smoke baby - ipeedonthewug

2003-01-24 - 8:24 a.m.

baby time

It occurs to me that one reason for having this journal is to keep a record of things I'd like to reflect on and remember in the future. This leads me to want to keep a better record of the experiences leading up to and including pregnancy. Here's some stuff you may find interesting, but even if you don't I'm going to post it because it's really for me anyway. I'm going to do this in a question and answer format, a sort of interview with myself.

Baby stuff:

Q. How we found out there was something in there. (?)

A. Amanda took a home pregnancy test one night. When it came out positive we immediately went out to the local drug store in search of a fresh test. The second one came out positive as well. We got excited, but not too much, just in case two in a row was by chance a huge coincidental mistake. The next morning Amanda took the third test, which also came out positive. Despite our vows to not tell anyone until 3 months (the standard) we wasted no time in telling friends and family. It seemed that after trying for about a year, we finally got it right. My boys can swim!

Q. Boy or girl?

A. We don't care. Almost everyone we know has a boy, so we are convinced (because we like to be different) that we will have a girl. Amanda says that she "relates" to the life growing inside her as a girl. We'll find out if this is true or not on February 5 when we have the sonogram done. Despite my remarks about wanting a boy, I will also be ecstatic to have a girl - I'll just have to learn what to do with a girl, what they like, etc. No matter what, my child will know how to use a router and other such tools. If it turns out that it's a girl, she won't be helpless and dainty - she'll enjoy the finer things as well as be able to use power tools.

Q. Was this planned?

A. Not exactly, but yes. We planned to have a family. We planned to get pregnant. We practiced lots. It finally happened. I love when people find out she's pregnant and their first response is, "Did you want this?" I'm just not sure what goes through people's minds. Yes, it was planned.... as much as you can plan. It happened for us, we are happy about it.

Q. Names?

A. We have a tentative list of names for both boys and girls. We are not going with something plain like "John" - no offense to anyone named John. We have no real formula for choosing a name, except for choosing one that we both like (ie: no family names necessarily, no rock star idol, etc) Amanda really thinks she might need to wait until the baby is born to determine the name. It's fine with me, I completely intend to utilize a nickname for the child, no matter what the "legal" name is. This nickname will vary depending on my mood, the child's behavior and other circumstances.

Q. How are you feeling? (This is always directed at Amanda, as it should be.)

A. She feels pregnant.

Q. Is Joshua happy about this?

A. You're damn skippy I am.... happy is an understatement.

Q. Are we going to have more?

A. God willing, yes. (I mean this in the most un-religious way possible... it's just a saying)

Q. How are you going to decorate the room?

A. Ah. We solved this problem by opting out of the traditional pink or blue room. We also opted out of registering for anything that will tip people off to any sort of a "theme" we may have in the room. This is primarily due to the fact that we know people who have had a theme, and therefore everything they receive revolves around that theme. We will likely decorate in a "baby room" theme (original, huh?) The thing that strikes me as odd is why anybody wants to know. It's just not one of the questions I ever think to ask people.

Q. Is Amanda going to quit working and stay home with the baby?

A. Not unless we win a huge lottery.

Q. Will you get rid of your cats? (because you know they will stand on top of the baby and suck the breath out of it.)

A. Huh? Ummm, no. We're not getting rid of the cats.

Q. Are you going to breast feed?

A. Seems like a personal question to me, and serves no purpose except to gain intimate knowledge of Amanda and something that is totally her choice - and really makes no difference to the person asking. We have had conversations about this with couples who have had kids, but it was mainly centered around pros and cons of breastfeeding. I'm not sure what the average Joe hopes to learn by asking this question.

Those are a few questions we've received, I'm sure there are many more.

Other interesting (to me) facts:

* We conceived in mid-october 2002, just two and a half years after we got married. I was 28 and Amanda was 30.

* my brother's child had just turned 2, and Amanda's sister's child was just about to turn 1.

* Our initial reactions included:

Amanda: "Oh my god."

Joshua: "Does this mean no sex for 9 months?"

Amanda: "Holy shit."

Joshua: "Are your breasts going to get even bigger?"

Amanda: "Maybe the (1st,2nd & 3rd) test was wrong."

Joshua: "I wonder what sex with a pregnant woman is like?" (OK - I didn't really say this, but I thought it...)

Both: "What the HELL do we do now?"