The Name Game

October was been a busy month for my wife and I. It began with a trip to West Virginia to celebrate her grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. There was the trip to the National Zoo as part of a school assignment, an office network upgrade, and a trip to the beach for a bit of relaxation. And that was just the weekends. There haven't been many major events since my last post. My wife still pukes about once a day. We've tried a modified diet, antacids, sour candy, and those accupressure bands for motion sickness. Nothing seems to make a difference. We'll be talking to the OB about that next week. Oh yeah, and she's officially in "maternity clothing" now. Yup, she broke out the blue jeans with the specially designed waist support for the first time this morning. I'm not sure she's impressed with the fashion statement the jeans make (I think her exact quote was, "My God, I look pregnant!"), but at least they're more comfortable now than her regular clothing. Last week, one of her coworkers gave birth without having decided on a name for her new child. That set my wife off, and we've been on a crusade to find the right name for our child ever since. Granted, it's too early to know if we're having a boy or girl, and we really don't want to know until they baby is born, but we need a name now. Who know this was going to be so difficult? We've been through a book of over 100,000 names, and so far we've compromised on one. We might be OK if we have a boy. God help us if we have a girl -- Jane Doe and Unnamed Baby are looking like the best choices right now. There are just too many rules right now ... can't share names with another family member ... must make for good, short nicknames ... ought to reflect our heritage ... no androgynous names ... aiye yiye yiye! It's a good thing we still have six months to figure this out! Well, that's all I've got this time. Like I said, we go back to the OB next Friday. The next update will hopefully come shortly afterwards. Talk for soon.

Ten weeks and counting.

Lots of excitement to start the fall. We've been discharged from the fertility clinic and are now in the hands of our "regular" OB for the duration of the pregnancy. That led to a difficult situation last week when my wife was feeling quite a bit of discomfort in her lower abdomen. After about 24 hours of non-stop pressure (pain?), she was becoming nervous about what she was feeling. I was pretty sure from her symptoms that she was suffering from constipation, but suggested she call the doctor to make sure. Her first call was to her new OB. Unfortunately, because my wife hadn't had her initial visit with the OB yet, she wouldn't talk to us. Malpractice and liability, naturally. Ditto for the fertility clinic. Because my wife had already been discharged from their care, they didn't want to risk giving her medical advice either. All we got was a recommendation that we go to the emergency room for treatment. Of course, the trip to the emergency room wouldn't be covered by our medical insurance unless my wife was admitted as a result of the visit. Ridiculous -- gotta love lawyers and insurance companies. Right or wrong, we decided to wait to see if my wife showed any other symptoms of distress before going to the emergency room. Fortunately, the decision turned out to be the right one. My wife took care of her constipation problem the next morning, and everything was fine after that. On a more positive note, we had another ultrasound today. What a cool experience. As the technician waved the wand over my wife's belly, we got to see the baby move for the first time! Looks like the kid is going to be a thumb-sucker. He moved his tiny arm towards his giant head on several occasions while we watched in amazement. (And when I say "he", I mean the term generically. It's much too soon to know if the baby is a boy or girl, and we don't plan on finding out until "he" is born.) Fascinating, the little guy is jumping around in there now... For those interested in numbers, he's about 10 weeks along. His little heart is beating strong at about 160 beats per minute, and he stands a Paul Bunyan-esque 3.52 centimeters tall. Our due date has been moved up one week to May 3. The image isn't great, but you can click the link to see our latest sonogram. We go back to the OB in about a month, and assuming all goes well, our next sonogram won't be for another 10 weeks or so. That's all for this week. More to come!

A quiet week.

Not much to report from the baby front this week, so this week's blog entry is going to be a short one. The good news is that the intensity of my wife's "morning" sickness is starting to wane. There's been some nausea and spitting up, but we haven't had a full-fledged vomit episode in four days now. And now that she can hold on to her food, her energy and stamina are improving as well. We have our first meeting with my wife's new OB this Friday. We're also going away for the weekend next Saturday, so next week's entry may be a bit late, depending on how late we return next Sunday. Like I said, it's a short entry this week. Talk to you soon!