I think it has my nose and her eyes, but I'm not sure whose yolk sac that is.
The first ultrasound showed the baby's heartbeat. I'm in awe.
May 27, 2009
Week 9: The first ultrasound
I think it has my nose and her eyes, but I'm not sure whose yolk sac that is.
The first ultrasound showed the baby's heartbeat. I'm in awe.
May 1, 2009
Week 6: Guilty until proven innocent
I was not going to be that guy. I was going to be at every appointment, right there holding my wife's hand. I would be there for every occasion, whether uncomfortable or joyous, weird or wonderful. And today was the day: appointment number one. We started our day by lying to my mom in order to leave her office birthday lunch early. So far, the biggest side effect of my wife's pregnancy has not been morning sickness but rather lying to friends and family.
We arrive on time and take a seat in the lobby. I glance around at the happy couples. The nerves start to kick in as the whole thing begins to seem more real by the minute. As the nurse calls people in, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, sometimes even entire families go back into the exam rooms. Others come out, smiling, possibly just finding out the gender of their baby or seeing the heartbeat for the first time. I start to wonder how any father-to-be would want to be that guy. Who would want to miss this stuff?
The time finally comes; the nurse call's my wife's name. We head toward the door to go back to the exam room. As I pass the nurse, she is mumbling something but she's not looking at me so I figure she's talking to the other nurse who is standing nearby. However, after a few more steps her words suddenly register in my brain. She is apparently speaking to my wife.
"He can wait out here. I'll take you to the room, go over a few questions, and then you'll come back out here to wait again."
"Oh, you want me to wait here?" I ask. The nurse, however, says nothing to me and continues to avoid my eyes. I take the 2 steps back into the waiting room and the door shuts in my face. I can slightly hear my wife plead my case on the other side of the door but the sound quickly fades as, I assume, the nurse takes her down the hall.
My mind is reeling. I sit down by the door and pretend to not be bothered. I open up the book I brought to read but for all I know it could be upside-down. In my mind I picture everyone in the waiting room to be looking at me, wondering what I did that caused the nurse to forbid my entry. Perhaps they think my wife gave the nurse some secret signal that let her know that I was just some creep who followed her in from the parking lot. I want to scream at them, "I am not a monster!" but ultimately decide that will make things mildly worse.
My wife fills me in later on what transpired inside. The nurse had her sign a paper that would allow me to accompany her at future appointments. The nurse processed her registration, weighed her in, and ordered some blood work and that was that. Apparently this wasn't really an appointment I needed to be at and I didn't miss any life altering moments.
Now don't get me wrong, I completely understanding wanting to make sure I'm not some abusive husband who is forcing my wife into a pregnancy she doesn't want, but the nurse could have spoken directly to me, or maybe just looked in my direction. I wonder now what she would have done if I never realized that she was speaking about me when I began to enter the hallway that led back to the exam room. Would a clothesline have been in my future? Perhaps she would have tackled me from behind. Regardless, I did learn that I need to calm down a little. I'm sure that no one in the waiting room really thought anything of the situation. In fact, many of the husbands in there probably went through the same thing.
One new piece of information did come from this appointment. After consulting a chart, Nurse Ratched said our due date is January 6th, although every other online calculator we've consulted has said January 1st-3rd. I'm rooting for the online calculator.
We arrive on time and take a seat in the lobby. I glance around at the happy couples. The nerves start to kick in as the whole thing begins to seem more real by the minute. As the nurse calls people in, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, sometimes even entire families go back into the exam rooms. Others come out, smiling, possibly just finding out the gender of their baby or seeing the heartbeat for the first time. I start to wonder how any father-to-be would want to be that guy. Who would want to miss this stuff?
The time finally comes; the nurse call's my wife's name. We head toward the door to go back to the exam room. As I pass the nurse, she is mumbling something but she's not looking at me so I figure she's talking to the other nurse who is standing nearby. However, after a few more steps her words suddenly register in my brain. She is apparently speaking to my wife.
"He can wait out here. I'll take you to the room, go over a few questions, and then you'll come back out here to wait again."
"Oh, you want me to wait here?" I ask. The nurse, however, says nothing to me and continues to avoid my eyes. I take the 2 steps back into the waiting room and the door shuts in my face. I can slightly hear my wife plead my case on the other side of the door but the sound quickly fades as, I assume, the nurse takes her down the hall.
My mind is reeling. I sit down by the door and pretend to not be bothered. I open up the book I brought to read but for all I know it could be upside-down. In my mind I picture everyone in the waiting room to be looking at me, wondering what I did that caused the nurse to forbid my entry. Perhaps they think my wife gave the nurse some secret signal that let her know that I was just some creep who followed her in from the parking lot. I want to scream at them, "I am not a monster!" but ultimately decide that will make things mildly worse.
My wife fills me in later on what transpired inside. The nurse had her sign a paper that would allow me to accompany her at future appointments. The nurse processed her registration, weighed her in, and ordered some blood work and that was that. Apparently this wasn't really an appointment I needed to be at and I didn't miss any life altering moments.
Now don't get me wrong, I completely understanding wanting to make sure I'm not some abusive husband who is forcing my wife into a pregnancy she doesn't want, but the nurse could have spoken directly to me, or maybe just looked in my direction. I wonder now what she would have done if I never realized that she was speaking about me when I began to enter the hallway that led back to the exam room. Would a clothesline have been in my future? Perhaps she would have tackled me from behind. Regardless, I did learn that I need to calm down a little. I'm sure that no one in the waiting room really thought anything of the situation. In fact, many of the husbands in there probably went through the same thing.
One new piece of information did come from this appointment. After consulting a chart, Nurse Ratched said our due date is January 6th, although every other online calculator we've consulted has said January 1st-3rd. I'm rooting for the online calculator.
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