I'm over that nasty flu. Just in time to go back to work. Actually, this morning was another doctor's appointment with the obstetrician, so I was only at work for an hour before Jean came to collect me.
The appointment went well. Jean and I had prepared a list of issues to discuss and our doctor was great with each of her answers. She was pretty chipper, considering she'd already delivered a baby by Cesarean earlier in the morning. We go back in a week and a half, on Thursday the fourteenth. At that point, Jean will be thirty-seven weeks pregnant. Full term. If the baby (Bumpy) arrives any time after that, she won't be considered a preemie. I'm still hoping she'll be right on time (that's February fourth).
After our appointment, Jean and I went over to the Women's Pavilion, where our baby will be born. We went to the nursery to peek at the newborns. There were two little ones in the window we picked, one of which was just getting cleaned up from delivery. He was so small and pink, and his arms and legs stretched out as fully as they could while he cried. While we were standing there staring, a woman came up to look at the baby we'd been watching. Turns out she's the new aunt for the infant, and that our doctor had done the delivery – this was the Cesarean baby! We talked for a few minutes. She couldn't say enough about how much she liked our doctor. Apparently the mother had miscarried twice before, so this baby's healthy delivery meant the world to this family.
We backed away from the window so she could take some pictures. Just as we were getting ready to leave, another incubator was wheeled up by a nurse, with a very young (and somewhat dazed) father in tow. He followed the nurse to the door of the nursery. She explained that he could go around to the other side to get a good view of his baby, but he just stood at the door after she went in. He was so young – I wonder if he was even twenty. At one point he looked over at me (I'd been watching all this as sort of a preview of my own trip to the nursery). I smiled at him and said "Congratulations." He stared at me for a few seconds, then broke into what I can only describe as the sweetest, most wonderful smile and said "Thanks."
There was nothing else I could say. His reaction was astounding. He moved over to the window and stood next to the aunt looking at her nephew, and gazed in at his own child. Jean and I made our way down to the lobby.
No one seemed to be on duty in the lobby so Jean and I couldn't verify whether they had received her registration papers (we've been waiting for confirmation for several weeks now). After sitting for five minutes, which were more to let Jean rest than to give the hospital a chance to staff their reception desk, Jean and I left the hospital for our traditional visit to the café near the University. We had bagels and orange juice and hot chocolate, and we talked about the visit to the hospital before heading back to work.
It was a good start to the new year.
The sky today was that kind of deep, clear blue that shows up in photographs of beautiful or exotic places. Where I work, that means it's the kind of day they take photographs of the campus for the catalogs. It was crisp and cold, with temperatures in the thirties, which made for a brilliant day. I'll take more days like today, please!
listening: Porgy and Bess/An American in Paris/Piano Concerto in F (Gershwin); Billy the Kid/Rodeo/Appalachian Spring/El Salon Mexico (Copland)
reading: 1 Maccabees; The Hobbit (Bumpy's Bedtime Book)
© 1999 Kevin J.T. Creamer