25 Weeks

It's amazing how quickly time is flying. In a mere 15 weeks, we'll have a real, live baby to love, cherish, and care and provide for. Thinking about where we were 15 weeks ago, it doesn't seem very long at all. Surely the next 15 weeks will pass just as quickly, if not moreso. Yet, we truly cannot wait!

This week, the baby is about 13 1/2 inches long. He weighs in somewhere around 2 pounds, or about the size of a large rutabaga. All that energy that has been going into developing key organs and such now begins being used to put on weight. At this point, he's going to begin putting on about a quarter pound a week, and soon that will increase to half a pound a week. Another key development this week is that his hair begins to take on color. Up until now, it's been white. Given that both Mike and I have brown hair, I'd guess his will be brown, too, but there can always be surprises! He's also developing more distinct patterns of sleep-time and awake-time at this point. Each morning, when my alarm goes off at the ripe hour of 5:15am, he's definitely awake already, so we'll have to see what we can do about that when he arrives!

We have another doctor's appointment later this week on Thursday just to check in. Before this appointment, I get to drink a nice tasty concoction that they described as flat, super-sugary orange soda. I then have to go have my blood drawn for a glucose tolerance test. That should be fun! Other than that, it will just be your standard check-up.

Mission Accomplished: Baby Furniture Selected

At the set out of this weekend, Mike and I declared that we were bound and determined to have purchased baby furniture by the end of the weekend. We didn't make it out to do any shopping yesterday, so that left today. In the end, after three hours of roaming around a gigantic baby furniture warehouse, we were successful! The owner of the store was incredibly helpful and put up with all of our waffling and comments like, "I don't really like that set. I don't know why. I just don't." (Of course, comments like this were always from me.) But we had to put up with his idiosyncrasies as well. He was quite a talker, launching into a 20 minute tirade at one point about how there really is no danger at all to using crib bumpers and there's so much incorrect information out there that just ends up terrifying new parents. Through all of his talking, he ran us all around the store from crib to crib, dresser to dresser, giving us all of the details on each one. In the end, he helped us find just what we wanted. Ultimately, our only small concern is that we chose a crib and a dresser with hutch from two different brands, so we're hoping the colors coordinate well. They seemed to match very well in the store (much better than in the pictures below), so hopefully they will when the actual pieces arrive in our house as well. Either way, we keep reminding ourselves, it's just baby furniture. The baby will have no idea whether everything is the perfect shade or not. All that really matters is that everything is very safe and well constructed -- which the pieces we chose are. The pieces we ordered are shown below. Our next task is to clean out the nursery (currently the office) to prepare for the arrival of all this furniture. The crib will go in our bedroom for about the first six months, but we still want to have the nursery all prepared for the little one's arrival in February so that we're not scrambling to put it together once the craziness of life with a newborn begins.

23 & 24 Weeks

Once again, I got a little behind, so I'm combining two weeks into one post. Over the past week, he was the size of a large mango. His ears were in a period of rapid development, and he can now hear many of the noises in the outside world, which is helping to prepare him for joining us.

While all this development was going on over the past week, we were busy celebrating another exciting event. We spent Sunday with the family celebrating Jen and John's engagement. They will be married on October 10, 2009. Everyone was on hand to celebrate this exciting news, and it was fun to be with them as they took another big step toward a new life together.



Today, we hit the 24 week mark, meaning we have entered the third trimester. At this point, he's about the size of an ear of corn. His lungs are developing this week, preparing to be able to breathe. His brain and taste buds also continue to devleop this week. He has also begun to have periods of both sleep and awake time.


Today, we also had another ultrasound. It was actually a 3D ultrasound, so we got some amazing pictures, which you can see below. I think that he looks like my brother, and Mike agreed that he could see the resemblance (after laughing at me and saying that all babies look alike). He's clearly going to be quite an adorable little boy -- and not just because he's our son! The ultrasound technician and doctor both were again shocked by how much he's moving around, and he was actually being pretty quiet at the time! He's definitely quite active and full of energy. He seems to kick quite vigorously whenever I eat. Mike thinks he can hear the food coming down and knows he's getting some soon and just gets so excited for it that he can hardly contain himself. The ultrasound also revealed that he is weighing in at 1 pound, 9 ounces at this point, still a bit above average by about a week or so of development.

