We had another visit this week and really have nothing much to add. It was a very basic visit and everything seems to be going along swimmingly. We are going to be scheduling another ultrasound for about 4-6 weeks from now so hopefully we will get one last chance to get some awesome 3D pictures before the live presentation in March. The doctor is pretty happy with Danielle's sugars and seems to be pleased all around. Danielle was given some medicine to help her with the 4 week cold she's had so hopefully the coughing will subside and she will have one less reason for her sleep to be interrupted.
We really feel very blessed that all is going so well and would like to thank all who have sent their best wishes and prayers our way.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Another great ultrasound and a gender clue?
This past week we had another ultrasound done which included a couple of 3D peeks at our beautiful baby. Every thing is coming along wonderful and the doctor found nothing at all to be concerned about related to Danielle's diabetes. The baby's size is just under 2 lbs now and is in the 30th percentile for size. Neither of us were very large babies so we believe that should be the case for our little one as well. Danielle is probably more hopeful for that than me for some reason. I think she's particularly happy that my nickname when I was little was 'Little Mike' instead of 'Big ol Satelite Head Kenan'.
Ok, so on with the scientific studies. I often talk to DLB about how excited we are, how we love him/her so much, and sometimes a little scolding if there's a little too much bladder bouncing going on. That last one is so I can feel a little involved in this whole incubation thing since Danielle seems to be capitalizing on all that stuff so far. Anyway, back to my little test. This afternoon I called "Laura Anne" to the right side of Danielle's belly and got a kick. Tried "Laura" on the left side and got the same result. Then I tried "Daniel Laurence" and "Daniel" and neither one illicited any response. After entering the results into the new Microsoft Baby Aural Response Analysis and Scientific Synopsis (or M-BARASS for short) I have come to the conclusion that our baby must be girl since the response to it's new name was so obvious and immediate. Or it is definately a boy and was simply bopping me in the head for being so silly to call him by the girls name. That and we all know that if a boy is concentrating on something, like let's say growing a lung or toenails or watching baseball, it takes alot more than 2 or 3 times of calling of his name to get any response so it really could point towards DLB using selective hearing. Which I think is developed in week 30 so we are way ahead of the game!
So basically we still only know we are having a baby, and it's o' so stinkin' cute!
Ok, so on with the scientific studies. I often talk to DLB about how excited we are, how we love him/her so much, and sometimes a little scolding if there's a little too much bladder bouncing going on. That last one is so I can feel a little involved in this whole incubation thing since Danielle seems to be capitalizing on all that stuff so far. Anyway, back to my little test. This afternoon I called "Laura Anne" to the right side of Danielle's belly and got a kick. Tried "Laura" on the left side and got the same result. Then I tried "Daniel Laurence" and "Daniel" and neither one illicited any response. After entering the results into the new Microsoft Baby Aural Response Analysis and Scientific Synopsis (or M-BARASS for short) I have come to the conclusion that our baby must be girl since the response to it's new name was so obvious and immediate. Or it is definately a boy and was simply bopping me in the head for being so silly to call him by the girls name. That and we all know that if a boy is concentrating on something, like let's say growing a lung or toenails or watching baseball, it takes alot more than 2 or 3 times of calling of his name to get any response so it really could point towards DLB using selective hearing. Which I think is developed in week 30 so we are way ahead of the game!
So basically we still only know we are having a baby, and it's o' so stinkin' cute!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Daddy felt the baby!
So for weeks now Danielle has been able to feel DLB moving around inside but unfortuantely I have not been able to feel it on the outside. Yesterday she guided my hand where she thought I could feel it and sure enough, I felt movement for the first time. Even though I know there is a baby growing in there, seen the pictures, seen it move on the ultrasound screen, to feel it move for the first time was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced. I'm not sure, but it felt like DLB was practicing sliding into second base, breaking up a double play. Or telling Daddy that I was invading it's space.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The Amazing DLB presented in 4-D! Boy or Girl? Hmm...
So this was the 'big' ultrasound we've been waiting for and boy have we been anxious for today to get here! This was the 20 week visit that would tell us any visible concerns about the baby's development and hopefully start to give us an idea of what our child looked like. Our anticipation has been growing steadily and our curiosity had about peaked so it was good that today finally got arrived.
Oh, and we could find out the sex if we so chose. Which we didn't. But did we? More on that later.
The setup for this was pretty cool, with a flat screen monitor mounted up on the wall so we could comfortably watch the scan as it happened. Danielle's mom Paula, and our 'niece' Marissa were with us so it was really neat that we could all see it so easily. This was the most advanced equipment they have used so far so we were quite amazed at the amount of detail it is able to pick up. It can look right into the baby itself and the doctor was immediately able to see the brain and measure its development and size to make sure it was coming along nicely. Both lobes were visible and all looked normal, at least to us. We were told it was normal as well. After that we were able to basically see every part of DLB as the doctor looked at each area to see if there was any cause for concern and take measurements to see if growth was within the normal brackets for this point in the pregnancy. One of the complications that diabetes can cause in pregnancy is a large baby, so this was one of the primary things to be looking for. Measurements of the head and torso showed we were on track and she put the due date as March 27th, 3 days later than we had been told previously. The size was normal and was not an area of concern at this point.
