Prejudice at the Doctor

     At this point it has been an extremely long time since I wrote for this blog.  To those of you who were reading I am very sorry.  Life took over and I really just let the blog go.  But something happened the other day that I just have to share.
    
     I took Elizabeth to her regular pediatrician as a follow up.  We had been to see another Pediatrician the night before because Elizabeth had a fever, was congested, and was having a hard time breathing.  Now her regular pediatrician is in a group practice and there are four or five doctors on staff.  This day we saw a doctor we had seen before, but it's not the one we usually go to see.  This Doctor's bedside manner needs a little work, but I have never been uncomfortable around her and I think she is a top notch doctor. 
    
     During the exam there was a little debate between the Doctor and myself, that I let go because it was not important and was only making me frustrated.  When the exam was over and we left the examination room the Doctor was at the nurses desk making a comment to her nurses about how she hates it when moms cannot bring the kid to the doctor, and now she has to deal with a Dad who does not know enough about what is going on with the child to be helpful. At this point I cannot tell you word for word what was said, but there was a lot more said in a very short time, and my name was used during the conversation. 
    
     I heard easily 98% percent of the conversation was right behind the Doctor when my name was used.  I did my best to stay calm but I did feel like I needed to say something.  So I started in about how she had a right to her opinion, but that in this case I am a stay at home Dad, and I'm the one who brings her to the Doctor, and I'm the one who can regurgitate her entire medical history, and how her comments were rude and uncalled for.  ( For the record, my wife is perfectly capable of doing these things as well, and would do equally as good a job as I do, but since I'm home I just deal with it more frequently)  Lets just say I gave her what for.  I got a quick apology that I said was not enough and I walked away.  As I was checking out at the front desk I left a note for the head of the practice, and then on the way home I called the head of the practice and left a message.     
    
     The issue has since been resolved, and even though I have debated leaving this practice and going somewhere else, I do not feel it the smartest thing to do for Elizabeth.  Until this incident I have been so extremely happy with the quality of care we have received at this practice that I normally tell other parents that this is the best practice around.  I even gave a member of the staff a gift recently.  I know that I should not have to put up with ignorance like that, and I have no intention of putting up with it.  I feel the issue has been resolved and I'm confident that we will never have any problems from this point on.

     So to all the stay at home parents out there who take a little crap for working their butts off raising their children, you are not alone.  After the way this particular incident was handled, and resolved, I think we can put a win in our column.

Maybe now that I have written something, I'll come back to blogging.

WW # 4

Back to the Blog

OK so I have been away from the blog for a little over a month now.  Things have been a little crazy lately.  Work was taking up more of my time, and I was coming home stressed out about work, and how things were going.  Honestly I was just too tired and too caught up in everything work that I just did not feel like sharing anything. 

Things have changed, in particular since last week I was laid off.  The bosses scheduled a non descriptive meeting for Thursday afternoon and told me that they were unable to hire any of their contractors and that they were forced to let me go.  They let me finish out the week. 
Now I'm on the job hunt. 
Yes yes this all sucks, and the timing is o so perfect with a 3 month old baby and the holidays right around the corner.  (I hope you are picking up on the sarcasm.)

The cool thing about this is while I'm looking for a new job I get to spend some time as a Stay at Home Dad.

OK thanks for letting me share the news about work, but lets get to the good stuff.  Elizabeth is doing great.  She is strong and eating well, and sleeping in longer blocks.  Sometimes she even sleeps through the night.
She is steadily gaining weight, but could stand to gain a little faster than she is, according to the doc.  The acid reflux is still a problem, but it is much better than it has been.  I'm not sure if it's the medicine that helps keep her from spitting up or if it's the thickener we are using in her formula.  Either way it's an improvement.

Elizabeth is far more expressive and alert than she ever was before.  HUGE smiles and responses to me mom and the rest of the family.  Maybe I can get some good shots of a big smile and share for a wordless wednesday soon.