Is there a Doctor in the house?

When you become a parent you are all of the sudden responsible for another life. Your role as mother comes with a never ending job description and a whole slew of titles that go along with that. Sometimes it is a teacher, other times it may feel like you are the maid, or a judge even.

For me this past week I took on the role of physician. Not that I am professionally qualified to practice medicine, but when my child gets hurt or sick I AM the Dr. in the house.

Even with the vast expansion of health care options that are available, and the state of the art technology that is used to save millions of lives, it still does not negate the fact that a parent is the person in charge of the overall health and well being of their child. Talk about pressure!

It's kind of like a hierarchy and as the parent I am the CEO. My duty is to hire and pay for a health care professional according to their abilities and services. They are working for me and for some reason I get this backwards a lot. I guess I've just been wounded by a couple of bad experiences, but I feel really intimidated by Doctors. Especially now that I have my son. I feel like Bob Cratchit from A Christmas Carol,

Bob Cratchit (me): "Please sir, Tiny Tim isn't feeling so well, could you be so kind as to offer us a little help?"
Ebenezer Scrooge (Doctor) "ARE YOU INSURED? IS HE UP TO DATE ON ALL HIS SHOTS? DOES HE SPEND ANY TIME IN DAYCARE? WHAT KIND OF A PARENT ARE YOU!?"

We just recently found out that our family Dr. was no longer in practice and so we went to a new pediatrician, along with being referred to a specialist, and we have been in and out of appointments the past couple weeks. That is probably why these Dr. nightmares are freshly engrained in my imagination. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I am the primary care giver . I care for the needs of my child and I need to feel confident in that. Thank God for medicine, doctors, nurses, hospitals, and while we are on the subject, moms.