A Mom's Experience: Choosing my Son's Doctor

By: Erin Moore, Guest Blogger. 

As with all things when pregnant with my first child, choosing a doctor for my baby seemed daunting. I felt I had to choose the perfect match before I even knew my baby. To me, a person who has a tendency to over-research in the first place, I was nearly paralyzed on simply how to begin! So I did what I always do- Google. That led to an unbelievable list of people who all had professional pictures posted next to their bios and a lot of nothing to say in their bios. 

Somewhere in that stack of names and pictures there were articles on meeting and interviewing your soon-to-be baby doctor. Wow, you get to meet these people first!? That was right up my alley. I scheduled about 4 to 6 interviews with doctors (chosen from proximity to my house, recommendations (for and against), and just general hunches). My partner and I went to one interview. And then everything was turned upside down.

I found out that I would be having an emergency C-section the following day, a month before our “due date.” Somewhere in the rush of everything, I realized we had an appointment to meet a pediatrician the day I was scheduled to have the C-section. I called the doctor’s office to cancel and explained our situation. I gave them my information and asked them to call me in a few days (as I figured I would not remember to do so). 

The day after my son was born the pediatrician I had stood-up showed up at my bedside. She was doing rounds at the hospital and came to meet me and ask if she could visit my son. She was hired!

Cam is 2 and a half now, and I love our doctor. I have no idea if she will be his doctor until he is 18, and I don’t really worry about it. I have learned a few things as a new mom, and letting go is probably the biggest. Things don’t seem to be as daunting as they were before I had Cam. We roll with the punches better. 

I’m glad I did some research and I’m glad we found someone we like, but it doesn’t matter if she’s perfect. There are the questions about immunizing or not, breast-feeding or not, etc. They are all there, they all seem important, and sometimes I do not agree with our doctor. But I feel free to ask her questions and get clarification. She is honest and open to discussion. She tells me her opinions and opinions which differ from hers. 

Ultimately, however, it is about what is best for my child. And every child is different, as is every experience. We will all have our own journeys and we will all have our own opinions. Finding the doctor that works for you will be part of that experience. I say, do your research: ask around, look around, and then go with what you think is best. But it might change, and that’s ok too. We can’t always be perfect parents!

Erin Moore is a mom of one always-on-the-go boy. She can be found running between work, time with her family, and volunteering.  She feels most accomplished when she is simply able to keep up with her son.