Sitting in the waiting room of the clinic, my beautiful baby boy on my lap gurgling away, I was chagrined to look up and find myself staring straight into not one, but TWO dispensers of toxins for our immune system: a pop machine and a candy bar/snack machine.

In the waiting room of the doctor's office, of all places! The doctors who are supposed to safeguard our health. What are they trying to do, keep themselves in business?

Irony defined.

Is there an experience that most women find more unpleasant than the yearly physical checkup? At least at my age, it's just a pap and breast exam. Due to my mother's breast cancer, they are going to start giving me mammograms in 9 years. (Thanks, Mom.) I've already heard that process described to me in detail, and BOY, am I EXCITED!! (Sarcasm dripping, in case anyone missed that.)

It never struck me until today what a deep relationship, in one sense, a woman develops with her family doctor or ob-gyn. For me, it's always been the doctor. Well, of course, having just moved, I now have a NEW doctor. A young doctor. A doctor who did NOT deliver my three children, and has NOT been my doctor for at least 4 years, and whom I don't even know outside of the clinic in this town that is so short on doctors that I was lucky to even find one taking new patients! Unlike my old doctor, whom had been my doctor off and on since childhood, and HAD done all of those things.

Who else, other than your husband, does a woman blithely undress for, get up on a table and spread her legs for? I guess, even after three trips to the delivery room, I still haven't overcome some semblance of modesty--whenever I have one of these checkups, I always hide my undergarments under my clothes on the pile on the chair, like it makes the least bit of difference if he sees those after everything else!

So, I'm lying on the table with a sheet over my midriff and southward, trying to carry on a normal conversation with this man whom I barely know who is right now working on parts that the sun never sees. How long has he been in Peace River? Where did he go to school? Oh, your son did that too? That's nice!

I couldn't help but be struck by the humour of the situation. The thought popped into my head to ask him how he felt the first time he did one of these exams, but then I thought that I probably didn't want to know, and he probably didn't want to tell me. He was probably every bit as uncomfortable as the woman he was doing it on, is my guess.

It's strange how you also become so familiar with the place you "always go to." Each clinic has different little methods. Today, I was definitely in Unfamiliar.

I was surprised that they wanted me to completely undress Jabin to take his weight, even at 3 months old. (By the way, if anyone is wondering, he is 13 lbs., 15 ozs., and in the 50th percentile.) I was suprised that they left the door to the examining room open while I was sitting and waiting for my doctor (not, fortunately, after we got to the part where I had to strip down and gown up!) I was NOT surprised when the doctor (kindly) lectured me on why we should be immunizing our kids. I don't know of too many medical professionals that have come through the system and not been totally sold on immunization. However, I have to admit, he was very polite about it.

Anyway, just noticed the time--I need to go get my beauty sleep! All I can say is, thank goodness that this only happens once a year--and next time, the routine won't be so Unfamiliar, and unless he moves away, my doctor won't be so Strange!