Gomez – Options

Well kids, it’s week 11 or so, sorry for slacking so much, but apparently this is the slower season for changes in our Baby D’s (my new nickname) development.  Apparently toes are forming along with other appendages, and pretty much like every week in baby iPhone app, it’s “a big week for growth”.  I’m starting to wonder when their going to say “Nothing really happened this week, enjoy that elbow in your bladder.”  I’m sure that is what my wife will eventually be sure to remind me of sometime around the holidays this year.   Per her request, I’m going to officially apologize for my obvious grammatical mistakes, that apparently are driving her crazy.

In other news, last week was the launch of the fall TV season, just in time for us to lay around on the couch growing a child.  My favorite character Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec is the inspiration for the title of today’s post.  It was in one of these watch parties that my wife also said something that I both have never heard her say before, and that I’m pretty sure she’ll deny after the pregnancy.  And I quote “God, I just can’t get enough food these days.”  Ah the joys of pregnancy.

We also had the opportunity to throw a couple’s baby shower for a good group of friends from college.  I guess this started a few years back with one of our friends in which we just wanted an excuse to party together, and while we are getting older and the partying is getting harder (to get up the next morning), it is still fun to see everyone and catch up.  That being said, I have a few suggestions for throwing one of these yourself.

1.) Anyone named Jimmy that shows up 6 hours before the party will probably be able to finish 25 or so games of one on one beer die while still live tweeting the outcome. Buy extra Sugar free red bull and don’t worry about the grass. #getitup

2.) Chipotle Chicken Sliders are a winner.

3.) Preggo cocktails are a must.  So are cake pops.

4.) The diaper game, while maybe on the agenda, can easily be avoided if you start the party late enough where the few pregnant women attending will get too tired to want to participate.

5.) If you have a friend that is a police officer, and he shows up to the party late after working, just remember that they were invited when they park a squad car in front of your house and come walking in the door before you pee yourself thinking it’s just another cop coming to bust your ass.  Oh, and remember that you’re 29 and that you’re not doing anything wrong.

That’s it for this week in pregnancy advice, I’ll be sure to start posting more now that we’re almost through the first Trimester and more and more people know about this crazy ride.

Song (now playable while reading): Good Old War – My Own Sinking Ship:

So we’re at the big 10, in double digits for this kid, only 30 weeks left which hopefully means 60 more posts for ya’ll.  As you can see above I’ve added an audio player for you to listen to what I’m listening to while you read…..the wonders of technology.

So with only 10 weeks of life under its belt, the wife and kid are already in the newspaper, she’s the one mentioned in the article as “found out she was pregnant and couldn’t attend”:

Patron Secret Dining Club

Already trying to show up his/her parents with a pregnancy mention is probably not the first time that we’ll be put in our place by this kid, and to be honest with a “no show” so far, I’m starting to wonder what’s going on in there.  Yeah yeah, my wife is reading me the daily “what’s happening now” iPhone app info, but I still have to wonder what’s next, and when do we start seeing the pregnancy as much as we’re talking about it?  From what I’ve heard this little thing has working elbows?  I mean really, elbows?  My wife I’m sure was thinking “I can’t wait until those elbows can jab me in the bladder when I’m trying to sleep.” Whereas I keep thinking, “At least the kid has a way of moving around if nothing else.”  Either way, I hope to see a little more movement in hopes to prove this is actually happening and not just a fluke TV show about people that had no idea they were pregnant until they get to the hospital.

As for other things going on in our lives, we bought blinds, a rug and coffee table, and this weekend I officially made room for baby products in the kitchen.  I know, only 25% of the way through the pregnancy and you’re already moving the serving dishes for baby bottles, what are you thinking?  If you knew me beyond this blog you’d be surprised that I waited this long.  For what it’s worth, I am going to wait to paint the bedroom which my wife was ready to do a year ago just to get rid of the white walls in there.  I’m just glad we blew $200 on bedroom linens for that room 3 weeks before we found out we were pregnant, I really feel that those things are going to look great on a closet shelf in 6 or so months.   The goal will be to just not have to paint the hall closet to match the pattern on the comforter.   Have a good work week folks.

