Sunday, October 19, 2008

Mommy has a Grumpy Day

Pequita's 2 year checkup was on Friday morning at 9:15. My car needed a new muffler, and we had a 10:30ish appt for that. I was having an off day - hormones? Fatigue? Who knows. I have long been irritated with the office, as we have been made to wait an average of 90 minutes at our pediatrician's office for what constitutes a 10 minute checkup. This has bothered me intensely; trying to keep 2 rambunctious babies happy and entertained in a small room with no toys for upwards of an hour is not easy. I tried kindly mentioning this up the chain of management to no avail. I started bringing my own suitcase of amusements, as well as leaving the exam door open so the kids could roam around the halls a bit hoping this would make it harder to forget about us (and hopefully annoy the nurses into dealing with us). For the past few visits, if we were made to wait more than 20 minutes with no one coming to see us I strolled both kids down the hall - one of them in diaper only in anticipation of an exam - to where the nurses were clustered chatting and asked how much longer it would be. This past Friday I stood for 9 long minutes just for the receptionists to get off the phone to take my name and tell me to sit down. I was still sitting in the lobby 45 minutes after our appt was to have begun, and I snapped. I collected my kids and strode to the reception desk, interrupted their phone conversations to tell them that our time was valuable and we couldn't wait any longer. Driving to the garage, I snagged a 3pm appt with a competing pediatrician who was highly recommended and had an opening. We had a lovely day walking around town in the fall sun while my car was fixed and still got Pequita her checkup and flu shot that day. We waited 3 minutes before seeing the 2nd doc, he was lovely, AND there was a huge box of toys in the exam room. I couldn't transfer the kids records fast enough.

Pequita's stats:
33 lbs puts her in the 99th percentile for weight. 35.5" long is the 90th percentile for weight. No wonder she is wearing mostly size 3 toddler clothes!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you found a new pediatrician. We occasionally have to wait 15 minutes for ours and that is long enough with one.

- MSL

Becca said...

So glad you were able to switch so easily!! And good for you for sticking up for yourself. Asking someone to wait ninety minutes with two small children should be a crime! Sounds like justified grumpy to me.

Sw said...

Good for you! I once waited naked, shivering in a gown for an hour and half to be seen (after an hour in the waiting room). I finally got dressed and walked out. The doctor called to apologize and offer me a manicure (I assume she meant to pay for it not do it herself...). I told her my nails weren't the issue; she needed to get better office procedures. I didn't go back.