Each area of the scan amazed us when a recognizable portion came into view. Looking at the screen you would be searching for something that looked familiar and all of a sudden the head would materialize with definite eye sockets and facial structure, and a tiny hand moving by as if to wave at us. The feet came into view and if we tried we may have been able to count the bones in the foot! As each hand was frozen on the screen we counted 5 perfect little fingers on each of them, stretched out a big as could be. The heart beating away...wheao, wheao, wheao... this time we could hear it and see it at the same time, sychronized in its dance and melody. A lot of time was spent on the heart for the Heart Echo. This was pretty amazing since we could see each ventricle pumping away and it showed red for blood pumping towards the transponder and blue if it was moving away. Looked even more like a Rave with all the blinking lights. The spine would come into view with all the ribs surrounding the chest.
Every now and then the doctor would hit a button and a perfect 4-D picture would come into view and our baby's face would appear and it was absolutely astounding. Seeing our beautiful baby for the first time, eyes closed with it's tiny nose and little lips, took our breath away, and tears to my eyes. What a picture of perfection and serenity.
Believe it or not, our baby was being a bit of a pain and would not cooperate fully with the procedure. Danielle had to roll to the left, then to the right, then flat again, then to the left, and so on, so they could try to get the right angles to see everything. Danielle and her Mom blame me for the stubbornness, but of course we all know it's Danielle. The Irish aren't known to be stubborn and uncooperative. We're cordial and inviting, here to please. And I won't believe otherwise. No matter what you say.
As far as the rest of the scan, the part that everyone wants to know except us, was the inevitable sighting of "the parts". We have told every doctor and nurse from the get-go that we did not want to know at any time what the sex was going to be. Surprise is more than a suburb of Phoenix to us (Surprise, AZ is a town for all of you out of state) and we wanted it to join us in the delivery room at all costs. We knew that these scans were going to be the place to ruin that so we repeated that to everyone we came in contact with. When the time came to see the area in question we were told to look away and we did, not even peeking. Paula watched the whole thing but she says she couldn't tell head nor tail so the secret seems to be safe from her as well. After seeing all that we did see, we can piece together what we are indeed having in March. The 4D is so detailed you can't help but notice, the tell tale signs, the small but perfectly shaped pieces poking out at you from the dark. We are happy to announce that we are having a beautiful, bouncing baby human. 10 fingers, 10 toes, two feet, two hands, a cute face, and everything else in between. We still don't know what gender and it truly doesn't matter to us. Just a baby is what we asked God for and that is the prayer He answered.
Full frontal view, rather Terminator-esque. In a cute way though.
AWWWW! A foot!! How cute!! We were assured it is attached to one of the legs.
Full profile with leg and an arm. Maybe?
Right arm is folded next to the head, left arm is extended with the hand fully open waving at you! Wave back! C'mon you know you want to! This is also the best facial features we can see. Ear, eye, nose, mouth are all visible.
These last two are pretty amazing as well. The first one is a reenactment of "hear no evil" with the hands up over the ears. The second one is rather cool because it shows the umbilical cord curling in front of the face. Or maybe its a boy and he's showing off. Hard to really tell just yet.
We will have another set of these done in 6 weeks to help keep track of the growth and make sure that the baby is not getting too big. Another big day to look forward to!
Oh, and we could find out the sex if we so chose. Which we didn't. But did we? More on that later.
The setup for this was pretty cool, with a flat screen monitor mounted up on the wall so we could comfortably watch the scan as it happened. Danielle's mom Paula, and our 'niece' Marissa were with us so it was really neat that we could all see it so easily. This was the most advanced equipment they have used so far so we were quite amazed at the amount of detail it is able to pick up. It can look right into the baby itself and the doctor was immediately able to see the brain and measure its development and size to make sure it was coming along nicely. Both lobes were visible and all looked normal, at least to us. We were told it was normal as well. After that we were able to basically see every part of DLB as the doctor looked at each area to see if there was any cause for concern and take measurements to see if growth was within the normal brackets for this point in the pregnancy. One of the complications that diabetes can cause in pregnancy is a large baby, so this was one of the primary things to be looking for. Measurements of the head and torso showed we were on track and she put the due date as March 27th, 3 days later than we had been told previously. The size was normal and was not an area of concern at this point.
Each area of the scan amazed us when a recognizable portion came into view. Looking at the screen you would be searching for something that looked familiar and all of a sudden the head would materialize with definite eye sockets and facial structure, and a tiny hand moving by as if to wave at us. The feet came into view and if we tried we may have been able to count the bones in the foot! As each hand was frozen on the screen we counted 5 perfect little fingers on each of them, stretched out a big as could be. The heart beating away...wheao, wheao, wheao... this time we could hear it and see it at the same time, sychronized in its dance and melody. A lot of time was spent on the heart for the Heart Echo. This was pretty amazing since we could see each ventricle pumping away and it showed red for blood pumping towards the transponder and blue if it was moving away. Looked even more like a Rave with all the blinking lights. The spine would come into view with all the ribs surrounding the chest.
Every now and then the doctor would hit a button and a perfect 4-D picture would come into view and our baby's face would appear and it was absolutely astounding. Seeing our beautiful baby for the first time, eyes closed with it's tiny nose and little lips, took our breath away, and tears to my eyes. What a picture of perfection and serenity.
Believe it or not, our baby was being a bit of a pain and would not cooperate fully with the procedure. Danielle had to roll to the left, then to the right, then flat again, then to the left, and so on, so they could try to get the right angles to see everything. Danielle and her Mom blame me for the stubbornness, but of course we all know it's Danielle. The Irish aren't known to be stubborn and uncooperative. We're cordial and inviting, here to please. And I won't believe otherwise. No matter what you say.
