New news!

We had the detailed anatomical ultrasound this morning. This time Curtis came along to watch, which was a big thrill for him. The most important thing is that it appears that the baby is developing normally: beating heart (149 bpm!), functioning kidneys, spinal cord & brain doing fine, arteries and veins developing, placenta & umbilical cord doing their jobs. In the pictures we can see two arms, two legs (even the bones inside them: ribs, radius & ulna in the arms, femur, etc!), and even all five fingers on one hand. It was so cool to see! By their estimates, the little one is 17 weeks along, which is still in the general vicinity of an August 27-30th due date.

The other thing that the scan showed is that it looks like the baby will be a boy! No more Gadget baby for us, we'll probably be calling him Gavin from here on out. That's going to take a little getting used to!

Things are changing

So I'm going to be a father. That is pretty incredible. After 10 years of deliberately childless marriage, I pretty sure most people had written us off for producing progeny. What can I say, life is nothing if not changes! (I am firmly in the camp that believes that 'May you live in interesting times' is a blessing, not a curse).

I've been thinking a bit about the changes that are coming our way. There are some obvious one's: like setting up a nursery, cutting back on travel plans, letting folks at work know that I will be out for while in August - September, etc. I've been kind of surprised at the not so obvious ones. I noticed recently that my world view has shifted. Not a really radical change, more like we have to fix these things, cause my child is going to have to live in the world! I mean, its OK if I wind up living in a post-apocolyptic, daily struggle for survival, existence. More or less it would be our own fault. But I'll be dammed if I had that sort of world off to my kids.

I'm sure this shift is by no means unique to Karen and I. It's just interesting to suddenly realize my perspective has shifted without consciously thinking about it. Probably explains a lot of the heated politics at both the local and national level.

And So It Begins!

It's looking a little shadowy in there, but this is the first picture of the baby that Curtis and I are expecting! We're so excited! We're starting this blog so that we can gush and do the new-parent thing, and friends and family can check in and see how things are going.

The ultrasound was taken last Thursday, and they estimate that the little one is about 14 weeks along. I got to see it wiggling around, and we confirmed 2 arms and 2 legs. We don't know the gender yet, but the next ultrasound in a couple of weeks might give us that info. All the tests & pictures look great so far, and everyone is healthy. I've had some predictable morning sickness, but I'm fine so far. The current estimated due date is August 28th.

Here are the other pictures from last week's ultrasound: