Apparently I have 3 heads...

[laughymama]

Or at least the receptionist looked at me like I did yesterday at the doctor's office.

My husband had an appointment and when we were leaving I stopped to ask her if our doctor could do the newborn screening since our midwife doesn't do it.
She looked at me and I'm not even kidding you, THIS is the look I got:

So I tried to clarify and said, "We're having a homebirth with a midwife. So we'll need the newborn heel stick test done..."

She just replied with, "We don't do that..." and I honestly think she really had no idea what I was talking about. Our state health department specifically says to ask your doctor to perform it. Our doctor is a family doctor though and not a pediatrician so that's probably why.

People around here don't homebirth either so I'm sure she thought I was off my rocker or didn't even fully understand what I was asking at the time.

Now I'm on the search for a pediatrician who will be willing to do it. I'm a bit nervous...I'm not sure how homebirth friendly they'll be around here but we'll see. Sigh.

[aloneinid]

Have you asked your midwife for a referral to a pediatrician? That's how we got ours and we love her. Although she is a mainstream ped, she doesn't think we have three heads!

[laughymama]

Originally Posted by aloneinid

Have you asked your midwife for a referral to a pediatrician? That's how we got ours and we love her. Although she is a mainstream ped, she doesn't think we have three heads!

She is an hour away in a different state. She hasn't attended many births in my area so she doesn't really know any pediatricians in the area.

My DS has an appointment next week with our Dr. So I think I'll ask him directly at the appointment instead of asking his receptionist/CNAs. Even if he can't do it there maybe he can at least point me in the right direction.

I'm finding that most people don't really know what to do with me or how to go about answering my questions because homebirthing is pretty unheard of around here. Hopefully our family doc will be able to help us out next week.

[Eresh]

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but it's not quite a simple as finding a doctor that is willing to do the test for you. It requires a very specific paper/form that they actually put the blood on and some doctors offices don't have that lying around since the test is typically administered at the hospital after the birth. It could be that your doctor does have the paper/form but you should confirm that before you bring your baby in to get the test performed.

Our experience with DS was our family doctor agreed to do the test but when we showed up with DS for a newborn evaluation and the PKU test, they didn't have the PKU form and sent us to the hospital to get the PKU test. It wasn't really a problem, it just made the day very long and tiring for all involved.

[laurata]

Yeah, some doctors do it on site, others will ask you to go to the hospital or a more sophisticated blood work facility to have it done

[Chamsia]

Our pediatrician (after our 2006 homebirth) just sent us to the hospital where most of his patients are born. It was easy. (And being there with a 2 day old made me so, so glad I had birthed at home! Everyone was nice. But what a gross environment compared to home!)

It seems like a no-brainer to me. I hope it's that easy for you!

[SublimeBirthGirl]

I had it done at the ped's office no problem. That said, the diseases are so rare that if I hadn't been able to find someone to do it I wouldn't have been too stressed about it.

[laughingfox]

DD1's doc did the heel stick, but she also attended DD1's homebirth, so she was used to that kind of thing.

DD2's midwife does the heel stick, but first I had to order the "blotter paper" from the state directly. (I don't know if there's a requirement that a medical professional do the test or not? They're sending the paper directly to me, and didn't even ask for my midwife's name.)

If your doc doesn't normally do the test, you could ask if he'd be willing to do it if you acquire the paper yourself.

[honeybee]

I expect the receptionist is just clueless. Talk to your family doc. There's no reason a family doc can't do it... unless they choose not to work with you just because they are prejudiced against homebirth (which could be a ped's attitude, too). In our area, the family docs are much more hb friendly than the peds.

[paquerette]

Why can't your midwife do it? I ordered the screening kit from Baylor, had my midwife do the stick, and then I mailed it in with my payment when it was dry. It's pretty easy. If I had ordered a lancet and had the guts to poke my own baby, I could have done it myself. I don't know if the doctors around here would have done it or not, but I preferred to have it done privately rather than give the state my baby's DNA.

http://www.baylorhealth.com/Specialt...s/Default.aspx

[HappyMommy2]

My HB MW did mine too.

[Calleiah]

You can actually order the card and lancet and do it yourself if you're so inclined. It just has to be mailed to the state lab. Not really a big deal to get it done, however you should probably look into the laws regarding their storage of that test. Theres been some unsettling news come out about the uses they are putting those blood tests too and how long they are allowed to keep them. In Texas, it's 25 years they can keep that on file for their own use.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/04...ex.html?hpt=C2