As far as the rest of the scan, the part that everyone wants to know except us, was the inevitable sighting of "the parts". We have told every doctor and nurse from the get-go that we did not want to know at any time what the sex was going to be. Surprise is more than a suburb of Phoenix to us (Surprise, AZ is a town for all of you out of state) and we wanted it to join us in the delivery room at all costs. We knew that these scans were going to be the place to ruin that so we repeated that to everyone we came in contact with. When the time came to see the area in question we were told to look away and we did, not even peeking. Paula watched the whole thing but she says she couldn't tell head nor tail so the secret seems to be safe from her as well. After seeing all that we did see, we can piece together what we are indeed having in March. The 4D is so detailed you can't help but notice, the tell tale signs, the small but perfectly shaped pieces poking out at you from the dark. We are happy to announce that we are having a beautiful, bouncing baby human. 10 fingers, 10 toes, two feet, two hands, a cute face, and everything else in between. We still don't know what gender and it truly doesn't matter to us. Just a baby is what we asked God for and that is the prayer He answered.
Full frontal view, rather Terminator-esque. In a cute way though.
AWWWW! A foot!! How cute!! We were assured it is attached to one of the legs.
Full profile with leg and an arm. Maybe?
Right arm is folded next to the head, left arm is extended with the hand fully open waving at you! Wave back! C'mon you know you want to! This is also the best facial features we can see. Ear, eye, nose, mouth are all visible.
These last two are pretty amazing as well. The first one is a reenactment of "hear no evil" with the hands up over the ears. The second one is rather cool because it shows the umbilical cord curling in front of the face. Or maybe its a boy and he's showing off. Hard to really tell just yet.
We will have another set of these done in 6 weeks to help keep track of the growth and make sure that the baby is not getting too big. Another big day to look forward to!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Heartbeats at last
We went in today for our next visit and everything seems to be coming along swimingly. Danielle is doing great, rarely feeling ill at all and DLB is growing just as is expected. Our visit today was remarkable because it was the first time we have been able to hear the heartbeat with out any problem whatsoever.
Wheao, wheao, wheao, wheao, wheao.
The beating is so fast it's amazing. I tried to figure out a song that had that fast a beat but the only ones I know of that fast are nameless Techno songs. Little did we know that DLB was attending a rave in there. Maybe the black lights and glow sticks will look cool in the ultrasound.
The first sound was truly amazing, hearing our baby for the first time. The little heart that we have loved forever, much longer than these 19 weeks, was pumping the blood that was building its mind and body in preparation for meeting us in just 5 more months. Growing stronger and bigger with each beat, it's tiny, tiny muscles working overtime to run the greatest construction project imaginable. It really leaves you dumbfounded how God can create like this and awestruck that we could have any part in it, and yet it has gone on for all time. To us it seems like the most amazing original celebration of life there has ever been. And it is.
Wheao, wheao, wheao, wheao, wheao.
The beating is so fast it's amazing. I tried to figure out a song that had that fast a beat but the only ones I know of that fast are nameless Techno songs. Little did we know that DLB was attending a rave in there. Maybe the black lights and glow sticks will look cool in the ultrasound.
The first sound was truly amazing, hearing our baby for the first time. The little heart that we have loved forever, much longer than these 19 weeks, was pumping the blood that was building its mind and body in preparation for meeting us in just 5 more months. Growing stronger and bigger with each beat, it's tiny, tiny muscles working overtime to run the greatest construction project imaginable. It really leaves you dumbfounded how God can create like this and awestruck that we could have any part in it, and yet it has gone on for all time. To us it seems like the most amazing original celebration of life there has ever been. And it is.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Give new parents a scanner and watch them go!
We went to Target tonight to register for the baby registry and had a great time a-shopping and a-scanning! We had to return to customer service 3 times to empty the memory on the little scanner thingy. Not really but man, can we pick out the goods! It's so fun to imagine your baby being the one that is pictured on the box looking as cute as can be, you just want it all!
Since we have decided to opt for the surprise of boy or girl at birth we obviously had to go with alot of greens and yellows. Fortunately there is a lot of cute frogs and ducks and animal themed infant gear and we were able to find plenty to furnish the nursery. We are going with a Noah's Ark theme so animals fall perfectly in line with that.
We will also be going to Babies-R-Us soon in order to make sure we did not miss anything we need in order to give DLB a perfect 1st year and get prepared for a wonderful life.
Since we have decided to opt for the surprise of boy or girl at birth we obviously had to go with alot of greens and yellows. Fortunately there is a lot of cute frogs and ducks and animal themed infant gear and we were able to find plenty to furnish the nursery. We are going with a Noah's Ark theme so animals fall perfectly in line with that.
We will also be going to Babies-R-Us soon in order to make sure we did not miss anything we need in order to give DLB a perfect 1st year and get prepared for a wonderful life.
Let me tell you a little Story.....
Our friends Angel and Cody had a gorgeous baby girl on October 1st, 8 lbs and 20". Her name is Story Jane which is a little different but it already seems to be the right name for her. 3 days before she was born Angel thought she seemed to be in the wrong position and asked the doctor, who is our doctor as well, to check and sure enough Story was breech, waiting to introduce her best assets to the world. The plan had been to do a normal birth and that changed real quick as she had to have caesarean. I told her to just do handstands to get her out of the birth canal and then flip her real quick but she went with the c-section. Story is so beautiful and perfect and her older sister Gabi is so excited to teach her all she needs to know.
