A Lesson in Patience: The Longest Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday Jun had another checkup with the doctor to make sure everything was going ok with Puff and that his heart rate was still up in the acceptable levels. Jun's appointment was at 3:30 and we had plans to meet up with our friends Nick and Ashley at 5:45 to get dinner and go to the Rangers' baseball game. We were to pick up Ashley at 5:00 in downtown Fort Worth in order to get to Arlington safely by 5:45. That was the set time because the Arlington restaurant we were eating at, Hibachi 97, has an early-bird 2-for-1 dinner special and you had to get there and seated before 5:45. I'll give you a rundown of how the afternoon/evening went.

3:30 PM: We arrive at the hospital and are welcomed by a fire drill. The sirens were going off and lights were flashing... but no one in the hospital seemed to notice. All the employees were still milling around inside or still going about their jobs. Some of the fire curtains that closed off certain hallways were closed, but people were just opening them and walking on by. We get seated in the lobby and commence waiting. Usually the doctor runs about 30 minutes behind schedule.

4:00 PM: Still waiting. All the other patients in the lobby were there before us, so we know something is up. We were sure that we were just coming in for an Ultrasound, which took about 15 mintues, so we were still ok.

4:15 PM: I'm starting to get nervous. It takes about 15 minutes to where we have to pick up Ashley and then about 30 minutes to get to the restaurant.

4:30 PM: Our appointment is now one hour overdue. A lady across the lobby from us gets a cellphone call and explains to the person she's talking to that her appointment was a 3:00. Uh oh.

4:40 PM: I call Ashley to explain our situation. If Jun were to get in RIGHT NOW, we could possibly still make it. Ashley is very understanding.

4:45 PM: I'm checking my watch every 30 seconds and my heart sinks a little more every time another name is called.

4:46 PM: I set the new high score in Yahtzee on my phone.

4:50 PM: As I'm calling Ashley again to say that I think we'll have to change dinner plans, Jun is called back.

4:52 PM: Jun is getting her Ultrasound done and the Ultrasound technician (Joy, who is wonderful) shows us this:

There he is! He's looking quite a bit bigger, and now more human than blob shaped! Joy turned on the heart rate monitor and we heard the wub wub wub sound of his heart. It had slowed down slightly to 163, but still good and strong. My heart has pretty much melted by this point and I had forgotten all about how late we were for dinner when... did I just see... did the baby just... move?

Surely not. I dismiss the thought as Joy just moving the Ultrasound wand around. Then the baby moved again. It moved it's little arm around almost like a wave. I got up from the little chair I was sitting in to get a better look... then the baby jumped! It was really swimming around in there! Joy could see how excited we were to see that and decided (out of the goodness of her heart I think, since it's expensive to use) turned on the latest technology, the 4D Ultrasound and we saw this:

If you're not quite sure what you're looking at, the baby is facing left in the picture. You can see the neck, body and one little leg at the bottom with his knees bend. Not sure what the blob in front of his belly is, possibly the placenta? In the first ultrasound (not the 4D) when the baby was swimming around we were definitely able to see 2 arms and 2 legs, so that was a relief.

Joy was also quick enough on the draw to record a short video of Puff swimming and moving around and generally showing off for the camera. We didn't have a flash drive with us, but she said if we brought one next time we could download it and take it with us. Look for that video in a future update.

Jun can't feel Puff moving around yet because he's only 4.4cm (about 2 inches) long. We're anxiously awaiting the day we can feel him moving around though.

5:05 PM: My amazement begins to wear off as we leave the ultrasound room and I realize that if we are able to leave RIGHT NOW we could still possibly make it by the skin of our teeth. I can almost TASTE the steak and fried rice that awaits me...

5:06 PM: A nurse informs us that the doctor would like to speak with us. I try to explain that this was just supposed to be a Ultrasound check up and that we didn't have any questions for the doctor, but the nurse insists that the doctor wants to see us. She shows us to a room and we sit down and wait.

5:10 PM: I text Ashley and tell her that we're not going to make it to dinner. We try to schedule something else. Poor Nick is in Arlington after work, now just waiting on us with nothing to do.

