Pediatrician

For Ruby's 9 month check up this week, she saw a new pediatrician in a new practice. We decided to change pediatricians because we never loved our former doctor, and I've had some reservations about the practice from the beginning. However, the main impetus was a serendipitous conversation I had with another mom from Ruby's playgroup.

At the beginning of our last mommy book club meeting, we were all discussing pediatricians, and I was just about to ask the group if anyone else was considering changing doctors when another one of the moms started telling this horror story about her son's former pediatrician. Basically her son was in the doctor's office because he was sick with a fever, and she asked the doctor to take a look at his diaper rash. So the doctor (not wearing gloves) looks in his diaper and says that he has a bit of a yeast infection. Then she notices that one of his eyes is a little goopy, so she decides to massage the tear duct for him (without first washing her hands). The mom (who is herself a nurse) is dismayed by this but doesn't say anything at the time. A few days later they are back in the doctor's office for a follow-up, and the mom asks the doctor to take a look at her son's eye which has been a bit swollen and red. The doctor takes a look and says, "That's funny, that looks like yeast!" Needless to say, the mom was horrified and could not get her son out of that office fast enough. When I asked what practice this was, she said Stonestown Pediatrics (which was our practice), and then when I asked which doctor it was, she said Dr. Janet Sollod (which was OUR doctor)!! Although nothing this egregious had ever happened to us, it was enough to convince us to find a new pediatric practice by Ruby's 9 month appointment.

Once we made the decision, I regretted a bit not listening to my instincts the first time I considered leaving the practice, when Ruby was only 5 days old. However, at the time, we simply did not have the time, energy, or access to resources needed to research and find another practice. Our initial newborn visits at Stonestown Pediatrics were not with Dr. Sollod because she was temporarily on leave getting treatment for breast cancer. Therefore, the day after we came home from the hospital, we went into their offices to see Dr. Nanci Tucker. Since Ruby was a very sleepy baby who had trouble breastfeeding, we were told to return in two days for a weight check.

When we returned with 5-day-old Ruby, we were told that Ruby weighed 6 lbs 13 oz, which was already 10% less than her birthweight of 7 lbs 9 oz. Without asking any questions, Dr. Tucker told us that what was happening was that my milk was too slow to come in, so every other feeding, we should feed Ruby formula while I pump to stimulate milk production. This did not sound right to me because there were many signs that my milk had come in such as extreme boob soreness on day 3 post-partum, Ruby spitting up milk, and intermittent milk leakage. Even though I cited all of these experiences as evidence of milk production, the doctor was very dismissive, as if she was assuming that I was either lying or mistaken. The worst part, the part that still makes me cringe to think about to this day, was the patronizing way she spoke to us, like she was saying we have NO BUSINESS taking care of a newborn.

We scheduled an appointment to return the following day for another weight check. After a harrowing night of pumping, bottle-feeding, and meticulously recording Ruby's milk intake and pee output, we returned to the doctor's office first thing in the morning. Since the previous appointment had been in the late afternoon, only about 16 hours had passed since Ruby's last weight check. This time we were informed by the nurse that Ruby weighed 7 lbs 6 oz, or 9 oz more than 16 hours prior. Considering her total milk consumption during those hours totalled LESS than 9 oz, clearly something was awry! When Dr. Tucker came in, she bumbled about and offered a few nonsensical explanations. However, when I asked her how it was possible that Ruby could have gained more weight than the total amount of matter she consumed, thus violating the Law of Conservation of Mass, she gave no response and quickly changed the subject.

So, basically it was after this that we seriously considered changing practices, but due to Ruby's problems with breastfeeding, we needed to return for weight checks and follow-ups several more times in the coming week, and we didn't know of another practice who could see us so quickly. Therefore, we stopped seeing Dr. Tucker and began seeing Dr. Sollod, who had returned from her leave. While we liked Dr. Sollod a little better, there were still things that didn't quite mesh, for instance how quickly she gave up on Ruby's ability to learn to breastfeed and how insistent she was that we Ferberize the baby even when it was clear we were not ready to let Ruby cry it out.

This time when we decided to find a new pediatrician, we had the vast knowledge network of the Golden Gate Mothers Group at our disposal, so it was a much less daunting experience. I noticed that there was one practice, Getzwell Pediatrics, founded by Dr. Julia Getzelman, that consistently received rave reviews from GGMG moms. Getzwell Pediatrics is definitely not your ordinary pediatrics practice. It is known for its holistic approach to healthcare, its openness to alternative medicines, and its focus on nutrition. The practice does not accept insurance, so everything is paid out of pocket, and then it's up to the patient to seek out reimbursement from their PPO provider. There's also a yearly membership fee for which you get the doctor's personal email and telephone number, which you can call at any time. Basically it's a hippy San Francisco mom's dream, and by joining I've once again surprised myself by how hippy dippy I've become. A few years ago, I would have scoffed at a natural childbirth, had no idea what a doula was, and thought that Getzwell Pediatrics was just an overpriced practice for hippy moms who didn't want to get their kids vaccinated. However, after one visit to their immaculate, state-of-the-art, brightly decorated office full of happy, friendly people, I knew it was the right place for us.

My only reservation was that our primary care physician would not be Dr. Getzelman, as she was not accepting new patients, but the new doctor in the practice, Dr. Aarti Nasta. However, I took it as a good sign when I read in her online bio that she is fellow Brown alum. We met Dr. Nasta at an "organic milk and cookies open house" hosted by the practice. She seemed very nice, and she has a 12-month-old daughter of her own, so she could relate to many of the things we were going through. Our first appointment with her this week was a refreshing change from the interactions we've had with our former pediatrician and made me wish we had been with the Getzwell practice all along. What sold it for Steve was the fact that the office is located very close to Mitchell's Ice Cream, the best ice cream shop in the city, so when Ruby is older, we can take her to get an ice cream cone after getting a shot.