22-8-2008 - 4th month check up...sort of

My mood while writing this blog: upset

So, we took Emma for her 4th month check up and her second set of shots and I will never get over it, for u that had read my blogs or comments before already know what I think about the health system and the Doctors in my city, I really hate them, and every time I have to see one of them I confirm my feelings, well this time it wasn't the exception... We went to the Doctor's office and the waiting time wasn't that bad, so I'm thinking: "maybe this time it won't be as bad", BOY! I WAS WRONG!...they finally call us, they measured her and weighted her, she's now 15.5 lbs (she double her birth weight already) and 24.5 in (+4 in since birth) and the Doctor came in, of course he only check her HB, her ears, and gave a quick look inside her nappy, I had a bunch of questions for him, about solid food, sterilization, thumb sucking, teething, etc., well here are his answers:

SOLID FOOD: you can give her whatever fruit or vegetable and as much as she wants...my reaction was: WHAT? I had read about food allergies, not to feed babies with strawberries and citrus, not to give them more than a tablespoon to begin with, only try one food a week; then I asked about cereal, he said: YES, YOU CAN DO IT, but my question was how? in the milk? with a spoon? with what kind of milk? Does he think I have 6 kids already? this is my FIRTS, I don't have experience at ALL, he's supposed to be a teacher to me, AM I WRONG? I know that comparisons are BAD, but I cannot helped to compare the health care my baby is having against my friends in Mexico, their experience is soooo different, they actually sped some time with the baby (not only 5 min) the ask them questions about baby's behavior, they check they reflex, and they explaind them how to start on solids and what to expect...For example: my BF has a baby almost 2 months older than Emma, well he JUST started on solids, they explained to her what fruits she can use, how to prepare them and how much and how often he should eat, this was NOT THE CASE with me....

STERILIZATION: no need to do it any more.

THUMB SUCKING: is normal, she probably used to suck it inside you, don't fight it is a fase.

TEETHING: they start at 6 months.

These were his answers, he did not spend more than 5 min with us, and he manage to talk to us about this Argentinian writer (the Doctor is Argentinian too) who happends to wrote a poem about one Emma, I know he was triying to be nice and compliment our baby's name, but if you're going to spend 5 min with us, please focus on the baby's health...

Ok, he was gone (after he made sure we have the writer's name...lol) a few min passed by and no one came in, so I went to the nurses and give them the yellow card, they looked to each other, which made me think they didn't know about Emma's shots, it made me upset a little, but I understood they have tons of patiences and this things happens...this old lady came in (she was the one who gave Emma the shots last time and she was super slow) and I already knew Emma was going to cry a lot, well, she turned around and told me: "we don't have one vacinne, we run out, they just gave us ten, and those are gone really quick" I was like: OMG! I understand that, but they could tell you that when you set the appointment by phone, that they might not have all the vaccines available, then you can decide if you want to take her there or go to the health department. This was not the worst part, they didn't give her the shot last time either and they didn't tell us, she was like: "Oh! you can take her tomorrow to get the shot and next week for today's dosis, luckyly she's really young and is not a problem", well it is to me! I will not expose my baby to the pain two days on a row! was then when i got really mad, i mean really, my face drop to the floor, and I tell her that it was unacceptable that no one told us this last time, I could told her more, but Emma was sooo upset because this lady took her time between shots, she was super slow, I just wanted to take her out of there!...We went to the Health Dept right away, it took us 20 min to get the shot, and the nurse was super quick, I told her what the other nurse told me (to take her the week after) and she said "NO WAY!you cannot do thatm she;s going to bve a little behind, today she will get the 1st one, and on her next visit she will get de 2nd one, and so " she also gave me a copy of "HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR BABY AFTER HER VACCINES", so we made the decision to take her ther from now on, and for Doctor's check ups we will take her to Mexico, I only will take her to this Doctor when I have no choice...any way, i just wanted to let it out...