New Sonogram

Here is the latest ultrasound of little Peanut. He/she is getting to be be bigger. I really liked Dr. Dix, and am glad Geoff made me choose an OBGYN. She was happy with all the answers we gave her, though Geoff is disappointed I haven't put on any weight. I'm happy though. :) I have plenty of time to put on weight.

So the pregnancy is going along swimmingly. On Saturday, we went out to Peet's for tea, and while Geoff was talking about work, I had this overwhelming feeling of wanting to cry. When I shared it with him, he touched my arm and said "you're going to be a great mom". That was it, pushed me over the edge. What a meanie he is!

I go back in 4 weeks for the 16 week check-up, and then at 20 weeks we get the next ultrasound. That one will be in movie form, so I'm not sure yet if we'll be able to post it. Ideally by then we'll be able to find out the sex.

That's it for now. Diane sent me a ton of pregnancy books, so I better get at looking through them.

New OBGYN

Because Geoff wanted to go with a recommendation by a neonatal nurse we know, we decided to make an appointment with an OBGYN, instead of just staying with my GP. So we will be seeing the new doctor on Thursday. I'll be sure to post and let you know what transpires. Geoff will be coming with me, he'll take the shuttle from work to the hospital.

That's all that's going on. No new symptoms to report.

Motherhood

So, I finished the book The Girlfriends' Guide To Pregnancy, and it was enlightening and frightening. Holy cow! I knew that giving birth was going to be painful, but I had no idea how messy it was going to be! I didn't really think much about all that my body was going to go through. The book had me laughing out loud (the people at Peet's must think I'm crazy), and I think I better make Geoff read it so the labor isn't such a shock to him.

I visited Motherhood Maternity today. My first visit into a maternity clothes store. I just wanted to see what they had. Everything looked so cute to me, and I had to remember what the book said about buying stuff that you think is cute in the store, but looks awful on you if you buy it. I'm not at the stage yet where I can buy maternity clothes, I'll likely wait until later in my 2nd trimester. I'm only at 10 weeks, so I have plenty of time. I am finding that some of my clothes are getting tight, and I am taking all opportunities to wear my tighter tops and form-fitting dresses.

I'm so glad that everyone is excited about the baby, family, & friends alike. Even the volunteers I work with at the museum are very excited for us.

We're working on cleaning out our stuff that we don't need to make room for baby stuff. The 2nd room/nursery may be a little cramped, but what can you do? We won't move into a new place, I mean they are lowering our rent, we'd be crazy to start all over somewhere else.

I guess that's it for an update. I feel great, it's been over a week and no more morning sickness. I am getting leg cramps in the middle of the night, but they aren't so painful. I am having weird dreams, but that's suppose to be normal. Well even if it wasn't normal, it's normal for me.

I should get started on my pregnancy journal since I have all this free time.

Going to be a Dad

Well knowing that I'm going to be a Dad is quite an experience. Mostly, I'm still in some sort of state of disbelief. It probably won't really start sinking in until Melissa starts showing. I feel pretty useless at this point as my part in this process is essentially done. All I can do now is stick to what I know best. To me it seems that I am in charge of two major things: making sure that the baby (i.e. Melissa) is getting the proper nourishment, and ensuring that the technology that will support our family is up to the task.

The former is a daunting task mostly due to the unique eating habits of the mother. But I believe I am making headway. I shudder to think, however, about what will be consumed next week when I am away. For instance, this week I had to make sure that doughnuts was not the only thing that was eaten for breakfast.

