More from Matt:
So our little growing baby turned out to be girl! At our last ultrasound, they checked all kinds of things, including figuring out what parts the baby had. I’m glad the ultrasound tech knew what she was looking at, because I sure as hell didn’t. Anyway, everything else on her looked great. She’s developing normally and everything is working as it should. I didn’t know that the digestive system already gets started at this point, but apparently she’s already swallowing in addition to moving all over the place.
Now that she’s moving a lot and getting to be about a pound in weight, Tracie can finally feel her kicking! I haven’t been able to feel it yet, but she gets really active when Tracie eats. Hopefully soon she’ll be big enough that I’ll feel her kicks too.
Ultrasound says…it’s a girl!
The biggest news (other than the actual arrival of this child) was finally revealed today: we’re having a girl! This means that Matthew will now be ridiculously outnumbered (1 wife, 2 girl cats and 1 daughter).
However, the real reason for the ultrasound was to check on the baby’s development, and so far, everything looks fantastic! 10 fingers, 10 toes and all of the usual parts are developing just as they should be. We even could even see her little heart beating away.
So, the countdown to November 28 continues, and the amount of pink in Petro House increases exponentially!
Getting ready, slowly
More thoughts from Matt:
Tracie’s been feeling mostly better lately. Most of the queasiness has subsided and she’s actually started cooking again. Over the past weekend, we finally had to go and buy her some real maternity clothes. The belly is just getting too big for flowy summer dresses!
We haven’t really had a chance to start turning the extra room in to a nursery and really preparing the house for the arrival of the kid. I know that the baby will be arriving in November or December, but since the house hasn’t really changed much, I haven’t been able to feel super excited yet. I think that once we find out if we’re having a boy or a girl and we starting working on the room, it’ll feel much more “real” and I’ll get annoyingly paternal. Or maybe just slightly paternal. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Almost time to find out what we’re having!
The time is flying by! We’re halfway through the pregnancy and Petro Kid is growing nicely. At our last ultrasound, everything looked normal and risks for genetic defects were very low.
Our next ultrasound is July 15. By that point, we’ll be able to tell if we’re having a boy or a girl. Only 10 days left to get the betting pools started!
So Tracie has been craving cake lately. I went to Sam’s Club and came back with this. Sure, it’s not Butter & Me, but it works. When it comes to pregnancy cravings, the dad-to-be should a) not question them and b) do whatever he can to satisfy them. There’s your pregnancy lesson for the day.
Music for Petro Kid?
Since the kid hadn’t yet developed hearing when we went to the Glee Live concert, we’ll have to get one of these to make sure he or she gets their fix of great tunes. Seriously, this child has to have an appreciation for good music!
It’s been a busy few days for these parents-to-be! We went to see our OB-GYN on Friday and had a diagnostic ultrasound on Monday. Both times we got to hear the heartbeat! It was totally normal at 170 beats per minute. It’s amazing how hard the kid’s working to grow in there.
The ultrasound was pretty fun. The baby was very active, jumping around, moving his or her arms and legs, and generally refusing to get into the right position to have the necessary measurements taken. Even though it took an hour to get the procedure finished, it was amazing to watch our baby being so active.
After seeing how restless the baby was, we’re worried we’re going to have a very active little kid! Hopefully we have enough energy to keep up. Also, given the baby’s stubbornness in not staying in the right position, we think it might be a girl; yet another stubborn woman in a long line of stubborn women from Tracie’s side. :)
We’ll actually find out the gender when we go back for another ultrasound in mid-July. It was just too early to tell at this stage, but we did get some decent pictures!
Documenting Petro Kid
Welcome to Matthew and Tracie’s adventures in becoming parents! Here we’ll write about thoughts on the adventure we’ve already embarked upon and share updates on the progress of Petro Kid. Maybe we’ll even produce a collection of updates our child will one day want to read to find out what his or her parents were like in 2010 as we prepared for the arrival.
We’re at the 11 week mark right now, so some of the pregnancy has passed now. Tracie is still feeling queasy and not particularly great, but we’re hoping that will end with the first trimester.
Matthew’s thoughts:
I wish I’d gotten this set up earlier, but there’s no time like the present to get started! It’s a busy time around our house, so this got put off for a while. But now I’m excited to share some of how it feels to be an expectant dad. I know not everyone wants to read this, but if you do, I hope you enjoy it!
