Is it possible...

for my belly to double in one day? Because I'm almost positive that that's what happened today. I think I gained three pounds on my belly just since breakfast. My bathroom scales disagre with me, but I'm not so sure that they're not lying to me.

In other news...I have many students who are thrilled about LBH and ask about the baby all the time - both male and female students. One in particular, we'll call her Sara, is so excited about me being pregnant that she positively gushes when she talks to me about it. She's planning a baby shower during third quarter that will happen at school and her mom has told me that she talks about me all the time at home and looks at baby things for me whenever they go shopping (but, Mom said, she's refraining on purpose from buying me anything until she knows whether it's a boy or a girl).

Sara and the rest of my students are adorable about this baby and commenting on my belly and joking with me when they see me eating four or five times in one day. Interacting with them has made me learn to appreciate the wonder and value that we place on a brand new life. Even for a bunch of thirteen-year-olds, this is a big deal - for people who seldom think about things that don't involve themselves, who could run into you (literally) in the hallway and not even notice, who drop things and forget things and lose things every day...this is a big deal. It amazes me a little bit. In a good way.

It humbles me some, too, because they choose a baby they don't even know yet to care about when they usually stick to music, clothes and skateboarding. I wonder if LBH knows that when he/she is in middle school again it's going to be a lot more difficult to be cooler than music, clothes and skateboarding all at the same time.

Take a deeeeep breath....

Enter new side effect of being pregnant: reduced lung capacity.

I thought I wouldn't encounter that until later, but this was just me making things up again, I suppose. It doesn't happen all the time - just when I scrunch up my belly somehow, like by twisting my torso or leaning over - and it's easily remedied by straightening out again. I can still work out OK and go running and such, but I can't push it as hard as I used to because I can't breathe through all the activity. It's a little odd having to pause for a second while climing a few flights of stairs or to cuddle up with Kelly only to have to straighten out and catch my breath as soon as I get comfortable. And this is definitely limiting the yoga poses I'm able to do with the rest of the class.

The heart of LBH is still beatin'... bum bum, bum bum

So, the title there was meant to be said aloud to the tune of Huey Lewis and the news "Heeart of Rock N Roll." If you don't know who Huey Lewis is, and/or hear the tune in your head... well... you're probably from the Angela school of classic rock (though technically, I'm not sure you could call 80's pop, "rock"). Regardless, he was cool in the 80's. I promise.



Dad tip: Bring Huey Lewis and the News in to the bedroom, live, to seranade your wife to sleep every nght (hey, they could use the work), while simultaneously massaging her feet and wafting her with a palm frond.

Anyway, the point is that Angela and I went in for another appointment today and heard LBH's heartbeat for the 2nd time. It was, yet again, amazing! Not only did we hear the heart, but we hit it just right to hear the heart valves clicking! Hearing aloud the beating heart of a child that is ours, that we haven't yet met is indeed an indescribably touching and profoundly moving experience. For those of you who are parents, I need not describe the gut-check joy that hits you when that little sonogram wand hits the jackpot. For those of you who aren't parents it is just one of those things that would be diminished in attempting to explain. Everyone has those kinds of moments (breeders and non breeders alike), and I have a feeling that no matter how many times I heard that soft, quick whooshing sound it would never fail to be exhilerating.

It lifts our spirits every time, and soon (in fact 4 weeks from now) we will get not only a heartbeat, but LBH's first live sattelite broadcast! Well... ok, it's not a sattelite, but it WILL be his/her first video performance (sans Huey Lewis tunes, we hope). We're going to find out the gender, but we won't do so at that appointment. In Deal-or-No-Deal style, we will have the doc put the gender info into an envelope and not open it until Thanksgiving at our house (Angela will be the beautfiul model handing the bald guy the envelope). So for those of you waiting with baited breath to find out if LBH will be our first dude or first lady, mark down thanksgiving on your calendars. Conveniently, it has likely already been marked by the nice folks at the calendar company.

Our journey continues, and though it sometimes seems fraught with gory details, tests, disagreements on names and general baby madness... days like today make it all MORE than worthwhile.

It is with an overfull heart that I write for the first time, I love my wife and child...and nothing else really matters.

Working ears!

I got this bit of information in an email update today on my 17-week pregnancy:

Around this time your baby's ears pop from his head and Baby-to-be can now sense sounds. After all, he has plenty to listen to in utero! He's accustomed to the strong beating of your heart, blood rushing through your veins, and your stomach grumbling. He can also discern sounds outside the uterus, like your voice and music. Although, according to the Mayo Clinic, whether he can distinguish the sound of your voice versus other sounds is not yet clear.