So you wake up early, you’re a little groggy but you can’t drink any coffee because you have a life insurance physical in just a short hour.  Yeah yeah, you’re 12 hour fast before was easy, but you’re nervous about drawing blood, and then you find out that they have to take a urine sample after you’ve already emptied out what you may have had when you woke up.  The nurse then asks you to step on the scale and while you have the urge to either strip down in front of her to just your boxers and then step on the scale and flex your biceps like a well trained middleweight, or borrow a wrestling singlet and wear it under your clothes ready to pounce; you remember that that today is also the day that you’re going to the doctor for the first time as a potential parent, and that those childish antics probably wouldn’t be as funny when you tell your child as they get older.

Either way, today was the big first appointment with our OB/GYN to make sure that the last few weeks of sobriety for my wife have been justified.  When we walked in we weren’t quite sure if we were going to have an ultrasound or maybe just a quick “check under the hood”, but we did know that we were a little nervous with this being our first child, and the fact that we really only knew what kids were like after they came out with the abundance of nieces and nephews that we always seem to have running around. My wife is also a charge nurse in the NICU of a St. Louis Children’s hospital, so her day to day experience also plays a bit into the “what happens if” scenarios that you run through your head the whole ride up to the doctors office.

Needless to say, we were relieved when they said that they’d be able to get in an ultrasound and not only tell us what our real due date is, but also that they’d be able to give us our first pics of the baby aka. gummy bear.  Unexpectedly, we were also able to hear the baby’s heart beat, which for those of you that haven’t had the experience, it sounds like a Dr. Dre song on fast forward.   After a 45 minute wait in the waiting room and a informative first time visit for this gentleman to the “lady doctor” exam room, we found out that we’re 8.5 weeks in, and due on April 14th.  Two things to note: 1) this is a week before my 30th birthday and 2) I now have a confirmed sober driver for 3 of my 4 favorite holidays.  Kidding aside we now have a countdown that I can use to title these posts, as well as make reference to things like trimesters, due dates, and time to detonation.

So with that in mind, I’d like to wrap it up with my favorite quote from one of my brother in laws in response to the big news.  It’s sure nice to know your stuff works and that your guys can swim.

8 1/2 weeks

So I wanted to wait until the next big milestone, the first doctors appointment, to dive into the day to day ranting, raving, and proliferating. Tomorrow we have our first big appointment to fully confirm, as my brother in law so eloquently put it, that “[you’re] really knocked up.”

But instead of talk about the hours of sleep that I’m going to miss, or the fact that my blood pressure is going to be slightly higher than normal just in time for my life insurance evaluation physical in the morning (also attributed to the baby), I’d like to talk about some other events that have happened recently that if anything, make me really appreciate what I’m gone through, and what I’m going to go through over the term of this pregnancy as well as beyond the next 7 months.

Today my wife and I attended the memorial service and burial of the still born child of some good friends. Without going into the details as I’m sure I would butcher in medical terms, out friends found out past the point of being able to terminate the pregnancy safely that their little boy was not going to be able to survive. After an induction and I’m sure heart wrenching early birth, they decided to have a service to celebrate a life that wasn’t had.  I really only wanted to mention this as it’s something that I’m sure every new parent worries about, and if anything, to recognize that even great people have bad things happen to them.  We’ll be keeping them in our thoughts through this whole process.

We also found out that a good family friend that has been going through cancer treatment down in Texas, has been having a rough go these last few weeks.  So on the completely other end of the spectrum, we’re seeing someone that we feel really deserves everything out of life, is unfortunately seeing some of the worst parts of it.  Again, it puts this whole start of a life thing into a lot of perspective.

Our hope is that tomorrow as we go in excited, nervous and happy all at the same time, we’ll be sure to think about others that are not at that same point in their lives, and that hopefully our thoughts and prayers going towards those we love will hopefully help those that we haven’t met yet.  More to come…..