Pregnancy Itching

The wife has developed an itchy rash on her legs. We called the doctor a few times and he said it is not much to be worried about. He said to try Calamine lotion and if it gets really bad, then she can take a benadryl. I have been doing a lot of reading on the Internet and it sounds like it might be a condition called PUPPP. PUPPP is a rash developed during pregnancy that is really annoying, but of no harm to mommy or baby. There is another more serious condition that can have itching called Cholestasis. It apparently has to do with something about the bile in the body not being able to flow regularly through the gallbladder. This itching is more commonly on the hands and feet (which my wife doesn't have). It can also be accompanied by dark or unusual colored urine or jaundice in the skin tone. So luckily it doesn't sound like this is the culprit behind my wife's rash. The rash has started to calm down over the past few days so we are hoping it just kind of fades away.

Only 3 months to go before baby comes!!! We can't wait.

What?? Having a Baby Changes Your Life??

Why is it that every person who has children and finds out that my wife and I are expecting is compelled to tell me all about how my life will never be the same. Some even ask, "Are you sure you are ready for a baby?" I am always kind and listen to their stories about how their lives are so different with kids or I am kind in responding that yes, my wife and I are ready for a baby. What I really want to say is, "No way, my life is going to change?? I guess I shouldn't have been consistently having unprotected sex with my wife!"

If I wanted my life to remain exactly how it is than I wouldn't have kids. Why is it people don't get this?? And why is it so hard for people who don't want, or aren't quite ready for kids to wear a condom or be on birth control?

You see, I understand that I am going to be responsible for this child forever and there will be sleepless nights, dirty diapers, crying, stressful moments, spit-up...and that's just the beginning of the list. I also understand that my wife and I won't be able to just do whatever we want anymore and when we need to go somewhere we will have to take the baby or find a babysitter. I understand all this because this is the kind of stuff that comes with having a baby! Do people really not know this? Honestly it baffles me.

Pimping Out Your Baby

The past few weeks we have been doing lots of baby gear shopping. I knew that babies needed lots of stuff, I just had no idea how much of it was out there. I am starting to think that MTV should make a show called "Pimp My Baby." Of course there are the necessities, stroller, car seats, crib, etc. But there is a whole lot of, dare I say "crap," out there that isn't necessary at all, but we buy it anyway. For example, I recently saw "Bling Bling" Binkies that are studded with jewels. Luckily for me, we are having a boy and the jeweled Binky thing was a little feminine. But that is only one example of the multi-million dollar baby gear market. Even the necessary items are pretty crazy. Strollers are a lot like cars, you can get a basic $80-120 "pinto" model with no extras or you can pay $1000 or more for the "hummer" model that has drink cup holders, hydraulic brakes, off road tires, etc. I mean it is pretty sad that my infant will have a more expensive bedroom set than my wife and I. I guess this is whole "forking over the money" is just preparing me for what it will be like for the next 20 years.

Baby Lullabies

The wife and I went out baby shopping yesterday. We were looking for baby furniture, which I must say is hard to pick out and pretty freakin expensive. We have looked online a lot, but it is hard to get a good idea of what the items look like when all you can see is some 3 inch picture. After much searching, we found a line of furniture we both like a lot called Capretti. From what we saw and what I have been able to find online, it looks to be a pretty nice and reliable company.

Although the day was supposed to be about baby furniture, I found something that I thought was super cool and had to buy. It is a CD that has instrumental lullaby versions of Green Day songs. We listened to it in the car as we drove around and it is great!! After we got home I looked up the company online and found out that they have a whole collection of these CDs
(Nirvana, Tool, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys,Bob Marley, Coldplay, etc.). If you are interested in buying any of these, or just checking them out you can visit the Rockabye Baby Website . I know I will be buying more of them soon!!!

Trying for a Boy or Trying for a Girl

One of the questions that I get a lot of when I tell people that we are having a boy is, "is that what you wanted?" My typical response is "We wanted a baby!" You see we didn't really care one way or the other what sex the baby is just as long as it doesn't come out a monkey or roasted chicken.

