Good news – Small Fry appears to be a human being and not some parasitic alien species. We confirmed at our 20-week ultrasound (taken at 21 weeks) that everything is going swimmingly in there. Apparently SF measures a gestational age of roughly 22 weeks, but the docs tell us that does mean a whole lot. We’re still on target for a 9/13 date… although I’m convinced we’re gonna welcome him/her a good five(ish) days early. Other than that, we really don’t have much to share. Melissa is now showing, although she’s way tiny compared to her self-perception. We bought a new family car, does that count as news?
Author: Chris
The First Bond
I’ve often wondered why so many pregnant women hold their bellies in photos. I thought perhaps it was staged as a way to represent the love between mother and baby. Watching Melissa over the last few weeks, I now know that natural human behavior is largely the culprit. The cool thing is it still likely represents the love between mother and baby… and, in fact, is probably the first bond built between them.
When It Clicks
I think the question I get most often is whether it’s sunk in yet. Four months in, I’m not sure it had… despite knowing our baby’s gender* and Melissa starting to show. Even buying the odd bit of baby clothes didn’t seem that monumental because we’ve bought stuff like that for other people in the past. Heck, I’ve done way more kid shopping than I care to admit with two nieces. No, what makes it real… for me… is the first bit of baby kit in the house. Well, that fancy globe was found for the nursery at an estate sale last year, but that doesn’t count. No, it’s a actual car seat.
We’ve been doing the internet research thing and making good progress on decisions, but we didn’t intend to start shopping until well into the summer. Then, the opportunity to get the exact car seat we wanted at 1/3 the price presented itself, so it was a no brainer. So, the moment it clicked for me was April Fool’s Day 2016. The idea that this thing will be in our house for awhile and will be responsible for carrying a human that calls us mom and dad is starting to sink in. Our house isn’t that big, so I wonder where all of it is going to go?
I’m looking forward to the next big purchase – a family hauler to replace the Saabaru that, as it turns out, won’t really work for us. There aren’t that many affordable wagons, but we’ll make due (no pun intended). I already love car shopping, even though it takes me like six months, but shopping for a family car is even better. Exciting!
*If you’re expecting and have any questions about our experience with Cell-free DNA testing, let us know.