WHAT????? 21 WEEKS?????

Today was my first official panic day.

I rechecked how many weeks I was along, now that we know a better due date. I assumed I was around 18 weeks. Oh no... redo the math, I am 21 weeks along. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I had just begun to mentally prepare myself for the halfway mark, and within minutes I not only reached the halfway point, I passed it! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

It was amazing, the baby grew from 5 to 7 inches in moments!

So I panicked! I looked at super dad-2-B and said "WE ARE NOT READY!!" I haven't picked out anything!! the car seat, the co-sleeper, the diapers, the breast pump (a very important item!), the stroller, which sling I want, the diaper bag!!!!

Super dad-2-B calmly said, "we have plenty of time" then sat me down, let me fret and search through some books, some reports, and decided on the car seat after some talk with super dad-2-B.

I also talked to a good friend and she suggested which sling I should use, and I told her, that's PERFECT!! She even said she would buy it as a gift for me, WHAT A GREAT FRIEND!!

so.. there is still some panic, but I think we are doing better. I say "we" but I mean, "me"! Super dad-2-B spent today cooking stuff for baby, and things easy to cook when baby gets here, as well as getting his shop ready to make the best bassinet ever.

I feel good, except McPickle decided to set up camp in my right hip, and I think he's playing jump rope with one of my nerves. So I step, then stop, step then stop. Super dad-2-B thinks it's hilarious. *sigh*

Time for bed

A womb with a view.

So as I sit watching the Wizard of Oz for the umpteenth time I think now would be a good chance for me to reflect back on the events of yesterday.
As we headed out for our appointment we really couldn't think about what to expect. I mean we both had seen ultrasound pictures before, but this one was understandably different. It was OUR ultrasound, and we were about to get a view of OUR future. Would everything be alright? Would we get a view of its arms, legs, hands?

Well now that it's over I can officiously say we did see all of this and more. And also, I think it's safe to say we aren't looking at a potential alien here. Though he/she did have a small body and large head... hmmm.

For those of you who haven't been through an ultrasound I can say for the most part the Dad just sits there and tries to guess what he is looking at. Personally I did pretty well at this game.
The wife, on the other hand, has a bit more important task to perform. She has to hold in about a gallon of pee while the ultrasound tech presses on her bladder. Apparently this isn't as easy as it may sound.
Oh, and that reminds me of the other task the Dad needs to do. You must refrain from making any comments about water or any jokes that will get your wife giggling. They don't like that.
This too isn't as easy as it sounds.

The entire visit was about an hour. The tech said that this was a bit more difficult of a procedure as our baby wouldn't cooperate and kept flipping over just as the tech was about to take a picture. The tech said, "This is a very active baby.". I'm guessing that's a good thing.
Then as we were looking at a cross section of the babies chest the wife spoke up and said, "Was that a hiccup?"
The tech wasn't sure so we looked again and sure enough our baby had the hiccups.

So that's it for now.. and without further ado here is the first image of the little one.

-HikerDad

flutter... um.. that was no flutter

I am so sick of that word.

I am pretty sure I have asked every woman I have come in contact with who has had a child what it is supposed to feel like when you first feel the baby. Many people have used the word "flutter".

Well, bullshit!

I haven't felt a flutter yet.

What I have felt is: "Ow, that's my rib", or "Get your foot off of that" " I don't know what you are standing on, but it hurts, GET OFF!!"

Most of the time it's just a pressure thing and doesn't really hurt, but tonight apparently when the baby decided to "explore" my ribs (meaning, treating my ribs as a xylophone) super dad-2-B thought it was side-splitting hilarious. no wait, he said, amongst his wheezing laughter, you have GOT to blog this.

The other day at the store I felt something hard in the front of my belly. I put super dad-2-B's hand on it, and he quickly labels the hard spot, "that's the head."
I said, "how do you know?"
He replies, "it's round, and bigger than his butt"

I have held my hand on my belly for several minutes before trying to figure out what the bumps are, and so far, I have found.... bumps.... and other bumps..... and baby bumps....

I have read in many places that women who were heavier, as I am, feel the baby later than thin women do, I have come to accept this, and realize I probibly won't feel the famed "flutter". But, I sure am enjoying what I do feel. As super dad-2-B said before, this is one of the best feelings of my life.

I think I saw this in a movie once.

So all of the guys I've talked to have agreed, we couldn't ever be pregnant. No I don't mean giving birth, I won't get into the argument about whether guys could take the pain or not. But rather the being pregnant part. You see as I understand it there is a LIVING BEING INSIDE OF HER. I mean think about it, this little creature is feeding off of her, breathing what she breathes, it's even peeing inside of her. Kind of like a tapeworm really.
Maybe I've seen too many SciFi shows but the thought of someone crawling around inside of me just gives me the willies.
Anyway, this week we've officially felt the baby move and I have to say it was one of the most exciting moments I've ever experienced. No, it wasn't a jump around and scream moment. I was simply holding my hand on my wife's stomach and I felt the baby slowly turn away. More of an "Oh, wow!" that's what life is moment.
So yes, even though I've just compared my future child to an alien and a tapeworm I'm more in awe of what's going on now than I have ever been about anything before.

Next week we will be having our first Sonogram and we'll finally see if it's really a baby or that alien thing I'm worried about.

-HikerDad