Going where you are led.....(AKA - the great pediatrician hunt of 2011)

So - here is how today went.....

6 year old wakes up with an ear ache - sort of a mysterious one that has been coming and going for days. No fever - we have been watching it for days and we have a big weekend planned. She has a tendency to get sick on big weekends so we wanted a clean bill of health going into said big weekend so the decision was made to try out a Massachusetts pediatrician.

Now - two weeks ago I went and dropped off paperwork at a pediatricians office right up the street. They seemed nice enough and the office was so quiet when I went in there so it seemed like a decent fit.

I called them today and asked for an appointment.

They said - "we can see you tomorrow at 11"

I said - "that is totally unacceptable"

and thus - the great pediatrician hunt of 2011 began.

First off I called up to the little bitty and I mean little bitty, make a double wide look spacious, kind of office of a local family medicine doctor that I had seen a couple of weeks ago for my long overdue physical and confess my wrong doings to Echo. Now I am a fan of that Echo as she is the chief, cook, and bottle washer of the whole operation. She answers the phone, takes your blood pressure, takes out the trash - the whole 9. Anyway - I tell Echo I need an appointment, she says sure and by the way - call and check your insurance and make sure that you don't need to declare a primary caregiver.

I call our Insurance and guess what they say?

Nope you can't guess....

oh wait you did?

Yep - they say - "um sorry - we are no longer your insurance - your company dropped you on April 28th.

It is possible that I said something along the lines of

"SWEET SARAH JESSICA PARKER"

on the phone - not sure - might have happened.

Anyway - turns out that husband's company switched us when we switched states and we somehow missed that memo.

We were now covered but by a totally different group. I start calling pediatricians and then

I started to freak out.

As if I wasn't freaking out enough already

Because - guess what - I didn't like any of those ladies on the phone

And any Mom knows - those ladies on the phone hold all the power in their hands and it is pretty important that they find you charming and funny and not strange and irritating. It is an important relationship.

So - I finally call a practice and I basically in two long run on sentences I spill out my problem to the powerful lady on the phone

"soitotallyblewitandihavethesethreelittlekidsandireallyneedapediatricanthatcan

seeusonthedaywegetsickplusitwouldalsobereallyniceifwelikedtheofficeandifyou

wouldtakeourinsuranceandmy6yearoldhasanearacheandiamkindofstartingtopanicbecause

iamnothavingalotofluck...."

She says, "oh honey - we need to look into those little ears right away! Can you be here at 3:45?"

So - off we go to this place where we have been led

led by a set of circumstances that led us to the place that is actually an incredibly important part of the move - the kids doctor is - well - super important

As we walked in the front door I said "oh please let me like you"

And guess what - I did.

They were awesome.

We walked into the office 45 minutes early. (I tend to run really early and even more so when I am feeling worried about something. I was worried about getting lost so we got there in Holly time)

They called us back before I could even sit down

The guy taking us back was wearing a mask (you know like a germ mask) and handed a little mask to my 6 year old. (Sounds creepy but I tend to be a little germaphobic so I almost hugged the guy - didn't though - on account of the germs). My 6 year old literally held the mask dangling by one finger away from her body like it was on fire or something. The guy just smiled and took us back and said we would work on the germ mask routine.

Anyway

The office was big and clean and sweet people smiled at all three of my kids

There was a small wrestling episode that was broken up by a resident with stickers.

The office has 4 attending's and 4 residents - basically doctors coming out of their ears.

They got on the phone with the doctors office that wouldn't get us in and figured out how to get records transfered that were on their way from Texas to the busy pediatrician and not the new good pediatrician.

The resident we saw was darling, funny, and totally got a huge kick out of my very quirky 6 year old. Big bonus points there. She even complimented her bow.

The nice lady in the office with the phone and the schedule and all of the power laughed at my jokes

twice

I am so glad for the round about day

I am so grateful that they switched our insurance

I am relieved that I just followed where I was led

and glad to check another thing off of my "moving to a different state" list.