The latter task to me is a much more exciting prospect. I know and love gadgets, and having a baby opens a whole new realm of gadgetry that before never existed. My first task was to change our phone system. I know we will be making many more calls to Canada after the baby is born so I took advantage of the Vonage VoIP system. This gives us a phone line using our existing broadband internet connection, and it is considerably cheaper than our land line with free calls to Canada. This means that we have to put the phone in the living room though, where our cable modem is, so the search began for a cordless model. We were able to find a nice cheap one that uses the 5.8GHz spectrum (i.e. no interference with our 2.4 GHz wireless network or a 900 MHz baby monitor). I think this will be a better system for all those involved, but I still need to do some extensive testing today and tomorrow before I leave to make sure. The trip to Babies 'R' Us woke me up to the new and exciting world of baby gadgets. Technology has come a long way, and made a lot of these projects multi-taskers, which appeals to my frugal side. For example, take the stroller that we picked out. It is a stroller (all tricked out with one handed operation) which also serves as a baby carrier/baby car seat/toddler stroller/diaperbag carrier/sippy cup holder/baby restraining system. For some reason though manufacturers make everything HUGE (which I think equates to safe and sturdy in the minds of parents) so we selected the smallest and lightest one they had. I'm really very impressed with the technology that goes into this thing. The other big thing we looked as was a high-chair. The one we picked has adjustable height, again full restraining system, and will convert to a booster seat when the baby is old enough. It's also upholstered with plastic so you can just hose it off in the bathtub when the damage is done. It was also the smallest of the bunch, which is important considering that our dining room/kitchen area is so small. The other exciting thing we looked at was a rocker chair, which includes an ottoman. This should make for some very pleasant nights holding the baby. Thinking is on this one that you can't be asleep in bed, so you might as well be comfortable with the task at hand. The ottoman means baby does not fall off your lap when you both fall asleep together :) This is multi-tasking in the sense that it's a nice rocker that will be used long after the baby is grown up and moved away. Now for the best part about all of these gadgets...they all need to be assembled! I can't wait, I'm going to have so much fun putting stuff together, something which I hope little peanut will appreciate more when it is older.

So these are my duties for now. I'm sure as time progresses I will be expanding my job description, but for now I'll just enjoy what I've got. I looking forward to finding out how exactly we are going to survive this experience!

Registry

Last night, we drove out to Highlands Ranch to visit Babies R Us and to register. What a fun and frightening prospect. It's fun because you walk around the store pointing the gun at stuff you need and want for your little one, and yet as a new parent, you're not sure what you need or what is good. We spent the most time deciding on a stroller, wanting one that suits us, and will compact into our Saturn. The other hard decision was a high chair. They all seemed so big and bulky. But I think we got a good start on the list. Obviously we'll have to go back and get the stuff we missed. We didn't pick out any clothes because

A. We don't know the sex of the baby, and
B. People are going to buy clothes anyways.

I have to talk to all my mom friends and ask about a few items, to get their feelings on stuff. Just stuff we didn't register for yet because I wanted to talk to them first. The other reason for wanting to return to the store... Just two blocks away is a Krispy Kreme. :)

Sonogram

Since I received a request to see the sonogram, I posted it on my website. To get a larger view of it, simply left click with your mouse and choose open image in new window. That's all the baby news I have to share.

Symptoms

It's funny now how I can look back on our trip to Scotland, and when I felt ill, I attributed it to jet-lag, when it was morning sickness. Actually, my morning sickness lasts all day, but luckily it doesn't advance past being nauseated. I also am feeling really tired, and I have very little appetite. It's become a joke in our house, everytime I complain about something, Geoff says, let me guess it's a symptom of pregnancy. In all honesty, they all are. :) He goes between wanting to protect me & Peanut, to then saying I should be doing more, because he doesn't want no loafer baby. :)

I've been getting the sweetest e-cards (Heather, Kelly, & Cindy), and it's so great to know people are praying for the safety and health of our family. People are also starting to plan visits to Denver (who knew this is what it would take?). Naturally the parents will come right around the birth, but siblings are planning to come shortly thereafter. Cindy wants to come from California at the end of March. Geoff and I had plans to go to Rhode Island for a conference in April, but I doubt I'll go. Geoff says he may still go, as it's a hotel room where he'll be able to sleep. I've given some thought to if and when I may want to take a trip up to Edmonton after the baby is born. It would mean a lot to me to be able to introduce the baby to my grandparents. They love kids. We'll have to see what money affords.

I've been reading some books recommended to me by Kirsty, back when she was pregnant. We'd love to be able to tell Doug & Kirsty, but they've moved, and we have no number for them. I did email them asking for their number, so ideally we'll hear back in a week.

