When people ask me, “are you planning to have more children,” my answer is, “we aren’t planning now, but if God is planning, than yes, then we’ll be planning too.” The reason is because I don’t know if I could keep up with the medical issues of a third baby if he or she had as many as my two children have had.

I frequently wonder how I end up spending so much time coordinating doctor’s visits for my children. In three years, we have been to see the cardiologist, nephrologist, urologist, orthopedist, physical therapist, and countless radiologists in addition to their regular pediatrician and dentist. We have had only two ER visits for a clipped off finger pad and a nurse-maids’ elbow, a week’s stay in NICU, and one stay-in-the-hospital surgery to correct a Grade-5 kidney reflux condition. I count myself and my family lucky that we are in overall good health and that none of these medical issues are major. But I can’t help but wonder why I have a directory of medical specialists when most of our friends who have children simply brought their babies home from the hospital and never looked back.

You are probably asking, why am I thinking of this now? I just scheduled my daughter for an Early Intervention evaluation to find out if she qualifies for physical therapy services (provided our insurance and budget cooperate) for gross and fine motor skill development. I am just not sure if it is her little premie-baby-attitude saying, “I’ll walk when I am good and ready!”, or if there are other bad-habits she has that are preventing her from developing the balance and muscle tone she needs to walk. She isn’t alarmingly late, not even trying to walk at 18 months, but I’d like her to eventually be able to interact appropriately with other toddlers her age who are now learning to run.

So, how do I organize their complete medical histories? I carefully record and document each phone inquiry, visit, prescription, evaluation, follow-up, specialist’s contact information, and medical proceedure. A while back, I designed a health-care planner pages packet that you can download hereand print to help you organize your family’s medical information. I also send a copy of this info to my parents and to my in-laws (and keep a copy of relavent history handy for a sitter or other care-taker) in case of an emergency.

Do you feel like you are in and out of the doctor’s office constantly? Do you wonder why God is giving you these challenges? Do you have a special system you use to organize your and your family’s medical information? Leave a comment here and share your experience with others! Happy Organizing.