of his colleagues can sometimes be tricky–you often end up with someone you haven’t met for a sick visit). If you get good vibes from your initial visit, that is a good sign. Have fun!!
I can’t think of a question that I wished I had asked, and I haven’t read all your comments, so you may have heard this, but what I found very helpful was interviewing drs before my son was born. I don’t know if that’s commonly done now or not (he’s 25 and we lived in D.C. at the time), but it helped a great deal. I had friends recommend drs that I knew I wouldn’t want to work with after I interviewed (like the one who told me “don’t worry honey, everything will be fine” when I asked him some questions that were important to me. It turned out the my friends husband usually took their son to the dr, so maybe he didn’t get patronized and called honey like I did.) By doing this, I found a dr I really liked working with (I interviewed 3 or 4)
Good luck to you – you’ll be amazed at how your mothering instinct kick in when the baby is born. It can’t even be described.
luckily, i really like our pediatrician. one question you might want to ask is about how realistic it is to squeeze in an emergency visit (one that doesn’t require the emergency room or an urgent care). when i asked about that, i was told to call and leave a message first thing in the morning, and they would always fit me in–whether it’s in someone’s canceled spot or in a few ’emergency’ spots that they hold each day. so far, it’s worked out for us. but, as others have stated before, most importantly make sure that you like them and their fundamental beliefs and practices are in-line with yours (obviously).
side note re: construction…while it probably sounds dreadful, it might just work out in your favor. if your baby only knows to sleep in complete silence then it won’t be able to nap while you carry on about your day. (i say this partly to reassure myself–i’m due with my second baby in the midst of our home renovation). if not, maybe it will force us to get out of the house for a walk, and the baby can just fall asleep in the sling or stroller.
wishing you a fast, easy and safe labor…an a sweet healthy baby in your arms. motherhood is mystical.
You know – my pediatrician for both kids (different ones) became close personal friends over time – they were awesome…
pick someone that you love and respect.
The question I wish I had most asked before leaving the hospital was could someone show me how to give this baby a bath. (it gets easier but the first time was very scary!)
One thing that I was glad that I did before my first child was born was “interview” the prospective paediatrician. I made an appointment to visit his office before my son was born to get a feel for him and his philosophy towards children and medicine. I also took note of how his staff behaved. Seeing as how the receptionist/assistant is the front line between you and your physician, it’s nice to see how they interact with the parents and kids. Anyway, the initial appointment made me realize that the paediatrician was perfect for us and we’ve been with him for the last 10 years. My kids love him!
It’s silly, but the question my husband and I want to ask at our next visit is how old a kid should be before eating sushi! (I assume that the immune system needs to be developed to a certain point before trying the raw stuff.) Other posters have mentioned most of the important stuff.
My two cents on the vaccination/autism thing is that there is really no evidence that a link exists. This is based on what I’ve read, and on conversations with my dad, who is well-versed in autism theories and current research on the matter because of his job. If it makes you feel better to split up immunizations or whatever though, go for it. I just don’t think you need to worry if you don’t do so! Just thought I’d mention that, because it’s something I know a lot of parents worry about these days.
Could it be Spirit Trails Fiberworks?
You sent me a couple skeins for being in your Haiku contest. Here is a poor picture of how it’s knitting up.. I’m further along but by the time I get around to posting the progress you won’t be reading the comments anymore 🙂
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/faille/monkey