Doctor, Doctor give me the news

There has been a lot of drama for me in the last few months regarding our pediatrician. We've been with her since our first baby and she has been so wonderful to us. She was very, very unhappy that I had Canaan at home and it has completely changed our relationship. So I made the hard decision to take Canaan to our family doctor for his 6-month check. I called the office and told the receptionist that I needed to know the doctor's stance on homebirth (so I can know if it will be an issue should I have any more babies) and on delayed/selective vaccinating. My doctor called me back personally and discussed both issues with me fully, which I found refreshing and nice. Though I got the impression that he feels like homebirth isn't the safest option and that he finds immunizations amazingly wonderful things, he made it clear that our decisions are up to us and his job is solely to be sure that we are aware of the pros and cons. Eh, that sounded *just ok* to me. I mean, I really figured the visit could go well or poorly based on that, kwim?

Before the visit I typed up the shot schedule we are following for Canaan so that I could take it in with me and be really sure that we're on the same page and I won't get a bunch of lectures when I go in. I scheduled the appointment with the PA in the office since my doctor didn't have an opening for a few weeks. I really like the PA anyway. When she found out I was nursing Caris, who was almost 3 at the time, she smiled and said that was so great. I told her I didn't often hear that from medical personnel and she said with a wistful look in her eyes, "I nursed my kids so long my whole family was scandalized." So you know, I figured that she would be the most receptive to my unconventional parenting practices anyway.

I was nervous the day of the appointment. I had no plans to argue or get defensive. I knew that if this doctor's office couldn't accept the way I do things, there are others who will. I just figured that if we're going to leave our ped, we may as well all go to the same doctor. Well, things seriously could NOT have gone any better. The PA came in and Caris jumped on her right away: "We have another brother and he's at camp this week." LOL PA loved Canaan's chunky-liciousness, praised our nursing and not having started solids yet ("yay!" she said), said not to worry about his breathing issues because he's so obviously healthy, it's probably something he'll outgrow as his lungs grow.

Then I broached the subject of homebirth, and that I'd talked with Dr. to make sure it wouldn't be an issue should we have more babies. She looked confused and said, "an issue for us?" I told her that our ped had had a hard time with it and she just said that medicine changes so much, what was right 10 years ago isn't necessarily right now . . . she said, "we're kind of just . . . ehhh" (shrugged shoulders, like - whatever you want to do, Mom!). I showed her our shot schedule and she said, "Ok, so he's had these?" (pointing to the first couple) and I told her he had, and she said, "Ok, so it looks like you are wanting these three done . . . is it ok to do them all today, or do you want to spread them out?" I told her I wanted to spread them out and so she just did the two I wanted done then. IT WAS ALL JUST NO BIG DEAL! OMGosh it made me so doggone happy. She even asked if I do scheduled feedings and was so relieved when I said no. We just had really a nice visit, and though I'm still sad at losing our relationship with our ped, I'm THRILLED that life will be so easy with our new/old doctor.

Oh yeah - Canaan's 23 lbs and 28.5".