Niall and Fiona both had to go to the doctor's office today. Fiona needed a lead test, which means a blood draw. I took her for it when she was a year old; this time I made Doug do it. The fact that the practice doesn't do finger pricks for lead tests is the one thing I don't like about them. She did okay.. I could hear her crying from the waiting room, which got me a bit choked up, but she calmed down pretty quickly. Then Doug took her and the big boys across the street to Richardson's for some ice cream.
Niall's appointment went really well. We usually see Dr. Allara, but he's on vacation so we saw the nurse practitioner, Kate. We've seen Kate a bunch before, and I really like her, so it was no big deal. Our appointment was actually 45 minutes long, if you can believe it. She did her usual baby check (everything great, he's 11 lbs 3 oz and 23ish inches long). Then we talked about pretty much everything from how well we're all coping, Niall's development, his birth and Fiona's, homeschooling, and vaccines, to my breastfeeding issues and birth control choices. The great thing is that she's not just there for him, she discussed my medical needs, as well. It really was more of a chat, with some medical stuff thrown in. She was cool with the homebirthing and homeschooling, and sounded genuinely interested. When I described how we do vaccines (the kids will eventually get them all, but we space them out a lot - Niall just got DTaP today instead of DTaP, Prevnar, HIB, and polio), she was totally okay with it and thought it was a good idea.
When we switched from our old (literally) pediatrician, I had no idea how much of a difference it would make. I miss Dr. Kriteman sometimes, since we have such a long history (he was my doctor and my mother's, as well as my cousins').. but switching to Dr. Allara's office was one of the best decisions we ever made.
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