Kidney Beans

Good evening Ladies and maybe Gentleman, I am again writing to you about the wonders of pregnancy. There really aren't any wonders anymore I suppose. If someone can take pictures that look like this than it can't really be wonderous...wonderful maybe or maybe not...Full of wonder....wonder...wonder. Hmm
Wonder(noun) amazed admiration or awe, especially at something very beautiful or new. According to the dictionary the answer is yes wonderful. Ok so looking at this fine picture we see that it has eyes and arm and leg stumps. So this is what 7 weeks looks like. I can tell you that 7 weeks is pretty cool. It will be 8 weeks officially on the well tomorrow the 26th. We're both pretty excited about the doctor visit on May 2nd. It will be the first Ultrasound. I've always seen other peoples ultrasound pictures....a bunch of black and white pictures on a long strip of paper much like what teenagers get from the photobooth at the mall. Only the real fun with the baby pictures is trying to discern what is baby and what isn't....I mean for all I know its just spitting out the same pictures to everyone. I think that I'm going to compare mine to someone elses make sure that they aren't trying to flimflam me......Oh look Mr and Mrs. Fredrick its a kidney bean......I wanna make sure that my kidney bean doesn't look like anyone else's. Mine alone.
Ok so Preggers has nausea fairly consistently. We now have crackers to fight it and so far so good. Works like a champ. Aside from the fact that today is day one of crackers...and it worked...the statistics show that it worked so we're batting 1000. Just like a champ. Ok I suck at freaking sports analogies. I know it don't rub it in. Giggle quietly and let me be. She seems to be doing well and doesn't actually vomit....just nausea. Thank God for that. Hopefully I didn't just jinx it. I feel bad during when she doesn't feel well, and so far the crackers are working...I'm puttin them things everywhere. Glove box...both cars...nightstand.....end table...wherever...I'm sure the dogs will appreciate it as much as Preggers will.
I want to thank all who read this and thank you for your patience as I know I should be updating this more. I will....I really will. Thank you Danielle for my haircut today Its awesome.


Concerns: 1. Whats Next?

Tangible somehow.

Ok so I've been slacking, slacking bad, everywhere....I just took my psychology test and well I bombed it rather badly. I wonder sometimes if this is because I am spending more time focusing on the right or wrong thing. Is my inattentiveness going to follow through to baby? I hope not. I like to think that I am ready for this life changing event, however its a proven fact that people resist change, but to what end? I guess I'll have to wait and see. Sacrifices will have to be made and whatever they happen to be I'll do it.
Well ok so on to the reason for the blog...it isn't about me (or is it). Yesterday Preggers seemed to have a bout of some sort of sickness. Every part of me is screaming that it has to be Morning Sickness the book says it can come at anytime. And it did. It was in the evening when she woke up. So she didn't make it to work and got plenty of sleep. So we're kinda on the fence about the morning sickness but I think she's starting to believe. "The book says it starts in the 6th week...being that yesterday was 6th week 5th day...I would say that it qualifies. But I'm open to interpretation.
Ok so I went to the store on base today and I found that they are having a 20% off sale on baby stuff and there happened to be a basket of info for parents to be. In it was a nuk. Which ladies and gentleman (if there are any reading). Preggers has been fighting the urge to buy something....something I think to make the pregnancy seem more real, tangible somehow. I 've felt coming from her. I think I noticed it because I feel the same way too. So the nuk that was free and in the package was well kind of that tangiblity thing. So it worked.

I also want to extend some congratulations....Michelle....the woman to whom I gave my extra baby mojo a few weeks ago. is pregnant...and I hope that I am not giving away too much and I'm sorry if I have. But damn I'm good. Thats long distance mojo. Pretty strong stuff. I also learned that one of the guys that I work with his wife is preggo too. I guess when it rains it pours....huh?

Just a few days late...