I have not had a whole lot of experience with little babies, or really until the last few years kids at all. I couldn't wait to hold her and Danielle says I looked like a little kid myself, all eager and smiling. Holding that tiny new life was so amazing and pulled at my heart in such a new way I felt so impatient for our own new life to join us. She looks like her sister and is just as adorable. She would make the cutest faces and I told Danielle I think I found a bigger goofball than Gabi. Danielle asked if I meant the little baby or the grown man holding a baby with tears in his eyes. I meant the baby but I think Danielle found the biggest goofball.
The abrupt change in Story's birth made us both realize that even the best laid plans sometimes get sidelined at the last minute and we definitely need to try to be ready for anything, good or bad or just different than planned.
I have not had a whole lot of experience with little babies, or really until the last few years kids at all. I couldn't wait to hold her and Danielle says I looked like a little kid myself, all eager and smiling. Holding that tiny new life was so amazing and pulled at my heart in such a new way I felt so impatient for our own new life to join us. She looks like her sister and is just as adorable. She would make the cutest faces and I told Danielle I think I found a bigger goofball than Gabi. Danielle asked if I meant the little baby or the grown man holding a baby with tears in his eyes. I meant the baby but I think Danielle found the biggest goofball.
The abrupt change in Story's birth made us both realize that even the best laid plans sometimes get sidelined at the last minute and we definitely need to try to be ready for anything, good or bad or just different than planned.
Doing an Irish jig
So we went to another doctors visit this week and we have really no new developments other than everything seems to be fine as far as the baby's development. Danielle's sugars still seem to be a bit high so they upped her dose of medicine a little and told her to watch her diet. Most days her blood checks seem to be fine but there are still some spikes. Please pray that everything continues to be fine and her diabetes stays in check.
It seems our little bundle of joy is already practicing on being a pain in the "womb". Seems there is this little microphone that uses doppler radar to hear the baby's heartbeat and DLB doesn't show up on it. Meteorologists use doppler radar to track huge thunderstorms over hundreds of miles yet this little baby that is just inches inside Danielle has developed some sort of stealth technology to hide from it. We can either look at it as practice for hide and go seek with mommy and daddy when DLB is a toddler or be hopeful that the scientific part of the brain development is hyperactive and will later prove to save the world from cancer. Or at least intrusive doppler radar.
So anyway, the happy side effect is we get to get the ultrasound out and see our baby. Not being able to hear the heartbeat always gives us a scare since Danielle can't quite feel the baby we obviously assume everything is groovy but you never know. Actually Danielle has been feeling the little flutter that she is sure is not a gas bubble, but seems to be the baby moving around but we really can't be sure yet. So the nurse gets the wand out, squeezes the super special goo on her belly and, lo and behold, DLB is doing a full on Irish jig for us. Arms and legs flailing, fingers moving, full on dancing away. Looked alot like Michael dancing backin the 80's but with more style.
I have to say I understand love at first sight and ever since we saw our little egg sack in those first pictures I can't explain how much my heart grows and my life expands every time I see those tiny little movements, the heart beating, the little body growing inside. March 24th is so long away, yet I know that time flies by so quick that it will seem like no time at all.
It seems our little bundle of joy is already practicing on being a pain in the "womb". Seems there is this little microphone that uses doppler radar to hear the baby's heartbeat and DLB doesn't show up on it. Meteorologists use doppler radar to track huge thunderstorms over hundreds of miles yet this little baby that is just inches inside Danielle has developed some sort of stealth technology to hide from it. We can either look at it as practice for hide and go seek with mommy and daddy when DLB is a toddler or be hopeful that the scientific part of the brain development is hyperactive and will later prove to save the world from cancer. Or at least intrusive doppler radar.
So anyway, the happy side effect is we get to get the ultrasound out and see our baby. Not being able to hear the heartbeat always gives us a scare since Danielle can't quite feel the baby we obviously assume everything is groovy but you never know. Actually Danielle has been feeling the little flutter that she is sure is not a gas bubble, but seems to be the baby moving around but we really can't be sure yet. So the nurse gets the wand out, squeezes the super special goo on her belly and, lo and behold, DLB is doing a full on Irish jig for us. Arms and legs flailing, fingers moving, full on dancing away. Looked alot like Michael dancing backin the 80's but with more style.
I have to say I understand love at first sight and ever since we saw our little egg sack in those first pictures I can't explain how much my heart grows and my life expands every time I see those tiny little movements, the heart beating, the little body growing inside. March 24th is so long away, yet I know that time flies by so quick that it will seem like no time at all.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
14 weeks and growing
We had appointments both last week and this week so I think we are getting to know the routine pretty well, weigh-in, pee in the cup, wait for the doc. Actually all I do is the waiting part, none of the fun stuff.
Last weeks appointment was scheduled because some of Danielle's sugars were high while she is on a medicine to try and control them. 4 times a day she gets to prick her finger and record the results. Fortunately the high marks were not astronomical but were higher than the recommended level of 120 and she is now taking a higher dose of medicine and was given a balanced diet to help keep the levels in the safer area. We were told that as the pregnancy goes on the ability to control sugars gets harder so getting it under control now is important.
They did another ultrasound to observe the baby's heart but this one was external and had a much more abstract picture. It is so incredible every time we see DLB move when we are watching on camera, those little arms and legs stretching and turning. Danielle is very excited for the time when she can feel the movement and actually feel her baby. I'm waiting for the first kick to my head as I lay against Danielle's belly and I try to sing a lullaby to DLB in my oh so melodic singing voice.
I have been informed that at 14 weeks DLB can squint, frown, pee, and possibly suck it's thumb. Wow, that's a really strange progression of things to learn first in life. They all come in handy in case of a leopard attack or passing kidney stones. I think all those things are going on at the same time here hence the blurry image.
Last weeks appointment was scheduled because some of Danielle's sugars were high while she is on a medicine to try and control them. 4 times a day she gets to prick her finger and record the results. Fortunately the high marks were not astronomical but were higher than the recommended level of 120 and she is now taking a higher dose of medicine and was given a balanced diet to help keep the levels in the safer area. We were told that as the pregnancy goes on the ability to control sugars gets harder so getting it under control now is important.
They did another ultrasound to observe the baby's heart but this one was external and had a much more abstract picture. It is so incredible every time we see DLB move when we are watching on camera, those little arms and legs stretching and turning. Danielle is very excited for the time when she can feel the movement and actually feel her baby. I'm waiting for the first kick to my head as I lay against Danielle's belly and I try to sing a lullaby to DLB in my oh so melodic singing voice.
I have been informed that at 14 weeks DLB can squint, frown, pee, and possibly suck it's thumb. Wow, that's a really strange progression of things to learn first in life. They all come in handy in case of a leopard attack or passing kidney stones. I think all those things are going on at the same time here hence the blurry image.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Final due date...for now
The doctor placed our due date back to March 24th at the last appointment so I guess that is what we're shooting for. I've been told that that's a great month as my side of the family has no birthdays in March so DLB will be able to have no competition or grow up sharing the cake candles with a relative. Actually growing up we never had that, just now that we are older and can handle the diminishing importance of our birthday. I'm kidding, my 17th 21st birthday was a momentous event!
Interesting though that the 24th is positioned almost directly in the middle of two "holidays". If born a week earlier on the 17th and it's St. Patricks Day, a week later on the 1st and April Fools Day is looming. Leprechaun vs. Fool. As for a birthday on the 1st, you get is a lifetime of people playing cruel jokes on your birthday. I have to lean towards the Irish holiday as I believe you get Irish citizenship and a woolen sweater with your birth certificate on that day. Ooh and maybe a shileleigh!
Interesting though that the 24th is positioned almost directly in the middle of two "holidays". If born a week earlier on the 17th and it's St. Patricks Day, a week later on the 1st and April Fools Day is looming. Leprechaun vs. Fool. As for a birthday on the 1st, you get is a lifetime of people playing cruel jokes on your birthday. I have to lean towards the Irish holiday as I believe you get Irish citizenship and a woolen sweater with your birth certificate on that day. Ooh and maybe a shileleigh!
Monday, September 8, 2008
What now?
We have decided to forgo any extra testing to screen for any early birth defects since neither of us have any family history of any problems. We would not even consider any other options other than to deliver the baby no matter what they found so we did not see the point in taking on any extra anxiety about the baby. Just like finding out the gender, we will love what God gives us, no matter the package. That said we are of course praying for a healthy pregnancy and baby!
Danielle has been keeping track of her blood sugar as per doctors orders due to her history of "borderline diabetes". Unfortunately it has been a little high so she has been prescribed Glyburide to combat that. The doctor will be monitoring her progress weekly to follow the results.
The nursery is also on our mind and we have decided to transform the office, or the "DBacks room", into our baby's bedroom. I will need to find a place to showcase my collection, and it will take some rearranging and some painting, but I'm looking forward to making our little one's room the best room in the house. If I know Danielle it will definately involve Tweety and the color yellow! I'm sure I can find a Tweety baseball stencil somewhere....or maybe just a yellow D-Backs logo....
Danielle has been keeping track of her blood sugar as per doctors orders due to her history of "borderline diabetes". Unfortunately it has been a little high so she has been prescribed Glyburide to combat that. The doctor will be monitoring her progress weekly to follow the results.
The nursery is also on our mind and we have decided to transform the office, or the "DBacks room", into our baby's bedroom. I will need to find a place to showcase my collection, and it will take some rearranging and some painting, but I'm looking forward to making our little one's room the best room in the house. If I know Danielle it will definately involve Tweety and the color yellow! I'm sure I can find a Tweety baseball stencil somewhere....or maybe just a yellow D-Backs logo....
12 weeks finally!
So here we are, safely through the first tri-mester, our cautious secret is now allowed to see the light of day and and announce to the world WE ARE PREGNANT!!
We went to the doctor today and and were happy to hear we were actually in the 12th week instead of the 11th like we thought. We were thinking that we were still going to have to wait to tell the good news until next week and I have just been bursting at the seams.
D-L-B doing somersaults in Mommy. 12 weeks
The ultrasound was really cool this time as we were able to see individual arms, legs, feet, and hands. The doctor said it looked like there was a baseball bat in there too, but alas it was just the umbilical cord. I was really excited that the future D-Backs fan was already gearing up for the 2009 season! We were really able to see DLB moving around for the first time and it was just unbelievable that this little life was our baby, just 6 months removed from it's first breath of air. We (I) cried. A little. Really.
On the drive home I was trying to figure out how to meet up with my parents to let them know the news but I just couldn't wait any longer so Mom got the call on the way home from the doctor. She of course was very excited and....wait for it...I cried. I've never known such absolute joy and happiness that every time I get excited my emotions come out in tears. I think I'm damaged somehow.
We went to the doctor today and and were happy to hear we were actually in the 12th week instead of the 11th like we thought. We were thinking that we were still going to have to wait to tell the good news until next week and I have just been bursting at the seams.