5:20 PM: Still waiting on the doctor. No new Yahtzee high scores to report.

5:25 PM: Jun informs me that the doctors office closes at 5:30. We should see the doctor any second.

5:30 PM: Nope.

5:45 PM: The door to the room opens and a clearly frustrated nurse brings us to another room where "we won't be forgotten this time". Oh boy.

5:50 PM: The door opens again and this time it's the doctor! Oh happy day! She sits down and glances over Jun's chart and says "The baby looks great, he's growing just as he should be, and unless you have any other questions, you can go. Sorry for your wait." I'm trying to keep a poker-face, but I'm really frustrated at this point. I mean, it's great that Puff is doing so well, but... the waiting was ridiculous.

6:00 PM: We set up our appointment for a month later and get out of there.

6:20 PM: Crazy traffic on Hulen Street causes me minor road rage, but we get to Nick and Ashley's place and pick up both of them (as Nick finally drove home because of the wait). We apologize profusely and begin making our way to the ballgame.

6:50 PM: Crazy traffic on I-30 causes me moderate road rage, but at least we were moving.

7:05 PM: In Arlington, near the ballpark, looking for a parking spot. We pay $10 for a spot 3/4 of a mile away.

7:25 PM: We are finally in our seats in the stadium. It is the top of the 2nd inning.

After that I managed to calm myself down and enjoy an absolutely fantastic night for watching baseball. The air was cool and there was a slight breeze and we witness the Rangers kick the snot out of the Cleveland Indians.

Amid all the frustrations of the day, and think Jun and I both learned a lesson in patience and what is most important in life.

Down with the Sickness

This first trimester seems to be creeping by. Jun has been feeling sick 6 out of 7 days every week. Most of the time she just feels nauseated, the other times, well... apparently what goes down must come up. It's really bumming us both out because there's nothing we can really do about it. The last time we were at the doctor, Jun was prescribed some anti-nausea medicine (Ondansetron) that dissolves in your mouth. She's been very wary about taking any kind of medication though, so she just suffers through it.

I know it's hard on her to be sick all the time, and it's hard for me as well having to sit there helplessly as she gets sick. At least we know that if she's getting sick, then her hormones are just acting up in response to the baby.

Speaking of the baby, Puff is now 10 weeks along, and the pregnancy is in it's 12th week overall. This means that we are approaching the end of the first trimester. We are almost a third of the way there.

In preparation for our upcoming bundle of joy, I took time on Saturday to clean out the room that will become the nursery. I should have taken before and after pictures of the room, but I moved out all the junk (thereby making 2 other rooms messy) and vacuumed the carpet. In the next few weeks we'll probably decide on a color to paint the room, probably a nice, gender-neutral pastel green or yellow. We're probably still a few months from buying furniture though. We've done a small amount of furniture shopping in stores like Buy Buy Baby and Babies 'R' Us, and we've come to the conclusion that it's all way expensive. I used to think that weddings were the biggest money-making scam, but I'm starting to think that babies are right up there as well.

Other than that, everything is looking good in the Robbins' household. Jun has another doctor's checkup and ultrasound on Thursday, so we're looking forward to seeing how big Puff is getting an hearing his heartbeat again. Hopefully it's still beating strong and fast!

Overdue Update: Doctor's Appointment and Labor Day

It's been more than a week since I've updated so I'll try to run-down what's been going on with us.

Also, I hope that the title of this post, "Overdue Update", isn't one that I have to re-use in week 41+ of pregnancy.

On September 1st, Jun had another date with the doctor. This one was scheduled, however, and was only an ultrasound. This was the first time that Jun had an ultrasound. In the past couple of visits she was given a sonogram, but I guess the baby is big enough to be seen on ultrasound now. I think Jun likes it much better due to it being less "invasive", but it the picture quality was a little lower. Jun also mentioned that the lubricating gel they use was indeed cold like in the movies and on TV, but since it was like 105 degrees that day, she enjoyed it.

