Ped Visit

Yesterday, E and I met with our first of two pediatricians. We went armed with a list of questions, and overall were happy with his answers. There were a few weird moments, but overall I think we could be happy with him as our child's medical care giver.

Weird moments:

• Asked if E was my sister (hmmm, because most folks ask their sister to co-lactate?) He recovered nicely though, and treated us as a couple after learning the true nature of our relationship.
• Gave us his opinion on vaccinations (he's very pro, and is happy to spread them out to make us as comfortable as possible) and part of his rationale was so that E and I wouldn't be inconvenienced by Tot's illness - you know, so that we don't have to take off work if/when he gets chicken pox. Since E and I didn't decide to have a baby based on convenience, we were both taken aback by that thought. On the flip side, we know that for some people missing a week of work because a child is sick absolutely must be a consideration. Still, strange.

Things we liked:

• This guy is very pro-breast feeding. We asked how he dealt with problems and he proceeded to explain all of the resources he pulls on to help women get through the potential difficulties. He also complimented the midwives on their focus on and ability to facilitate breast feeding. He did not mention "formula" once. (As in, if you keep trying and it doesn't work, there are good formulas out there too.) We felt confident that we would be supported in breast feeding our son.
• On that note, he was absolutely fascinated by E's attempt at co-lactation and said, mostly to himself, that he was going to do some reading on that. We saw this as supportive and as a desire to be informed. He did not dismiss it or act like it was really strange etc...
• He is not particularly gung ho about antibiotics. This was important to us because knowing that we will be new parents and a bit uptight about anything that is wrong with him, we need to know that our care provider won't try to hand us the opiates of antibiotics, which really do nothing for viruses anyways. He said that he uses them mainly for ear infections - I'm assuming those tend to be bacterial.
• Once he figured out that E and I are both moms, he treated us as such. The original assumption aside, it was clear that he would see us both as Tot's parents.
• Overall, he seemed up on his research, and open to our opinions and style. He gave us the impression that he would be both supportive and informative. We don't think we agree with him on everything, but that he's also open to whatever it is that we want to do. This point is the most important to us as we know that no one will ever be just like us (which is probably a good thing!)

One more ped visit next week and we'll make our decision!