Gaga

So...here we are, 9 days until the baby is due, my wife is on the way to the magic dilation number and what exactly have we been up to tonight?

I've had a quiet night. I watched a bit of TV and played with my iphone.

My wife on the other hand is living it up at a Lady Gaga concert.

Don't worry though, she's not roughing it with the plebs, she's tucked away in one of the suites nice and comfy.

That is definitely the way to go!

Shrek feet

My wife just phoned me complaining of sore and swollen feet that look like Shrek's feet.

Obviously being the caring, sensitive husband that I am, I reassured her that she did not have Shrek feet.

They're more like Princess Fiona!

Baby likes chicken

Last weekend we went to La Madeleine for dinner as my wife was craving one of their chicken salad sandwiches.

Usually, my wife can only feel the baby moving when she's lying in bed at night.

We were stood debating what we were going to have before ordering when all of a sudden my wife made a noise like someone had just tickled her.

The baby had given her a big kick, which was the first time while she's been stood up and out and about.

The baby was probably hungry and tired of waiting for us to order!

A few more grey hairs..but a happy ending

Today, I found out what it is like to be a parent worried about the well being of their child.

We had a doctor's appointment today and although everything turned out ok in the end, it was very worrying at one point.

Today was supposed to be an easy appointment to meet for the first time the doctor who would be delivering the baby, Dr Michael Hold.

Once my wife's name was called we were taken through to the back where they did the usual checks before taking us into one of the rooms. The idea is for a nurse (or whatever they're called) to do all of the routine stuff and then check the baby's heartbeat before the doctor sees you.

Only today, the nurse couldn't find the baby's heart beat. She tried for a long time, possibly about 10 minutes, although it seemed a lot longer at the time before attempting to reassure us that sometimes the person doing the scan can't locate the baby but another nurse usually can.

She did say she heard the heartbeat but only for a short time and she wanted to hear it for longer to make sure everything was ok.

So she leaves the room and another nurse comes in, introduces herself and gets straight down to the business of locating the baby's heartbeat. This nurse was a little more forceful and pressed the doplar thingy a bit harder into my wife's stomach. She moved it around and heard lots of various sounds but nothing like a heartbeat.

She eventually did find something with a heart rate of 133 and said though it was low for a baby, it was probably too high for a normal person so that was probably it.

We were starting to get a little bit worried by this point and that wasn't helped when the nurse took my wife's pulse and her face changed dramatically. She mumbled something to herself and ran out of the room.

We were both left wondering what was going on and were now very worried something was wrong.

Luckily, a few minutes later Dr Hold came to the room with an ultrasound machine. It was much briefer introduction than we probably expected but by now we just wanted to know the baby was ok.

Dr Hold did the ultrasound and after a few minutes located the baby who was moving around a lot. He showed us the blood flowing through the baby's body and legs and arms moving around but he still struggled to detect a heartbeat.

When he eventually did we were very relieved. Even when we could see the baby moving, it wasn't until we could actually hear a strong heartbeat we were sure the baby was ok. He took various measurements of the baby, the circumference of the head, length of the arms, legs etc.

When he put all the figures into the computer it said the size was that of a baby 16 weeks and 4 days old. My wife is actually 15 weeks 5 days so the doctor said this is a sign that the baby is healthy and growing. He then tried to find a good picture for us to take home but I think he got our baby's picture mixed up with something from Area 51. If it is our baby then it seems to have got it's looks from my wife's side of the family!

After that, we just asked the doctor a few questions we had and he asked us if we wanted the triple screen blood tests to check for Down's Syndrome etc. We agreed and we went over to the lab for them to take some blood.

My wife had previously suggested we get a dokpar thing for home so we could hear the baby's heartbeat whenever we wanted. After today, I think she now agrees it wouldn't be a good idea. Everytime we couldn't find it there would be a mass panic.

I suppose this is how it will be for the rest of our lives now, worrying about our children's well being so we better get used to it.

The results of the triple screen, which actually became a quin screen aill be in this week so our next appointment is next Monday to discuss the results.

Hopefully next time the baby will be a bit more co-operative!

Now then young lady..

Did you know that if the baby is a girl, she already has over 2 million eggs in her womb?

I know they grow up quick but I think it's a bit early to be thinking about that kind of thing!

Baby Center

My brother very kindly sent me a book called "The bloke's guide to pregnancy" by Jon Smith.

The book tells blokes what is happening and what is going to happen in the language they understand. It doesn't go into too much detail because we don't really need to know everything.

For example in the early stages of pregnancy, the book tells you that your wife (or partner) is going to very emotional and completely irrational but it is important to show sympathy and do whatever it is she needs you to do. It explains that it's not really her fault but is a result of her hormones going wild like it's the Hacienda in the late 80's.

Anyway, the book mentioned a useful website called Babycenter. It recommended that blokes sign up to the weekly updates that gives a brief explanation of how the baby is developing, any changes from the previous week and lets you know how big it is. My wife is now 14 weeks pregnant and in the last week the baby has gone from the size of a medium shrimp, to the size of a lemon. He or she can now squint, suck their thumb and pee, which is nice.

So if you're a pregnant man (it happens apparently) or your wife or girlfriend is pregnant, I would recommend checking out the resources aimed at helping blokes understand the things they need to know without scaring them with explicit details.

MOT results are in (or not)

You may remember that my wife had a doctor's appointment on January 14th which was just to check that everything was ok with her and there was nothing out of the ordinary.

As usual, the hospital told us that if we didn't hear from them everything is ok. You can read my thoughts on this policy here.

So it's now been 3 weeks so I think everything was ok. They did send my wife a postcard telling her that one of the tests came back ok and I know she really appreciated that information being shared with everyone who handled the mail that day as using an envelope would be too much trouble!

I was ill on the day of the appointment, well, actually I was ill all that week with a fever of 102 but my wife decided I should sit in a waiting room full of pregnant women.

When we went through for the actual inspection they left us sat in a tiny room for 45 minutes until the nurse decided to show her face. You can imagine how much fun that was with my fever and my wife shivering in the lovely paper vest they gave her to wear.

Anyway, we did get to hear the baby's heartbeat again and it was still strong so everything looks good.

The next appointment is the 15th February. This is when we can find out the sex of the baby if we want so I need to make sure I'm there to tell the nurse we don't want to find out. If my wife goes to this one on her own I'll probably come home to a spare room full of pink or blue baby stuff.

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!

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.

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.

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!