Ok so this is a week five picture. I figure this is sufficient because well lets face it they don't look like this on day one of week five. More like towards the end of the week right so week 6 started on Thursday...so technically this is what baby looks like..as of like now. I have been slacking a bit on the blog I guess, some of it was for my sociology test and some of it was for well um I got nothin. Ok so not much new going on. Today was a decent work day and then to home. Preggers has the next few days off. So we went for a fun drive up to Gillete Castle in the Corvette. I think I enjoyed it more than she did, and I think that she just went cause I asked her too. I appreciate that it was a good time for me...lots of twistys and no traffic....very fun..two thumbs up. After that we went to Babies R Us.
That was just as fun. Ok so this is like the store of all stores for babies. I just couldn't pry myself away. They had like 3 aisles alone for car seats......and then some strollers...and then they had like the baby swings and the vibrating chair things and then the cribs and rocking chairs and holy cow lots crap and stuff and things and wow. We've discussed what we want...although there is no real selection set. We don't want to get too excited before the end of the first trimester and all.
Ok so mom is predicting a boy......Preggers is predicting a boy...actually not just one boy but two...I think she's trying to mentally prepare herself for the possible worst...not that two would be bad just more than I'M expecting. So if at the first ultrasound we find another heartbeat she'll be mentally prepared and I'm just going to cry. I'll figure it out I guess. If its meant to be it's meant to be. Well I am getting sleepy and I have to work tomorrow. I now have computer access at work and with the large amounts of nothing to do so I should be able to get another blog in. Alrighty Good Night and sweet dreams.
Concerns:
1. Twins.
2. Keeping up with the blog....

Almost Easter

Alright I didn't get to post yesterday as I had duty. I have to confess that I didn't bring the "books" with me on duty. So I spent some time at work answering phones, and such. I went to sleep about 1230 in the morning. The picture on the left is a Jet Engine. If you're wondering what a jet engine has to do with well a baby blog the answer is really it doesn't It is very similar to what I slept next to last night. The room next to where I slept has more computer equipment than nasa....ok not even close but it makes for a good exaggeration. Anyway it has it's own industrial Airconditioning unit. So that particular unit is right along the wall that i sleep on. And it starts up every 20 minutes or so..and runs for 5 minutes...the ducting holding that thing together must be held together with paperclips and elmers glue because it rattles so bad it would wake even the dead....and trust me I can sleep with the best of them....I sometimes have a hard time with the A.C. So i didn't sleep well. So I came home and napped with the dogs.
Well I had some fun at an Easter get together and played with a friends baby and fed and put to sleep the babies. I was told I was a natural...Whatever, not as much a natural as I'm gonna be. I still have yet to change a baby diaper. But I'm sure I'll get more than an opportunity or 50 eventually. Ok well I realized that these blogs are getting a bit excessive. I can talk all day about seemingly nothing. So I'm going to do my best to kick it down a step. I suppose if it's too long I won't keep you're interest. Well as I didn't do much today and I did close to nothing yesterday this is the end of this blog for well yesterday...I will double post today.
Concerns today:
1. Will Preggers get Morning Sickness.
2. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop.

A Vacuum to end all Vacuums

For those of you wondering what a vacuum has to do with babies...I look at it this way. I want to make sure that my carpet and upholstery is as free from dog hair as I can possibly make it without going so far as to excommunicating my dogs to the basement. Which for those of you who know us better we would never do. So the vacuum, its purple and is called the animal. It has more parts and pieces than a tinkertoy set and is just as easy to put together. I was amazed. I generally make a habit of reading the instructions before I start trying to put something together....yes ladies there is a man that will use instructions...not in this case but none the less it was very easy. It has about 4 buttons all of which I had to play with to figure out. So the claim is that it doesn't lose suction. Whatever, I just wanna fire this puppy up and see what it can do. Lets just say that the results were freaking phenomenal. Watching Pregger's face as I pushed this purple dirt destroyer around was interesting to say the least. It was a look of horror. It made me laugh to watch her watch the dirt cup fill up. This thing really does perform. The swirling vacuum inside the see thru cup filled with dirt and dog hair. It was borderline...no it was just gross. When all was said and done..I could've made another beagle....I even pondered it for a half a second before I realized that 1. It probably wouldn't work no matter how hard I tried. And 2. We have no room as we're planning for a baby duh. Ok so this tool for one reason or another just fascinates me to no end. I want to vacuum the whole house down. It came with 3 different attachments...thats on top of the normal attachments that come with most vacuums. It has the barefloor attachement, the upholstery attachment and the not quite sure what it is attachment for extra special carpet cleaning things..I guess. Also the handle come s out and becomes a wand...and extends at least 10 to 15 feet for doing like the stairs so you don't have to carry the vacuum with you. I am very impressed. I would recommend this thing to anyone. So maybe spending a billion pesos on this thing wasn't as bad as I expected.
Ok now some baby stuff. Preggers went to her primary care physician today to see what kind of acid reflux meds they could put her on and there a few categories of medications when it comes to babies and mothers. A quick breakdown as I understand it is that Category A meds are ok for mother and baby and Category d are not...Preggers Acid Reflux medicine is category D which is bad for baby..and the one they want to give her is a C. Which isn't great for baby. So she decided to hold off until she sees her new OB/GYN. I believe that Appointment to be on the 2nd of May. That puts her at her 8 weeks and 6 days. So we'll see what happens then. She said she didn't wanna risk anything with the baby and is being a tough cookie and dealing with her heartburn until then.
As far as what the good books say..well today I'll put something from the other book.
Today I read about Couvade...french for to hatch.....pronounced Coo Vad. Now I thought this might be a hoax but apparently not. Couvade symptoms are the same as associated with pregnant women....the expectant father gets the same symptoms such as weight gain and nausea, mood swings, food cravings and apparently some that aren't associated with pregnancy at all such as headaches, toothaches, itching and even cysts. According to the other book couvade is experienced by 90% of expectant fathers. So that is from the other book for today. A lesson learned. And hopefully I'll be somewhere in the 10%.
Ok one other thing...I found the third book that we bought a few months ago for fathers and pregnancy called Pregnancy Sucks for Men. Its a rather strange book and seems to cater to those men who have ABSOLUTELY no idea whats going on. So I may occasionally excerpt from this one. Well I suppose this is it for now. I have duty tomorrow and will try my best to post but make no promises. Preggers will be on her own tomorrow and I'll have to get an update by phone to make it to the post. Alrighty then. Farewell until tomorrow.

