Week 7

Dear Embreu:

Well, this is Week 7. Actually, it's technically Week 8, but your daddy is a procrastinator so I am just getting to my part of the journal now. Oh yeah, this is your daddy writing, not mommy. So, since I am such a procrastinator, we are going to have to power up the Way-Back Machine.....or maybe we should call it the Somewhat-far-Back Machine, and go back to last Thursday.

So, there we were. Your Mommy and I sitting in the doctor's office, and do you know what we were doing?? We were waiting. Because, in my experience, that's what you do at the doctor's office.....you wait. What do you do while you wait? Well, if you're your daddy, you make lots of jokes. Sometimes these jokes make Mommy laugh. Sometimes they make Mommy uncomfortable. No matter how these jokes make Mommy feel, Daddy keeps them coming because he is hilarious.

You also look at magazines about how best to raise you while you wait to see the doctor. These are mostly useless as far as I can tell because these people who write these magazines don't even know me, your mommy, or you. Plus, they pretty much suggest that you treat your child like a wussy. I don't know if you are a boy or a girl, but whatever you are you will not be a wussy. Nor will I raise you like one.

The other thing that you do while you wait to see the doctor is give dirty looks to people who showed up after you, but are being seen before you. Mommy doesn't know that I noticed this, but she is very good at this part of waiting for the doctor. Don't tell her that I told you this.

And finally, you worry while you wait to see the doctor. I worry about whether you will be healthy because they tell me that we will see your heartbeat today. I worry about Mommy because, currently, she is my life. Mommy's the best....you'll find this out soon enough. We want to keep her healthy because niether of us is going very far without her.

So, now we are not waiting. For a long time we were, but now we're getting down to business. Mommy is amusingly assuming the uncomfortable position that is apparently required to get a good look at you. Mommy asks me if I can see you on the monitor. I shake my head. And then suddenly, there you are. You don't look like much, but I can tell that it's you. I then nod to Mommy. Now, we get to hear your hearbeat. And apparently you are already a bit of a show off because the nurse seems very impressed with your robust 173 beats per minute. And then, that's it. Mommy gets out of the awkward position that is required for viewing you. Daddy is very pleased. You have shown off to the nurse. You are extremely healthy. The nurse says,"Everything looks good.", including Mommy.

Now, we wait some more. We look at your photo for a while. Add that to the previous list of what you do when you wait for the doctor.

Then, we get to see Captain Gy....er the doctor, himself. He shakes my hand and asks if I'm excited. I say yes, but at this point I'm really just tired of waiting for him. He gives you and your mom a few "atta boys" and we are on our way. No more waiting, at least not for another month.

But you know what? I'm looking forward to waiting. Because it means I get to see you again, if only for a moment. So, what I'm saying is I can't wait to wait again.

Love,
Daddy