That Vital Milestone

Your raging hormones should be calming down a bit and you may notice your nausea tapering off. Most women kiss regular morning sickness goodbye now (though queasiness can return periodically throughout pregnancy). This week, your baby's face looks practically human. Her eyes have moved closer together and her ears are right where they should be. Your baby is nearly 3 inches long now and has entered what is known as the fetal period, when tissues and organs rapidly grow and mature. -- from Babycenter.com

This past weekend was spent with my parents, the first time since they found out that we were expecting. It was by far the best time we've spent with them.

The Wife has also seen this Blog now. She's pointed out a few minor errors that have not been corrected, but what can you do?

And the weekend before that was on a church retreat. We shared with a number of couples in private little announcements just to them. Seriously, this is the way to do it. They feel honored at being told and you get to experience excitement over and over again from them. The rest of the department found out by email this week as well. On Wednesday, our small group learns the news at our end-of-the-study potluck.

Baby On Board

Today was our first appointment with the normal OBGYN. We got to see another ultrasound. It's really cool. While still tiny and the picture grainy, we could make out the body, the arms and legs, the spine and the head, and best of all, the face. It was hard to see, but she pointed out the eyes. We got another printout. In The Pregnancy Journal it said that soon the eye lids will form and temporarily fuse together. Very interesting how God puts all these different things in motion and after 9 months, out comes a fully formed tiny human. Very humbling. In five weeks, we go in for another checkup, including a blood test that can screen for all kinds of things. After that, every four weeks or so, with an ultrasound at 20 weeks and maybe one more in the 7th or 8th month. They don't have the 3D ultrasound, but told us of a few places nearby that will do it for a fee. And they also said that they deliver all of their babies at the nearby very prestigious probably world renowned hospital. Cool.

Our friends who are at 20 weeks had the blood test recently and the protein level was high. That can indicate downs syndrome, but it also has a very high rate of false positives. They had to meet with a genetic counselor who really wanted them to have an amneocentisis(sp?) done but they refused because it can sometimes cause miscarriage. The amneocentisis can confirm whether or not a baby has downs. It may also be a more accurate indicator of additional things, but I'm not educated enough to say what. The counselor was really pushing for it, but our friends were like "Why? We're having this baby no matter what. We're not going to do anything that can jeopardize their health."

Exactly how we feel.

A "Chinese Pregnancy Calendar" taped to the reception desk predicts our child will be a girl.

Tiny, Tiny Babies!

Your baby has tiny fingernails now and the ability to kick, swallow, and move. Pretty impressive for someone the size of a lipstick tube. That will change soon; within the next few weeks, your featherweight child should double in size and you may be able to see — via ultrasound — whether you're carrying a boy or a girl. -- from Babycenter.com

We told another couple we're really close to at dinner on Saturday. We had a nice long talk at dinner about the implications and their desire to have kids after they're married in May. Then on Sunday we finally got the woman from church who told us on The Wife's birthday that she was pregnant alone and was talking to her about how she was doing and we asked how far along she was and she said "20 weeks" and The Wife said "I'm 11 weeks." and the woman just froze for a few seconds and then just started beaming and had to hug us both. Then we were at lunch with her and another friend and talking about her shower and about how the couple that had a baby two weeks early in September wasn't prepared and so how this woman should have her shower early, like in March, since it's being thrown by a friend from out of town who's coming in to town. And so The Wife says "Well then I guess I should have mine in April" and the woman who didn't yet know completely missed it, thought The Wife was throwing another shower for the other woman or something. Kinda funny. Then she was a little embarassed when we explained to her what we meant.

We should get to tell people every day.

Widening the circle...

A few days ago I told someone in our small group because he emailed me something that was aimed at dads and then wrote again later saying that he sent it to all guys in the small group because even if they weren't dads he figured that (a) they might be dads someday or (b) they might see their role as helping the other fathers in the class to be better dads. I wrote him back and said 061204 was my new lucky number and that it had absolutely no meaning, certainly not a date or anything. He knew what I meant and offered his support, ready to answer any questions I might have. He has a young 'un himself, that's why I told him.

Then today I told the one remaining co-worker in my group who I hadn't told. The Wife told a few more close friends today as well.

And today Kevin and Allison are going to get a cryptic email from me telling them to go to some website. When they get to that website, it will instead bounce them here. Hi, Kevin, Hi, Allison. I'm going to be a dad!

