We are Pregnant with "Carlos"!

All apologies to our faithful followers (Po and Lin) that I have not posted anything in quite awhile, it’s been a pretty crazy past month. There have been some really great moments since my last post, new house, baby kicking for the first time, and the ultrasound. While trying to think of a theme for my post, I really cannot think of what to “focus” on while writing. There have been a couple things that are humorous that I can try to relate through writing. So without further ado, here we go…

“We are pregnant”

When we first found out that Emily was pregnant I would tell everyone, “we are pregnant”, obviously with much excitement. But after seeing what Emily has gone through regarding headaches, upset stomach, the noises that come from her stomach, soreness in her feet and back, and increased appetite, I no longer say “We are pregnant”. My job in this process is to run to the store if necessary, sleep in 1/8 of the bed (yes, the body pillow has made its way into our bed), be patient while she decides where we eat and patient while she cleans her plate. There are plenty of other things I try to do to support her. Now the things I’ve realized I cannot do, such as laugh when she waddles, tickle the belly when it’s making noises similar to a submarine, and race her to the bathroom.

I do remember when I told my Uncle Mike that “We are pregnant” he said, Zach she is pregnant, if men got pregnant, there wouldn’t be any kids. So kudos to Emily for being pregnant.

“Carlos”

For those of you that may not know, we are not going to find out the sex of the baby. We both love surprises and this is one of life’s grandest surprises. So we started out calling the baby “it”, which is very original. Emily’s brother, Jason, is a big fan of The Hangover. In the movie, there is a baby involved that one of the characters named Carlos, because he looks like a Carlos. There are other scenes that I will not get into, but are rather hilarious. Anyway, Jason has been calling our child Carlos. This has now taken on with Emily’s mother, Lin, and both Emily and I refer to the baby as Carlos. It is actually very fun to call your unborn child Carlos. Especially when you go to your final ultrasound and tell the Ultrasound technician that we do not want to know the sex of our child and we refer to the baby as Carlos. We laughed while telling her that, but laughed even more when she began calling the baby Carlos. We heard, “There is Carlos’ hands, there is Carlos’ spinal cord, there is Carlos’ ribs, etc.” Our doctor did not refer to the baby as Carlos, but he did point out that the baby looked to have very long legs, “like it’s parents”. Yes, read that again, he implied that Emily and I have long legs. We were sitting down when he told us this, and we were both confused and looked at each other when he made this observation. Apparently he did not see me at Jake Isenbarger and Kristi Sterett’s wedding where I was a foot shorter than the tallest groomsmen and 5 inches shorter than the guy closest in height to me.

Anyway, Carlos is doing very well. He/she is very healthy, has a steady heartbeat, and is growing as he/she should. We look forward to meeting Carlos in April and wonder how many times Jason will say “Not at the table Carlos.”

The First Kick (or at least a tap!!)

We went to the doctor last week, and we had another good visit. The heartbeat is 145, very steady and everything looks good. The doctor also asked if I had felt any kicking, which I had not. He said it should happen at any time. According to books, this should happen between weeks 18-22. At 20 weeks, you can imagine that I was anxiously awaiting the first kicks. Most people that I talked to said it feels like butterflies, but maybe the best description was to imagine your stomach as a fishbowl, and the baby's kick is just the tail of the goldfish brushing against the edge of the bowl.

Lucky for me, I woke up at 5:45am Thanksgiving morning (no, not to start preparing Thanksgiving dinner) to go to the bathroom. As I was laying there convincing myself it was better to just get up and go than continue to lay in the comfortable bed, I felt the baby kick!! It felt exactly like what you would imagine if a goldfish tail swept up against the side of your stomach. It "swam" by three times in a row. I excitedly awoke Zach to let him in on the great news. He was pretty groggy, but very excited. He had been asking the baby each night to kick knowing that I was readily awaiting this step.

Our next appointment is December 10, and it is a big one. We get an ultrasound to make sure the baby looks healthy. We could find out what we are having, but Zach and I have decided to be surprised and wait until April. So you will just have to vote and see who is right then!!

A Woman's Perspective

You always hear from friends, family and co-workers what pregnancy is like, but there are things that happen that you are never really prepared for. For instance:

1. You hear about morning sickness. What you don't realize is this can include moving to an office on the 10th floor of the Pyramids, looking out the windows to see the beautiful view, and feeling like you are either going to throw up or become too dizzy to stand up.
2. I have always had stomach problems, and one of the tell tale signs is the noises and grumbles it makes. Well, the addition of a baby growing in my stomach has multiplied the problem - just ask our realtor!! It seems every time we meet with him my stomach seems to "perform". We went to look at 10 houses this past weekend, and he even asked if he should pack a cooler filled with snacks for me.
3. Everyone talks about the cravings they have during pregnancy. Well, as most of you know, I LOVE TO EAT!!! So, this was one thing Zach and I were looking forward to during the pregnancy - what in the world would I crave? I was hoping maybe a Blizzard every night (I could easily rotate between Pumpkin, Snickers, and Oreo). Oddly enough, I have probably eaten less dessert than before. Maybe in the next five months...

Man's point of view the first 16 weeks

Well, here we are 16 weeks into our first pregnancy. There have been some extraordinary moments over the last nearly 4 months. It's fun to watch how Emily's body has changed and how much fun it's been to talk about having a baby. One of my most "eye-opening" moments was when we went to the doctor for the first time. I know that's probably what everyone thinks because it's the first time you hear the heartbeat, first ultrasound, meeting your doctors and it really makes it real. I will admit, those experience are like nothing you could describe in a blog.

But what did "open my eyes" through that appointment is what women go through on a annual basis when they see their doctors. I have a whole new respect for all the ladies whom see their doctors annually. I can only relate a woman's annual to a physical. A physical for a man is peeing in a cup and "coughing". While the "coughing" is the only humiliating part, it's nothing like what I witnessed at Emily's 11 week appointment. Aside from that, I've only had a physical 2 to 3 times in my life. Never in any of my doctor's appointments did anyone check my pelvis and tell me I would be sore the next day.

From some brief conversations post appointment, I've learned that this is only the beginning. There will be even more "eye-opening" moments throughout these next 23 weeks. I have a lot a respect for all you females and mothers out there. There is a lot you go through that goes unnoticed by the opposite sex until you are bearing their child.

For the record, at the appointment I stayed "above the equator" and plan to stay there all the way through the delivery of our baby.