My wife and I plan on having more than one child. So now that we are having a boy, I can say that for the next one we will "try for a girl" if that is possible. I have read up on all the voodoo ideas on how to try for a boy or try for a girl. I can't say that I believe it is true, but what the heck, might as well try it anyways. Since it took us a while to conceive this first one, we didn't really "try" for one sex or the other. To be honest, we had given up on tracking ovulation and all of that because we were just so sick of it consuming our lives, so we don't really even know when we conceived. So how does a couple "try" for a particular sex?? Well, here is some of the info I have found:

Trying for a girl
1. Have intercourse 3-4 days before ovulation
2. Use the missionary position
3. The woman shouldn't have an orgasm
4. Use an acidic douche (make sure you read up on this because there are very specific instructions on what to use)

Trying for a boy
1. Have intercourse 2 days or less from ovulation
2. Use rear entry (doggy style) position
3. The woman should reach orgasm
4. Use alkaline douche (make sure to read up on this because there are very specific instructions on what to use)
5. Man should drink coffee right before sex

Well that is just a few of the most popular things I found about trying for a boy/girl. You can find a whole lot more if you research the topic. If you happen to want to try for a monkey, I recommend eating a lot of bananas right before sex, but don't take my word for it.

P.S. If any of you that read this have tried any of these things or have your own ideas, please comment!!

Boy Oh Boy!

So it is official, it is a boy! We ended up going back into to Fetal Foto and they checked again for us for free. He was a little stubborn at first but when he finally uncrossed his legs we could see "the bulge." So, now we can start buying bedding and decorating the nursery.

It has now been 20 weeks so we are half way there!! The wife is still puking every now and then, but it definitely isn't as often as before. She is starting to feel him move around a lot and I can't wait until I can feel him too!

Ohhhhh Great??????

So the wife and I went in for our 18 week appointment and we had something interesting happen. The doc was out of the office so the nurse did the appointment for us. We were looking at the ultrasound and she said, "Do you want to know what you are having?" We told her we had gone to Fetal Fotos a few weeks back and found out it was a boy. "Really?" she replied, "I am not seeing any "boy parts" here." She went on to say that she is not an ultrasonographer, so she said she wasn't sure about it and we would just have to wait until our 20 week appointment for our in depth ultrasound with the ultrasonographer. So now we are just left hanging for a few more weeks to find out for sure what we are having. The good thing is that we didn't order the boy baby bedding or paint the baby room yet. We are still thinking that it is a boy, but can't help to wonder if maybe the first ultrasound prediction was wrong??? Either way, the baby is looking healthy and that is all we really care about!!! I will let you know in a few weeks.

Nymbler.com

So I had a comment on my blog that told me about a great site to help find a name for your baby. Nymbler is a very cool site that allows you to pick names that you like and then it searches for new names based on the ones that you like. What a great idea! We put in four of our top name ideas and it was funny to see how many of the names it found that we also really liked and also how many great new names we hadn't thought of. I highly suggest you check it out.

Its a Boy!!!!

We had an ultrasound on Monday and we found out that we are having a little boy. We are both so excited! We have two little nephews, so we have had a little practice with boys. My sister just had a little girl a few weeks ago, so that is our first niece.

Now the naming game begins. We had a girl name picked out, but we have always struggled with boy names. If any of you have suggestions on good boy names, please let us know!! Below is a pic of the baby's profile. My wife thinks he looks like me!!

I smell, the mirror smells, everything smells!!!

So the latest in the pregnancy craziness is my wife's hound dog sense of smell. Everything smells to her and it all stinks. Sometimes I will go to give her a hug and as I lean in she stops me and says, "Ewwww you smell!!" I ask her what it is I smell like and she doesn't know, but I just smell. The other day she asked me to smell the bathroom mirror, so I smelled it and thought that it smelled like a mirror should smell (whatever that smell may be). The wife, however, thinks that the mirror smells horrible and she now covers her nose every time she has to go into the bathroom. Oh, and I tried cleaning it multiple times, but I guess it just isn't going away.

We had our second doctor appointment today and things are all on the right track! We listened to the heartbeat (which still amazes me!). We are going to try and find out what we are having sometime in the next week or so. I will let you know as soon as I do!