D-L-B doing somersaults in Mommy. 12 weeks
The ultrasound was really cool this time as we were able to see individual arms, legs, feet, and hands. The doctor said it looked like there was a baseball bat in there too, but alas it was just the umbilical cord. I was really excited that the future D-Backs fan was already gearing up for the 2009 season! We were really able to see DLB moving around for the first time and it was just unbelievable that this little life was our baby, just 6 months removed from it's first breath of air. We (I) cried. A little. Really.
On the drive home I was trying to figure out how to meet up with my parents to let them know the news but I just couldn't wait any longer so Mom got the call on the way home from the doctor. She of course was very excited and....wait for it...I cried. I've never known such absolute joy and happiness that every time I get excited my emotions come out in tears. I think I'm damaged somehow.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
DLB, gimme a beat!
So we had our second visit today and I must admit I feel like I'm a little kid waiting to see what is inside the biggest christmas present that my parents have so nicely put under the Christmas tree 2 weeks prior to the big day. I can't wait to see the "egg sac" (what ever we should be calling it now) and how DLB is growing. Lo and behold DLB has grown like crazy and the first thing we see is this amazing little flutter vibrating at what seems like a thousand miles a second. Already DLB has a heartbeat and you know it is dang near the cutest little heartbeat ever! I will never forget how amazed and proud I am to see this life emerging inside my beautiful wife, every day I feel so blessed that God has provided us our baby.
Today I did not want to ask any questions, didn't want to repeat the last visit. I almost made it but had to ask one when the doctor said that since Danielle's blood was rh+ she would probably need a shot of Rogaine later in the pregnancy. My mind immediately stopped and tried to figure out why she would start loosing her hair due to her blood during pregnancy and my mouth did not hesitate to blurt out a question. Luckily in this instance, somewhere between my minds dictionary and my unthinking tounge, I simply asked "What was that for?" rather than "Is my wife going to be balding?" or worse yet "Will that make the baby look like a gorilla when it's born?". I'm either learning or lucky that a twist of fate preemted my words. I love fate.
The shot was of Rogam and honestly I don't know if I understood what it was for other than to ensure that this baby and any others in the future were compatible with Danielle's blood. He did not sound very concerned with it so I'm sure it's minor.
Not important like male pattern baldness.
This is our first picture of our egg sac from the first visit.
My how time flies. The doctor estimates DLB is 7 weeks old now and our tentative due date is March 31st. Hopefully not a day later on April Fool's Day. My wife won't deal with 2 of those in the house.
Today I did not want to ask any questions, didn't want to repeat the last visit. I almost made it but had to ask one when the doctor said that since Danielle's blood was rh+ she would probably need a shot of Rogaine later in the pregnancy. My mind immediately stopped and tried to figure out why she would start loosing her hair due to her blood during pregnancy and my mouth did not hesitate to blurt out a question. Luckily in this instance, somewhere between my minds dictionary and my unthinking tounge, I simply asked "What was that for?" rather than "Is my wife going to be balding?" or worse yet "Will that make the baby look like a gorilla when it's born?". I'm either learning or lucky that a twist of fate preemted my words. I love fate.
The shot was of Rogam and honestly I don't know if I understood what it was for other than to ensure that this baby and any others in the future were compatible with Danielle's blood. He did not sound very concerned with it so I'm sure it's minor.
Not important like male pattern baldness.
This is our first picture of our egg sac from the first visit.
My how time flies. The doctor estimates DLB is 7 weeks old now and our tentative due date is March 31st. Hopefully not a day later on April Fool's Day. My wife won't deal with 2 of those in the house.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Waiting to explode
If you are reading this we have finally decided it was the time to let the world know of the single most incredible news that we have ever had to keep secret. Not that there is a long list of secrets we have kept from everyone, but if there was then this would definitely be the most incredible. But at the time I'm writing this we are cautiously waiting out the first trimester in order to make sure all is well before announcing our amazing new life.
We had a family gathering at Mikey's church the other day with Paula and Jess, Mikey and B, and Paul and Josie and the kids. The sermon was put together by the Youth Ministry Team at CCV and the message was raising the next generation of teens to be a positive dynamic in the spread of the Word and the growth of the church. At first I thought it was not really going to talk to me like some sermons do, but I was wrong. The main theme was that we are all family in Christ and that as such we are all responsible for the actions and teachings we may not even know we are showing to the youth. I figured that since our DeeLeeBob was quite a long ways from the void of reason that we call the teenage years this would not really apply to me. When the pastor pointed out that even if we did not have teenagers of preteens we all affect their view of what being a Christian is. I leaned over to Danielle and whispered in her ear "We are the parents of a pre-teen". Even at this stage in life I realize I should be looking at how we are reflecting Christ so our child sees a good example.
My how time seems to fly. Seems like only yesterday our little one was just 2 cells wrestling to split into 4 and now D-L-B is already a pre-teen.
It makes me think that the next 6 weeks of waiting to announce is gonna fly right by.
We had a family gathering at Mikey's church the other day with Paula and Jess, Mikey and B, and Paul and Josie and the kids. The sermon was put together by the Youth Ministry Team at CCV and the message was raising the next generation of teens to be a positive dynamic in the spread of the Word and the growth of the church. At first I thought it was not really going to talk to me like some sermons do, but I was wrong. The main theme was that we are all family in Christ and that as such we are all responsible for the actions and teachings we may not even know we are showing to the youth. I figured that since our DeeLeeBob was quite a long ways from the void of reason that we call the teenage years this would not really apply to me. When the pastor pointed out that even if we did not have teenagers of preteens we all affect their view of what being a Christian is. I leaned over to Danielle and whispered in her ear "We are the parents of a pre-teen". Even at this stage in life I realize I should be looking at how we are reflecting Christ so our child sees a good example.
