Crazy Appointment

This morning I had a routine OB appointment. I'm about 18 weeks along, so I knew it would be just in and out, hear the heartbeat and go, so I didn't bother getting anyone to watch the kids. The appointment was at 10:30, so we left at 9:20. Traffic was heavy, so we got there a little after 10:00, but then our problems started. Bethesda is building a new parking garage, so they had to close a lot of the auxillary lots that people used to park in. Usually this means it takes awhile in the one parking garage they do have, and we have to go all the way up to the top level, which can take as long as 20 minutes. But for some reason, traffic was just stopped on the street in front of the garage entrance. We couldn't even get into the garage! Unfortunately I was at a place where I couldn't even turn around, so we just inched along. Finally we were where we could turn into the entrance, but it was already 10:25, and I could see that the line was just crawling along inside the garage. Obviously we weren't going to be able to park there and get to the OB clinic anywhere near 10:30. So we blew past the garage to try to find a space in some lot somewhere else on base.

We hurridly drove around through various parking lots, but there was absolutely nowhere to park. Finally we pulled into a lot near the childcare center, and we parked behind another lady in what was obviously not a legal spot. The lady, who had also just parked, told me that we were going to get ticketed. You could see the tickets on the windshields of the other cars near us. But what could I do? It was already 10:31, and we still had almost a mile to hoof it to get back to the hospital.

We raced out of there. Nathan and Luke took turns carrying Anna while we all ran. I huffed along pushing Grace in the stroller. We were quite a caravan! Amazingly, we ran the .7 miles in less than 10 minutes--pretty good for especially Jonathan's short legs! Good thing the boys are training for the Presidential Physical Fitness test in a few weeks, LOL. Otherwise we never would have made it. So we were only 10 minutes late.

I checked in, panting and red-faced. Unfortunately, at Bethesda as soon as you check in, you go back and get your weight and blood pressure checked. I told the lady it was going to be high (as I sat there fanning myself, feeling my blood racing), and it was--138/77. It's never ever been anywhere near that high! I thought it was bad the last time, when it was something like 126/70, which was also because I was stressed out trying to find parking, although this time I was in the garage and didn't have to run nearly a mile!

Then we waited in the waiting room, while we all drank water, read books, and settled down. Finally we got called back, where the midwife breezed in and out. Hey, everything looks good (no mention of the high blood pressure), heartbeat is in the 150s, and the referral for the ultrasound is in. Great! All that stress for 5 minutes! LOL! Actually, we were all still stressed because we thought we were going to get a ticket. The boys were very concerned about that, in particular how much it would cost. I've never gotten a parking ticket anywhere, much less on a base, so I had no idea how that all would even work, so I wasn't much reassurance.

Next we rambled around in the basement bowels of Bethesda to find the radiation department to schedule the ultrasound. Of course, when we finally got there, it was closed for lunch. "Come back in an hour!" Ack! We took a card and called when we got home. My ultrasound is scheduled for 3:00 on Oct. 1. I'll be 21 weeks along then.

We had a more leisurely but still fairly quick-paced walk back to the car. The boys ran ahead and were delighted to report that we did NOT have a ticket on our windshield! Whew! We were thanking God for his mercy, since we knew we were not parking in a good spot! We finally got back home at 12:30--over 3 hours for a 5 minute appointment. At least we got our exercise!