So, enjoy the new pictures, and let us know if you think you notice any resemblances! We'll be interested to see if you agree with our assessment.

Dad's Corner: Baby Fights Back!

I haven't written for a while, but nothing much has been going on.  This whole pregnancy thing is like having a mood disorder.  You find out you're pregnant (or that your wife is when you're driving to Home Depot and she casually drops, "I think I may be pregnant"... story for another day) and you initially don't know what to feel.  It's scary but exciting.  You can't tell anyone but you want to tell everyone.  There are a few days of sorting out your emotions and then you get a confirmation, which means you have to pick a set of emotions and stick with 'em.  After that, there's a period of awkward laughs and glances as relatives joke about you having a baby or ask why your wife is only drinking water when she's normally a booze hound (just kidding Danielle).  Nothing is changing physically and no one knows, so no one asks questions.  Then there is another peak when you spill the beans to your inner circle and everyone gets excited and of course you get excited because you can finally talk about it.  Next is another period of nothing much happening until your wife finally gets a baby bump.  Even though you are the only two who can see it, it's another confirmation that there is really something going on.  Another lull.  Then the ultrasound where you see something that resembles a kidney bean but the doctor assures you that it's your baby.  Another lull.  Now she's really getting a bump, people start buying things, you tell more people, you register for gifts, and everything is moving along.  Another ultrasound, "It's a boy!".  And now we arrive at the present.  A lull followed by feeling him kick!

Danielle has felt him for a few weeks now, but I've been able to feel him within the past week.  It's incredibly strange and alien-like and I can't imagine what it must feel like for Danielle.  If I felt something poking around in my insides, the last emotion I'd be feeling would be any kind of happiness.  I'd probably be thinking about getting to the bathroom and preparing for some kind of atomic blast from my... sorry.  I'll keep it G rated for the children out there.

Other than that, we've still been doing some baby shopping.  Now we look for cribs.  Not just any crib though.  Apparently it's more involved than that.  It has to have a nice matching hutch/changing table/armoir/shelf system.  It has to look nice.  Not too formal, not too "babyish".  "But he is a baby, Mike" you may say.  Believe me, I'm on your side.  I've tried explaining this to Danielle and that, not only is he a baby, but he's not going to give one ounce of green doo doo about his furniture.  Still, Danielle insists there is some kind of zen balance we need to achieve.  When I was a baby, I slept on a bed of nails to toughen me up.  It prepared me for the humanitarian missions to Africa I was doing at 3 months in between my doctorate studies (Am I allowed to start using the old, "When I was your age..." bit yet?).  As long as it's safe, I'm happy with whatever we finally get.

Baby's words of wisdom: "That's right dad.  I can almost knock you out while naked, upside down, and covered in goo when you put your ear to mom's belly.  You're mine!"

22 weeks

This week started out dreary and rainy here (in fact, we had six straight days of rain), but we've lucked out this weekend. It's your quintissential New England fall weekend -- bright sunshine, cool, and a crispness in the air. I love this time of year! Mike and I enjoyed a nice long walk around the neighborhood this afternoon, meandering down every side street so we could prolong our time out in the fresh air. Mike even "practiced" rolling an imaginary stroller around, trying to get a feel for what it would be like to have the little guy with us on our walks. He can barely wait for the baby's arrival. He already has all sorts of plans for things they'll do together, including attracting all sorts of babes when I'm not around, since babies are good for that! :-) One thing he's not as excited about is all this shopping we keep doing. Today, we hit the Baby Furniture Warehouse in Braintree. It was a good start to get us rolling, but we realized that we needed to come home and do some measuring before we could really begin to make decisions. However, we definitely have our eyes on a few contending furniture sets. Hopefully in the next few weeks, we'll decide all of that so that we can get everything ordered, as they have a 10 to 12 week shipping period.

As for the baby, this week, he's about one pound and about 11 inches long, or about the size of a spaghetti squash. He's beginning to get crowded inside there, which seems to have led to a little less flailing around. He's beginning to form tooth buds below his gums this week, and his lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct. Apparently, he actually looks like a tiny baby now and less like a mutant alien or sea creature!