1:30am this morning -- Rachel can't sleep because she's in pain. She takes her temperature -- 99 deg F -- and then some Tylenol.
~3:00am this morning -- Rachel can't sleep because she's in pain. She takes her temperature -- 101 deg F -- and we call the doctor. He said we should come into the hospital because it is likely an infection that can only be treated by intravenous antibiotics. We drive to Lexington Medical Center [with pre-packed bags, just in case] sail right through the Emergency Room waiting room and right up into the Maternity Ward, pretty dazed.
~6:45am -- After the nurse and doctor talk with and examine Rachel, there is finally some good medicine flowing into her veins. The doctor says that she may only be here for about a day and will probably get to leave tomorrow morning. I call both sets of parents to let them know what is going on and a fellow tenor in the choir at Church to let them know that I won't be in church this morning. I also call Rachel's sister to put our dogs out and feed them.
8:30am -- We still get to hear the church service, because our church recently starting streaming all its services over the internet. It's almost as good as being there, what with the pastoral hymn-singing solos, and the one-sided pastoral small talk from our senior pastor leaving his microphone on at the end before he realizes what's going on. :)
9:30am -- Rachel finally gets some breakfast. The nurse tells us that the place has been busy: They've had four births in one hour! We can't help but wonder if one of them is the Andersons' baby (a couple in our Sunday School class), who has been due to be born for about a week.
11:00am -- They move us to another room, and Rachel declares herself hungry again. Almost as if on cue, her lunch comes in at around 11:30am. While she eats, I find out that the Lexington Medical wi-fi network blocks Blogger. One more reason not to like blogger.
12:20pm -- I decide to get home to take care of the dogs and get a few things that Rachel would like from home. I get out on the road and realize that I probably shouldn't be out on the road, because its raining cows and horses. I keep my hands on the wheel, my eyes on the road, and a prayer on my lips [having experienced driving foolishly in the rain in Columbia], and take it real easy driving home.
1:20pm -- I make it safely home, find my poor dog Mercy without the sense to come in out of the rain. I bring her in and towel her off, and just to let our other dog Kat know that everything is okay, I have a glass of Ovaltine and scratch her ears thoroughly.
3:00pm --Back at the hospital, Rachel and I watch Law & Order reruns, and Jennifer shows up to visit.
5:00pm --With Jennifer there, I feel able to duck out and attend vesper choir practice and participate in the evening service. The choir practiced "Love Never Fails" by J.A.C. Redford [5MB mp3 file] and, as usual, I choke up a little bit while hearing it. That song is very intertwined into our marriage. I sung the solo of it on the day that Rachel and I started "going steady", The Chancel choir sung that as the anthem at our wedding, and LOVE NEVER FAILS is inscribed on the inside of our wedding rings. To top it all off, the vesper choir will be singing it next Sunday, which is Mother's Day, which is Jack's due date. It's like God is conspiring to get me to break down and bawl my head off for joy. But besides the emotional reaction I'm pretty much doomed to have, he is also constantly, continually, and powerfully reminding me that his love is so powerful and infinite that it has to manifest itself in many, many ways, so as to make one's head spin for the wonder of it all. In particular, tonight I thought of all that my wife means to me, and how she loves me so well its almost frightening how little I deserve any of it. I also thought of my son Jack soon to be born, and how heart-rending it is to see my beloved ill and pray all the more fervently for her to be healed and for Jack to come out easily to meet us, strong and healthy.
6:00pm -- ...Anyway, I help sing the offertory with my fellow choir members, stay for an excellent sermon that kicks off a promising series on the book of Jonah, the "runaway prophet", but I don't stay for communion, because I want to get back to Rachel. I get there at...
7:20pm -- ...and find the hospital cafeteria already closed. So I walk across the street, and get some dinner at the Atlanta Bread Company, then I come back to share some of my chocolate chip muffin with her and watch an episode from Due South, season 3. I tell her, "I love you. Call me tomorrow... and don't forget to call me tomorrow. I love you..." until she smiles, and then (what the hey?) I drive down the highway through more cows-and-horses rain at 45 miles an hour with my emergency blinkers on to finally come home at around...
9:45pm -- ...much to the relief of our poor dogs. But for me time moves ever and ever slower, and I will have no relief until my whole family is back home safe and sound. Good night, strange world. I will be back in your face in the morning, however early that may be.
