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.