Time Well Spent

Toads (10 wks, 5.11.2004) - Girly Girl (6 wks, 9.18.2005) - Samoosa (4 wks, 10.18.2007) 

The pediatrician's office is a place I frequent often. The receptionist no longer asks our names. They just welcome us in and my kids recognize all the staff by name. It's a bit embarrassing sometimes. But, when you have four kids everything seems to be magnified and we pass everything around. Our kids are 6, 4, 2, and 10 months. If you only count 'well-child' visits I have been there at least 30 times. That doesn't even count the 20 plus ear infections, 5+ pneumonias, broken arm, odd allergic reactions and countless asthma visits.

String Bean (10 mos, 4.4.2010)

The past few weeks, we've been there for something new.....weight gain. String Bean is looking a little too stringy. Now I know there are plenty of kids that are small and petite but as you can see my experience is with chubby little babies. String Bean has slowly dropped on the growth chart to where now at 10.5 months we are trying to get her back on the chart. My level of concern has increased over the past several weeks but my visit with the ped on Wednesday put me at ease.

Previously, for weight checks I had just seen a nurse or a partner that was available at the time but Wednesday, we saw our doctor - Dr. Cynthia Smoot at Humble Pediatrics.

While pregnant with our first, I put together my legal pad of questions and went in search of a pediatrician that I could trust with my children and who valued the things that were important to us. I made appointments with area pediatricians and asked lots of questions of each. The normal questions regarding office availability but more importantly, questions like:

• How do you feel about ADD and Ritalin?
• How do you feel about breast feeding?
• Where do you stand on immunizations?
• What kind of advice would you give me about behavior problems with my child?
• What would you tell me if I was seeking an abortion for any subsequent pregnancies?

The answers to these questions were very important to me. I wanted someone who was going to support us in how we were raising our children, someone who would not fight me tooth and nail when we made decisions, someone who would tell me how it is, someone I was comfortable with medically and spiritually, someone who would speak Truth to me as we faced various medical issues. One of the doctors I spoke with told me 'he would not advise me against an abortion. If it was something I wanted, he would support me.' That is not what I wanted and I would be terrified to recommend him to any friends for fear of him giving unbiblical advice to them.

The Lord led me to the right doctor. Dr. Smoot is that person. I am so thankful for her and how God has used her in the life of our family. She loves the Lord. I trust her. I can speak candidly with her. My kids love her. My time spent interviewing was more than worth it. She was kind and clear this week. We will do what we need to do. String Bean is gaining weight (slowly) and we are not going to stress out about it.