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