I’ve had a lot of crappy OB’s. I’m very happy now to have found one who I really like. I know that he doesn’t deliver babies anymore so I don’t know if he’ll fire me or not but for now I’m very happy with him.

I found Dr K through my mom-in-law. He’s at the same OB office as the guy I saw before him. He’s and older gentleman with the funniest grey mustache that’s curled perfectly on the ends, which some people might find creepy but I think makes him seem friendlier somehow. He’s really kind and always shakes my hand with both of his hands when he walks in and he holds my hand in his hands while he asks me about my life and how IVF is going. Again, some people might be awkward with personal contact like that but I thrive on it and I really like that he’s engaged in the conversation. He knows my first RE. They went to university together I think and he always had good things to say about him. And after every visit he always said that he really hopes next time he sees me will be for a pregnancy appointment. And the best part is that his pap smears don’t hurt at all. It might be because he talks to me through the whole thing so I’m distracted by answering questions.

But before him I thought I was doomed to get terrible gynecological help for the rest of my life.

My first gyno was obviously my mom’s gyno. Dr Y. He wasn’t terrible to me personally but I don’t think he was a good doctor overall. I went to him at the tender age of 15. I have a third nipple that started giving me trouble so he put me on the pill. I eventually just stopped taking it because I could never remember to take it. I had to go back to him at around 17 or 18 when I started getting period cramps from hell. Again, I was put on the pill and sent on my way. I never saw him after that but I stayed on the pill until my my mid 20s. See, he wasn’t overly terrible to me but I say he’s not a good doctor because he delivered my cousin’s daughter and didn’t realize that she had a significant tear. She figured it out herself after some painful trips to the bathroom. And with another friend of mine, he set her up for an elective cesarean for her second kid and I guess got his due date wrong and ended up taking him out too soon. Like weeks too soon. He was in the nicu for a stint. Shocking.

The second one was just a ghost. I made one appointment with her and never saw her. The office cancelled the appointment twice because of emergency deliveries and always scheduled the next appointments months later. I just gave up.

Then came Dr M, a recommendation from my sister-in-law. He also wasn’t the worst but I believe he did an unnecessary surgery. At this point I’d been off the pill for about a year and I went to see him for some abdominal pain. Turns out I had 3 cysts. They were about 3cm each so quite big and he did a full laparotomy on me to drain the cysts. I didn’t know any better but every doctor I spoke to after that said they would never have done major surgery like that for 3 cysts. But it is what it is. I am now cyst free and haven’t had a problem since. With cysts anyhow.

Afterwards there was another female, Dr Y. She was awful. I went to her first to get a new pill that wasn’t Yaz. So she put me on something else. I went to her 3 times after that to change pills because I couldn’t find one that agreed with me and every time she tried to put me back on Yaz. Okay, look I understand the doctors see too many patients to remember everyone but would it kill you to check the chart before you walk in? And every time I said I don’t want to be on Yaz she seemed exasperated like I was being difficult. And the last time I went to her, after suggesting Yaz she suggested the first pill she put me on. I was baffled. Was I being difficult or was she not being thorough? Either way, I didn’t stick around to find out.

Then this last doctor, Dr G. Wow. I found him on a google search for the best gyno’s in my area but my goodness. First thing that should have given me a clue is that he was also a doctor at a plastic surgery clinic so I feel like his heart wasn’t in gynecology or something. He never remembered me either, which is fine. By this stage I’d learned to not expect much bedside manner from gynecologists. But when we decided to start infertility testing I was waiting on the table going over in my head what I would say about our situation and he walked in all cheerful and asked “So have you felt the baby kick yet?”. I had the most confused look on my face and he looked at this chart then laughed and walked back out. He came back shortly after and said he walked into the wrong room. I was probably very sensitive at the time but geez louise guy, check the chart! The second thing he did was the way he handled our infertility. I posted about it before but he said that I wasn’t ovulating after taking blood work on the wrong day of my cycle and he suggested an IUI while knowing N’s semen analysis results. I never got a good vibe from him so I’m glad I peaced out.

And I think that was the last of the crappy doctors. Dr K might not be perfect but he’s pretty damned close compared these other guys. I’m so happy that I may have some good news next time I see him.