Pediatrician - Can You Imagine?!?

We've been interviewing pediatricians which has been an interesting process. How many of you have ever interviewed a dentist or your own physician before seeing him or her for an exam for the first time?

This evening we had one such pediatrician interview appointment. When I made the appointment I explained, as I always do, that we are adopting an infant from Taiwan and that he will be coming home within a few weeks. The receptionist scheduled the appointment and gave no indication that we should expect anything out of the ordinary. We showed up promptly and found a room full of people, including the pediatrician. He introduced himself and said, "We're just getting started." Huh??

That's right folks, we were to be participants in a group interview of the pediatrician!!! How crass is that?? Here we sat with two other couples (both of whom were very pregnant) and the pediatrician went around the room asking what we all did for a living and then threw the floor open for general questions. Which questions did I feel comfortable asking in front of other (non-adopting) people? None!

While the preggies weren't shy about asking a few questions about vaccinations and the like, we were a little perplexed about how to ask the questions most relevant to international adoption in that setting. We did go ahead and throw a few questions out there (e.g. Do you insist on repeating vaccinations that have already been given in Taiwan?), but we left with more questions than answers.

The pediatrician summed up the little soirée by telling the preggies what an exciting time they were embarking on. HELLLLOOOOO???!! What about us? Are we not embarking on an exciting time?

Thanks for the informative interview, doc. We'll be moving on to the next pediatrician interview and hoping that the next doctor finds our family important enough to merit both recognition and a few minutes of private time.

Oh, and if anyone would like the pediatrician's name, I'm more than happy to share. I'm sure he is competent and pleasant enough as long as you fall within his limited parameters of typical and don't require any individual attention of any kind.