The best doctor ever

We have an amazing pediatrician.

And yes, she is getting a whole blog post of me just expressing how much I adore her.

I feel like it is hard to find a good doctor. And nearly impossible to find a GREAT doctor.

And yet we scored the jackpot with Dr. F.

Because she's awesome.

She genuinely cares about her patients. Or if it's all an act, it's a really damn good one. Because I certainly cannot tell. And I'm pretty good at deciphering people.

From day one she's been amazing. Never concerned that my 99th% first child was "overeating" whilst I had friends being told to schedule their babies to keep them from being fat (for real!). And when she dropped down to the 10th% at 18 months she was never concerned or encouraging me to wean her so she'd eat more solid foods, or suggest I feed her more. She just smiled and said she was hitting all of her milestones and neither of her parents are large people. She just found her curve. Not to worry.

When my 1 year old, 2 year old, and then 3 year old (we'll see what she says at 4) still wasn't sleeping through the night, she never once recommended we let her cry it out. Instead she simply said, "Most kids sleep best with their parents." When I admitted she was all ready with us, she simply said, "All kids sleep through the night on their own time. And some kids will just be poor sleepers forever. You can't force her to sleep. You just get to choose how you handle it, and you are great parents, so I know you handle it well." And she left it at that. I was so relieved that she wasn't trying to "fix" my daughter and she felt confident in her sleeping when she was ready.

When a dumbass doctor in NM gave my daughter an outdated antibiotic that was only even ever allowed for adults, and at 3x the dose an adult would be given, she talked to me personally on the phone and then she immediately called in an appropriate antibiotic (the only time my kids have ever even been on an antibiotic!) and came in to work early the day we returned so that she could fit H into her schedule. Your typical doctor doesn't do that.

She stitched up Mr. B's chin last Friday while he screamed the whole time. Try stitching a moving target. I can't imagine it'd be easy but she made it seem like such a simple feat and even told the nurse, who was constantly saying, "Lio, stop crying, you're not helping." to "Please stop it. You're not helping him." And when Dr. F was all done B proclaimed, "I don't like you!" and the nurse said, "Oh, yes, you do love Dr. F."

And Dr. F immediately said, "I understand. I wouldn't like me very much either right now."

Today when we went to get B's stitches removed - a procedure you only see a nurse for - Dr. F made sure to stop in and ask how he was doing. She didn't have to check on him. She wasn't being paid for that. But she did it anyway.

When I brought both of my babies in for the first time after they were born, both times she commented on healthy they were and how I was made to have babies at home. And it was nice to see more babies being born at home. Um...WHAT!? Most doctors seem to be SO against homebirth.

When I stated we would not circumcise our son, her response was, "No need to fix something that isn't broken on a perfect baby." Yep, she has my heart.

She's always been so encouraging of my breastfeeding them past a year. She said, more than once, "The longer they get your milk, the better. Keep on going as long as you both want." A lot of doctors are not very knowledgeable on breastfeeding at all. I've had friends encouraged to wean after 6 months because their milk was "watery and had no nutrients." I've had friends told to give their kiddos whole cows milk instead of breast milk, or to supplement with it, in order to get their kids to gain, which is really terrible advice.

Dr. F has been amazing with our choice not to vaccinate. Not once has she ever asked us to reconsider, or try to give us more information or dissuade us from our choice. Instead, before H was even born and we interviewed her (yes, I am that anal!) she simply said, "This is what the APA recommends. I think a delayed schedule is a good idea, but the decision is yours. We have a book here about all the vaccines if you'd like to read it or would like me to go over it with you." And that was that. Nothing more.

Even when I took B in for stitches and the not-sweet nurse said, "Oh, he hasn't had a tetnus shot? Do you want to do that?" Dr. F stepped in and said, "This isn't really the appropriate time for that."

Have I mentioned how much I freaking adore Dr. F? Like simply adore her.

She follows all the rules and regulations, of course, but she goes above and beyond and truly cares about her patients and believes in the parents ability to make the right decisions for their kids.

H has sleep apnea and we've had a lot of talk about how to proceed. But H doesn't have big tonsils, which Dr. F said the children's hospital would likely remove as a first step. J and I don't want that, and Dr. F doesn't want that either. And so she's worked diligently with us to come up with better alternatives, to keep just waiting it out, and to also know when we need to stop waiting and do something.

She's not a candy doctor. She doesn't believe in throwing antibiotics at every illness. She has a "wait it out" approach. And it works awesome.

She isn't in and out quick for an appointment. She spends time with the kids. She's thorough on answering any and all questions. And no matter how ridiculously or worried-mom the question is, she always acts like it's totally valid.

It's so, so hard to find such an awesome doctor. But I am so glad that we did. I'm glad I was the crazy first-time-mom who had to interview doctors and then registered my kiddo before she was even born (because by the time she was born she was no longer taking new patients!).

I wish Dr. F took adults as patients, too, ha. Because I've never found a doctor I love for myself. But my kids are more important, so I'm glad we have her for them. And I'm so thrilled she's stellar.

And I think the rest of doctors out there could learn a thing or two from her. Because she's just freaking fantabulous.

That is all