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My wife is about 11 weeks pregnant now and has started having cravings.
So far she's wanted fish and chips, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and spaghetti and meatballs.
Hold on a minute. Those are just things she likes anyway!
I'm suddenly feeling like my good nature is being taken advantage of!
Maybe if she'd asked for mint chocolate chip ice cream with sardines mixed in it might have been a bit more believable.
Nice try!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Fingers crossed
The last few days, my wife's morning sickness seems to have eased up. She's nearing the end of the first trimester so hopefully it is over.
The only thing that seems to make her ill is milk, or yogurt so it should be easy to avoid those things.
Luckily, a cup of tea doesn't have the same effect. Phew!
The only thing that seems to make her ill is milk, or yogurt so it should be easy to avoid those things.
Luckily, a cup of tea doesn't have the same effect. Phew!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The sickness
For the last few weeks my wife has been suffering with morning sickness. Morning sickness is also accompanied by afternoon sickness, night sickness and all day sickness.
Pretty much from 3.30am on the 24th November my wife has been suffering with the effects of pregnancy. In fact, the first thing she said after she told me was pregnant was that she needed a back rub.
My offer of some hot towels instead was declined but I've tried to be as understanding as possible.
Sympathy doesn't seem to help. Sometimes I get accused of mocking her or of not taking it seriously when I show sympathy, but I've also learned that a lack of sympathy helps even less.
My usual wake up call these days is hearing my wife's heaves and groans echoing around the bathroom.
For Christmas, I bought my wife what I thought would be a useful gift. First off, she opened one of the joke gifts I got her, a big jumbo pack of her favourite toilet paper. I'm no Charles Darwin but I think only women can have a favourite toilet paper.
When she opened it she laughed and said "I can't believe you bought me toilet paper."
Then she turned to the next gift, weighed up it's shape and declared "that better not be a bucket!". She then put her fist through the wrapping paper and let out a little laugh before remembering she was supposed to be pretending to be mad about it.
Well, within a few days of having the bucket next to the bed, she was declaring it "the best Christmas present ever!".
Do I know my wife or what?!?
I know it is probably much worse for her but this sickness is getting a bit old now. We're nearing the end of the first trimester so hopefully it will stop in the next few weeks.
I've cooked so many meals lately that have gone uneaten that I'm beginning to take it personally. Sometimes she'll even tell me what she wants, but as soon as I put the plate down in front of her it turns her stomach.
She's actually lost a little bit of weight since getting pregnant from not eating so the other day I did a bit of research of the foods pregnant women need, wrote myself a shopping list and took myself off to Kroger to stock up.
I'm going to take control of the cooking and shopping for the next few weeks until her appetite returns. At least telling her to eat her greens will be good practice for when the baby is a bit older!
Pretty much from 3.30am on the 24th November my wife has been suffering with the effects of pregnancy. In fact, the first thing she said after she told me was pregnant was that she needed a back rub.
My offer of some hot towels instead was declined but I've tried to be as understanding as possible.
Sympathy doesn't seem to help. Sometimes I get accused of mocking her or of not taking it seriously when I show sympathy, but I've also learned that a lack of sympathy helps even less.
My usual wake up call these days is hearing my wife's heaves and groans echoing around the bathroom.
For Christmas, I bought my wife what I thought would be a useful gift. First off, she opened one of the joke gifts I got her, a big jumbo pack of her favourite toilet paper. I'm no Charles Darwin but I think only women can have a favourite toilet paper.
When she opened it she laughed and said "I can't believe you bought me toilet paper."
Then she turned to the next gift, weighed up it's shape and declared "that better not be a bucket!". She then put her fist through the wrapping paper and let out a little laugh before remembering she was supposed to be pretending to be mad about it.
Well, within a few days of having the bucket next to the bed, she was declaring it "the best Christmas present ever!".
Do I know my wife or what?!?
I know it is probably much worse for her but this sickness is getting a bit old now. We're nearing the end of the first trimester so hopefully it will stop in the next few weeks.
I've cooked so many meals lately that have gone uneaten that I'm beginning to take it personally. Sometimes she'll even tell me what she wants, but as soon as I put the plate down in front of her it turns her stomach.
She's actually lost a little bit of weight since getting pregnant from not eating so the other day I did a bit of research of the foods pregnant women need, wrote myself a shopping list and took myself off to Kroger to stock up.
I'm going to take control of the cooking and shopping for the next few weeks until her appetite returns. At least telling her to eat her greens will be good practice for when the baby is a bit older!
Monday, January 4, 2010
A Birthday Ultrasound
We went to Memorial City Hospital on December 11th which also happens to be my wife's birthday.
My wife gets very excited about her birthday and this year was no different. I woke up as she was getting out of bed and asked where she was going. She replied she was going for a shower and to get ready so I looked at the clock. It was 12.30am. We'd been in bed about 2 hours!
She got back into bed and tried to get back to sleep. She seemed to wake up every hour until 5.30am when she decided that was late enough and she was going for a shower.
