BitterSweetLife

Yesterday Lindsay and I went in for the much-anticipated doctor’s visit, and the news was good.

As we waited at Overland Park regional, tangy country music was piped into the room, the staff apparently under the illusion that most of their clientele were displaced rednecks. The closest I could find to an SI or ESPN magazine was Cycle World and Race Day. So instead of reading hoops news, which would have distracted me and soothed my nerves, I defaulted to the book I’d brought with me: Humility: True Greatness by C.J. Mahaney.

This was ironic, since after we’d cooled our heels in the waiting room for 45 minutes, humility was more of a pleasant idea than an achievable reality. While we waited, other patients arrived, took their seats, and had their names called. I fumed and time passed.

Eventually we entered the sonogram room, and the nurse on duty furthered our hopes by sizing Lindsay and me up and observing that our baby might simply be naturally, healthily small. “You’re not very big,” she said to Lindsay. “And you’re not very tall,” she said to me. This fact, which has always haunted me since I believe my height kept me out of the NBA, took on a strange, encouraging significance.

After the doctor swept in and administered the sonogram, she reviewed the data, allowed 30 seconds of suspenseful silence, and told us that all the indicators were good. The baby is small, but seems to be receiving nutrients and growing normally. Lindsay will need to return to the hospital a week from now, and the week following, to make sure the baby continues to put on weight. If the baby stops growing, a quick C-section will be necessary.

The only other concern is that the baby is wrong side (head) up, which would also require a C-section. Lindsay isn’t excited about getting cut open, so we’re hoping the kid will put the inherited athletic genes to work, and perform an acrobatic flip.

All that goes to say that we’re not one-hundred percent in the clear, but we’re definitely smiling. God answers prayers. (Thanks to those of you who spoke up on our behalf.)

Tonight Lindsay and I celebrated by going out for pizza and giddily pouring over the special NCAA tournament section of the KC Star. When we got home we had a dramatic argument and then watched a movie. Life had returned to a kind of divine homeostasis.