A Pomengranate

Little baby Micah is now the size of a pomegranate and weighs about a pound. My wife feels her baby bump but it's not really showing. We find ourselves having to show people a picture of the ultra-sound to convice them that we're not playing a joke on them when we tell them Laura's prego. But everyonce in a while something happens that lets us know there's still a growing baby in there somwhere. For example, the other morning my wife woke me up to show me her belly, it was literally bulging on the left, It was a little bulge but it was noticable. I guess she had slept to one side and her uterus creeped down and stayed there for a bit. It was pretty weird but kinda cool too. And guess who's had some foot swelling? Yea, it's Laura. It doesn't happen alot but we've noticed it especially after a long day of her standing at work. One of the Pregnancy forums I keep up with said the best thing a daddy can do is massage his baby momma's feet. So I guess I'm gonna have to go buy some scented lotions for the next swelling episode.

I'll just pretend these are my dog's ears.....Whose a good boy?!?!?

Here's the coolest thing that blew my mind. Today, June 20th, 2013, Laura felt Micah moving. She said she felt it around lunch time. Just a little wiggle, but it was out of the blue. It wasnt expected. At first she said it was random and kept doing what she was doing but she felt it again a few hours later. How awesome is that? I can't wait to put my hand on her belly and feel Micah kick.

I mentioned in my last post that we we're gonna take a tour of a Maternity Center. Well we did, and we we're definately impressed. First of all the Midwives had a extensive experience in the medical field. Most of the them got into Midwifery after long careers as Nurses in the delivery room or the ER. As Midwives many of them have delivered 400+ babies. They're trained to spot any signs of complications. There is a hospital nearby and an ambulance service at throwing distance if needed. Another thing we liked was the atmosphere of the rooms and facility. These weren't ordinary delivery rooms. They were all out suites with king sized beds, showers and tubs that just put me at ease. I've been inside hospitals hundreds of times and the rooms, the staff, and the thought of having my wife hooked up to a bunch of cables is frightening. I wasnt 100% convinced going in but talking to the midwives and asking ALOT of questions and doing ALOT of research I feel better about it. It seems like a great, natural alternative to the hospital setting. My wife loved the idea and at the end of the day its her decision and I support her. We go for our first appointment next Wednesday. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Bananas

Little Micah has now grown to a healthy 11oz and I about the length of a banana. As I was typing out the title to this post I couldn't help but think of that Gwen Stefani song where she spells out bananas. I forgot the name of it. Help anyone? There's been a lot of movement this week with Micah. Earlier this week my wife complained of sharp pains in her lower belly. To the WebMd!!! Thanks to the Internet we have found several pregnancy blogs that can help put any worry at ease. What we learned that this is a common process where the growing uterus pushes and stretches the abdominal muscles. Micah is just growing.

One cool thing I read about the Micah's growth this week is that he has developed taste buds. So not only is the baby feeding off of what my wife eats but he is also enjoying it (Hopefully). Now this poses a problem. I love spicy food but my wife refuses to eat anything remotely tingly to the taste buds. I guess opposites do attract because being mexican, spicy food is a must. I've had emberassing moments at restaurants where my wife sends back plate after plate because she claims it too spicy and I can't find anything spicy on the plate. Or when we were dating and she would come over for dinner I had to ask my mom to change her recipes and go super light on the chile so Laura could enjoy her meal without throwing up. So obviously we have very different tolerance levels when it comes to spicy food. So where will Micah's tolerance level be? It's kinda hard to say because he definately wont be getting any spicy food while he's in the womb. We're just going to have to work on it once he's here with us.



Maybe one day he too will have a hot sauce named after him.

I dont remember if mentioned it in an earlier post or not but The wife and I recently watched a documentary about birthing in the U.S. and how unfortunately birthing has become a business for many hospitals. This leading to the U.S. having one of the highest infant mortality rates amongst industrialized countries. The documentary was pushing the idea of Materntity Centers so I can't say its wasn't unbiased but much of the information made alot of sense and sparked my interest to do more research. There is a nearby Maternity Center in Ft. Mill SC, and we decided to take a tour this saturday to see if this is the right choice for us. When we watched an introduction video for the facility, suprisingly we saw some friends that we hadn't talked to in a while being interviewed. They had they're little girl at the facility so I immediatley went in to stalker mode and searched for them on Facebook to ask them questions about their experience with the birthing center. They said they loved it and had very good things to say about it. I in no way intend to make this decision for my wife and am not an advocate for one birthing method over another. She knows whats best for her body and what she can and can't handle. Obviously there are health risk that can only be adressed at a hospital so we are definately going to weigh out our options. Either way we're excited to see what this place has to offer.

