That’s My Boy . . .

As I mentioned a few posts ago, Vik and I never had any doubt that we wanted to find out the gender of this baby as soon as possible. We are not by nature very patient people, and neither one of us is a huge fan of surprises. Needless to say, we were very happy that our baby boy decided to cooperate at our BIG ultrasound and let us in on his secret.

I have since been giving some thought to whether we made the right choice in finding out the gender, and I have to say, for us, we totally did. And, I say that not because we are now relieved of the burden of using “s/he” to refer to our Little One and are no longer confined to the yellow/green section of the Macy’s baby clothing department.  Rather, for me the most wonderful (and least anticipated) benefit of finding out the gender has been that it has really brought home the reality not only of this pregnancy, but also of all that will come after.

I no longer think of our Little One as some abstract baby, but rather he is our son. I can now imagine what he might look like (hopefully, my hottie husband!), and the things we might do together. I can more easily picture the challenges we might face once he is no longer an infant but rather a little boy or teenager (I cannot yet bring myself to think about him heading off to college or getting married!). In short, I am now able to build an image in my mind of what our future as a family might look like (mindful, of course, of the fact that it is very likely that absolutely nothing will turn out as I expect).

This wave of reality did not roll in gradually over the course of the weeks following our BIG ultrasound. No, it came crashing down on me the moment the words “Congratulations, you are having a boy!” landed on my ears. In fact, when I, a person about as unsentimental as they come, heard that I was having a son, I felt such a sudden and overwhelming connection to, and love for, the little being inside of me that I started sobbing right there on the ultrasound exam table. If that was my reaction to finding out his gender, I can only imagine now how intense my reaction will be when I (finally!) hold him in my arms for the first time . . .

Traditions

To state the obvious, Vik and I come from very different cultural backgrounds. Fortunately, this has never been a source of tension in our relationship.  Quite to the contrary, we both enjoy learning about (and taking part in) the other’s traditions.

Now that we are expecting a little one, we have been giving a lot of thought to how we will share our varied experiences and traditions with our son, and the unique family traditions we will create from the best of both of our worlds. Although we are far from figuring out the ins-and-outs of raising a multicultural child, we both agree that at the very least our son will be doubly blessed to enjoy two-times the gift-receiving holidays as the majority of his peers!

Of course, introducing our son to the various American and Indian holidays and all of their attendant traditions will necessarily involve introducing Mommy and Daddy to the same.  In an effort to get a head start on this endeavor, this past weekend I decided to give Vik a primer on one of the most important aspects of one of America’s most revered holidays — I taught Vik how to carve a jack o’ lantern.

Okay, so maybe Halloween is not really one of the most important holidays on the American calendar, but it was always a big deal in my family (probably because it also happens to be my Mom’s birthday).  We always went all out with homemade costumes (no pre-made vinyl contraptions for us), Halloween-themed baked goods, and, of course, pumpkin carving.  Vik has already mastered the art of consuming baked goods (regardless of the occasion), and was introduced to costumes two years ago (when he was the Scarecrow to my Dorothy).  But, until yesterday, he had never carved a pumpkin.  Well, I decided this needed to be remedied before our little one arrives, because if there is one thing a father should be able to teach his son, it is how to gut and carve a giant squash.

Of course, as Vik does with most things, he excelled at pumpkin carving, putting this veteran squash artist to shame.  As you can see from the picture below, any concern I had that our son might one day find his father’s carving abilities to be lacking were completely unfounded.

Vik's Scary Skeleton Pumpkin!

My Happy Pumpkin!

Here he is . . .

As promised, here are some of our favorite images from Master Duck’s big reveal yesterday.  We have decided not to post any of the more revealing shots — although the Little One is not shy about showing off his privates, we are!

Isn't he lovely?

Kicking and Punching!

Spinal Cord

I cannot wait to hold these in my hands!

Man-U

About 15 minutes into the experiment, Master Duck lined up what felt like a penalty kick, and then proceeded to bend it like Beckham!

Looks like our little Master Duck is a soccer fan. JoAnne kept feeling more and more intense (and regular) kicks over the past few days, and last night, I was finally able to feel one myself! We were in bed watching TV and I had my hand on JoAnne’s little baby bump (note that I didn’t refer to it as “the belly”) hoping to feel something. Feel something I did! About 15 minutes into the experiment, Master Duck lined up what felt like a penalty kick, and then proceeded to bend it like Beckham! My hand literally lost contact with JoAnne’s baby bump – such was the intensity of the kick. I was over the moon!

I can’t wait for the little guy to continue developing healthily, and continue providing entertainment via kicks and nudges; although, I feel bad for JoAnne’s internals as no internals can be happy getting kicked, punched, and generally abused…

Now, let’s rewind a little bit to earlier in the day yesterday when we actually had our BIG ONE (i.e., the 20 week ultrasound). It was scheduled to last an hour, and was to start at 10; it started at 10:20, and lasted 2 hours. JoAnne and I were very excited, super nervous, and extremely anxious prior to the BIG ONE; I couldn’t sleep at all the night before, and neither could JoAnne. We were hoping and praying that our little duck was making great developmental progress and that everything was in order. We wanted duckie to earn several gold stars during the ultrasound.

A few minutes into the procedure, we both exhaled with so much relief – we saw the little duck move around, tossing and turning! Our ultrasound tech continued to walk us through the different parts and organs – the femur, the tibia, the kidneys, the diaphragm, the ear, the nose, the eyes, the penis… When the tech first saw the little boy part, she said: Congratulations, you guys are having a baby boy! JoAnne and I both looked at each other and we were entirely overwhelmed with emotion. Neither of us had a preferred gender at that time – but it was such a proud and emotional moment for us to know that we were going to be parents of a little baby BOY. Note, however, that I did ask the ultrasound tech whether she was sure it was a little boy and not a little girl with her finger strategically placed down there. I was, of course, only joking (mostly); but, regardless of being assured by the tech, I received proof positive several times during the ultrasound (see below).

Now, about those gold stars… Duckie put on an almost flawless performance, providing the ultrasound tech with great positions for almost all the requisite images. The little guy was exceptionally happy, for some reason, displaying his little boy parts. He flashed his junk at least 7 or 8 times during the ultrasound; the tech couldn’t move the ultrasound wand without catching another glimpse of the little wee-wee. However, the little guy was also very resolute (aka hard-headed) and wouldn’t provide a clear shot of a specific angle of the heart, so JoAnne has to go back in a couple weeks for round 2. The Dr. isn’t worried – the heart is great and everything is in order; however, they need to be certain that absolutely EVERYTHING is in order, so they want JoAnne to go back for the final few images. So, I’m sorry to report that the little duck was one gold star shy of a perfect result. Oh, well – not everyone can be a perfectionist genius like JoAnne…

We’ll post pictures from the ultrasound soon. Stay tuned!

Oh BOY!

Vik and I went for the BIG ultrasound today, and the tech took over an hour and a half to get all of the views she needed (and she still could not get everything!). She did, however, manage to get several excellent views of Master Duck’s BOY parts – our Little Man may be super-active and generally uncooperative, but he is certainly not shy!

Everything looked great, and Vik and I are over-the-moon happy, relieved, and excited right now!  I will provide more details, and pictures, within the next day or two, but right now Vik and I are on our way out to celebrate!

Stay Tuned . . .

… the most nerve-wracking aspect of pregnancy is … the complete and utter inability to know what is going on in there and whether the baby is okay.

Vik and I are headed to the doctor bright and early Thursday morning (well, 9:30 AM, which is bright and early for me!) for our BIG ultrasound.  This week simply cannot go by fast enough!

As excited as I to find out whether our Little Duckie is a Miss or a Master, I must say that I at this point I am even more excited to hopefully finally get a solid confirmation that s/he is healthy and developmentally on-track.  After all, the most nerve-wracking aspect of pregnancy is not the morning sickness, the exhaustion, or the shockingly rapid expansion of one’s midsection, but rather the complete and utter inability to know what is going on in there and whether the baby is okay.

Maybe I am underestimating my neuroticism, but I really think that once I clear this hurdle (that is, once Duckie gets a gold star on the ultrasound), I will finally be able to relax and let myself believe that everything is going to be fine.

So anyway, stay tuned and be sure to check back in on Thursday night for the results of the BIG one!

Knock, Knock, Who’s There?

So, for the past week or so I have been feeling random little pokes and occasional waves way down low in my belly.  At first I was reluctant to chalk these sensations up to the baby moving, but after feeling them somewhat consistently for over a week, I am now ready to confirm that YES, I am indeed feeling the Little One dancing around in my tummy!  And, you know what?  It is amazing!

My Bump, My Bump, My Lovely Baby Bump . . .

Check it out!

