It's a matter of trust

When we went through a rough time in the beginning with CJ and his failure to thrive I quickly began losing trust in our pediatrician. He had been our children's doctor for 4 years since we had moved here. I never experienced him with a newborn. I also hadn't done a whole lot of research. I didn't know anyone in the area to ask their opinions and there were only two doctors in town that accepted our insurance. The other one I called couldn't get us in for months and I needed immunizations for Kaitlyn (who was 18 months old). I didn't want to get her off track with that so because this other doctor could get us in pretty quickly I figured that was good enough. And I really did like him with the girls. I didn't start questioning his ability until CJ came along. Oddly enough at that time there were also some issues going on in the practice. It seems that the two doctors were splitting the partnership and things were going downhill in the office. By the time CJ was 3 months I was having serious doubts, but also didn't know who I could go to. I was asking around for a good doctor, but wasn't having much luck finding one who accepted our insurance. We were in the process of getting CJ into Birth to Three and the therapist had recommended a doctor to us. I immediately called her and immediately loved her. As a matter of fact I'll never forget this, but on Natalie's birthday in 2008 I spoke to the doctor over the phone about all of my concerns with CJ and she pretty much diagnosed him over the phone. Two weeks later we were in her office for the first time for his 6 month check up and sure enough what she suspected in talking to me was what she believe he had, acid reflux. Finally a feeling of relief. She took on all three children too. We found the perfect pediatrician. I completely trust her with my children's health. She has been there through CJ's helmet, rashes, numerous illnesses, and physicals. I know we found the right doctor. Wish we had found her sooner.

I discovered early on for myself that I had the wrong OBGYN when we first moved here. Again, not knowing anyone in the area or the area that well I went with the one OBGYN in town that accepted our insurance. I immediately did not like him. He had a very thick accent so was very hard to understand and he made me very uncomfortable. You don't need that in an OBGYN. It took some time, but I did find a new doctor for myself maybe a year or so later. It was a woman which made me more comfortable too. When I became pregnant with CJ I knew that she would be great. I also ended up finding out that a friend of mine is a friend of hers. What a small world. She has always been very open with me about things and never pressured me into doing things until I had time to think about it. When CJ was presenting breech we discussed options. She was actually pregnant at the same time and told me she didn't even know what she would do in my situation. I was the perfect candidate for a version, but should something go wrong we could be in an emergency situation. After doing research and discussing things with my doctor I did opt for a c-section which she was fine with. Now some might call it an elective c-section, but to me there really was no other choice. Doctors are moving away from delivering breech babies. Hospitals are moving away from it. For me to do it I would have had to find a different doctor and hospital. That wasn't a possibility at 36 weeks pregnant. Most doctors aren't going to take on a new patient. Especially with my blood pressure complications and gestational diabetes. I trusted my doctor to take good care of me and she did. We made the right choice. Had we done the version CJ would have been born early as he had the cord wrapped around his neck tight, twice. It would have been a very scary and bad situation. This was definitely the less stressful way for him to be born. I didn't feel pressured in either way. I mean my doctor had confidence that the version would have worked since I had previous pregnancies. If anything her choice probably would have been to do the version. So after that experience I always knew that she had my back and wasn't going to try to talk me into anything that wasn't right for me.

I know she's got my back now. She's not going to put me or my baby in danger. I completely trust her. That's important. She has been my doctor for at least 5 years now probably 6. She has been through a lot with me. She is willing to do what I want to do without trying to scare me though. I feel very well informed by her and ready to go into my induction on Thursday. We will start things off by breaking my water and we really have no reason to believe that's not going to be enough. Should it not be enough though then we will try pitocin. My doctor was very clear that some say the pitocin produces unnatural contractions which could put undue stress on my scar. However, her feelings in it and I tend to agree is the pitocin is used to make the contractions strong enough in a case where your contractions aren't doing what they are supposed to. So really I would need them to be that strong to have the baby anyways so if the scar can't handle that stress it wouldn't have handled it if I went into labor on my own. So the benefits of being in a hospital and closely monitored with strong contractions seems much more beneficial than going into labor on my own and perhaps not getting to the hospital in time should something happen.

It really is all a matter of trust. If you don't trust your doctor, then that's a serious problem. I most definitely trust my doctor though. She delivered my son safely and she will deliver this baby safely.