My how time seems to fly. Seems like only yesterday our little one was just 2 cells wrestling to split into 4 and now D-L-B is already a pre-teen.
It makes me think that the next 6 weeks of waiting to announce is gonna fly right by.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The Ultimate surprise
Danielle has always believed that there are few true surprises in this life. One that modern medicine has eroded away at is the surprise of finding out the gender of your baby at the moment of birth. Another is if she will ever get a vacation without it turning into a history lesson taught by her well meaning but sometimes tiring husband. That one we have no control over but we can and have decided to keep the mystery alive for us until the moment our baby's life begins.
Hence we have two names picked out.
Daniel Laurence
OR
Laura Anne
So that we don't continue to refer to our baby as ItSheHim, surely harming it for life, we have decided on a much easier moniker. We decided to use the first two letters in both names, D and L, in some combination. Problems ensued.
If we used DL this was a abbreviation for a term that is not very conducive to positive happenings in baseball, the Disabled List.
If we chose LD, this also stands for Learning Disability and the lord knows we don't want to saddle our child with that.
So, in our infinite wisdom and incredible love, we have settled on:
DeeLee-Bob
The definition of which is, I believe, an alternative name for something that you are having trouble putting a name on, to be replaced later by its true label. Perfection.
Hence we have two names picked out.
Daniel Laurence
OR
Laura Anne
So that we don't continue to refer to our baby as ItSheHim, surely harming it for life, we have decided on a much easier moniker. We decided to use the first two letters in both names, D and L, in some combination. Problems ensued.
If we used DL this was a abbreviation for a term that is not very conducive to positive happenings in baseball, the Disabled List.
If we chose LD, this also stands for Learning Disability and the lord knows we don't want to saddle our child with that.
So, in our infinite wisdom and incredible love, we have settled on:
DeeLee-Bob
The definition of which is, I believe, an alternative name for something that you are having trouble putting a name on, to be replaced later by its true label. Perfection.
Open mouth, insert feet, ankles, leg...
So I forgot the comic relief to our first visit to the doctor. At the point where we ask the first tirade of 372 questions we have prepared in advance, I manage to start my one question I have come up with in the twisted recesses of my mind with "I know that I'm just the father and my work here is done...".
Crap. If only the world outside my mouth were as clear as it is in my mind. The doctor explodes into a loud guffaw, yes a guffaw, a loud "boy you just damned yourself and I wish you all the luck you may not deserve" laugh as my beautiful, glowing, sweetest woman you ever met wife looks at me in disbelief at the words that I so artfully crafted stumble out of my mouth, clearing the way for both my feet and ankles to fill the void in my mouth.
My simple question was, as the father, does the fact that my mother, so many years ago, had a few miscarriages have any genetic bearing on the success of our pregnancy.
Sounds simple. Typical new parent question I would think. I preface it with the most selfish and uncaring sounding, way I could have found to present it. Fortunately Danielle knows me and knows sometimes you just have to say "gotta love him because he's just so dang cute". Yeah right.
I have a feeling I will hear about this for awhile to come.
Crap. If only the world outside my mouth were as clear as it is in my mind. The doctor explodes into a loud guffaw, yes a guffaw, a loud "boy you just damned yourself and I wish you all the luck you may not deserve" laugh as my beautiful, glowing, sweetest woman you ever met wife looks at me in disbelief at the words that I so artfully crafted stumble out of my mouth, clearing the way for both my feet and ankles to fill the void in my mouth.
My simple question was, as the father, does the fact that my mother, so many years ago, had a few miscarriages have any genetic bearing on the success of our pregnancy.
Sounds simple. Typical new parent question I would think. I preface it with the most selfish and uncaring sounding, way I could have found to present it. Fortunately Danielle knows me and knows sometimes you just have to say "gotta love him because he's just so dang cute". Yeah right.
I have a feeling I will hear about this for awhile to come.
The confirmation of the news
So today we finally got to go in to see the doctor to make sure that we were not just misreading the 2 previous tests through our will to conceive. Or maybe it wasn't the best piece of electronics Danielle has ever peed on.
Now this is my first visit to an OG/GYN but believe it or not I was more excited than nervous! Danielle not so much. She's excited but not looking forward to the whole ultrasound probe thing. I can understand this, if I needed to do this we would probably just keep raising our 4 dogs and 2 cats as our kids.
Anyway, Danielle gets to sport the groovy paper gown with the oh so warm paper quilt and the doctor proceeds to show us our first look at our "egg sac". Yep that's what its called at this stage. Sounds like we're giving birth to the newest creation at IHOP. But you know what? That's OUR egg sac, our beautiful little cluster of cells. We (I) cried again after the doctor left us with our grainy radar screen ultrasound pictures.
ItSheHe has my eyes by the way.
Our tentative due date is March 24th. We managed to miss the heat almost completely much to Danielle's happiness. We plan so well.
Incredible high, followed by sobering news
I wondered if I should include this since it is not about the pregnancy but I believe it to be a very important part of our journey.
The day after we found out we were having a child, Danielle's mom, Paula, received news that a a test she had taken also came back positive, but this is not the news anyone wants to hear. She was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer and would immediately start undergoing the treatment in order to defeat it.
This must be how a manic depressive person must feel. Awesome high, walking on air, then suddenly a hard blow to your core, taking you back a step.
Danielle is an incredibly strong woman, sometimes too strong for her own good, but she learned it all from her mother. She will be there for her mom, standing strong by her side and coaching her through this, and she'll be there for Danielle as well.
