My sister, Lindsay, is about 2 weeks away from her due date. They are going to be having
a little boy and Gretchen and I are really excited to be an aunt & uncle (respectively of course).
The fun part is that we'll have cousins only 4 months apart and living in the same neighborhood.
I just came back from a 4 day bike ride in the San Juans (BTW, thanks
to everyone who donated money!), and Gretchen's belly seems to have grown
quite a bit! Of course, it could just be that not seeing her every day
made it seem like a lot.
Now, at 19 weeks, the baby is approaching 8 ounces and is starting to look a little more human. According to Babycenter.com, Herm looks like this.
We're just a week from the halfway point!
Subject: Middle of the night wakeup
[[Transcript as follows]]
Gretchen: Grant, wake up
Grant: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Gretchen: Honey!
Grant:...zzzzz..snort...J-Lo, don't go...zzzzzz!*...what?
Gretchen: I just felt the baby move!
[[Transcript ends]]
Gretchen says that it feels like a butterfly fluttering around...kewl! Of course
I couldn't feel anything, but I should in a month or so. For now, she gets all the fun.
I think I came as close to being pregnant as a man can get. I carried our friends' baby
around the farmers' market today in one of those "front-pack" thingees. It put pressure on
my stomach and when I was done, my lower back really hurt.
It's a good thing that us men don't carry the babies, we'd whine way too much.
Now, if only someone could figure out how a single man could get a baby, because babies are chick magnets!
Well, it's time to retire the tight jeans and form-fitting skirts: Gretchen is graduating to "transitional" maternity-wear.
This means that Gretchen will be telling everyone she meets, "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant".
I think there are lots of cool clothes out there for mothers to be. Of course, there are also some really bad clothes.
Today it's hard to say anything happy or hopeful. There were no planes in the sky tonight, and I hope
our baby never sees that again.
Gretchen is doing well after her first week of school, although the hours are making it
difficult for her to stay up past 8pm.
The baby is almost 4.5 inches from head to rump and will be putting on quite a bit of
growth over the next month. By now, Herm should be able to blink in addition to swallowing (cool).
According to Babycenter.com, our baby will finish this month looking like this.
We attended Gretchen's 10 year high-school reunion this weekend in Everett. I am pleased
to report that Gretchen is still the best looking babe of the bunch.
The evening was a trip back to the "glory days" of EHS class of 1991. Unfortunately, some people
never got over Def Leppard leaving the charts.
"Herm" has a heart!
Gretchen and I went to see the doctor
yesterday for pre-natal checkup #3. This time we were able to hear the fetal heartbeat
with the help of a Doppler microphone (called a Doptone). Since we don't want to find out
whether it's a boy or a girl, we didn't make a point of timing the heartbeats. However, I
can report that the heart sounds strong and healthy. Here are the pictures.
We are going to schedule an ultrasound for the first week of October, so stay tuned for more pictures.
Gretchen's first day of school is today. She will be teaching
English to 130 high school sophomores at Skyview High School.
The combined hormone levels just in that one room would be enough to make
Michael Jackson start singin' like Barry White.
Here's a picture of Gretchen and "Herm" heading unto the breach...
Stay tuned, tomorrow we'll be having pictures from the next pre-natal exam,
when we'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time.
Now in the 15th week, the baby is covered by a fine dusting of hair called "laguno"
which can be present until birth. I hope it goes away before then, because I have a feeling if Gretchen sees a hairy baby, she's going to blame me.
I've added a couple of new features to the site:
What started out as a little tweak turned into a site re-design; including a
little original art on the left.
I also re-ordered the pictures and journal so recent posts show up on top.
Hope you like the new look.
This week marks the end of the first trimester. Only a third of the way there? It feels
like Gretchen has been pregnant forever at this point!
We are breathing a little easier, however. The
end of the first trimester means that the likelihood of potential problems is reduced.
Gretchen is now 14 weeks pregnant. The baby is about 4 1/2" long from the head to the rump. According to the
doctor, the uterus is about the size of a grapefruit. This makes Gretchen feel better about the
expanding tummy; you try hiding a grapefruit behind your bellybutton.
We took some pictures last week and you can now see a little roundness.
We're not planning on finding out if we are having a "Him" or a "Her". So at this point we're calling
the baby "Himmer" or "Herm".
Well, no luck on the fetal heartbeat, though Gretchen is happy to hear that there is probably only 1 baby.
10 weeks is just a little early, so we'll try again after 14 weeks.
Here is a picture of Gretchen and the doctor listening for the heartbeat.
Were going in for prenatal visit number 2 today. We're supposed to be able to hear the heartbeat of the baby today.
Gretchen has got her fingers crossed that we are only going to hear one heartbeat (no twins).
I'll keep you updated as to what we hear.
According to Babycenter.com, our baby looks like this about now.
Gretchen went to visit an acupuncturist today to help with the nausea. Believe it or not, it actually works. The acupuncturist
says that the treatment will work for a couple of days, and then wear off. Supposedly, the more often you go, the longer the
effects last.
Check out this link for more information on acupuncture: www.acupuncture.com
The seal is broken!!! Gretchen started driving the porcelain pinto today.
Happy Independence Day, kiddo!
Our first prenatal visit. The doctor examined Gretchen and said everything was looking good!
At this point, the baby is about the size of a BB pellet, but by the end of the week, will be about
as big as a green pea.
Come to think of it, green is Gretchen's new color. Morning sickness has struck, but it's not just for
mornings anymore! Luckliy, it's just nausea, but it goes on all day.
Here is what the baby looks like about now.
Gretchen surprised me with a little gift, and I do mean little: a positive pregnancy test wrapped in
tissue and then placed in a little box. I was confused at first, because the box was for a tube of
anchovy paste! Once she explained to me that it wasn't actually anchovy paste, I was confronted with the
little pink line...
Oh wow...
Click here to see what the baby looks like this month.
September 30th, 2001
September 26th, 2001
September 20th, 2001
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 04:15:32 -0700
September 15th, 2001
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