Doctors

G has a doctor's appointment today so I thought I'd make a list:

Things I Hate About the Pediatrician:

1. Having to take off work because all of the evening and weekend appointments are books six months in advance.

2. The tiny waiting room is too small of the large amounts of noise all the kids make while impatiently waiting.

3. Waiting for fifteen minutes for the doctor after the nurse does the basic measurements.

4. While waiting for the doctor, the baby needs to be dressed down to her diaper even though the rooms are so cold, I'm even shivering in all my clothes.

5. After hours helpline takes hours to talk to a doctor. (This happened with G around his first birthday. He ended up having the Hands, Foot, Mouth virus. All I knew at the time was that he was refusing to eat, had a fever, and was screaming inconsolably. It took three hours to get a doctor on the phone even though the person at the helpline kept saying "the doctor will call you within twenty minutes or you should call back." Finally when I got to talk to the doctor, all she said was to go to the emergency room. I switched doctors after that night.)

Don't get me wrong, I like the pediatrician (with the exception of G's first doctor) but that doesn't mean I like taking the kids there. However, I'm glad I finally found a good one. Everyone there is nice and seems to care about the kids. The staff is well-trained. Money is clearly reinvested in the business. My OBGYN had ancient-looking desktops in each room; the pediatricians all get their own iPads to keep the records on. The doctors treat parents with respect. G's last doctor had a way of interrogating parents rather than asking necessary questions. The old doctor even yelled at me for holding G too much instead of tactfully telling me that he needed more tummy time at one of the early appointments.

Next step is to find a new dentist to make G an appointment. The one he has now has a receptionist that treated me coldly only after finding out that I was not married to C during G's last appointment. I would like to find one a little less judgmental...