Hooray! Our baby can hear our voices now!

Something else to look forward to soon...In the next couple of weeks, I should be able to feel the baby moving! I can't wait!

I found some fun stuff!

Since we're coming so darn close to the mid-point on this whole pregnancy thing, Kelly and I have started thinking about things like painting the baby's room and picking out names and acquiring things we'll most likely need when the little one arrives.

We're hesitant to buy too much at this point because we aren't ready space-wise; we're moving our home office to another room in the house and using the room it's currently in for LBH, a transition that's taking a while. Plus, we're not excited about spending a billion dollars on a new crib that will only be used for a fraction of the kid's life and clothes that will only be worn for a few months, so we're trying to be smart about how we acquire things and what we choose to acquire. We know we'll receive gifts from loving friends and family members who are excited for us and we're looking at getting what we can used, like from friends who don't need things for their own babies any more or from FreeCycle.com.

That said, we also know there are some things we will probably need to purchase brand new. One thing that I've been looking at a lot in the last twelve weeks or so are baby carriers - the ones that allow you to "wear" your baby. I've decided that I think I like the Moby Wrap the best.



And I think I like it best in this color, the chocolate brown. Black would also be good (both gender-neutral colors which will come in handy if we have either a boy or girl and also will look good on either me or Kelly) and they have a special version of the wrap that is made from a neutral color of organic cotton, which would also be wonderful. I like this wrap so much because it's so versatile; you can wear your baby in 20 different positions and carry your baby from preemie size through 45 pounds (although their website says most people are only comfortable carrying their baby up to 35 pounds). The wrap comes with instructions and the instructions are also on their website. One of my favorite holds that it shows you is the kangaroo hold, which encourages skin-on-skin contact with the baby with either mom or dad, which (I've also read a lot about on a few different sites and in some books and magazines) helps with growth and development of the baby. This wrap also just looks more comfortable than the slings or backpack-looking contraptions that I see people in around town with metal parts and hinges and locks. Plus, when you're not using the wrap as a wrap, you can use it as a blanket or pillow and when it gets dirty you just throw it in the washer.

Another plan we have is that this baby will be breastfed. I have seen moms out and about recently using these fun Hooter Hiders. The website has a lot of fun baby items, but what I really like are the nursing covers. I can't decide if I like the solid, organic colors better...





or something more fun like this brown one with flowers.



I think it's like going to a good restaurant where you can just tell the server to bring you anything off the menu because you know that anything set down in front of you will be delicious. I may just need to order one with a note asking them to send me anything (except one of the overwhelmingly puke-pink ones) because I'll love whatever I get.

And finally, there are the Shrunks. I just thought these guys were fun. And, hey, if you're going to have stuffed animals around, they'd better be cool ones, right? I mean, who needs eight million teddy bears, bunnies, ducks and sheep?





This site also features some fun things to keep in mind for when the kiddo is old enough to actually fear things, like a Fear Bust'r Kit and other anti-monster devices.

Photos: 15 Weeks

It's still tough to see in pictures, but when people see me in person they totally notice my little baby bump. I went through my closet last night and tucked some of my smaller shirts away into storage. Even some of my not-so-small shirts are starting to become belly shirts. Most of my pants are still OK, but some of my dress pants require a rubber band to fasten them. In general pregnancy land, everything is going well!

Test Results

I'd forgotten that I hadn't posted my test results here yet, so I thought I'd go ahead and do that.

Well, the syphilis test came back negative, which wasn't at all a surprise.

The UTI test also came back negative, which I had also anticipated.

I tested positive for Hepatitis B antibodies, which I had guessed would be the case because I was vaccinated for Hep B just a few years ago.

I tested negative for rubella antibodies, which actually was a surprise. I have received an MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) since turning 20, but my midwife said that rubella sticks around longer in some people than in others. She also said this isn't anything to worry about unless there's an outbreak in Boise, but that after I have LBH I should get vaccinated again.

And my iron came back "just low of normal," she said. She suggested that I start eating more red meat and other iron-rich foods or, if I start feeling more tired, that I start taking an iron supplement. I think I'll try to get all the iron I can from my food, thank you. So, I guess that with my protein, calcium and now iron dietary needs, I should live off of steak and milk for the next six months. Check. When I told Kelly the news he said that that explains my recent desires for "man food." I've been wanting a lot of heavy, meaty options for meals lately. I guess my body knows an iron deficiency when it sees one!

Baby for President

I saw these birth announcements and couldn't help myself. I haven't bought them yet, but some day I might. :-)

If you want your own "future president" birth announcements, you can find them at Baby's Here.