Hark! A Post!

Good Morning to all. Skip this paragraph if you want to just read about our doctor’s visit and the accompanying post. I would like to apologize for the long delay in posts. I have mentioned that things had slowed down, and that still seems to be true. Actual progress is currently noted by the calendar, not by any of the normal indicators: maternity clothes, baby showers, etc. Angie is still having morning sickness, but I sense it is no longer a perpetual thing, and I hope that the periods in between the worst of it are getting easier and longer. She did have a stomach bug two weeks ago, which really had her worn out, but she hung in and made doctors appointments and still only missed a half day of work. She’s pretty darn strong when she needs to be. We have been continuing our attempts at healthier eating, and play around with new recipes to find out what she enjoys and what I can cook. The walking every night has slowed down, Angie has been exhausted as of late, and to be honest, so am I. The weekends find us pottering around the house, doing the weekend cleaning, catching up on laundry, but mostly we are sorting through our stuff to throw away, donate, or put away all the things we have accumulated over the years. It is daunting to say the least, although we have really made progress. It is quite clear now, I suppose, why I have not been writing much. Most things that we are doing are pretty normal everyday things, not baby or relationship related (directly).

The first trimester is over officially (kinda, they measure it weird). Big milestone! Also, It's A Girl! Just kidding. We aren't planning on finding out actually, but when I asked Angie last night what she thought it was, she said girl. She said boy a couple of weeks ago, maybe next week it will be one of each.

The ultrasound picture below is from our third visit, the second to the OB office we liked. It was also our first meeting with our OB, and we were quite pleased. The Doc happens to be a dog lover which sets Angie and I immediately at ease and she also has kids. So in addition to her formal training she has real experience. This visit was the ‘optional’ visit to determine the likelihood of down-syndrome. It is kind of interesting what they test, and equally interesting what the results mean. The test is the thickness of the baby’s neck at the base of the head known as nuchal translucency (http://www.babycenter.com/0_nuchal-translucency-screening_118.bc) and it basically assesses risk factors for down-syndrome. Note that it is not a yes or no test, but it provides a ratio for the likelihood of chromosomal anomalies. We have not gotten the test info back yet from the blood test, but I will keep you informed. (As a side-note: I find the whole ratio concept really weird, but not unsettling. In a positive light, I’m a firm believer in the one-in-a-million chance still meaning that there IS a chance, but in this case I have to be positive by going backwards and thinking 1 in 5,000 being highly improbable.) Our next visit will be in March and we will get a chance to talk to their pregnancy education person, and start finding out about childbirth classes and baby CPR. Otherwise all things are moving ahead fairly normally or at least normally for us.

Next Visit

Eleven Weeks

Life continues at a brisker pace, but it is comforting. The initial rush of expectant parent activity has passed, and the current level of activity is extremely productive. For some reason, the slowing down has sped things up. That type of statement is normally an oxy-moron, but it happens to be true. I suspect that most things in life occur in this fashion but it tends to be a more subtle transition from wild activity to steady pace. Ours was not. Angie and I have different methods of handling some situations, generally they not only co-exist, but the compliment each other. In this case we were not quite on opposite poles, but we were certainly proceeding differently. We spent several nights discussing the evolution of our parenthood, and together moved forward into this new pace. As I said earlier, our new pace is comforting and seems to get us where we need to be in 29 or so weeks.Angie by the way is feeling better. Her exact words were:

"When I don't feel like vomiting or nauseous, I feel more normal."

I think that sums up everything. The daily activity feels more normal, but there are still some moments of worry and concern over being parents.

Pregnant Pause

It seems that despite the rapid development and growth of the mini AngieDavid, most other things are relatively slow. We have done some traveling to see Angie's Mom a few weeks ago, and my Dad and stepmother came and stayed with us this weekend on their way to Florida. We have been lightly nesting, getting old clothes packed up, sorting through old sheets, comforters and towels. We spent two days restoring our backyard from a leaf graveyard to a stunning dirt plot edged with brick. We will endeavor to grow grass again, after we have decided how to pen up the animals. All things being equal, very slow and normal. Angie is still not feeling great but we are anticipating those days ending soon. She has weathered it well so far and is keeping her spirits up.
More as things develop.