Waiting Out Baby

Kerry is still pregnant.

Her due date is February 24 – one week from today. And she – her belly, that is – is very large.

She’s gone through some very difficult periods during this pregnancy, mainly with a bout of early labor before Christmas. It was something that I talked about in this post. Because of this she’s had a couple of hospital stays and bed rest at home, but now all bets are off. We’re waiting. And so is she.

This morning she saw one of the OB-GYN’s at the practice she (and Martha) go to. She didn’t get to see MJ, the doc she really likes. She saw MJ’s associate, the one she calls “Doctor Douchebag.”

As I haven’t met this physician yet I have nothing to say. From what I know, he’s a relatively young guy (MJ’s been practicing in the area for somewhere near 20 years and he’s been here only a short while), and Martha tells me that he’s actually quite competent. But I guess he tries too hard, in terms of his personality. And that can certainly wear on anyone’s nerves, I suppose. If it were me, I guess I’d be out of my mind too. Especially now.

When I talked with Martha, she told me that they’re not going to induce labor until Kerry hits 41 weeks. Personally, I have no doubt Kerry won’t make it that far (she’s at 39 weeks right now), and I suspect it will be sometime in the next 4 or 5 days that I’ll be posting news about the birth of my grand-daughter.

She and Scotty have picked out a name already. Peyton Elizabeth.

I like it. And I am looking forward to meeting her. When she arrives, of course... Hopefully it will be before next Tuesday. I say that because I’m serving on a jury for a criminal trial starting then. As I really can’t talk about it now, I’ll do so when it’s done. Hopefully it will be worth talking about.

As I write this I am working in Newton on Medic 2. Been to two calls today: the first was for a public assist. The second was for what is euphemistically called a “sudden” – those of you who work in the Boston area know this as the term for a dead body. And this individual was most sincerely dead. He probably had been for a considerable period of time. Rigor had set in, lividity was present, and decay had begun as noted from the odor when we walked into the apartment. Not much we could do except for documenting our findings and turning the deceased over to the police.

Not a particularly pleasant thought to leave this post on…