Today I went for my annual OBGYN exam – a visit with the woman who delivered Lilian. She has since moved hospitals uptown to Roosevelt which was a bummer since St. Vincent’s was downtown and easy for Brooklyn people to get to. But she swears it is better.
This was my first visit since she moved uptown and I finally made my way there in the pouring rain despite running a tad late. When getting ready to go this morning I almost bagged on the appointment enitrely. I don’t know why. I guess the thought of putting real clothes on and trucking it uptown in the pouring rain on a crowded train for forty five minutes there and back to spread open my legs in a cold room for fifteen minutes was less than appealing. But then I decided it was best to get it done and over with.
When I arrived the waiting room was jammed and stuffy. There was no room anywhere to move. There were too many chairs in the waiting ‘area’ which was the size of a tiny bathroom. The nurses behind the main desk were crammed into a very small space. Two of them had bad colds. The basket of pencils on top of the desk also looked crowded with one too many Sharpie markers. Not to mention the handful of super round bellies all around the room of women in various stages of pregnancy.
Instead of feeling annoyed by this situation for some reason I felt elated suddenly. I realized – woah – I did this already. I was that lady over there with her husband’s sweater tied around her waste. I was once that woman over there – getting impatient for someone to call her name while devouring a snack. Overall being there I just had this comforting sense that I now belonged to this club of women that physically have endured this amazing, crazy, complicated, wild ride of pregnancy and then birth and here I am finally out the other side feeling sexy and badass in my own skin and ok…pre-pregs jeans.
The exam itself went quick and easy. I love my doctor and as usual her warmth and interest (I briefly scrolled through some recent photos of Lilian on my ipod for her) were genuine. Before I left she couldn’t resist a little OB humor and said,
“Ok! So I’ll see you in a year! Unless…” (sly grin)
