Doctor Visits

I hate going to the doctor’s office.  I don’t know why, but I hate everything about it.  I hate calling to set up the appointment, I hate taking time off from work, and I hate waiting to see the doctor.  The sad part is that I have always had nice doctors.  They have done nothing to me to make me feel this way.  But for some reason, I just hate going to the doctor’s.

​When you have kids, you pretty much live at the doctor’s office.  Actually, it starts before the kids are born.  In fact, once you get the positive results from the pregnancy test, you may as well pack and move on in for the next 18 years.  When I first found out that I was pregnant, I didn’t mind seeing the doctor, after all I wanted my babies to be healthy.  I was willing to take almost every test offered to ensure that my children would be born healthy.  If I remember correctly, at first I saw the doctor or midwife once a month.  That wasn’t too bad. Eventually, I had to visit the midwife once a week.  I had a standing Tuesday morning appointment with the midwife.  By the time the kids came, the midwife, the staff and I were on a first name basis!  Hell, at one point, I was asking them about their own children.  The midwife knew that the kids were born when I missed our weekly appointments.  She called me at the hospital to congratulate me!  She was a nice lady.

After the kids were born, it seems like I was in the doctor’s office at least once a month.  And not all of these were for impromptu appointments.  It got to the point that I was making the next appointment as I was leaving the office!  Not only were there the well baby care appointments, but there were also  trips to the emergency room, follow up visits to the pediatrician, ear infections, stomach aches, colds, allergies, body injuries, etc., etc., etc.  When my son was born, if he sneezed, we took him to the doctor.  If his temperature was elevated, we took him to the emergency room, if he looked at us funny, we took him to the doctor.     By the time my daughter was born, my love affair of going to the doctor’s office was over.  With her, if her ailments were not unusual, we just waited it out.  Besides, you learn a few things when you’re a frequent visitor to the emergency room.

I really hated when the kids had to get shots or had to have blood drawn.  It would hurt me to have to hold them down while the nurse stuck them with a needle.  I remember, my son needed shots when he was only a few months old.  When we entered the room, my poor little baby had no idea what was about to happen.  Everyone in the waiting room heard him screaming and crying.  Side note, during this visit, everyone in the waiting room waiting on lab work was old, like grandma/grandpa old.  Anyway, my son eventually stopped crying while we were still in the medical room.  I gathered his things to go home.  When we entered the waiting room, one of the older patients said, “There’s that little baby who was crying.”, or something to that effect.  Then, with no prompts from me, and right on cue, he started crying all over again!  While I’m trying to console him, I heard someone say, “OOOH, he’s remembering the shot.  Shame on you Mommy!  I’m not making this up.  One old lady actually said that.  You can’t imagine how that made me feel. At that moment, I thought I was the worst mom ever.  Luckily for me, my son doesn’t remember that day, at least I don’t think he does.

So, for all you want to be parents, you better save your sick leave and get on good terms with a pediatrician.  He or She will become your best friend!  

So now you know and you can ....

Consider Yourself  Warned!