The Doctor's Appointment

We had an appointment with a doctor today. Sort of a meet & greet to see whether or not we liked her and whether or not I wanted to enroll myself and the boys at her practice. What a freaking idiot! There are no words!

First she came into the room and introduced herself to us three times. She shook C's hand and introduced herself, then mine. Then mine... again. She seemed like she was on too many mood stabilizers or something. Then she started asking us questions and suddenly lost her train of thought and started talking about a previous patient leaving her pills behind.

One of the reasons I wanted to get a family doctor where we're moving is so that I can get regular paps and care that I haven't really had recently. I also wanted to have an IUD put in to prevent another pregnancy for a few years (ideally forever, but we'll stick to a few years for now until we know for sure.) I already talked to my midwives about what I was thinking in terms of birth control (Mirena) and although they can't put it in, they thought it was a good idea. Well this doctor got all hesitant when I suggested it and told me they weren't very successful. She suggested I do oral birth control, I said with two young babies its hard to remember to eat breakfast let alone take a pill every day. Then she suggested my husband remind me. Yeah right -- the guy forgets his keys almost every day.

Then she suggested the shot... No I've got enough trouble with weight gain already, doctor, lady... try again! I was pretty insistent that I'd prefer an IUD and she kept trying to push me off of it. She was like "Well I had a patient who got pregnant using IUD so I wouldn't recommend it." OK, so if we're ruling out all birth control that people have gotten pregnant while using then we're shit out of luck here.

So she suggested condoms... Condoms? Seriously?! Because that's both affordable (no!) and practical (no!)

So after I basically made it clear I wanted the IUD and I wanted to know whether the Copper IUD or Mirena were a better choice considering I'm breastfeeding she told me I should go research it. She couldn't even tell me what hormones were in the Mirena and whether or not it could affect the baby. (Side note: It's Progesterone and it doesn't affect breast milk, but it could lessen your supply.)

Seriously? I should go research my own birth control before coming to the doctor? I have already, but that's not the point. The doctor is supposed to BE me researching my options. Not being told to go do my homework. WTF?

Suffice it to say that we are NOT enrolling to her practice and thus I have to keep looking.

Dear Doctors of the world: When a [potential] patient comes to you looking for advice and you tell them to "go research it" because you don't like the option they're considering... well... you're a tool.