Three

Apparently I never officially announced the big news, so now that I have a fully functioning keyboard, I will fill you all in on the details. As you may have seen from my previous entries, which included photos from a recent ultrasound, Jennifer is pregnant and the baby is due March 31st. Now I know you are all doing quick math in your head and wondering whether March 31st minus nine months is less than July 2nd. I can assure you the baby was conceived after the wedding, but at some point before we left for the honeymoon. We never thought it would happen on the first try, but I guess we are just lucky or I just have some damn good swimmers. The timing couldn't be more perfect because it will allow Jennifer to take the rest of the year off without taking more than a couple weeks without pay, so she will be lucky enough to stay with the baby for about five months before returning to work in September.

I have learned lots of things about pregnancy since we officially found out right after we returned from Newfoundland. One of the most interesting things is how much people who haven't had a kid don't really know the whole weeks thing. I was unaware of the complex system used for dates and stages of pregnancy. First of all the number of weeks pregnant is based not on conception, but the date of the last period. So by the time conception happens you are already at the end of Week 2 and by the time you get a successful pregnancy test you are already deep into Week 5. We are currently in Week 20, which ends on Thursday night and brings us to the halfway point.

The first half has been a crazy rollercoaster. It started off with a ton of excitement followed by nervousness about the health of the baby, somewhere around Week 10 you feel some relief as the chances of problems declines and you get to tell close friends. Immediately following this stage the morning sickness begins, which from what I can tell from my vantage point is not pleasant. Jennifer never actually threw up, but had a few close calls. It was always a balance between what to eat and when to eat it, every night there was a brief window where dinner was hard to decide on, but if not decided on by 7:30 things quickly went downhill. Finally at around Week 15 all of that craziness goes away and life essentially returns back to normal. The reality of the situation sinks in and you realize there is still quite a ways to go before the big day. Its a good chance to get back to being the couple you were before seeing the positive pregnancy test.

Over the last week or so we have moved into what appears to be the next phase, which is my favorite so far. It all started when Jennifer first felt Three moving around in her belly, which has only increased tenfold everyday. Just last week I was able to feel Three bump around while watching television. The ultrasound from Friday only strengthened the idea that another person is alive and getting bigger and bigger by the day. I can honestly say I don't think I have been this excited about anything before.

We have decided that we are going to be surprised by the gender of Three, because our parents have encouraged us. Of course there are some that want us to find out and think we are inconsiderate ;o) but its not everyday you get a surprise as huge as this one. I can't think of anything else at this point, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts and feelings from the last four months.

Keeg