Just go naked. . .

Maternity clothes suck. . . let me back up. Shopping for clothes with my wife has never been fun. She's tall and got long legs so most everything is too short on her. She wants to look good, but is not willing to wear it if it's the slightest bit uncomfortable, so finding anything for her to wear is already a lengthy ordeal. . .

Throw in a pregnant belly and the torture doubles. Add to that it being summertime so you need lightweight clothing, and I'm on the verge of gouging my eyes on with a spoon. And clothing stores hide the maternity clothes in fun places. We missed them completely at one department store where the 3 racks were stashed between the bras and the sleepwear (where else should they go). Some stores have them mixed into the kids clothing, and others have them blend into the plus size women's section. . . nothing makes a pregnant woman feel worse than suddenly finding herself in the plus size section. All my saying "you're not fat you're pregnant" can't fix that one.

P.W.I.L.F.

We're in our waiting period. No kicking, we don't know the sex. We're barely starting to look at names. Nothing much is happening. I expected the whole 40 weeks of pregnancy would be exciting and a big roller coaster, but this middle part has been fairly uneventful.

Oh there is the growing. Though I do think she looks better than ever my wife is growing. She lost 6 pounds in the beginning (from the nausea) and has still not gained anything back, but the weight she does have has redistributed to her hips, breasts, and belly. He waist has gotten smaller over all and her arms and face have lost weight. . . it short she looks HOT.

Goodbye cruel world. . .

This is an email I just sent to a friend. I thought I'd share it. . .

Just thought I'd drop you a quick note. I hope we'll see you at the BBQ. This will likely be the last one. You see, my wife has come down with a life threatening condition. . . it's called pregnancy. It's not supposed to be contagious (though 4 teacher's at her School have it) so you should be OK around her.

The condition will worsen until it changes into full blown parenthood (around November 15th) at which time I will be catching it too I'm afraid. There are limited treatments for the first condition, and the second, sadly, has no cure. We've heard that this "parenthood's" symptoms consists of sleepless nights, irritability, and the inability to do normal grown-up things (including the grown-up thing that got us into this mess. . . yes, it is sexually transmitted, but the condition is transmitted by a non-carrier).

So again hopefully we'll see you at our BBQ or at Ann's party in June.

Hope all is well with you and Dave.

To know or not to know. . .

Our next doctor visit brings with it a big question: "do we want to test for diseases like Down's Syndrome or Spina Bifida?" I know I joked in a couple earlier posts about having a one-armed mongoloid. Do you think that will bring us some bad juju?

Anyway, it's a tough decision. On one hand it'd be good to know to prepare for whatever problems arise. On the other hand is knowing really that great, would the amazement of having a baby distract us from the baby having a problem? And from what I understand the test isn't 100% accurate unless is a negative. So if it's a positive then it's only a chance that there's a problem. What kind of test is that? It'd be the twin thing all over again.

If anyone reading this had or didn't have the test done, please let me know what you decided and why.

Thump Thump Thump Thump...

So yesterday we were able to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It took the doctor a couple seconds to find it (which freaked my wife out a bit), but it's there, it's strong, and it's at 160 bpm. It was neat, but I've yet to have a feeling close to the feeling I had when we were told it was twins (if you just tuned in, it's not twins).

I'm going to a moment to note, but not say I agree with, that most, but not everything, we've read says that over 140 bpm means it's a girl. I don't hold any stock in this whatsoever (I won't rejoice in it being a girl until we have conclusive proof). There are a lot of places online to take a survey and find out what sex the baby is. They are all bunk, IMO.

So anyway, to recap: no twins, strong heartbeat, wives' tales point to girl.

On a side note our friends Sarah and Eric just had their 4th girl. And in case we do have a boy I've arranged a deal with Eric to trade him a girl for our boy. Very rumpelstiltskin I know, but I'm frightened to have a boy.