By twenty-five weeks into her twin pregnancy, thirty-eight-year-old dermatologist Dr. Afton Cobb grew weary of repeating the same answers to thirty patients a day in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, leading her husband to print an informational sign for her office.
Cobb sees patients in a town of roughly 11,000 people, where many individuals feel like friends and family after five years of practice. Once her pregnancy became unhideable, nearly every 15-minute appointment opened with identical inquiries about whether it was her first pregnancy, if it was twins, or if multiples ran in her family.
- High-Frequency Patient Interactions: Managing repetitive non-clinical inquiries during standard medical consultations can constrain appointment efficiency, particularly during time-sensitive 15-minute diagnostic checks.
“I don’t blame people for asking,” Cobb told TODAY, noting she would likely ask the same questions herself. Still, she came home most nights exhausted from running through the same script repeatedly.
Her husband resolved the conversational bottleneck by printing a sign titled “Everything you need to know about Dr. Cobb’s pregnancy.” The notice details her mid-November due date, the sex of the babies as two girls, and her scheduled maternity leave running from November through February.
Other medical professionals immediately recognized the operational challenge. “I thought about wearing a T-shirt with this info or a QR code on the front when I was pregnant with twins during residency,” one person wrote in the comments on Instagram.
Another doctor, a veterinarian who is an amputee, shared that her office utilizes a sign reading “leg story $20” to redirect focus back to the patient. A different medical colleague suggested posting a follow-up sign after maternity leave to preempt frequent baby-photo questions.
Cobb posted the sign on Instagram with the audio set to “The Sound of Silence.” Since putting up the notice, she says that patient interactions have largely improved.
Many visitors skip the small talk entirely to share personal anecdotes about twins they have known.
The boundary-setting measure protects her appointments, which typically last about 15 minutes. “My concern was that we’d end up talking about me, and that’s really not the point of the visit,” Cobb told TODAY. “We’re supposed to be talking about your skin.”
| Pregnancy Detail | Clinical Parameter | Office Management Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Gestational Timeline | 25 weeks (Due: Mid-November) | Informed via office informational sign |
| Appointment Duration | 15 minutes standard consultation | Protected for dermatological evaluations |
| Maternity Leave | November through February | Communicated in advance to patients |
One common inquiry intentionally omitted from the office sign was how the dermatologist was feeling day to day. Cobb said that physical symptoms changed constantly throughout the gestation period.
“It changed so much every day,” Cobb told TODAY. “And do you really want to hear about my hemorrhoids and heartburn?”
- TODAY.com: Dermatologist pregnant with twins posts FAQ after answering the same questions
