Despite being fairly level-headed people, hearing the whooshwhoosh of our baby's heart through a fetal doppler monitor was a bit surreal. The nurse who first attempted to locate the baby tried the smash-and-grab method of analysis. You might have thought she was grinding corn into meal the way she rooted around on Mandi's stomach with the doppler receiver. She was unable to locate it on the first pass. The doctor was much more gentle and successful when she used the device.
Mandi will be 11 weeks pregnant on Wednesday and is really looking forward to the supposed nausea relief. The past couple of months have been exciting, yet tiring. Mandi has mustered up enough strength to focus on her duties during the day, but evenings and weekends are usually filled with rest and recouperation. I spend a lot of time asking, "what do you feel like eating?" Right now, our diets are on auto-pilot. All I know is that we both need some ruffage soon.
All that being said, the time is actually going by fast. We're already about 25% through and it seems like we just found out. We won't know the sex of the baby until about March, when we have the first offical ultrasound, so any gender-related purchases are on hold. We've decided to go ahead and find out, just to keep things simple, so we can buy clothes and people can buy blue or pink gifts, as appropriate. When people ask me, "So, what's it going to be, a boy or a girl," I have been responding with, "As long as it's one or the other, I'll be happy." Perhaps perceived as sarcasm, I think we both are up in the air about it, although every time we think about having a girl, it seems to make the rest of the family vibrate internally. We decided that both boys and girls have their pros and cons, in terms of raising them early on, so we'll leave it to the miracle of genetics.
On a side note, on the way home from the test this morning, Mandi and I indulged our nerdier tendencies by discussing our blood types and those of our expected progeny. I am AB+ (the universal receiver), which means that my parents were A and B. I seem to recall that one of my brothers is O (I can't remember if it's +/-). This means that my parents were likely AO and BO. So there was a 25% chance of winding up with AB. Alternatively, Mandi is O+ (the universal donor). Her parents are both AO+, which gave her 25% chance of being O+. Three % of white people have AB+ and 37% have O+. Therefore, because I have no O group to give, our child will be either AO+ or BO+. I feel so unique and decisive with my blood type. It is discussions like this that take my mind off the fact that we are having a child and waste precious time all at once.
Thanks to all who have offered their congratulations through our endeavor and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Ben