Concerns today:
1. How many appointments are there going to be? I'm going to have to make a calender...
2. I wish she didn't have to worry bout her heartburn.
3. CT scan on Monday for me.

P.S. This is a baby mojo reachout to Michelle..who asked that I spread some around. Good Luck.

Endoscopic Ultrasound

Alright cruising along...day four? Yeah ok so today I am going to talk a little about my day. But lets stick to the reason for the blog and then move on to me. Today I found out that our week count is every Thursday. So today is the end of week four. So I posted a picture that I found on the internets of a four week old embryo. Tomorrow I'm going to cheat and post the week five embryo. Ok so today....um in the land of babies. Well I did start The Expectant Father(the other book). I has a lot to say and focuses on being prepared for whats going to happen. I really like the fact it gives an idea of the questions to ask. Some meals to prepare, and pregnancy nutrition facts...which I can say so far hasn't been in the book(Your pregnancy week to week). So I like my book better at least for now. Alright so Sarah and I talked about the pregnancy and the doctor, and the hospital and that sorta thing. Well we decided on Lawrence and Memorial Hospital because she works there and is comfortable with the maternity area. I just ok. What do I know....I know when to agree. Really what it boils down to is that she has to be the one comfortable, so I'm ok with relinquishing that to her. I realized that there is so little I can actually do. Just support her in all that I can. So right now I'm trying to anticipate where I can help and do everything I can.

Ok so this morning Sarah and I woke up and dressed and took a trip to Yale New Haven hospital about an hours drive away. Turns out they have valet parking. So we pull up and this guy comes to the window and says...here you go and hands me a ticket and says "Give that to your mom and make sure she gets it validated." So I wasn't sure I heard what he said and Sarah and I start heading into the hospital...and she asks.."did he tell you to give that to your mom?" Sure did mom...here ya go......WTF? It was funny because I wasn't sure thats what I heard but she confirmed it for me. How old do I look? Better yet how old does she look. I think he may have figured it out on his own and I can't begin to imagine how big an ass he felt. So the procedure sucked and as much as I want to complain about it, I can only imagine the things that Preggers is going to go through and the tests she will endure and they will shadow over my little endoscopy. So no real results and now a CT scan..in the future. Thats about it. I'll keep you all posted for more of that.

At a friends request I decided to change the background as I'm told black background with white letters is hard on the eyes....I liked it. But I'll do what I can for my readers. Well all I'll be signing off for now. Tomorrow holds another day.

Concerns:
1. I have to keep healthy so that I can help Preggers out...after todays procedure she was taking care of me..I felt a little guilty.
2. What happens if she miscarries?

The Fun Begins....

