I had a doctors appointment this morning. Nothing serious, more of a check up. But trying to schedule an appointment when your working hours for the summer are 7:30am to 6pm was a little difficult. First I thought I would go in to work late with my appointment early in the morning but the more I thought about it the more I leaned towards just taking the whole day off and so I did. Here are my thought while I sit on the beach on my day off:
When I gave birth to my first 3 children I used a midwife practice for my prenatal care and deliveries. The midwives were wonderful and very low intervention/low risk pregnancies. I chose to have the epidural with Thomas and hated the after effects of it so when I was approaching labor with my next 2 children I kept an open mind and told myself I would try to deliver without pain meds but it was an option should I change my mind. I didn’t change my mind, I didn’t use pain meds and Alyssa and Lelly were wonderful births. I was up and about right after I had them, no waiting for anything to wear off and no side effects. That was my experience. With Samantha I was pregnant after 2 miscarriages and chose to go to a male obstetrician who was the midwives back up doctor. I adored him and I can’t imagine me getting better care from anyone else. I gave birth to Samantha without medication or interventions as well.
Presently, being at a time in my life where I still requirement care for issues that woman have to deal with I’ve had experiences with both men and woman practitioners. And personally at this stage of life I prefer a woman doctor. The doctor I saw this morning was a woman and absolutely incredible. She explained every little detail of my visit and had a very gentle touch. She cared about what was going on and the procedures she needed to do.
I’ve heard conflicting experiences from close friends. Some who say woman doctors are cold and uncaring and also those that say the same about male doctors practicing within a woman’s specialty field. I feel as though I’ve experienced the best of both worlds. I’m not a male doctor hater, far from it. I used to love to have a health visit with nurse practitioners. They were usually kind, extremely thorough and gentle both in touch and mannerism. However the last 3 times I’ve used an NP for either myself or one of my children I was highly disappointed in the care we received. Talk about cold and condescending. I was so so surprised. I’m not painting all doctors male or female with the same brush nor do I feel all NP’s are cold practitioners. These have just been my recent experiences and mo one was more surprised than me. I am very open minded.
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 