We were very pleasantly surprised to hear that Puff's heartbeat had increased from a borderline-low 117 to an incredible 170 bpm! We think he was just nervous to be on camera again and his heart started racing. The technician used her computer tool to measure Puff and determined that he is about the size of a strawberry. I know strawberries come in many sizes, but if I had to guess I'd say he was somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 inches long. All in all it was a successful appointment and it was great to see Puff doing so well.

Jun's morning(evening) sickness isn't really letting up and she still has her bouts with nausea, but from all we've read it should start to subside in the next couple of weeks. She's still not obviously showing yet, but you can definitely feel a solid area below he bellybutton where the baby is. Celebrity baby-bump status is still around 2-4 weeks away I think.

After our successful doctors appointment, we began our Labor Day vacation by driving to Oklahoma to see my family. We only had to stop a couple of times for bathroom breaks and Jun didn't need any of the throw-up bags we packed so all-in-all the drive went well.

On Friday morning we slept in a little and spend most of the day vegging out with my dad who also had Friday off of work. He started a new project cleaning out (and around) an existing (currently dry) pond in an effort to a make a nice camping/cooking out/swimming hole area for his grandkids. It will look really nice and be a fun play area by the time Puff is old enough to enjoy it. We're really looking forward to that.

On Friday night we traveled into Pawnee to watch the high school team play and watch my brother coach. The struggled in the first half but made big adjustments in the second half to get the game close, but ultimately the Black Bears fell to the Woodland Cougars 34-21. I was happy to see several of my good friends from high school at the game and, if you guys and gals are reading this, I'm sorry I didn't tell you our good news then, but we hadn't told the rest of my family yet so it wasn't fair to them.

Saturday my brother and sister and their families came out to my parents house to have a family lunch. We sat down to a great lunch of fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy. My dad blessed the food and in his prayer thanked God for "all our family members and those to come." Giving away the first hint that there might be big news to come. Secondly, my mom sat an extra baby-sized plate at the table which was a hint everyone picked up on. Thank you to mom and dad to for helping us set up our announcement and thank you to the rest of the family for being so excited for us! It's a big relief to finally have our secret out in the open and we're excited to start telling the rest of our friends and family.

After lunch, Jun and I went into Stillwater to tailgate for the OSU football game. We were happy to see some of our friends and share our news with them. It was extremely hot that day, so after only a couple of hours, Jun and I headed home to watch the game as God intended: at home under an air conditioner. We spend the rest of the evening enjoying an OSU victory.

On Sunday we went in to Church with my family and enjoyed a sermon with I think was directed right at me. I'm pretty sure it was titled "Get A Job You Lazy Bum!". Ok, not really. I know that it was not directed at people like me who are actively seeking employment. It was enough about me however, to get myself, Jun and mom tickled during the sermon and we had to do our best to hold in our chuckles.

Sunday afternoon and evening brought full bellies from another delicious meal of homemade fajitas, an Andy Roddick victory, dominance from me in Wii Jeopardy (with the exception of the game when I risked my $9,000 lead on final jeopardy and lost...) and cool breezes and perfect weather relaxing outside in the hammock. Our final event of the evening was driving a few short miles down the dirt road to tell my grandparents about the baby and show them ultrasound pictures of their new great-grand baby.

Monday was our last day home and we woke up in the morning and got in 9 holes of golf at the public course in Pawnee. Mom dominated us all with straight drives and LPGA-quality iron-play. It was a beautiful day to be outside (almost chilly when we started) and I barely broke a sweat even though we walked. Unfortunately after we were done it was time to go home to Fort Worth. So we packed all our things, said our goodbyes and hit the road once more.

Thank you to mom and dad for putting up with us all weekend and wasting all of your valuable water. Hopefully the new water wells being drilled will work out. Thank you to the rest of our family for being so happy and excited for us and our new addition, it really made our day.

Apologies to all of our friends and family who haven't heard yet. I'm sure we'll get to you soon and if not... well, word travels fast in small-town america. Haha.

Also, apologies to anyone reading the post and noticing the complete lack of pictures. I DID remember to bring the camera home to Pawnee, but I never even took it our of my suitcase. I promise to do better in the future.