Fireworks and the Book

I think The Wife might have had a spell of nesting yesterday. Either that, or the every-few-month time where she looks at the piles of papers she's allowed to collect at the side of her bed and decides they're precariously close to falling over and crushing a cat. Anyhow, she found the book and I've started reading it. It would have been a really cool way for her to tell me. No wonder she was bummed.

Earlier this week we were to meet with a representative of ADT who was going to give us an offer on a home security system. They didn't show and called 90 minutes later to apologize, some story about calling the wrong number to request they dispatch someone else when he realized he wasn't going to be able to make our appointment. I told them to hold off and we'd think about rescheduling. Sure enough, 5 minutes after his call, two calls in a row from different numbers at Alarm King. I'm sorry, but that's a cheesy name for a company. Makes me think of Homer's "Mr. Plow" company. But I'm not sure... I did request information directly from ADT. Is that who they referred? Some company in another county? If so, lame.

For the second morning in a row, we've been woken up by idiots lighting off fireworks. I don't know why. But if it keeps up, I'm going to call the Sheriff and say that someone's lighting off fireworks or shooting a small caliber gun, but that it's probably fireworks. We know exactly who it is. And we're disappointed because they're the only ones in our neighborhood doing renovations and expanding their house. We were kind of hoping that we were riding the forefront of change buying in this neighborhood, the only one we could afford, but most people seem to be content to stay, often 5+ in a house, instead of realizing there would be serious money to be made if they'd move. But we have The Puppy (getting bigger every day) and we'll ultimately get the security system and a fence out front. We still have a few months.

Let me tell you...

From The Wife's brother:

Congratulations on the baby!! Now you can feel and know my pain!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!! Just kidding. Yes, it will be a little overwhelming and quite the lifestyle change...but you're gonna love it. You'll spend countless nights sitting by the crib waiting for the little bugger to go to sleep.Then when he/she does...you'll spend many more hours constantly checking on them....then rechecking...then checking again...and the 2am feedings are great..then when they start to eat you have to worry about the choking...and they will choke. And it'll freak ya out. Then there's all the things lying around that can hurt them...In the cupboards, on the tables, on the floor.....oh so much fun. I've done it twice....and wouldn't change a thing.You will do great I'm sure...if ya need some advice, just gimme a holler...

That the world may know...

I feel really guilty that I've been unable to tell some of my closest friends yet, most specifically one person who is like a brother to me. It's a strange mix of odds, superstition and the desire to not let it consume our communication that we don't tell everyone. It will be the biggest thing in our lives, but we don't want it to be the only thing. And even when you are happy for someone, six, seven, eight months of waiting with them, waiting for them, sometimes seems like forever. It's not that they do anything wrong, but we just watch from the sidelines going "Haven't they been pregnant for over a year now?"

Fickle Tummy

Things that are good one day aren't the next. Apparently Panda Express, a food The Wife got me hooked on, is a place I'll have go alone for awhile; it's no longer appetizing. Worse yet, last night at the store she bought ingredients for a low-calorie breakfast meal and took the time to prepare it last night... cheese, eggs, sausage, bread cubes so that this morning it could be popped in the oven for 30 minutes and then we'd have a nice breakfast, replacing my usual cappucino slimfast and her, well, not sure what she's been eating now that she can't have slimfast. But I got it out of the oven and she declared that it didn't smell good and that she wouldn't be having any. I feel bad about how my part in the process is almost non-existent but that the part for her body is probably 15 months minimum of being non-normal.

Gettin' serious

The Wife is now reporting more "queasiness." She doesn't want to say nausea, she doesn't think it's at that level yet, just queasiness. The gag reflex is also more pronounced, so she cancelled her dentist appointment.

The Wife told her entire department of six. I thought she was just telling her bosses, but she told the entire group. So I told a few more people than planned. I told my boss' boss and my direct boss. My boss' boss had a really cool reaction, wanted to pray for us and told me about the efforts it took for him and his wife to have kids (basically as soon as they gave up, it happened.) And then I told my other boss. He's engaged to someone in the department who is my project manager one day a week and they're good friends, so I had to tell them both because it wasn't fair to tell him and then ask him not to tell her. He thanked me for not making him carry that burden. Then I told a co-worker who has a 8-month old. I prefaced it with the fact that I wasn't telling people yet. There was no one else in the office at the time, but I pulled out the ultrasound and she did the most amazing thing: the biggest yell/squeal/cheer of joy and surprise possible but without any actual sound coming out. She threw her hands to her mouth immediately and there was no sound. But she was hopping in the chair with excitement. I want to tell more people like that.