My next appointment is in 4 weeks, so I'll have stuff to share then. Until then, I don't know what I'll have to write.

When We Found Out

At the end of July, I went to see a fertility doctor. I'd been having problems not ovulating. My regular doctor gave me Progesterone, to make me menstruate. It was supposed to kick start my cycles. The last dose I took was in May. In June they sent me to have an ultrasound, to make sure my ovaries were okay, and to see if they could see any signs of PCOS (Polycycstic Ovarian Syndrome). The ultrasound came back normal, and that's when I was referred to the specialist. The fertility doctor was certain I had PCOS, judging by my hormone levels. We set up an appointment to do some more tests, specifically a glucose tolerance test, to make sure I'd be safe to start Metformin, which would make my hormones return to their normal levels. While it's used to treat diabetes, it's also now used to treat PCOS. We discussed what the next step would be after Metformin, which would be fertility drugs. Geoff and I had a long talk about it, and decided it was too expensive, and our insurance wouldn't cover it. We resolved to continue to try on just the Metformin, as the doctor said some women conceive that way. I felt certain that all my body needed was to be at it's normal levels, and the eggs would figure out what to do. After 3 weeks on the Metformin, he wanted me to take a pregnancy test. If it was positive, great. If it was negative, that would be the point to go with fertility drugs. Well, the 3 week mark came before we left for Scotland, and I figured it could wait. Whatever the results, I didn't want to take that knowledge with me. Upon our return, we bought a test, and took it. Immediately it started to change. I didn't think anything of it, sometimes you see a faint line, it doesn't turn into much. After 2 minutes, Geoff went in the bathroom to wash his hands, and he called to me, "what's it supposed to look like?". I went in to look, and there were 2 very obvious lines. We sorta looked at each other and laughed. This was the first time a test ever came out positive. We talked about it that night, and I made an appointment for Monday morning.

On the way to the doctor's office, I prayed to God. I just said, it's in Your hands, and Your will be done. I get to the appt. and they take my temperature and weigh me. (Side note: I was so thrilled with that weight! I've been working on losing a few pounds, an dI was at a weight I was very happy with.) I accept that the weight is to be enjoyed now, as I will likely be putting on more. Small price to pay for a child. They ask me to give them a urine sample, and then I wait. A few long minutes later, they confirm it. I'm pregnant. Now we need to figure out when I'm due. I told them when my last period was, May, but that I started Metformin in July. Lucky for me, they have an ultrasound on site. We'll just have a look. If indeed I am 4 weeks along, we'll be able to see a little egg sack. We do the ultrasound, and the lady conducting it says, "well that's interesting". What? "well, you can see there is cardiac development" I am 8 weeks along! I see a little tiny peanut with a heartbeat. It's a surprise to me, I had no idea I was that far along. It's incredible to watch. They point out to me where the hands and feet will be, right now they are just buds. They give me a printout picture, and congratulate me. They draw blood, which they assure me will be the most they'll take this whole pregnancy. They give me some information, and tell me to see my doctor in 4 weeks.

I call Geoff immediately exiting the building. "Hi Dad". Yup, it's for certain, here's the kicker, we're 8 weeks along. When we thought we were at 4 weeks, we wanted to wait until week 8 or 10 before sharing. Now I know I have to call everybody! Here's a list of some of the reactions we got (in no particular order):
My Mom: did a happy dance
Geoff's Mom: shaking with glee
Geoff's Dad: stunned at being called Grandpa
Dawn: screamed, then "I have to shop!"
Colin: explicative, then joy
Meghan: screamed, then cried
Rachelle & Julie: screamed

It's been a hoot telling people. Lisa is on vacation, so she has a message on her machine to come home to.

The baby is due March 13, 2005, which happens to be Meghan & Mike's anniversary. I've never heard of a baby arriving on time, so we'll see when he/she comes. We decided we do want to know the sex of the baby, and I think we'll be able to find out in a few months. I really want to go register this weekend, at Babies R Us. The registry will be available online.

That's it I guess. Continue to pray for the baby's health and development.

We're Going To Be Parents!