There aren't a lot of people who have the opportunity to "test drive" the entire Neonatologist Team of a hospital - and that's a good thing. We, however, have had the chance to meet them all - and minus the fact that the meets were because we had prematurely born babies in the hospital - we can honestly say that we have come to like 'em all!
Through keeping in touch with my NICU nurse-friend B, I've learned that Dr. Shapiro is retiring and today is his send off. I seriously considered taking our preemies in to say thanks - turns out we'll be out of town this evening.
But I wanted to express our family's gratitude for Dr. Shapiro. We first met him when we had Malorie in '03. He is an older gentleman....a grandpa sorta guy. He wasn't really outspoken like some of the other doctors. He didn't have a killer sense of humor like some of the other doctors. He spoke with a thick accent which made it necessary to keep full eye contact with him when he spoke to us...and sometimes we had to ask him to repeat what he said - something that is hard to do for someone like me who prefers to appear that she knows everything!
We crossed paths with Dr. Shapiro in '04 when Melanie was born. This time around we were familiar with all of the doctors. And more importantly, we remembered that we really liked Dr. Shapiro. He was a constant. Always to-the-point with us...never gave us false hope, but never left us hopeless either. Since we were sure we wouldn't have to do NICU after Malorie b/c surely she was just a fluke, being there with Melanie was hard...Dr. Shapiro's presence was comforting.
In '06 we met up with Dr. Shapiro again, he was the doctor on call when Joseph was born. We were very relieved to see that we was the doctor waiting for us in the delivery room. As I mentioned, we liked all of the NICU docs, but we knew we could trust Dr. Shapiro - not b/c we couldn't trust the other doctors - but because he really made us feel safe, like we would if our own fathers were there. (Yes, that's mushy and not where I wanted to take this entry, but I don't know how else to express the comfort he gave us, the parents, as our baby's doctor...there were just times we felt like he cared for our babies as if they were his own grandchildren.)
Not to be left out, Meredith got a chance to meet Dr. Shapiro in '08. Ironically enough, it was Dr. Shapiro who made the call to keep Meredith "a couple more days" when we were thinking she'd be able to come home. I remember being glad that that crushing news came from him though. After the blow, he wrapped Meredi back up in her little bed, then turned and put his hand on my shoulder and apologized. I went back in the blog and found my entry for that day - this is what I wrote: I had kept my “Oprah Ugly Cry” in my pocket from Tuesday, so I was able to whip that out and use it again! However, the doctor today is Dr. S – and we really like him. Not many parents get the chance to become as familiar with NICU doctors and nurses the way we have – which is a good thing I guess. Dr. S is very soft spoken and gentle with the babies – and with emotionally drained mothers!
So even though we won't be partying with Dr. Shapiro tonight, I wanted to express our family's gratitude - for his wisdom, his gentle care and his kindness. We were lucky to have had him care for our preemies...
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