Paula is a true treasure to our family and we appreciate all she does with and for us. We love her very much and will do anything and everything to help make sure she defeats this.
The day after we found out we were having a child, Danielle's mom, Paula, received news that a a test she had taken also came back positive, but this is not the news anyone wants to hear. She was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer and would immediately start undergoing the treatment in order to defeat it.
This must be how a manic depressive person must feel. Awesome high, walking on air, then suddenly a hard blow to your core, taking you back a step.
Danielle is an incredibly strong woman, sometimes too strong for her own good, but she learned it all from her mother. She will be there for her mom, standing strong by her side and coaching her through this, and she'll be there for Danielle as well.
Paula is a true treasure to our family and we appreciate all she does with and for us. We love her very much and will do anything and everything to help make sure she defeats this.
So this begins the journey -7/20/08
Danielle and I have been trying to concieve for about 2 years or so without any success. Its been lots of practice and awfully fun trying to along the way but with no success. We (well, she) has been to many doctors to find she's "pre-diabetic" (maybe). She has endured daily shots in her abdomen and blood sugar tests (dang pricks, hehe) to regulate her condition and allow her body to ovulate. Some of this seemed to work, some seemed like we were reaching at straws. Eventually we seemed to get her out of the danger zone through diet and medicine and hoped that now her body would cooperate. We often wondered how when we looked out into the world and saw so many people who couldn't raise a cactus much less a human being, seem to find it so easy to propagate the species, yet we, two loving people with a good life to provide, found it so difficult to do so.
I even got the joy of visiting the office to drop off my little guys to find out if they are swimming in the deep end or hanging out by the steps trying to look cool while picking the pool toys off the bottom with their feet (or is it tails?). Fortunately they seemed to be olympic swimmers not affected by the tighty whities and tight pants of yesteryear. By the way does anybody know how long I should have spent in that little room? It felt that there was a timer outside the door and the staff placed bets on how long each patient would take. Hope I made someone lunch money for the week.
Along the way we both got in shape and back out of shape and gave up on the whole fertility doctor thing and just decided to let God and a little bit of doctoring take over. God is amazing we knew, and he would provide for us in time.
We have very recently decided to look into foster care and adoption, because we are interested in spreading the love wether or not we have children naturally. It seems to us that maybe we were being led in this direction and that maybe this was our way to start building our family. We met with our pastor and his wife for a wonderfully informative meeting about thier experience with foster care and adoption. We came away from that even more convinced that this was a route we should be explore and scheduled another meeting with some church members that have done the same.
On June 20th Danielle woke me up to go to church. If you know me, I don't wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed, I barely function for about an hour and after a 2 liter of Mountain Dew. Danielle is absolutely amazing when he has to wake me up, nice and easy but because I'm like a bump on a log I usually still don't respond real quick. This morning was the same sweet way but with a twist, she told me she just took a test and when I'd decided to wake up she'd tell me that there was a + sign on it. I opened up my eyes like an eight year old on Christmas Day in Disneyland dancing with Spongebob amped up on a sugar high. She's taken these tests before but this was the first time we got the plus! She waited until after church to take the next one, the "most advanced piece of electronics you'll ever pee on" as the commercial says and but this time we did not get a +. Nope, this time the little LCD computer screen said PREGNANT! Immediately we (I) cried and hugged each other as a family for the first time.
This was it, the moment we have been wishing, praying, practicing, and working towards and it felt more awesome than we ever could have imagined. Thanks be to God, our child has begun it's beautiful journey.
I even got the joy of visiting the office to drop off my little guys to find out if they are swimming in the deep end or hanging out by the steps trying to look cool while picking the pool toys off the bottom with their feet (or is it tails?). Fortunately they seemed to be olympic swimmers not affected by the tighty whities and tight pants of yesteryear. By the way does anybody know how long I should have spent in that little room? It felt that there was a timer outside the door and the staff placed bets on how long each patient would take. Hope I made someone lunch money for the week.
Along the way we both got in shape and back out of shape and gave up on the whole fertility doctor thing and just decided to let God and a little bit of doctoring take over. God is amazing we knew, and he would provide for us in time.
We have very recently decided to look into foster care and adoption, because we are interested in spreading the love wether or not we have children naturally. It seems to us that maybe we were being led in this direction and that maybe this was our way to start building our family. We met with our pastor and his wife for a wonderfully informative meeting about thier experience with foster care and adoption. We came away from that even more convinced that this was a route we should be explore and scheduled another meeting with some church members that have done the same.
On June 20th Danielle woke me up to go to church. If you know me, I don't wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed, I barely function for about an hour and after a 2 liter of Mountain Dew. Danielle is absolutely amazing when he has to wake me up, nice and easy but because I'm like a bump on a log I usually still don't respond real quick. This morning was the same sweet way but with a twist, she told me she just took a test and when I'd decided to wake up she'd tell me that there was a + sign on it. I opened up my eyes like an eight year old on Christmas Day in Disneyland dancing with Spongebob amped up on a sugar high. She's taken these tests before but this was the first time we got the plus! She waited until after church to take the next one, the "most advanced piece of electronics you'll ever pee on" as the commercial says and but this time we did not get a +. Nope, this time the little LCD computer screen said PREGNANT! Immediately we (I) cried and hugged each other as a family for the first time.
This was it, the moment we have been wishing, praying, practicing, and working towards and it felt more awesome than we ever could have imagined. Thanks be to God, our child has begun it's beautiful journey.
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