The Pediatrician Poop

Lacey asked 2 questions of blogging mom's this week:

• How many pediatricians have you been through?
• Do you like your current pediatrician? Why or why not?

Dr. A is my first pediatrician. I interviewed him while I was pregnant with Alexander. Firstly, I decided to interview him because he was the pediatrician to all my younger brothers when he was first starting his career...he took over MY pediatrician's practice when she retired. Dr. P, my pedi, told my mother he was odd but was an incredible diagnostician. I thought I'd give him a shot...he always took good care of my brothers, odd or not.

I made an appointment to see him. He is odd. He's not funny looking, or mean, he's just geeky and a little socially awkward. What's endearing about him is that he really tries to not be odd, which makes him odder still, but I digress. I asked him standard questions about what specialties he had with his licensing, and general baby questions. He even gave me a run down of how Alexander would be cared for in the hospital by the neonatal specialist, and when to make my first appointment with him and all that.

What really got me about Dr. A is that I came out of the blue asking him questions about bi-lateral renal dilation. This is a condition in which the baby, in utero, has enlarged kidney pelvises. The ultra sound tech had freaked me out; she couldn't explain what it was. My ob was fairly concerned about it, but couldn't really tell me what it would mean if he still had it at birth. The internet was no help at all and just scared me tons. Dr. A basically told me that 1)Most babies who have it in utero grow out of it before birth, 2)If the baby was born with the dilation, 93% of them grow out of it before they are 2, and 3) If the baby never grew out of it, it would mean whenever the baby was sick with a high fever and no other symptoms they would test for a urinary tract infection as all it means is that it would have a slightly higher risk of getting UTIs. All that stress thinking that my child was going to be born with some horrible issue went out the window. Dr. A not only knew his stuff, but he could talk about something like bi-lateral renal dilation off the cuff was amazing.

And as it turns out, my ob's son's are his patients. The nurse at my school uses him for her daughters.

And the big bonus? He never double books. He has a tiny practice, with walk-in morning hours, and will stay no matter how late in the afternoon to take care of a sick child. I've called him on the weekends and he gets back to me post-haste. He is amazing.