All About Baby Day

Before.

After.

My first thoughts of what we would need when we found out we were having a baby were things like...a crib...diapers...bottles. Dean, on the other hand, thought CAR. We are driving his-and-hers two-door Honda Civics currently, so if we wanted to put a car seat in the backseat (which is the "legal" way, I suppose), we would need at least one more door. Yesterday we went to pick up Dean's new purchase. It was...a minivan. Yes, the man who purchased a flashy sports car convertible just two short years ago was now standing proudly in front of a big silver minivan. I have to hand it to Dean. He doesn't do anything half-way. Of course, I told him it was everything I had ever wanted.

Today I took a day off of work to go to a prenatal appointment at the Naval Hospital on Camp Lester. It is a good hour away from our house, maybe an hour and a half or two in traffic. I am already getting nervous about making it there in time when the baby is ready to come. Fortunately, many women have assured me that I will be spending WAY more than two hours in labor, so I have nothing to worry about. We had a level II diagnostic ultrasound to check on the development and we will get the results back Monday. It was so great to see the baby. At this point, we are pretty certain the baby is a boy. He is already very long, and whereas most fetuses are in, well, the fetal position, our guy insists on keeping his legs straight out, crossed at the ankles. The other thing he kept doing that annoyed the ultrasound tech but to me was an obvious sign of early genius is every time she put the ultrasound wand on my belly, he would look right at it. This made it near impossible for her to get a profile shot. But, really, wasn't that very smart of him?

After we got done at the hospital we swung by the housing agency to pay our rent. Maki, one of the women there, hadn't seen me in awhile and chirped happily, "You are going to have a baby!"

I said yes, I was, and she asked, "When?"

I told her April and she looked across the office and gestured toward one of the other women. "She also has a baby in April!" Maki told me.

The pregnant Japanese woman and I met eyes and of course glanced down at each other's bellies. I am carrying a 30-pound, regulation-size basketball on my front now. Her stomach was just very slightly distended, like she'd had a big lunch. The look we shared crossed any language barriers and the whole office erupted into laughs.

"Me, the end of April," she offered helpfully. "You, beginning?"

"Very beginning," I assured her.