I think she was excited about her birthday, but also nervous about the doctors appointment. This would be the first time we'd actually see our baby and she was worried something would be wrong.
While she was getting ready I got her birthday gifts from the other room and laid them on the bed for her to open when she came back into the bedroom.
She loved all her gifts, and we had breakfast before heading out to the hospital.
The appointment was 9am but we got there just before 8am as my wife had to go to the clinic first to take a glucose test before waiting an hour before they took her blood. The test is to see how the body reacts to the drink and to detect diabetes.
My wife asked for the orange flavour drink after a tip from a friend but it wasn't long before I could tell even that wasn't too tasty.
She did manage to drink it all down and we went to sit in the waiting room for the doctor.
After about 4 minutes, my wife very nearly revisited the drink she'd just had so I stocked up on tissues and made sure there was a bin handy incase she couldn't hold it next time.
I tried to be encouraging as she would only have to take the test again if she threw it all back up.
After about 20 minutes her stomach seemed to be settling and it got a bit easier.
About 8.50am we were called by the nurse to have the ultrasound. The person doing the ultrasound was much younger than I was expecting but I suppose that's just a sign I'm getting older!
My wife got undressed and got in position. Very quickly, and without much warning if I'm completely honest, the ultrasound thingy was in place and all of a sudden my wife's insides were displayed on a large plasma TV on the wall. The nurse/ultrasound child/scanner person pointed out the baby and turned up the volume so we could hear the heartbeat.
It was a very strong healthy heartbeat and it was pretty amazing to hear at such an early stage (6 weeks and 2 days). The baby is only 4.6cm and looks a bit like a cashew nut.
My wife gets very excited about her birthday and this year was no different. I woke up as she was getting out of bed and asked where she was going. She replied she was going for a shower and to get ready so I looked at the clock. It was 12.30am. We'd been in bed about 2 hours!
She got back into bed and tried to get back to sleep. She seemed to wake up every hour until 5.30am when she decided that was late enough and she was going for a shower.
I think she was excited about her birthday, but also nervous about the doctors appointment. This would be the first time we'd actually see our baby and she was worried something would be wrong.
While she was getting ready I got her birthday gifts from the other room and laid them on the bed for her to open when she came back into the bedroom.
She loved all her gifts, and we had breakfast before heading out to the hospital.
The appointment was 9am but we got there just before 8am as my wife had to go to the clinic first to take a glucose test before waiting an hour before they took her blood. The test is to see how the body reacts to the drink and to detect diabetes.
My wife asked for the orange flavour drink after a tip from a friend but it wasn't long before I could tell even that wasn't too tasty.
She did manage to drink it all down and we went to sit in the waiting room for the doctor.
After about 4 minutes, my wife very nearly revisited the drink she'd just had so I stocked up on tissues and made sure there was a bin handy incase she couldn't hold it next time.
I tried to be encouraging as she would only have to take the test again if she threw it all back up.
After about 20 minutes her stomach seemed to be settling and it got a bit easier.
About 8.50am we were called by the nurse to have the ultrasound. The person doing the ultrasound was much younger than I was expecting but I suppose that's just a sign I'm getting older!
My wife got undressed and got in position. Very quickly, and without much warning if I'm completely honest, the ultrasound thingy was in place and all of a sudden my wife's insides were displayed on a large plasma TV on the wall. The nurse/ultrasound child/scanner person pointed out the baby and turned up the volume so we could hear the heartbeat.
It was a very strong healthy heartbeat and it was pretty amazing to hear at such an early stage (6 weeks and 2 days). The baby is only 4.6cm and looks a bit like a cashew nut.
We were given a picture of the baby and went back to the waiting room to wait for the nurse practioner we'd seen last week, Mary-Helen.
While we were waiting, an hour had passed since my wife took the glucose drink so she went back to the clinic to have some blood taken.
The Nurse practioner told us everything was ok with the baby and the tests my wife had done at our last visit were ok.
She gave some more advice on eating and exercise and told us about what would happen throughout the pregnancy and the type of appointments we'd have.
The next appointment is January 14th which will be more like an MOT for my wife to make sure everything is working as it should.
They told us they would only contact us about the glucose test if something showed up. The results would be back in about a week. It's been over three weeks now and we haven't heard anything so hopefully that means everything was ok.
While we were waiting, an hour had passed since my wife took the glucose drink so she went back to the clinic to have some blood taken.
The Nurse practioner told us everything was ok with the baby and the tests my wife had done at our last visit were ok.
She gave some more advice on eating and exercise and told us about what would happen throughout the pregnancy and the type of appointments we'd have.
The next appointment is January 14th which will be more like an MOT for my wife to make sure everything is working as it should.
They told us they would only contact us about the glucose test if something showed up. The results would be back in about a week. It's been over three weeks now and we haven't heard anything so hopefully that means everything was ok.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Confirmation
On Tuesday December 1st we had our first doctor's appointment.
At this point, I still wasn't 100% convinced my wife was pregnant. I knew there was a good chance, and she thought she was, but somewhere at the back of my mind was a nagging doubt. I suppose it was a defence mechanism to prevent too much disappointment if something went wrong.
