A Very Nice Day, but a Day of Foreboding?

The dateline for this post will read Thursday, April 10th, but since it's just past midnight, I'm actually writing at the end of the day on Wednesday, April 9th.  Overall, it was a good day.  It was sunny with blue skies, pretty windy at times, but a high temperature of about 65 degrees.

I took a sick day today to spend the day with Jeannie, especially for her two medical appointments.  I drove her to the medical building at 8th & Walnut Streets, then found a parking spot on 9th Street just south of Locust.  When I got upstairs, the receptionist told me that Jeannie had already been taken back for her NST (non-stress test) and I wasn't allowed to go back.  I told the receptionist, if she could, to tell Jeannie that I wasn't going to step outside then.  I took the elevator back down and walked over to Washington Square, where I got a large coffee to go from Talula's Daily.  I went out to grab a seat at one of their sidewalk tables, sitting in the direct sunlight, with a seat facing Washington Square.  It was wonderful.  While drinking my coffee, I read half a chapter in The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, which I got from Father Ed the other night that I visited him.

Eventually, Jeannie got done with her appointment and she came down to meet me.  Since we just so happened to watch the movie Unbreakable last night, I took advantage to walk her, without any preamble, to see Dream Garden, the incredibly beautiful mosaic in the Curtis Center, which was featured in a scene in that movie where Bruce Willis and Robin Wright are at a restaurant eating dinner.

From there, we walked over to Chestnut Street to look for food and I presented to Jeannie the choice between three contiguous restaurants: Prime Burger Company, Aqua, and Rosa Blanca.  After reviewing all three menus from the sidewalk, Jeannie settled on Rosa Blanca.  We liked the vibe inside.  As the hostess walked us back to our table in the back left-hand side, I saw Good Day Philadelphia co-host Mike Jerrick sitting at one of the booths up front.  The food was pretty good.  Jeannie and I both got sandwiches; mine was called a Calle Ocho.  I also ordered tostones on the side.  Jeannie drank a mango milkshake with our meal.  After the meal, I got a cafe cubano to go, which we shared while sitting on a bench in Washington Square before going back in for Jeannie's second appointment at 2pm.

The afternoon appointment was another weekly follow-up with the one of the midwives, who conducted a cervical examination.  The results were very promising; the midwife told us that Jeannie is nearly 4 centimeters dilated, about 80% effaced, and the baby's head is at about a minus-1 or minus-2, all very good signs that childbirth should be imminent.  In fact, the midwife explicitly stated that, though there is no guarantee, she predicts that Jeannie will go into labor "tomorrow or Friday."  Jeannie and I were both happy to hear that and we're hopeful that the prediction comes true, so the next 48 hours may certainly be momentous.

After the appointment, we drove home so I could drop-off a couple things, then we drove to the post office so Jeannie could mail some tax forms to her/our accountant.  Next, and as the final highlight of our day, I drove us to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where we "ran" (more like slowly jogged) up the steps to Art Museum, then walked back to the bottom again.  Then, when a group of young people, perhaps high-school kids, lined up to race to the top, I spontaneously joined them in the race (and I believe I may have actually won, or at least place in the top 3).  After walking back down to join Jeannie, we walked up to the top together and then went into the museum.  This idea to climb the steps to the art museum, in an attempt to naturally "induce" labor, came to me from Belinda, a receptionist at [...], who told me that she did the same thing with her daughter, who was then a few days beyond full-term with her son, Simaj, who happened to be born the next day.  Coincidence or not?  I don't know, but I hoped that the same technique could encourage the birth of our baby girl within the next day or two now.

Jeannie and I enjoyed walking around the art museum, focusing our walk in the wing on the back right-hand side.  By total chance (or was it?), we saw Jeannie's good friend, Veronica, who lives in San Diego (!), who so happened to be there on an official tour with a group of work colleagues.  It was so random and so crazy that we must believe that it was meant to happen.  It was really hard to believe that we actually ran into her there.  So on that note, dear reader, I want to remind you to have faith.  Always.  God will bring you surprises and happiness, sometimes when you least expect it!