Vital Statistics

Now that I've officially started posting here, let's drop a few numbers into the mix. Today officially begins the 19th week of pregnancy. Nearly halfway to the finish line now. My favorite online pregnancy calendar (I'm man enough to admit it; I like the pretty pictures) tells me that our baby is probably about 6 inches long and weighs in the neighborhood of 7 ounces.

Point of interest, to me at least, despite the fact that she's showing and has a 7-ounce tiny person inside her, mommy-to-be hasn't gained any weight. In fact, I'm pretty sure she's lost a pound or two. The docs tell us this is normal, so I'm not at all concerned, just fascinated by the quirks of biology. I mean, there's some serious conservation of mass going on here. (W)pre-pregnancy=(W)mid-pregnancy + (g)in utero. If I felt like it and didn't want to get my butt kicked, I could probably figure out the exact weight of the developing nerd spawn. That's right, folks. My blog title just got literal.

A week from today, at the start of the 20th week, we'll have the BIG ultrasound. The "what the heck is this thing growing in my wife anyway?" visit. Specifically, we're excited to (hopefully) learn the sex, as many people are. Full disclosure though, we've had two impromptu ultrasounds at this point. Not because of any problems, just that at 10 and 14 weeks, the docs said the baby's heartbeat might be tough to find using the audio-only Doppler wand, and they didn't want us to freak out. And who am I to say no to looking at the kid?

The first time, the only thing we could really discern was the head, and what I assume was a leg. The second time though, that was an actual human being. A 3-inch long human being, to be sure, but it was people nonetheless. My only regret? Why didn't I pull out the iPhone either time and snap a picture? Not that you'd be able to see much, but I could have had something to look at later. Ah well. I missed another opportunity to record something for posterity when we heard the heartbeat at the 18-week mark. Again, isn't this half the reason to have the iPhone? Making a record of random stuff that happens? I guess I was just living in the moment.

Anyway, I'm drifting off topic here. A week from today, we should have an official, not-snapped-on-an-iPhone picture of the kid. That's pretty exciting. It's going to be a long week.