Anyway, Rita has been awesome. This has by far been my favorite pregnancy experience as far as my primary provider is concerned. I loved Dr. Shimizu (my OB with Keilana), and was continually impressed with her good humor amidst an incredible work load. A lot of OBs and midwives hesitate to leave the state or area because of their patients--she rarely made it to the other side of the island! But there were precious few ways I could relate to her, we were so different. I also really liked most of the midwives in the practice I went to in SLO. But the personalities of the two I saw the most were at two extremes--a likable if somewhat gruff and loud older woman (and by older, I mean relative to the other midwives--she was probably only in her 50s) and a young quasi-granola so-sweet-and-gentle-I-could-scream (on some days I really liked her, and on some days she drove me nuts. The problem was, until I made it clear that we were in San Luis because my husband was completing a graduate degree, I got a bit of that just-another-stupid-Medicaid patient from them. Not bad, but I could sense it now and then.
Rita is an intelligent woman, obviously, but never talks to me like I'm not. Her personality is low-key, never gruff, never over-the-top. She gave birth to and raised 5 children, so doesn't have some odd preconceived notions of me just because I'm there pregnant with my third and still young. She is easy-going and calming without being all saccharine. She does, more than any of my other providers, understand what its like to be in my shoes.
When I show up to my appointment on time, she gets me in right away, gets things done and usually has me out the door in about 15 minutes--yet I have never once felt rushed. She just has (unlike most medical offices) a reasonable number of appointments everyday, scheduled at reasonable intervals so that no one has an hour of their time wasted waiting around. I have only had to disrobe twice--once at my first appointment (because I hadn't had a PAP smear in 2 years, so she did one), and once a few weeks ago for the standard and required strep test. That's it. When I would bring one of my kids to an appointment with me, she not only wouldn't seem irritated that they were there, but tried to involve them and keep them interested.
I've been so grateful to have such a great midwife this time around. It has made what can seem like a very long process a lot more pleasant. If we decide to stick around this area, I will definitely go back to her for my next baby!
3 comments:
It is so important to have someone you feel comfortable with. I saw the Nurse Practitioners most of the time. I actually only saw the doctor once before I delivered. There were two (as the first one had a baby halfway through my pregnancy) and they were both so sympathetic and caring. It made the experience so nice!
I can't believe that this time next week, you could very well be holding a new baby in your arms! How exciting!
I adore rita - she is amazing and to the point and pragmatic and funny and awesome...and super honest when you need it. She's the one who reacted so quickly to my post c-section staph infection and saved my life - I'm not kidding...anyhoo - you're going to love her through the whole process...becky
I too praise great practitioners. I think professionalism is very important, but so is warmth and understanding, or at least non-judgment. Glad to hear that you are near the end of the pregnancy and the beginning of a whole new world. It's amazing how in just a few minutes you begin to think "how did we live life without you?"
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