February 17th 2006

Today the parking lot was pretty empty so I didn't need to use any of my hunting skills. So we parked and headed on in, blasted by the bitterly cold winds that the news has been billing as "artic cold", but they are just standard Columbia gorge east winds that we get during each and every winter.

We walked in with a lot of anticipation; Kristy and I were both hoping that we would get some news that labor was imminent and we would be meeting our new son very soon. I had no idea that she was actually thinking the same thing as me, but after the appointment she told me and I let her in on my thoughts.

Collette was chitchatting with a friend when we entered the waiting room. "Come on Down" she said in a low voice. Kristy handed Collette her insurance card and checked in. Then Kristy went to the restroom, collecting her brown bag along the way.

Collette and her friend were talking about what he had sung in Church on Sunday. Collette asked about different songs and he recounted them and teased "It doesn't matter; we can't get your blessing anyways!" Collette said she liked the old songs with a meaningful message, like "It's Been A Good Day". She said she likes the oldies that are "extremely soulful because they come from where you have been." She also noted that "Churches don't even have Hymn books anymore and contemporary is that what they call it? Contemporary is fine but if we stop singing the Hymns we lose a lot of who we are, it's not the same." Her friend nodded in agreement and recalled that there is a hymnal book that he wants to get. Then Collette starting talking about some awards show and how Steve Harvey put Kirk Franklin in his place buy calling him out on the show. Harvey said if you are going to sing the Gospel you should mention Jesus some place in the song. Collette's take on Steve's comments: "But that's what you get when you're just making money!"

After a minute or two the nurse came out and called for Kristy, but she was still in the bathroom, so I said "She's still in the bathroom" and the nurse said okay. Then Kristy finally returned from the bathroom and I told her that they already called her name. We started to head back but the nurse was helping another couple that was leaving, maybe arranging their next appointment or something, so we waited a few more minutes and then she called for Kristy again.

We arrived at the scale to check the damage again, 157 pounds brining the total weight gain during pregnancy to 30 pounds. Next we checked her blood pressure and it was 126/69.

While we were waiting we could hear the Doppler going in the next room, someone else was getting a listen to their baby. Then Kristy had to go to the bathroom again, so she ran to the bathroom real quick, but it was being used up. Luckily a nurse was near by and showed her to a secondary bathroom.

Finally she came back and shortly after Jill came in. Jill said that we would take a quick measurement, a quick listen to the baby's heart beat and then she would check Kristy's cervix and we would be on our way.

Kristy asked about water breaking and the signs to look for. Jill said that it won't be a small leak. She said it will be either a large gush soaking everything or a persistent leak down the side of the leg that will still soak her pants.

Kristy measured 37cm which according to Jill was perfect; Kristy said that she is 38 weeks and the measurement in cm was supposed to be the same as the number of weeks of pregnancy. Jill said that in the later part of the pregnancy the numbers won't match because the baby drops, so the cm number becomes smaller then the number of weeks pregnant. Next we listened to the baby's heart beat and it was 150 beats per minute exactly.

Finally Jill checked Kristy. The baby's head was really, really low and Jill had to move it a little to check Kristy's cervix. Jill's eyes got real big and she was really surprised to find that Kristy was 4cm dilated and 90 percent effaced or in layman’s terms 90 percent thinned out. Jill asked how far we lived from the hospital because we won't have much time when he decides to come out. She said she will be working at the hospital on Monday and she thinks she'll see us that day one way or another. She was so excited that she was turning on the Doppler while she was talking to us. And that was it; we were excitedly on our way.