Sowing his oats.

A big thank you for all of your good wishes and phone calls. It is all starting to sink in (at least for me) and it is becoming incredibly exciting. Rob was caught walking around the house screaming, "I can't wait for the baby to come". I think he's ready!

We have a name all picked out but, at this point, are choosing to keep it to ourselves. We were struggling with boy names but have always known what girl name we would choose. Finding out made this job infinitely easier.

We had the following conversation in Old Navy this weekend. I am sure anyone eavesdropping was shocked. ;)

R: I am so excited. I am already ready to have another one.
W: Right now?
R: Yeah.
W: Well, that's physically impossible.....Actually, it is for me but not for you. However, I wouldn't recommend you seek out that route.
R: Hmmmm....

Rob is ready to spread the seed.

In other exciting news - I felt the baby for the first time last week. On Wednesday September 20th. I wasn't entirely sure that what I was feeling was the baby. But, after a day or two it was pretty convincing. At this point and they feeling is really just little flutters in my stomach. My friend Jess said that to her it felt like she literally had butterflies in her stomach. That is definitely true! I feel her about 2 or 3 times a day, usually in the evening or after I have been sitting at my desk for awhile.

All of this is just mounting evidence that indeed there is something in there and it's not my imagination!

The Alien has landed

Our 18 week ultrasound was this morning. As I mentioned earlier in the week, this is an opportunity to see that all the baby's systems are working properly. Great news - they are. We saw all four ventricles of the heart. The parts of the brain. The stomach. The face, fingers, hands, and feet. The doctor was great and took a lot of time explaining all the different blobs to us and how they were developing. She said that everything is perfectly normal. The baby was active, dancing around and stuff apparently at this point they have no real control over their movement as the brain is pretty primitive. We were able to watch the baby suck its thumb, we could even see its tongue and jaw move! The skin is still relatively transparent, it will begin to thicken in the next few weeks.



At one point the doctor centered her probe and pointed to the screen. She said..." Here we can see what you're having" and was then quiet for a few seconds. We both looked and saw - a big grey blob filling the whole screen. Hmm, we're having a big blob?

The doctor then said, "You're having a girl!"

Yippy.

Me, being the Doubting Thomas that I am said, how can you even tell?!

She went on to show us all of the important identifying parts which, to me, still looked like a big grey blob.



Rob is off shopping for a gun.



(click any picture to make it larger.)

Pictures

Here are some recent pictures. All taken within the last week.

I took this picture on Sunday. I was amazed at how the right side of my stomach was higher than the left. I can't feel the baby move yet - but I have to say that it does not look like that today!

Rob took this one tonight


It doesn't look like much of a difference from the previous sets of photos, but man does it feel different.

I have started to put together an online photo album for our pictures. You can see these and more by checking up on this link.

The first four months

Week 17 is coming to a close. We have an appointment this Thursday for our 18 week ultrasound. This is an opportunity for the doctors to check the baby's systems and major organs. From what I understand at this point everything should be functioning...heart, digestive system, brain, etc. We are confident that all is well (whew, what a big change in attitude from those first few months!) and are mostly looking forward to an opportunity to see the alien again and hopefully determine the sex. I say hopefully only because if the baby doesn't cooperate we are out of luck. And, if the last ultrasound was any indication, this baby is not going to cooperate. Although it does have less room in there to "escape" to.

This website gives a good description of where we are developmentally at this point. Summary: 5 oz, 5 inches, the size of a large onion. I love how they always compare the size to produce.

There is some pretty amazing stuff going on in my body. So much so that I freak out a bit when I think about it too hard. I find it easier to just skim through the day and wonder why in the hell my stomach is getting so much bigger. Was it the second, or third hostess cupcake? Ha! I'm kidding. It is too much to ignore. My emotions, and grumpiness have fortunately retreated a bit. However, I am still wondering how in the heck we are going to pull this off!

On the home front: The condo, if it does not sell, will be taken off the market in the next few weeks. This will be a huge load off of my mind as I am starting to have the nesting instinct which insists that I prepare and create a safe, calm environment. It's a strange feeling - having moved so much I am usually up for anything. However, this impending move has got me worried about insurance, jobs, the animals, and our financial situation. While staying in our current condo for the next 9 months or so isn't the most ideal...it will certainly leave one less "unknown" in our lives.

Physically I am feeling pretty great. Lots of energy. I am certainly tired by the end of the day but no more of the mind numbing exhaustion of the first few months. I am also able to eat anything, no food aversions. Again, a huge improvement. I am been told that I am in the honeymoon period of the pregnancy. I have to admit. It is kind of fun having the bump precede me throughout my day. No one has really "noticed" it, so I am sure it's smaller than I think it is but it's fun to have it around anyway.

Just exactly what is it about this “plus” sign that looks like a “minus” to you?

Okay. I’m waaay behind on my blog duties… so here are a few random thoughts about being married to a pregnant woman (in no particular order).

We did three home pregnancy tests the weekend we first suspected there was trouble… er, I mean something wonderful was about to happen. Each time, Wendy squinted her squinty little eyes, gazed directly at the “plus” sign on the thermometer-y looking gadget and said, “see… I told you I wasn’t pregnant.” Haw! That one cracks me up.

Bras, bras, and more bras. Before we “knew”… Wendy went on a big shopping spree for a few new expensive, fancy-pants bras. “These are sooo much better and more comfortable,” she said. “And… they’ll practically last forever. I won’t have to buy bras again for years and years.” Fast forward to two weeks later and guess what we’re doing? Going shopping for bras. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I even called my friend Alan. “Hey, Al… guess what we’re doing?” I said into my cell phone on the way to the pregnant woman store. “We’re on our way to trade in some D’s for some Double D’s.” Wrong. Do they even make DD’s? Anyway, we came home with a handful of E’s, baby!!! That’s right… E’s!!! Fast forward to this morning to my wife straining to tuck herself inside the E cups (not laughing at my joke about getting out a sharpie and writing “Goodyear” on them). So guess what we’re doing this weekend? Pregnant woman store here we come.

“The Equalizer.” Apparently, being pregnant is a lot like being an old man. Husband (feeling restless): Hey, honey… want to go see a movie tonight? Maybe dinner? How about we hit some of the yarn stores and see what’s new? Wife: I’m exhausted, honey… can’t we just stay in tonight? Haw! At last, we are the same person. This leads me to my favorite pregnant wife quote so far (from a couple of weeks ago)…Wife (roughly 8 am): Honey… I was so horny at about 5 this morning, I almost woke you up. Husband: Why didn’t you? Wife: I was too tired. HAW!!!

More soon...

clink!

3 Days, Maybe Longer

The past few days I have felt a bit like Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My stomach feels as though it is being stretched and stretched around a drum. This change was quite abrupt. Rob took a picture of me earlier this week and then again last night. Wow. It really was not all in my head! I pulled out an older picture from earlier in July and compared the three...


(click all images to make bigger)


Just in case your blind and unable to see the difference between the last two pictures - taken three days apart, I've drawn in a line (which has been changed to the correct scale for each picture) to illustrate how much my stomach has changed in 3 DAYS!!!



So, um, maybe I really am pregnant?!