A Visit to the Doctor

The Scene 5 Months Ago:

I wait patiently (ok, sometimes it was not so patiently) in the waiting room. I do some nosey people watching, pretend to read a magazine (when we all know I'm just looking at the pictures), and text. I cannot wait hear the heartbeat of my precious baby boy again! I may wait 30 minutes - I may wait 3 hours....who knows...oh well, I just sit back and relax...I took the rest of the day off work anyway!

The Scene This Morning:

I tumble into the waiting room with a diaper bag falling off my shoulder and a baby in his carrier weighing no less than a thousand pounds... I set the baby down with a thud and sign in. So far so good. He's been fed his "new" breakfast of green beans, bananas, cereal - all very tiny portions of course - and milk, and he seems to be fairly happy - maybe he'll fall asleep soon...his usual nap time is in about 15 min. I find a chair that's not too near anybody else, but in full view of pretty much everyone because, after all, they are probably the only adults I'll see today. They are the reason I fixed my hair, put on nice clothes, and got Carter all bathed and dressed in his polo, jeans, and mohawk toboggan :-) I sit there and think - this taking your baby with you to the doctor thing isn't so bad! I take him out of his carrier to do some playing....peek-a-boo, ride a little horsey, tickling, playing with rattles and such. Maybe after playtime he'll get sleepy....but we all know the real reason I get him out is so that everyone can see how stinkin' cute he is! And he is just that - cute, cute, cute, oh my goodness, ewwwww, gross..... he starts spitting up EVERYWHERE...I try to clean it up discretely and not destroy the hopes and dreams of any first time mommy's in the room. Just as soon as I get one big spit up cleaned up, another comes gushing forth....I'm covered. He puts his hand in it and before I can catch him he's grabbing my hair. I hear one lady remark, "oh honey you have it all down the side of your coat....and ewww it's a little green." Embarrassed, I end up putting him back in his carrier after both of us were completely drenched in spit up. I clean him up. I start to clean myself up. I just decide to take my coat off....that's the fastest way to fix the problem. Then he starts fussing. He's tired....it's a while past nap time at this point. I know he is tired, so I rock him. Not working - still fussing. I do all the tricks that always work 100% of the time. Nothing - still fussing. He blows his diaper up at decibels only airplane engines usually reach. I gather up my junk and go to the bathroom to change him - success....maybe now he'll fall asleep. No such luck - too much going on in a waiting room. I finally (after an hour and a half - or a lifetime...I'm not sure...) get called to the back. Finally, peace in a room that's quiet and there's just the two of us. I rock and sing to him - he collapses in a deep sleep on my chest and I just lay there on the examination bed. The doctor comes in and MAYBE 5 minutes later - it's time to pack up and head home....

....I look at the magazines on my way out and I think about my former, more restful life, but then I remember his smile. It's worth it - every second!!!