Merit Badge Tales - Holly

When my son was born his sugar was very low at birth so I was able to see him for all of about 3 hours before we left the hospital. I was a nervous wreck taking my baby home and I couldn't wait til his first pediatrician appointment two days later to see if his sugar had remained stable. At the end of the visit, the doctor asked if I had any questions. I asked if he could test my son's sugar. The doctor's response "well it's a blood test and I really don't like to do them on babies. I remained calm, biting my lip and wondering if this man was really a certified doctor.

The next day we switched pediatricians.

We visited this new office a few times for height and weight checks before the first set of shots that every mother dreads. I thought we had found our pediatrician until I took my son in for his shots. The doctor did the exam and then left to examine another patient while two nurses administered the shots. I was politely asked to move out of the way so the nurses could do their jobs. Of course, like any baby who had just been stuck with a sharp object, my son screamed. And screamed. And screamed. He held his breath until he turned blue in the face. Both nurses suddenly became frenzied. One started screaming "he's turning blue, set off the alarm" while the other stood there frozen and then started to cry, muttering that she shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning. It was at this point that I stormed in between both nurses, blew on my son's face, picked him up and gave him all the kisses and hugs I could. I grabbed his chart and his clothes and stormed out of the office. The next day I received a phone call from the doctor, who had viewed the whole incident on the closed-circuit television. She explained to me that it was because of incidents like these that the television system was installed. I explained to her that it was because of this incident I would not be returning to that office.
--Holly