Goodbye

How do I Say goodbye to yesterday? It's quite sad, parting ways that is. We've all had to say goodbye to friends, family, pets, or any object that is precious to us. I too have said goodbye recently. To what you may ask? To something very dear to me. I said goodbye to my motorcycle. It was hard I'm not going to lie, but a man has to recognize his priorities in life and mine have changed. I sold it and watched as a stranger rode it away into the sunset and as the shine of the modded grips glistened and the loud rumble of my custom exhaust faded away and I couldn't hear it anymore, a single tear rolled from me eye down my cheek. 

Now I am completely exaggerating guys. I sold it to my dad, so I'm free to ride it anytime I please. But with our big change in lifestyle I knew I didn't need an extra expense at the moment. Now just to put it out there, the wifey did not push this decision. It was completely my idea. I felt It was the best choice. Once we talked about it she did give me permission to buy one in the future. (Did you see what I did there?). And even though I only sold it to my dad, it still stung a little to part with and if I don't ever purchase one again, I can still check it off the list of a childhood dream I always had. If you happened to have played the video at the begining if this post then by the end of this paragraph you're probably saying to yourself that the Boyz II Men song was a little too much (especially if you're weeping, then we'll give you a minute).

Ok, now changing the subject. My family has fallen into a full frenzy buying baby clothes. It's all pretty cute, especially some of the peices my wife has bought that are firefighter themed like the one below.

The funny thing is that a CO-worker of mine told me that we would probably recieve so much clothes at the baby shower that any clothes we bought would probably never get used besides the fact that the baby would probably wear a select few items of clothes. And even though I explained this to my wife and sister, It doesn't seem to make a difference because apparently to them Micah is out to make a fashion statement. But I found what has to be the coolest baby onesie out there, and yes, Micah's has already been ordered. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you ......the Baby turnout gear onesie.



Will baby Micah save somebody's life one day? I can't make any promises ..... but yes.



A Mango, A BOY MANGO!

So did you win? We're you right? How much money did you make? Or lose? Hopefully you played the game and are sitting on stacks at this moment because you bet right. I did not. Remember all that talk about having a baby girl? Yea I was wrong. My wife and I found out the big news this past wednesday. It all happened so fast. We literally walked in and the Ultrasound tech came in a made some small talk, Once she applied the jelly on my wife's belly in a matter of seconds she looked at my wife and said "Honey, you should've bet something because its a boy!"

Wait what?!? Can you look again and make sure? That was pretty fast. Are you sure?

Yes she was right and I was wrong. Her first declaration was later confirmed by a count of all the fingers on the baby (There were 11). There was an overflow of emotions. My wife's included. For some reason thinking about our lives a year from now, I imagined us carrying around a little girl. But like I've mentioned before this was simply a gut feeling and there were only 2 possible outcomes. My wife chose boy and I chose wrong! Either way we are more than happy. All the vital signs and growth measurements are looking healthy and where they should be. The good news is that I won't have to paint the nursery and we can now start to buy boy clothes and baby supplies.

So now that we know the baby is a boy I guess we're pretty much decided on a first name, Micah. My wife is still undecided on a middle name. To a certain point, because of my lack of interaction in the pregnancy it sometimes doesn't feel real to me. Let me explain a bit, Men obviously don't experience the same things as women (i.e Carrying the baby in their bellies). We don't go through the stages of morning sickness, nausea, frequent urination, clothes not fitting, baby bumps, baby kicks, etc. We pretty much stand aside, watch and observe, not being able to relate. Think about it. When a pregnant woman feels a baby kick or the baby pressing up against all those other organs, Will a man be able to relate? "Oh yea, I know what thats like! I remember this one time I was constipated for like a week and then I ate some taco bell and then....." Of course not. We weren't built to handle it. I talked to a couple other guys who pretty much said the same thing. The pregnancy finally hit them like a ton of bricks the day of the birth. They just recall walking into a hospital, and walking out with a baby and realizing "Wait a minute, I'm a dad!" Either way from now on we'll refer to the Baby as Micah so he can feel included.

Taco Bell, you never cease to amaze..... and give diarrhea.