Vik and I had a mini-photo shoot last night to chronicle the size of my belly at 18 weeks (roughly 4 months).  We had a lot of fun, and I was very pleased with the results.  I am definitely lucky to be married to such a good photographer!

After we loaded the images onto Vik’s laptop, we decided to have a little fun manipulating the images (as you tell from the photos below).  I think the results were pretty cool, although to be entirely honest, I had no idea I looked so freakin’ pregnant until I saw the proof staring at me from the computer screen.

I cannot believe that I am only going to get much much bigger over the course of the next 5 months.  Yikes!

What?!? How did that get there?

It's Electric!

Ten little fingers; Ten tiny toes…

Ten little fingers and ten tiny toes aside, we constantly pray that everything else is growing and forming as it should.

On Thursday, October 22, we will head to the Dr.’s office to have the 20 week ultrasound, followed by a visit with the Dr. The 20 week ultrasound, aka the BIG ONE, will (hopefully, accurately) reveal the sex of the little duck. But, more importantly, it will provide an overall health, wellness, and developmental assessment of our precious little duckie.

I’m, undoubtedly, excited about finding out whether our duck is a boy or a girl. However, I’m most anxious to confirm that our little thing has all the requisite parts and is making excellent developmental progress. Ten little fingers and ten tiny toes aside, we constantly pray that everything else is growing and forming as it should. We have no reason to believe otherwise, but the proof, as they say, is in the pudding (or in this case, in the BIG ONE).

This entire ball of emotions – uncertainty, anxiety, hope, excitement, stress, joy, eagerness, etc., etc., – is really good training, I’d imagine, for the many, many, many years of uncertainty, anxiety, hope, excitement, stress, joy, eagerness, etc., etc., to come. It’s funny – I feel like our lives are transforming, slowly but surely, even before the little duck arrives.

Happy Days are Here Again … Sort Of

… I may have left the “perpetually convinced my baby is dying” phase of pregnancy, but I have in turn entered the “OMG-there-is-so-much-to-do-and-decide-and-it-is-all-just-way-too-overwhelming” stage.

At 17 weeks (plus change), I am now firmly entrenched in my second trimester and all I can say is, WOW, what a difference a few weeks can make!

Most positively, I am now pretty much nausea- and gag-free — in fact, for the past week, I have been able to brush my teeth for the full two minute Sonicare cycle, at least at night.  How sweet it is to have clean teeth again!

I am also able to make it through full work-days (well, full by normal standards, if not by attorney standards) without a nap! Of course, I still need long naps on the weekends but, trust me, the fact that I can go from 8am to 11pm Monday through Friday without my head dropping onto my desk or taking a two-hour marathon nap on my sofa is major progress.

I am also happy to report that although I still spend a lot of time hoping and praying that everything is okay and that my baby is healthy and progressing on-track, I am spending less and less time actively convincing myself that is not the case. I am pretty sure that Vik is even happier about this turn of events than I am!

Of course, there are certain less-than-desirable changes that are occurring in the second trimester . . .

For one, what began the second trimester as a tiny (and, might I add, adorable) pot belly is now a full-blown baby bump. Now, this is not in and of itself a bad thing — it is certainly satisfying to have tangible evidence outside my body of everything that is going on inside my body. However, what is not so great is the fact that as of last night, the only bottoms I can fit into are a pair of Vik’s jogging pants and a couple of jersey skirts from Old Navy (mine, not Vik’s). Because of the increasingly chilly weather, this means that I actually went out to dinner last night in a pair of my husband’s sweatpants!

The second change is that for the first time in my life, I am experiencing severe seasonal allergies, complete with allergy headaches, a nose that alternates between stuffy and runny, sneezing, and a very heavy/fuzzy feeling in my head. I am not sure exactly why pregnancy would suddenly cause me to experience severe allergy-symptoms, but it is apparently not at all uncommon. WTF?!?

Finally, as I mentioned above, I may have left the “perpetually convinced my baby is dying” phase of pregnancy, but I have in turn entered the “OMG-there-is-so-much-to-do-and-decide-and-it-is-all-just-way-too-overwhelming” stage.

This stage involves reading a ton of scary articles about the dangers of various baby products, how to baby-proof your home, day care versus nannies, the dangers of daycares and nannies, and about a hundred other baby-related topics that were not even on my radar 4 months ago.  It is all so overwhelming that even typing it out right now is stressing me out!

In fact, you know what, I think I might need that mid-day nap after all . . .