Found our Pediatrician -- FINALLY!

38 weeks, 5 days pregnant

We finally found our pediatrician!!

We had been on 7 interviews already and we weren't crazy about any of the ones we'd seen. Since we're going to give birth at a hospital in Boca and my midwife is in Boca and Jorge and I work in Boca, most of the recommendations we have were from doctors up there. There is one that we're ok with and that we'll use to go see the baby at the hospital for the first visit, but he's really far away for the regular baby checkups -- almost an hour from home! So we've been trying to find one that is closer to home that we can go to for the regular visits. But the ones that we interviewed, for some reason or another we just didn't click. We had already been on so many interviews and I just was exhausted. I had already given up. I was already resigned to continue seeing the one in Boca even though he was far. But at the last pediatrician appointment with one of the ones in Boca, the doctor realized how far away we lived and recommended one near our area. I made a note of his name but didn't even think about it - I was so done with all these interviews! But Jorge insisted we go meet him. Turned out his office was just 10 minutes away from our place in Fort Lauderdale.

Today was the appointment, at 8:45am. We got there early and saw the doctor pull in. He was very punctual and was sipping on his coffee, calmly getting his bag from the car and strolling into the office. As we watch him, Jorge says, "This is the guy. This is our pediatrician." I was incredulous. "What? How can you know that from just looking at him? What are you basing that on??" He said he could tell. He was calm, collected, on time. He liked the area and the parking lot... I just rolled my eyes. I hoped he was right, but based on all of our other interviews, my expectations were really low.

From the moment we walked into the waiting room, we liked it. The waiting room had sick/well areas that are CLEARLY marked, there's a giant fish tank in there that I'm sure kids love, and the staff was very very friendly. He was on time to meet with us, he introduced us to the nurses and the staff (no other doctor has done this!), we met in his OFFICE, not where he sees his patients (most doctors we met with saw us in the patient rooms). Everything was clean and organized. During the interview, he started off by taking out paper and pen and asking about us -- and not just how far along I was, but also what we did for a living, where we were from, how we met... very personable. Made me feel like he was really interested in us. He was direct and to the point, yet very polite. He has Saturday appointments for sick kids and can usually squeeze us in if we need to be seen the same day. He shares his practice with another pediatrician and there is always someone on call that will call us back within 15 minutes. He answered all of our questions about immunizations and scheduling and spent a good half hour with us going over everything. He even gave us a tour of the office. Jorge and I walked out the door and we didn't even have to say anything -- we just looked at each other and smiled. We found our pediatrician. Finally!! :) "You were right," I told him. "Don't know how you knew it, but you were right." He just smiled smugly and it made me laugh. And I'm sooo glad he was right! We are so happy to have found one that we have a good fit with and seems promising. Not only that, but he's only 10 minutes away from home! Perfect!

I can't tell you what a huge relief it is to cross this off of our list... this was my biggest stress these last few months. I couldn't believe we were this far along and still hadn't found a doctor we were happy with.

Baby G, we found you a doctor! Woo-hoo! :)