Adoption Physicals? Check!

Yesterday, the last of our adoption physicals were completed.  Now we just have to go back for our TB tests to be read in a couple of days. 

We are blessed to have a wonderful pediatrician for the children.  We love her!  But we adults don't have a local doctor.  Thankfully, Sean and I haven't had a reason to see the doctor until now.  So this was the first time that the two of us visited a doctor here in SC. 

I got a recommendation for someone way the heck on the other side of town, called for an appointment at a branch of that practice closer to home, and was told to come fill out the new patient paperwork for processing before we could even schedule our appointments.  That sounded like a cumbersome process, and what if after all of that, they couldn't squeeze us in for a month or two?  I didn't want to have our physicals hold up the adoption process unnecessarily, so it was on to plan B:  Consult the yellow pages and pick a doc close to home who participates with our insurance, just to get this thing done.

Well, it's done now, and I can't say we'll be sticking with that doctor long term.  As soon as she walked through the door, she looked at me like I was completely off my rocker and asked, "Why do you want to adopt if you already have so many kids?"  No introduction, greeting, or even a "How are you?"  There are many reasons we're adopting, but I simply told her that we've always wanted a large family and have been drawn to adoption as a great way to grow our family.  She didn't look convinced.

During the course of the visit she never asked my children's names (I had all 4 with me, since Sean couldn't take time off work for my appointment in addition to his appointment earlier in the day), or anything about our adoption, what kind of child we're adopting, what kind of adoption it is, other than, "Are you sure you have enough money to feed everyone?"  It took a lot of will power not to answer with a wise crack about how if we only feed them every other day we even have enough money left over to clothe them all.  She probably would have thought I was being serious anyway. 

"Who takes care of them?" she wanted to know.  I explained that I do, since I left my nursing career to be at home with the children and homeschool them.  "But how do you pay for everything?"  I explained that my husband works, and she interrupted with, "Yes, I saw him this morning and he told me about that."  Fair enough, but why did she ask?  Maybe she just honestly can't imagine a family of soon-to-be 7 making ends meet on one income.  There are many families larger than ours who make do with a whole lot less than we do.

She examined me and asked a few things about my health history.  "Why haven't you had any cycles since 2011?" 

"Oh, that's just how my body works.  My cycles haven't returned since giving birth last year.  I breastfeed." 

"And you don't use contraception?"

"Nope."  All of our children are naturally spaced 2-3 years apart.  We leave our fertility in God's capable hands.

"In that case we'll have to do a pregnancy test also." 

Okay then.  Not that I want or need a pregnancy test.  The paperwork I need for the adoption doesn't require a statement on pregnancy or lack thereof, and news of a pregnancy wouldn't change our adoption plans.  Both our adoption agency and the country where Abraham lives are open to families adopting while pregnant.  But whatever.  At that point I didn't really feel like arguing.

Before the end of the visit she just had to ask again, "Why do you adopt so many kids?"  See, I knew she didn't look convinced after I answered her the first time!  I corrected her and explained that all of our children so far are biological and that this is our first adoption.  "Oh!  So these are all your own children."  Yep, as if Abraham won't be one of our own once he's home. 

But I survived, and hopefully we'll have the medical letter we need in a few days.  One more thing checked off our to-do list!  Also checked off is this doctor from our list of prospective family physicians.