My wife had done research on doctors in the area and decided on the Women's Health Care Center of Houston.
Once there, they took my wife off for some preliminary checks, weight, blood etc and then I joined her ready for a chat with the doctor.
The first thing I noticed when we entered the room was the stirrups. This was a new experience for me and I must admit they made me keep my legs tightly closed when I sat down. Stirrups are not something men usually see at the doctor's office so it was a bit unexpected.
The doctor, or nurse, whatever she was confirmed my wife was pregnant, asked a few questions, answered a few questions and gave us some general information on nutrition, exercise etc all without giving me a second glance.
My wife had already told me that this was no longer about me so I suppose I should've been prepared for that!
Overall, it was a good experience and everything went smoothly.
We made our next appointment for the end of the following week at their office at Memorial City Hospital for an ultrasound and also a glucose test to check for diabetes etc.
Memorial City Hospital is where our doctor delivers and isn't too far from where we live.
At this point, I still wasn't 100% convinced my wife was pregnant. I knew there was a good chance, and she thought she was, but somewhere at the back of my mind was a nagging doubt. I suppose it was a defence mechanism to prevent too much disappointment if something went wrong.
My wife had done research on doctors in the area and decided on the Women's Health Care Center of Houston.
Once there, they took my wife off for some preliminary checks, weight, blood etc and then I joined her ready for a chat with the doctor.
The first thing I noticed when we entered the room was the stirrups. This was a new experience for me and I must admit they made me keep my legs tightly closed when I sat down. Stirrups are not something men usually see at the doctor's office so it was a bit unexpected.
The doctor, or nurse, whatever she was confirmed my wife was pregnant, asked a few questions, answered a few questions and gave us some general information on nutrition, exercise etc all without giving me a second glance.
My wife had already told me that this was no longer about me so I suppose I should've been prepared for that!
Overall, it was a good experience and everything went smoothly.
We made our next appointment for the end of the following week at their office at Memorial City Hospital for an ultrasound and also a glucose test to check for diabetes etc.
Memorial City Hospital is where our doctor delivers and isn't too far from where we live.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Judgement Day
As you know, my wife and I went on a trip for our first Wedding Anniversary in November.
We got back late on Monday the 23rd, but not too late to stop by my parents house to pick up the dogs, Boomer & Busby.
On the way home, my wife asked if we could stop at Walgreens to pick up a home pregnancy test so we did.
When we got home, we went straight to bed and I didn't think any more of it.
Due the time difference, we were awake early the next morning. I heard my wife get up and go into the bathroom.
A few minutes later she shouted to me "should I tell you now or should I tell you later?".
That was my first cue something wasn't quite normal so I looked at the clock and put on my glasses. I always seem to hear better when I'm wearing my glasses for some reason. It was 3.30am.
"I'm pregnant". Those were the next words out of her mouth.
I don't know if it was the jet lag, or shock but I didn't really react. Sometimes my wife messes up these kinds of things so I wasn't letting myself get too carried away at this point. It was only after a week of taking ovulation prediction tests that she finally read the instructions to find out she'd been doing it all wrong so I think I was justified in my hesitation.
We talked for a little while, then I went to work nice and early.
She took another home pregnancy test the next day and when it too was positive, we made an appointment to see the doctor.
We got back late on Monday the 23rd, but not too late to stop by my parents house to pick up the dogs, Boomer & Busby.
On the way home, my wife asked if we could stop at Walgreens to pick up a home pregnancy test so we did.
When we got home, we went straight to bed and I didn't think any more of it.
Due the time difference, we were awake early the next morning. I heard my wife get up and go into the bathroom.
A few minutes later she shouted to me "should I tell you now or should I tell you later?".
That was my first cue something wasn't quite normal so I looked at the clock and put on my glasses. I always seem to hear better when I'm wearing my glasses for some reason. It was 3.30am.
"I'm pregnant". Those were the next words out of her mouth.
I don't know if it was the jet lag, or shock but I didn't really react. Sometimes my wife messes up these kinds of things so I wasn't letting myself get too carried away at this point. It was only after a week of taking ovulation prediction tests that she finally read the instructions to find out she'd been doing it all wrong so I think I was justified in my hesitation.
We talked for a little while, then I went to work nice and early.
She took another home pregnancy test the next day and when it too was positive, we made an appointment to see the doctor.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Big news
A few days ago I mentioned that this blog would be changing slightly.
The reason is that I am going to be a Dad! So this blog will be about my adventures in fatherhood (to be).
My wife is now just over 9 weeks pregnant so it's still early days.
Over the next few days I'll be blogging about how we found out and what we've been up to so far so stay tuned to see how my life changes!
The reason is that I am going to be a Dad! So this blog will be about my adventures in fatherhood (to be).
My wife is now just over 9 weeks pregnant so it's still early days.
Over the next few days I'll be blogging about how we found out and what we've been up to so far so stay tuned to see how my life changes!
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