To read Part One click here
...Children's Aid. That's where we left off from Part One.
You know that feeling when someone has just told you someone you love has died or been in a serious accident or any sort of tragic life altering event, & your gut seems to drop out of its place, your throat seizes & you feel almost paralyzed.
That was us in that doctors office.
We were silent as we left. Silent as we headed toward the highway to head to the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & silent most of the way to Toronto. We knew we were doing the right thing by breastfeeding & not using formula, but the threat of this being a bad decision for our baby that may lead to him being taken from us was just outrageous. It was unbelievable to us. Yet we were firm that no threat was going to force us into giving up on breastfeeding.
We were worried as we waited for our appointment with the Newman Clinic. After being so mistreated by our doctor we knew we couldn't take anymore abuse without breaking down entirely. We needed encouragement & support. Not threats.
We were greeted by a student lactation consultant who, after a LONG list of thorough questions, quickly suggested some little alterations to how Sugar was latching. Her supervisor checked in & agreed that the latch looked alright.
{So what was wrong? Why the slow weight gain?}
Enter Dr. Hillary, pediatrician. She took Sugar from us & laid him down to give him a full physical. Once she was finished she let him grab her fingers (like all babies do) & she gave a little pull to which Sugar pulled himself up & stood right up & looked around the room...nothing new to us, he'd been doing that for weeks.
Dr. Hillary gasped.
She was shocked.
So shocked she asked us permission to film him for her med. students. Right then & there a videographer came in & filmed him, standing, looking around, & smiling. They nicknamed him Hercules. As Dr. Hillary narrated the video she explained how Sugar was indeed gaining weight slower than average, but was not malnourished, & was in fact thriving which was evident by his exceptional muscle tone, his ability to pull his own weight, to stand & support his head.
Listening to this we felt a wash of comfort come over us. We knew we found the right place that would support our decision to breastfeed & encourage us that Sugar was indeed okay & developing normally, as we suspected.
Once the filming was done, we asked to speak with Dr. Hillary & Clinic Director, Edith Kernerman privately. We told them everything our doctor had done to us, & threatened us with. Edith was outraged & Dr. Hillary reassured us that our doctor was clearly mistaken & there was NO reason to introduce formula whatsoever. She was also willing to contact our doctor & inform her that Sugar was just fine and she would be following up with Sugar so as to keep our doctor from having any reason to contact C.A.S.
We made another appointment at the Newman Clinic for the next week & left on cloud 9.
At this point having the affirmation that Sugar was okay, & knowing that we would be returning to have Sugar checked out by a pediatrician who valued breastfeeding, I decided Sugar & I would NOT be going back to our doctors office again. DaddyOat was not so firm. We discussed it many times. His fear was that our not returning to our doctor would prompt them to act on their 'suspicions' & contact C.A.S. My thinking was that I would not walk into a situation into which I know my baby & I will be abused.
We finally decided together that no matter what the consequences we would not be returning & DaddyOat called the doctors office to cancel our next appointment with her.
They said no.
{No? No?!! What do you mean no?!!}
According to them there was some sort of unnamed ministryy that required us to come in for our appointment. DaddyOat didn't know what to say & hung up.
We were stunned, again. How can we be forced to go to an appointment?
At this point we were very thankful to have our doula, Sarah, visiting with us. She laughed & told us there was no way, legally, they could force us to go in for an appointment. She also informed us of our legal rights as patients, the right to refuse treatment, the right to a second opinion & the right to change doctors.
With this knowledge I then called the doctors office back & spoke to the doctor directly. Once I informed her that Sugar would not be coming in for his scheduled appointment & there was no need to reschedule at this time, she then proceeded to as me questions which I knew were inappropriate & within my legal right NOT to answer.
Most of the conversation went like this:
Question #1 - "Why are you cancelling your appointment?" Answer: "I feel I do not have to answer that question. All you need to know is that Sugar will not be coming in for his scheduled appointment & we will not be rescheduling at this time."
Question #2 - "When are you rescheduling?"
Answer: "I feel I do not have to answer that question. All you need to know is that Sugar will not be coming in for his scheduled appointment & we will not be rescheduling at this time."
Question #3 - "Will we be seeing Sugar again?"
Answer: "I feel I do not have to answer that question. All you need to know is that Sugar will not be coming in for his scheduled appointment & we will not be rescheduling at this time."
REPEAT x3
It was annoying to say the least. I finally repeated myself one last time & said goodbye & hung up. Then the trepidation really began to set in....what would she do? Would she call C.A.S.?
* * *
(Come back for the Final Part of Our Story)
...Children's Aid. That's where we left off from Part One.
