Week Getting Closer to the End...or the Beginning

Just wanted to put out a couple of quick highlights from this weekend.

Man Baby Shower

Really big thanks to Omar and Scott - you guys are some really good friends. These two guys put on a totally awesome Man Baby Shower, which, at its core, was an awesome way to justify going to Clear Lake Park at 10:00am and cracking open a couple of Miller High Lifes. Can anyone else think of a better way to celebrate impending fatherhood?

Omar and Scott also organized a pretty great "Man About to Have a Baby Emergency Kit", filled with some shop towels and Monster energy drinks, among another things. They also got folks to pitch in for one of the best gifts of the weekend:





"Real" Baby Shower

Julia also had her baby shower this weekend, and it was equally awesome. Sure, it wasn't "walk around in the park with a forty" awesome, but it was still pretty great, nonetheless. Tamsin, Smashers, and Rosleen - you guys did an AWESOME job. From what I can tell, the party was an huge success. I'll let Julia fill in the details, but really, these ladies went way above what we expected. Thank you so much.

Here are a couple gift highlights:










One Last Gift

I thought this was one of the cuter gifts of the weekend, courtesy of Mr. P. Sure it was for the shower, but it has a little extra meaning on Father's Day.



Thanks!

Thanks again to everyone for the weekend. Really, really awesome.

Hello 3rd Trimester, good-bye blood....

Greetings to the 3rd trimester! We have less than 3 months before our little man joins us, and the thought of that is both ridiculously exciting and unbelievably terrifying.

Oh, Lorraine....
Our first story is about a nurse named Lorraine. She means well. I suppose that says it all. I received a call from Lorraine last Friday where she simply said, "Your hemoglobin looks good, but your glucose is 160. You need to come in for more tests." Well, I'm not the smartest person, but I understand what hemoglobin and glucose is...but I have no idea what my glucose should be. So after trying to ask several questions, she simply responded that they worry I have gestational diabetes. How did I hear that? Well, you know that commercial where they ask if you are suffering from GINGIVITIS...... yeah, that voice.
G-E-S-T-A-T-I-O-N-A-L D-I-A-B-E-T-E-S.

Well, she could not answer any of my questions. What does this mean? How can it impact the baby? Should I be changing my diet? I got nothing. So I scheduled another test and did what no person should do...I googled.

Test 1: Fast the night before, chug the second nastiest beverage ever (50 grams of sugar), wait one hour and have your blood drawn.

Test 2: Fast the night before, have your blood drawn (#1), chug the nastiest beverage ever (100 grams of sugar), wait one hour for another draw (#2), wait another hour for another draw (#3), and wait, oh yes, wait one more hour for another draw (#4).

Did I mention I'm pregnant, and hungry, and thirsty, and in all that time I cannot drink or eat? So during the week of not knowing, what is Julia doing? She's avoiding carbs, any types of sugars and restricting herself to vegetables and meat and lots of water. I denied myself fruit! That takes will-power. I get a call yesterday (not from Lorraine) saying "perfectly normal, you look healthy." And the clouds part, and the light shines down and angels sing...okay, so I was happy. That was such a relief. The funny part? The nurse tells me, "I don't know why you were worried. When your normal weight and good health, if you get a positive on the 1-hour test, it's typically a false positive, I'd say 95-98% of the time. It's not uncommon to get a false-positive. The 3-hour test is just a precaution." Oh Lorraine...that would have been nice to know. All that worrying for nothing.
The history of Lorraine:
-- Julia has back pain, calls the doctor. Lorraine says "whatever you do, rest. Stay laying down as much as possible." Later the doctor says, "Whatever you do, move around and stretch it out. It'll get worse if you rest too much."
-- Julia has been exposed to whooping cough, calls the doctor. Lorraine says, "Oh my GOD! Let me find a doctor, they're not here, I'll page them, wait I'll call her cell phone. We'll probably need you to come in and take labs and get on antibiotics right away." The doctor says, "No symptoms yourself? You've been vaccinated? You'll be fine. We'll keep an eye on it, but the baby won't get it unless you have whooping cough while giving birth."

Lorraine can be hysterical. She makes an unknowing-first-time-mother....hysterical. Next time she calls, I may have to ask to speak to another nurse. She means well.

Baby Class!
Yes, as Chris said, this class is informative and necessary. But as others say...ignorance is bliss. I mean, who really needs to see that epidural needle? I don't need to see it, I'll close my eyes, turn around, and you do what you need to do. And wait a minute, what are these other tubes and and catheters...plural? Where are you putting all those...oh no no no. Something is supposed to come out of there, you're not supposed to be putting more in. Yes, people say childbirth is natural and beautiful. Those people have no watched these videos. Those tubes are not natural, and they're not pretty. And forceps sound harmless, right? You see a picture, and giggle...but wait...take a look at those forceps next to a pair of tongs or something...forceps are HUGE! Why are they that big? Why do they look like the bad guy's hand from the Terminator? Why is Chris smiling?!

A big thanks!
A big thanks to Pops and Terri who helped us finish up furnishing the nursery with a glider!! Comfiest piece of furniture ever, and I'm already using it.


Baby
He's doing VERY well. :) Kicking like a champ...in the middle of the night.
Leading names:
Maxson
Parker
Cooper

Feel free to vote!!! My beautiful sister is getting married in 3 weeks! We are Buffalo-bound very soon and cannot wait :)

Week 25-ish: Hey! That's not an umbilical cord.

After a brief hiatus, here are a couple of the most interesting baby-related developments:

We finally decided on her name. It’s…Chuck?

No, we didn’t really pick her name, but we were pretty close. Until she grew a wiener.

To be honest, this totally threw me for a loop. It’s not that I wanted a girl or a boy in particular, but it’s a total change in perspective (interesting that he’s not even born yet, but there’s already the gender role influence). Pretty weird how one extra little (no jokes) appendage can change things.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if she’s a he or he’s a she. Now I just have to replace all the “Daddy’s little hockey princess” shirts with “Daddy’s ass-kicking hockey goon” shirts.

In terms of names, Julia and I are miles apart.

Actually, that’s not true. We’ve got a decent list of five or so names that we both really like. What is true is that, in typical good-versus-evil fashion, my top name (the good one) and Julia’s top name (the evil one) were simultaneously removed from existence. It was like matter and anti-matter coming into direct contact. Black holes formed, and our top names were no more.

Seriously, though, I’m pretty pumped about the names we have left. This is going to be one cool kid. He will have adoring fans, charisma will ooze out of his pores. Ladies will flock to him like…wait a minute. We’re naming him Eugene.

Welcome to birthing class! Here’s an excess showing of areolas.

We started going to birthing classes. Here’s my serious statement: in the end, I think these classes would help any first time parent. They’re educational, calming, and a good way to spend time with your wife. You realize you’re not the first one to blaze this path – there’s so much research and great advice out there for you.

On the flip-side, I’ve never seen such an unattractive showing of fifty-odd breasts. You hear “video on breast-feeding”, and your inexperienced ears perk up. Five minutes later, you’re searching for a spoon to gauge your eyes out with.

And then there’s the video where you get to watch the baby crown. Where’s that damn spoon!?!?!

Like I said before, it’s a great resource. In the end, it’s totally worth it. But during? Just imagine how awkward it is to be sitting in class when the instructor flashes a picture of her feeding her own kids up on the board. “Hey, that’s your bo…oh.”

One more note on the “It’s a boy!” thing.

Make all the jokes you want about that boy’s genetic inheritance. I’ll reiterate what Julia’s post said. The ultrasound doc said he’s “a boy ALL DAY LONG.”