Now that I'm visiting the doctor every week, the wait time bothers me.

Last week, I spent 75 minutes, only to see the doctor for less than 2. Yesterday, it was an hour.

All along, my appointments have been late morning Wednesdays, but after last week, the scheduler suggested a mid-afternoon Tuesday appointment.

I thought the switch was for my sake, to reduce my waiting time. But, no, the waiting room was as crowded as usual. It seems the switch was only so that the "lead" doctor could see me, a man whom I haven't seen since the beginning.

Mid-afternoon Tuesday is a bad time for me.

I picked Tim up from school fifteen minutes early. A friend took Kenny home for quick snack and homework, then shuttled him over to the after-school religious ed. program at church. I picked him up from there after my appointment.

So, when the scheduler said, "Does next Tuesday afternoon, same time work for you?" I said, "NO WAY! I had to jump through hoops to get here today!" She put me back to Wednesday, late morning.

The doctor said, "Now, when would you like to deliver the baby?" And I said, "By the 19th." He said, "Well, we'll make plans when we see you next week, then." Of course, the doctors have holiday schedules of their own to think about. Frankly, I would be surprised if induction were necessary. I can already tell that the baby has "dropped," as they say. Breathing and driving are easier now and that annoying pain on my left side has lessened.

So, Tim came with me to the doctor's office which is located in a building adjacent to the hospital.

Tim wanted to know whether we were going to "the children's hospital" or "the adults' hospital". You see, he's had some experience with "the children's hospital". From my perspective, his experience was very, very good. But children usually have their own perspective and simply being in the hospital is often not good.

Hopefully in a few weeks, he won't mind visiting me in the hospital. I know that Kenny will love it!