You know that feeling when someone has just told you someone you love has died or been in a serious accident or any sort of tragic life altering event, & your gut seems to drop out of its place, your throat seizes & you feel almost paralyzed.
That was us in that doctors office.
We were silent as we left. Silent as we headed toward the highway to head to the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & silent most of the way to Toronto. We knew we were doing the right thing by breastfeeding & not using formula, but the threat of this being a bad decision for our baby that may lead to him being taken from us was just outrageous. It was unbelievable to us. Yet we were firm that no threat was going to force us into giving up on breastfeeding.
We were worried as we waited for our appointment with the Newman Clinic. After being so mistreated by our doctor we knew we couldn't take anymore abuse without breaking down entirely. We needed encouragement & support. Not threats.
We were greeted by a student lactation consultant who, after a LONG list of thorough questions, quickly suggested some little alterations to how Sugar was latching. Her supervisor checked in & agreed that the latch looked alright.
{So what was wrong? Why the slow weight gain?}
Enter Dr. Hillary, pediatrician. She took Sugar from us & laid him down to give him a full physical. Once she was finished she let him grab her fingers (like all babies do) & she gave a little pull to which Sugar pulled himself up & stood right up & looked around the room...nothing new to us, he'd been doing that for weeks.
Dr. Hillary gasped.
She was shocked.
So shocked she asked us permission to film him for her med. students. Right then & there a videographer came in & filmed him, standing, looking around, & smiling. They nicknamed him Hercules. As Dr. Hillary narrated the video she explained how Sugar was indeed gaining weight slower than average, but was not malnourished, & was in fact thriving which was evident by his exceptional muscle tone, his ability to pull his own weight, to stand & support his head.
Listening to this we felt a wash of comfort come over us. We knew we found the right place that would support our decision to breastfeed & encourage us that Sugar was indeed okay & developing normally, as we suspected.
Once the filming was done, we asked to speak with Dr. Hillary & Clinic Director, Edith Kernerman privately. We told them everything our doctor had done to us, & threatened us with. Edith was outraged & Dr. Hillary reassured us that our doctor was clearly mistaken & there was NO reason to introduce formula whatsoever. She was also willing to contact our doctor & inform her that Sugar was just fine and she would be following up with Sugar so as to keep our doctor from having any reason to contact C.A.S.
We made another appointment at the Newman Clinic for the next week & left on cloud 9.
At this point having the affirmation that Sugar was okay, & knowing that we would be returning to have Sugar checked out by a pediatrician who valued breastfeeding, I decided Sugar & I would NOT be going back to our doctors office again. DaddyOat was not so firm. We discussed it many times. His fear was that our not returning to our doctor would prompt them to act on their 'suspicions' & contact C.A.S. My thinking was that I would not walk into a situation into which I know my baby & I will be abused.
We finally decided together that no matter what the consequences we would not be returning & DaddyOat called the doctors office to cancel our next appointment with her.
They said no.
{No? No?!! What do you mean no?!!}
According to them there was some sort of unnamed ministryy that required us to come in for our appointment. DaddyOat didn't know what to say & hung up.
We were stunned, again. How can we be forced to go to an appointment?
At this point we were very thankful to have our doula, Sarah, visiting with us. She laughed & told us there was no way, legally, they could force us to go in for an appointment. She also informed us of our legal rights as patients, the right to refuse treatment, the right to a second opinion & the right to change doctors.
With this knowledge I then called the doctors office back & spoke to the doctor directly. Once I informed her that Sugar would not be coming in for his scheduled appointment & there was no need to reschedule at this time, she then proceeded to as me questions which I knew were inappropriate & within my legal right NOT to answer.
Most of the conversation went like this:
Question #1 - "Why are you cancelling your appointment?" Answer: "I feel I do not have to answer that question. All you need to know is that Sugar will not be coming in for his scheduled appointment & we will not be rescheduling at this time."
Question #2 - "When are you rescheduling?"
Answer: "I feel I do not have to answer that question. All you need to know is that Sugar will not be coming in for his scheduled appointment & we will not be rescheduling at this time."
Question #3 - "Will we be seeing Sugar again?"
Answer: "I feel I do not have to answer that question. All you need to know is that Sugar will not be coming in for his scheduled appointment & we will not be rescheduling at this time."
REPEAT x3
It was annoying to say the least. I finally repeated myself one last time & said goodbye & hung up. Then the trepidation really began to set in....what would she do? Would she call C.A.S.?
* * *
(Come back for the Final Part of Our Story)
What a great pouty lip picture!! So glad things are going better for you guys.
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