This week was rather relaxed.  Except for Thursday afternoon, when I had to wait 2.5 hours to see the doctor.  Once again, Dr. Cook's office staff set new standards for incompetance.  But the story really started out on Tuesday.  I had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, but some office clerk person called to let me know that the doctor would not be able to make his afternoon office hours due to an emergency surgery.  I thought it was nice of them to let us know, however she then tried to reschedule me for weeks later.  Considering I may not even be pregnant any more at that time (do they not even look at our charts??), I bluntly told her that I was going to see Dr. Cook, THIS week.  She huffed and puffed but gave me an appointment for Thursday.

So Thursday Joe and I show up.  After half an hour of waiting, we starting seeing several people with later appointments get called back by Dr. Cook's nurse.  So I went to the desk to double check that they did know that I was here.  The woman fakely smiled and nodded, "Yes, ma'am."  After another half hour, I asked to use their phone (so I could tell the lab I was running late -- my mistake for scheduling an experiment after my usually brief OB appointment), and inquired if they knew how long it would be.  She fakely smiled and nodded, "Any minute now."  Ever half hour I would ask, and every half hour she would fakely smile and tell me "Any minute now."  Finally, after about 2 hours, Joe and I were two of four people left in the waiting room.  I was QUITE furious and demanded to know what was taking so long.  At this point I was starving, thirsty, completely mad with discomfort, and had read the single interesting magazine they had.  To top it off, my feet were beginning to swell.  People were waiting for me in the lab, and this irritating woman kept blowing me off.  And we were racking up quite a parking bill.  I probably made a bit of a scene, but she finally asked me my name (which she should have already known), and went off to discover that my chart had been misplaced.  Her excuse: "Oh, we thought you had been seen hours ago!"  Then why would we be still sitting in your waiting room?!?!  Certainly not for the magazines!!  Her best line was next, however, "Don't worry, you're next."  I told her, "Well, since there's no one else in the waiting room, I sure hope so!!"

Maybe I expect too much, but when I worked in the oncology clinics, we knew who every single person was in our waiting room, if for no other reason than security.  If someone we didn't recognize was there, we come right out and ask him.  It was absolutely necessary to running a smooth medical office, and saved some patients a whole lot of needless waiting time, and allowed us to get to know some of the family members.  Dr. Cook's office staff should have known who I was when I checked in, and should have noticed when I was still there 2.5 hours later, and certainly should have been clued in to my half hour inquiries.  There was no excuse, lost chart or not.

On the other side of the coin, however, his nursing staff was as horrifed as I was and apologised, and told me I deserved to be so angry.  When Dr. Cook came in, the poor guy didn't quite know what was going on, and thought I was upset because my appointment was rescheduled from Tuesday.  When I told him what happened he was rather upset.  He even cussed a couple of times.  He told me that from now on, just walk on back whenever I arrive and tell the nurses I'm here.  This is certainly a nice gesture of which I'm sure to take advantage, but it only helps the symptom, not the disease that is his office staff.

Of course our appointment was only ten minutes long.  We listened to the heartbeat, checked my blood pressure, which was surprisingly normal, and checked out the baby on the ultrasound.  Dr. Cook said that is was a "perfect" ultrasound and that Thomas was in the best position.  Seemed quite anticlimatic after that long, dramatic wait.  And he didn't even notice that my weight gain had decreased, as he had requested last time.

On Saturday, Joe and I went up to his mother's and had a very relaxing, enjoyable day.  We had over "Big" Thomas & Jana, Zac and Danny.  The men cooked chicken and bratwurst on the grill, while Joe's mom made her delicious mashed potatoes and salad.  Jana and I just sat on the couch and chatted, which was so much more fun than slaving over food.  The weather was incredible, so we ate outside on the deck and watched the golfers.  I ate sooo much.  And then we all had Dove ice cream bars for desert.  It was a really great day! 

In the evening we went and visited my grandparents in Tomball.  I hadn't seen them since I've been so huge.  We had a pleasant stay and got to hear their pregnancy/new father stories, which I always enjoy.  Apparently my grandmother ate a million oranges a day when she was carrying my mother.  Kinda like me and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

My grandmother made Thomas a beautiful, soft blue afghan.  My grandfather gave us a beautiful rustic-looking chest to use as a toy box.  Both are the sort of things that a kid will love, regardless of his age.  There's nothing more neato than an old trunk in which to stash your favorite stuff, or a blanket that you've had since you were a baby.  My grandpa has the enviable position of working at Hobby Lobby, where he gets the inside scoop on all sorts of great stuff.  You should see the wonderful pieces of furniture and stuff that he's gotten for dirt cheap!  Of course, Hobby Lobby is one of those stores I try to stay out of, for my own good.  I could spent sooooo much money before I realized I don't have the time to do half the crafts I would buy stuff for.  Witness my box of unpainted Christmas ceramics, and my stack of sewing patterns.