I am due at the end of next month and my Fiance is in the Army and currently deployed. I know that when the baby is born he will go on tricare, but how do I pick out a peditrician before hand to be there when the baby is born? Do I go into the tricare office on base and ask there? To add yet another complication to it all, his divorce from his first wife isn't finalized yet. His whole chain of comand knows about me and the baby, so Im pretty sure he can't get into any trouble unless they pursue it.
Anybody have any clue what Im supposed to do?
Re: Tricare and Pediatrician Question
I would guess, but please correct me if I'm wrong, that you're not delivering at an on post hospital. I would start with calling pediatricians and see who accepts Tricare. Also, ask if they have priviledges at the hospital you will be delivering at and what their policy is for seeing newborns in the hospital. It may end up being that whomever the on-call pediatrician is at the hospital when you deliver (if the pediatrician you chose does not do rounds there) will see the baby until you are discharged and then you will be instructed to make an appointment with the pediatrician you chose. At least, this is what I experienced when delivering at a civilian hospital.
Either way, whether you've chosen a pediatrician or not, there will be one at the hospital that will see your child until you are discharged and most likely, a nurse will come in at some point and ask who your child's pediatrician to arrange his/her first appointment after discharge.
To your question about pediatricians, I used the search function on the TriCare website to narrow down my options then, basically, picked a name that looked good. So, unless you have any recommendation from local moms, that's how I did it.
You are going to need a special POA to enroll your baby in DEERS. When your SO provides you with that document, and his name goes on the birth certificate, his command *could* charge him with UCMJ. They might, they might not...being that they are deployed, they have bigger issues right now. Just letting you know that it is a possibility.
This. Just because they know about you doesn't mean he won't get into trouble. Maybe it's just my area but they are very serious about marriage. I know a female soldier who was in the process of getting a divorce who ended up pregnant by her boyfriend. They knew about the boyfriend but she still got into trouble when they found out she was pregnant by him and not yet divorced.