The Pediatrician

When I posted the update for Week 37, I forgot to mention the fact that we'd met with our new pediatrician on July 17th for a pre-natal visit. I was already pretty impressed by the fact that they even DID pre-natal visits, so that was a good sign. I can't remember if I'd mentioned this before, but I got the pediatrician's name from a new mom that I'd met at a friend's wedding back in May.

I'm glad we were able to secure a pediatrician for PK, because - and I may have mentioned this before - I don't particularly trust family doctors. I figure that since pediatricians deal with kids exclusively, there's a better chance that if PK had some nasty ailment a pediatrician would fare better than a family doc. The residency period for family medicine in Canada is only two years (compared to at least 5 years for all other programs), and most med students choose it either because they want an easy life or because they couldn't get into their first-choice residency program. Very sobering facts, and they definitely don't add to my confidence in family doctors. That being said, there are good doctors and bad doctors everywhere. I just have yet to find a good family doc. But I digress...

So, back to my story. The hubby called the pediatrician and made arrangements for our pre-natal visit. Fortunately - and to my surprise and delight - we didn't need a referral from a family doc, so getting the appointment was relatively easy. The pediatrician's office is not quite as close as we'd like, but fortunately it's a 15-minute ride on the subway, and that particular subway station has an elevator, so it's stroller-friendly. Yay!

When we got there, we were led into an examination room right away, and then we waited. And waited. And waited. I think we were seen one hour later, which, for being in the examination room, is quite a long time to be waiting. Then we found out why there was the delay. There are two doctors in the practice, Dr. X and Dr. Y. When the hubby made the appointment, he'd made it for Dr. Y - i.e. NOT the one given to us by the girl at the wedding, Dr. X). When we got to the office, however, he'd gotten the names mixed up, and told the lady at reception that we were seeing Dr. X instead of Dr. Y. So in the end we ended up seeing Dr. X (original referral) even though we'd made the appointment for Dr. Y. :P Confused yet?

At least the wait was worth it. The doctor was extremely pleasant and mild-mannered. And as an extra bonus, she has kids of her own, so she can actually practice what she preaches. Before taking any questions from us, she gave us a little spiel about the practice. First off, she told us all about how both doctors in the practice cover for each other, so even if one doctor is away due to illness or whatever, the other doctor is there to take on the extra caseload. And she said that if you need an appointment at the last minute (i.e. the day you're calling), they always accommodate. On top of that, she also mentioned that they're part of a group of pediatricians that are on-call in the evenings and weekends, so if you have any questions or concerns, you always have phone access to a pediatrician up to 10pm every evening. Freaking awesome!

In the end, it was a very fruitful visit, and I'm very glad that we were able to book a pre-natal appointment. It's nice to know that there are all of these support services available to PK. It's also nice to know that I can bug her for resources on lactation consultants, post-partum depression (knock on wood that I won't have to), and other post-partum related items. It definitely makes me more at ease to know that PK is in good hands and that so are we.