Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Twenty-nine Weeks

Third trimester and still going strong!  Despite the basketball under my shirt, I have been feeling really good.  I still have the energy to pull normal work hours and attend my normal yoga class with only slight variations (I tried the prenatal class, but it was so laid back I didn't even breathe hard- not really what I'd call exercise).  Also, thankfully, I'm also having very few, mild pregnancy symptoms (and none of the horrible ones you read about in the books).    I'm having regular Braxton Hicks contractions,  some mild food cravings, and a little more difficulty getting up and down off the floor- but I'd expected worse.   Best of all, my chocolate aversion from first trimester is gone!  Case and point- Aaron's co-workers threw him a mini-shower and let him bring me home the extra cake, which I managed to eat over a single weekend (Aaron gleefully calculated that this now makes Baby 1/6 cake on a weight basis).   Cake notwithstanding, baby seems to overall like our normal diet of primarily vegetarian protein, leafy greens, and lots of fruit.  

The doctors have been pleased with all of my bloodwork (no anemia, diabetes, or other bad things that can happen to you when pregnant), blood pressure readings (still nice and normal) and weight gain at this point (for those who are curious, the scale is up a total of 20 pounds).    We get to do an ultrasound in 2 weeks to measure Baby's growth, and at that time she herself should be close to a whopping 3 pounds!

Baby is now very active and getting stronger by the day- she hit me in the diaphragm last night with enough force to make me wince.  I didn't think she could even reach that far yet- one of many surprises I'm sure she has in store for us.  Over the last month we had developed a nightly ritual at 10PM where I try to sleep, and she starts to party.  If I lay back, we can watch the undulations of my abdomen as she thrashes around- kind of creepy in an Alien way, but also pretty cool.  (The resulting sleep depravation is why this post reads like a slightly crazy person, though.)  Day by day we are starting to realize that we are actually having a baby.   As such, Aaron and I spent Memorial Day finishing the last of the big items in Baby's room.  There are still plenty of little things to purchase and set up, but the room now looks like a nursery!  I hope everyone enjoys the photos.




Wednesday, April 4, 2012

More images - Twenty Weeks







Reporting at Twenty Weeks


‘Power and speed be hands and feet.’
-“Self-Reliance”, Ralph Waldo Emerson
(quoting the epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Honest Man’s Fortune”)

All is well with the baby, project, and all participants.  Today’s ultrasound imagery revealed an active contortionist who is displaying growth consistent with a baby of twenty weeks.  The examining physician—in moments when the baby remained still—observed feet, toes, and glimpses of an open-palmed salute in profile.  Images also revealed that our baby is a girl, which Davina and I proudly reported to family members late yesterday evening.  
Barring unforeseen complications, these are likely to be the last images available for us to publish, as routine ultrasounds are no longer recommended.  A fetal echocardiogram, scheduled to take place in just over three weeks, will help physicians examine the architecture of the baby’s heart and assess its development.  With the movement we’ve already observed, Davina and I hope that exam findings will be consistent with our expectations that the baby will be a frenetic child.   


Friday, March 23, 2012

Reporting from Seventeen Weeks


A self-made man may prefer a self-made name.
-Judge Learned Hand

The experiment progresses apace.  A medical appointment in mid-March confirmed that the baby is doing well, with a strong and steady heartbeat.  Recently, Davina has begun to sense stirrings from the baby when she is at rest.  


The next medical appointment which will take place in the first week of April may help us to determine the sex of the child, and begin our refinement of the potential names that we have been assembling for some time.  Somehow, the name "01" lacks the necessary gravity for such a vital human endeavor.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Photos!

As with any proper science project we start with a hypothesis- Aaron DNA + Davina DNA= new human baby.  Phase two is to test the hypothesis- take the required genetic material, mix, and incubate (be sure to periodically add raw materials- apples, carrots, potatoes, grapefruit, and mexican food are the ideal baby building blocks).  Though we felt our hypothesis sound and all initial indicators were positive, Aaron and I still had the nagging sensation that this was just a hoax and nothing was really happening.  However, today when they put the ultrasound on my belly, we saw a mini human:  tiny little face, two arms, two legs (with little feet), and a little heart going at 160bpm!  Even cooler, the little Gummy Bear (thanks Amy, the name has stuck) was squirming around like crazy!  At the end of the first trimester, results indicate everything is going perfectly.  Stay tuned!



Entry at Twelve Weeks



All things in the world come from being.  
And being comes from non-being.
  --Tao te ching of Lao tzu, 40.2
  (Wing-tsit Chan, trans.)

Davina and I hope that this blog will keep you informed about developments in our rather audacious project to monkey about with the genes of our respective families.  

To provide some background, our project has been underway for approximately twelve weeks.  We anticipate a number of important milestones, of which we plan to keep you abreast via this blog.  All those developments will set the stage for a bigger milestone -- anticipated delivery of a nine month-old infant, combining the genetic inheritances of our respective families in an entirely novel way, on or about August 20, 2012.  

Davina will be doing far more than her fair share of tough nuts-and-bolts biochemistry work over the next eight to nine months to advance the project. In spite of this, you may be pleased to know that the hard work of gene sequencing is complete; we hope to post results from diagnostic ultrasound examinations within the next few days.  

Many thanks to Anna Osland for trailblazing at http://jacobtylerosland.blogspot.com/