Two Weeks Later

Probably anybody who is reading this blog in the approximate time-frame that it is being written knows about what happened last Wednesday. We are very sad that our baby will never get to meet Uncle Winship here in this life. Becca and I are doing okay for the most part. I survived my first week back to work, and we are surrounding ourselves with friends and support.

We have been very thankful to have our little baby on the way through all this. It is a reminder that, even when faced with death, there is still new life to bring us hope!

So, here's your growth update: the baby, being 14 weeks along the way, is supposed to be the approximate size of a lemon, or 3.4 inches. You know how I feel about that, so here is my personal size comparison:

Our baby could stretch diagonally across the wide-screen upper display of the Nintendo 3DS, which, as it turns out, our baby's father is very excited about! See, now whenever any of you see a 3DS, this is the only thing you'll be able to imagine.

So, baby-wise, how have things been going for us? Well, Becca has been reading a few baby books for awhile now: What to Expect when You're Expecting and the Mayo Clinic Healthy Pregnancy, as well as a Baby Bargains. She recently also got the book Hypnobirthing. This book sounds great in that it helps women not to go into labor fearing a lot of pain. Normally I would be suspicious of the self-hypnosis claim, but our baby's Aunt Laura used the techniques in this book to great effect!

The baby book thing is something I'm just getting started on now. Becca got me a couple of books: Check Lists for the New Dad and Be Prepared. I haven't really started with the check lists yet, but I am really enjoying Be Prepared so far. The artwork is reminiscent of a Boy Scouts Handbook (where "be prepared" is the Scout Motto). For just an idea, you can look at the first few pages over at Amazon by clicking on picture of the book.

Oh yeah, and Becca just borrowed an insane amount of "names for your baby" books from our friend Britni. So we'll see what comes of that!

Becca and I are really enjoying learning about what's to come! As always, thanks for prayers!

First Post from the Dad-to-Be

It's been almost a week since Becca set this blog up, and I was finally able to sit down and join it today. I've been working a lot lately, as Becca mentioned in a previous post, but I'm looking forward to when I max out my comp time hours so I can drop down to a normal workweek!

So, how am I feeling about having a baby on the way? Well... just great! I already have a lot of love in my heart for this baby, and I don't even know yet whether to expect a boy or a girl. I haven't been good yet about reading baby books or anything, but part of that is just not having free time. Also, Becca might just be starting to show. I'm sure it will feel a lot different when I can see the baby, rather than just know that there is a baby.

Right now, Becca is 12 weeks pregnant, and The Bump says that our baby is the size of a plum. Of course, our baby is unique, and not just a plum like every other 12-week baby. So I came up with my own size reference. When talking size, I like to say "tall" instead of "long". "Long" sounds more like a thing, and "tall" sounds more like a person. So, our baby is as tall as this turtle is wide (note that this also fits the turtle theme, since the baby looked like a turtle in the ultrasound):

This photo was used without permission from the Turtle Journal (Saving the World, One Turtle at a Time), but I bet they will forgive me if they ever find out about it.

Becca's been feeling sick and tired for awhile now, but she's just about through the first trimester now! We're both excited about that! I try my best to be nice to her and help her out whenever I can, even though I'm pretty tired myself a lot of the time. I'm sure we'll both be even more tired when the baby is born, but we will also have a whole new source of love to give us strength!

Becca and I went to Target today to look at baby stuff while we were waiting for the Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll event today (where people dress up like the notable residents of said cemetery and tell their stories... very interesting, but off subject...). We weren't planning on setting up a gift registry at Target, but they had some stuff there that I loved (yes, me, Patrick... Becca loves them too, but I loved them first) and felt like I had to have it for my baby. We got home and found that they had good reviews, so we set up the registry. Maybe we'll add other stuff to it later, but anyway, it's there. Special note if somebody wants to get a jump on baby stuff: the bouncer comes for free with the swing! Don't waste any money buying the bouncer! I apologize to everyone for commercializing my baby's blog from my very first post.

We're really excited to find out in December whether we will have a boy or a girl. Of course we will be happy either way! We'll let you all know as soon as we find out; count on it!

Thanks to all who care about us and who love our baby! Please pray for all three of us!

Patrick and Babymoon

 This is an email from my sweet husband:

I was thinking about how we're gonna have a baby earlier today.  It made me smile a lot.  Also, today's been going way better than yesterday!

He's been working 9 to 11 hour days to earn enough comp time so we can do everything we want to in December.  That way all the vacation he's earned this year will roll over to next year and by May, he should have all the vacation time he needs to be with me when the baby is born!

The first full week in December we're going with his coworker and his wife to Disney World!  His wife works at Disney about one week a year so she can have free tickets for the whole year!  We're all going to be able to go to for free and stay in one of the Disney resorts for 40% off.  We're going to go to Mickey's Christmas Party and probably take a day off of Disney to go to Islands of Adventure so we can go to HARRY POTTER WORLD.  I know I should be more excited about Disney, and I am, but Harry Potter World?  Real butterbeer? The shopping?! Very excited.

We're planning to go to Chattanooga for Christmas on Tuesday night December 21st and will leave for Wilmington, NC on Monday December 27th to stay for the week.  Of course we don't really know if that's going to work, but we'll see.

Patrick is planning on posting on the blog too, he just hasn't had the time yet.

Doctor's Appointment!

Today we had our second and a half doctor's appointment!  At our first appointment in late August, the ultrasound showed a baby about a week and a half smaller than it should be, so we went back two weeks later September 14th to see if the baby was growing and just a little later than they thought.  And it was!  We got an ultrasound picture and even heard the heartbeat!  That brings our due date to May 1st.

Our little turtle baby at 7 weeks

This appointment was pretty short, just to make sure I was doing okay.  We listened to the heart beat, which is at 170 beats per minute, and the doctor answered a couple of my questions and told us we would have another ultrasound in two months, the appointment after next.  We asked if it was okay to tell people now and he said that since the heart pulse was so good and strong that he is confident we're all okay!

First trimester is hard as far as symptoms go, but I've been doing okay.  I feel nauseous most of the time, but I don't throw up and I can keep it manageable by eating almost constantly.  I can still wear my pants, but they put a lot of pressure on my tummy so I've been wearing my "fat" pants.  My back hurts sometimes, and sleeping can be difficult sometimes.  My sense of smell and hearing is a lot more keen and I've found I'm not really interested in things like clay or crafting, or even fashion, but that I have a lot of nesting instinct and want to get my house in order!