Ok day three and I have become aware of an issue that apparently has been happening for the last three days. Preggers has stopped taking her acid reflux meds. Which means she is terribly uncomfortable after eating....lots of things really. I wasn't really aware of this until today. She was eating pizza when I got home from class and it totally didn't dawn on me until after we took a nap. She said it felt like she was breathing fire.....Now why is that I ask....i felt like a retard for asking as I already knew the answer....acid reflux. Well if I had known or rather realized she wouldn't have eaten said pizza. Fair enough...I'm on it now.
ok so a quick update to what i thought Preggers went to the doc....new due date is December 6th, and shes almost 5 weeks along. Thursday is the magic day. So every Thursday is a new chapter in the book, what book you ask? The book is Your Pregnancy week by week.....hereafter named the Book, says that
week 4 the baby is just 1mm in length. Thats way small....and the rest of the chapter goes on to say you can take this medication and not this medication and oh don't smoke...or drink or hang out with people who are smoking. If you take these medications this is what can or will happen to the baby. So everything from Spina Bifida to death. Its fortunate in this day and age that the internet to help me understand what all this is. What makes it worse is that it only makes it scarier and I can see someone getting all paranoid...not me, not preggers but someone out there in neverland. Also to avoid other things like um PCBs and mercury and lead and pesticides. Lots to take in. Ok the OTHER book...the man version called THE EXPECTANT FATHER breaks it down differently. I have more to read in that one before I comment.
Alright, aside from the fact that Preggers has severe heartburn....she also said something that blew my mind. Preggers and I are both susceptible to multiples.....she has twins on her side of the family and I on mine. It's something we've both discussed in the past and kinda was a concern and something I thought we agreed we didn't want right away. She says to me today that she kinda wants twins.....I bout pissed on myself.....WHAT DID YOU SAY? Yeah I think they would be cool. WOW! What now? I don't know what to say to that. I don't know if I want them....really I hadn't thought about it. What a bomb. Eh its not like I get to decide anyway. Whatever. Well thats today in a nut shell. More to follow.

Concerns today:
1. What else is going to give Preggers heartburn...I need to make a list.
2. Names...?
3. Read the other book.
4. Finish my Sociology Exam....hey it all isn't baby you know.....life does go on.

A journey of a thousand miles.....

Starts with but a single step.......Day two...of the beginning of the rest of my life....so I suppose (and I could be wrong) Sarah (Preggers) is alot further along than we thought. I was under the impression that she was like 2 weeks... but I guess she is almost 6 weeks along? I'm not sure how this works but I'm sure that my books will bring me up to speed.

Events of day two...well pretty eventful...Preggers did go to the doctor however....a hearty thanks to the person that decided that pregnancy tests as a walk-in at the military hospital was a good idea...so in she went and 2 hours later....through the miracles of modern science(ok not so modern, but science nonetheless)blood test confirmed we are preggo. So Preggers is officially preggo. So I bought her a bouquet of Daisies just to let her know I love her and that I was thinking of her. Oh crap and one of the most important events for today...well as far as I'm concerned. I decided what I want. I wanna girl. I want a daddy's little girl....well thats what i want today. We'll see what happens.

Ok so I found like three "when your pregnant" websites...and then today I found three "being a dad" websites...and they are totally geared for guys like me. It has all the gadgets and what to get. What not to get and why. The results with the baby and how well they work. Dude its the poop. I don't even know where to begin. Also I need a new vacuum. With three dogs and a baby on the way...I think its gonna be a Dyson. Of all things to be worried about right now huh? I know pretty lame.....but ask me if I care? Do it....ask me, I dare ya. Cause I don't, so there.
Concerns for today.
1. Will I be a good father (still a concern)?
2. Will I be supportive enough as a husband?
3. How can I make this a better experience for Sarah?

April Fools....

Day one....what is it day one of? Well Sarah has woken me today with a pregnancy test. No plus minus or any of that. One word, pregnant. The digital display of life change...screaming one little word in it's silence. Pregnant! So this is the beginning, my memoirs of a man in pregnancy. Our look at the past, present and future.
I am being cautious though...we're only going on a pregnancy test. I know I have told the world that we're pregnant but a part of me thinks I should have waited until the doctors confirmation. I really want to wait until the end of the first trimester. This blog may never see the light of day. Before I post it I want to make sure though that we are pregnant. I am excited, crazed, in awe and ready to start my learning progress of what it takes to make this a great experience for us both.
I want to know whats going on with the baby and with Sarah. I want to know everything. I want to be there for everything. I want it all. Whatever it is....We have the books...I've read mine already...couldn't help it. Going to have to break them out again, start over...it means more now I guess.
Concerns at the moment:
1. I am a kid myself....how will I take care of a baby?
2. Will I be a good father?
3. Is the baby going to be healthy?
4. What am I going to do now?