sorry this is all lower case but as usual linzey is nursing down while i
catch up on my posts.  sure am glad she prefers the left side!

i'm a member of kaiser here in northern california and find it interesting
how contradictory they can be.  for example...

MAURENNE  when i went for my first pre-natal with baby #2 they had a class
to orient us on their pre-natal care, mass blood work ups, etc.  anyway the
nurse in charge offered us all 3 CASES of formula!!!  Well, I refused the
offer.  She said how could I possibly refuse 3 cases of formula for surely I
would need it.  I said excuse me but as a LLLL I felt it would be
hypocritical of me to have cases of formula sitting in my garage never to be
used.  Well, says she, you could donate it, why turn down something that's
free?.  I firmly said no thanks!  Boy was she mad, I don't think she had
ever had anyone refuse the free formula.

On another vein, all my kids were jaundiced (I have 3).  Kaiser was very
laid back with all of them.  Baby #1 I said she looked yellow on discharge
(30 hrs after birth) they said, oh her JMR is 17 no big deal.  A Home Health
Nurse came out on day 3 and Kelsey's JMR was 21 (she took the reading with a
light) no big deal just nurse her every hour and a half to two hours and put
her in inderect sunlight!!!  With baby #2, who was born in another town but
still Kaiser, I called on day 3 to say he looked yellow, the advice nurse
response was that if the yellow moved from his groin down to his thighs I
might want to consider bringing him in, but you really don't have to.  Well
with baby #3 I never even called Kaiser, she was born at home anyway, boy
how we change and grow.

As for the IRON LEVELS...Kaiser has NEVER taken iron blood tests with any of
my kids!!!  I understand from my work with moms as a LLLL that this is
common practice with other doctors.  Why then would this large HMO not do
this on a routine basis.  Is it that the other labs get paid per test and
Kaiser doesn't?  My kids range in age from almost 7 to just 1 year.  They
have been seen in many diferent towns by diferent peds.  I have never had
one express concern over iron levels!

One last thing since I'm on a role here...the pharmacists at Kaiser are
driving me batty!!!  They all seem to think the only thing you can take
while nursing is Tylenol!  I have serious health issues so have taken
diferent meds over the years.  When I explain I have researched the med. and
suggest Dr. Hales book or Drugs in Lactation they just look at me blankly.
Now wouldn't you think with as many members as they have that they could
provide each main pharmacy a copy of one of those books?

thanks so much.  i'm really enjoying lactnetting with all of you!!

Jill in Sacramento where it's raining and raining and raining...