Baby Dumpling's Poppa

Pregnancy Pictures

As we were approaching the delivery date my wife decided that she wanted professional pictures of her being pregnant.  I thought it would be a complete waste of money and time after all I took pictures of her while she was pregnant and they are fine, but my wife wanted good artistic pictures taken by a professional photographer.  I started looking, searching the web for one in my area looking at the samples they posted on their websites, and I chose Elisha Rain at E.Rain Images.  Elisha was very nice and patient, never made us feel rushed.  She took some very nice pictures and didn't charge an arm & leg for them either.  I think the price for the package we got, that included both pregnancy pictures and baby pictures.  So we had 2 photo shoot sessions and Elisha was able to get the kind of pictures I am proud to hang on the wall. 

I didn't realize at the time my wife was pregnant how beautiful she was, to me pregnant women are not pretty, they are pregnant.  When we went to view the proofs last week and pick the 8x10's I saw for the first time how pretty my wife really was and as it turns out, I am very glad my wife wanted to have professional pictures taken.  Elisha was very patient working around my wife's rash and made sure none of the pictures showed it.  We got lucky and had the pictures taken just 2 days before Baby Dumpling was born.  Pictures really do matter and these really showed my wife's beauty in a way that I was not aware of.

I do recommend having a professional photographer like Elisha take pictures of your wife while she's pregnant because it's so easy to get wrapped up into the financial planning and the purchasing of baby items that you can miss one of the most basic, natural beauty of your pregnant wife.  You will notice it months after the fact, and you will be happy you did.

Skin rash and Pregnancy

This past month has been full of events.  We finally got the hardwood floor installed, purchased a bunch of baby stuff, took things from the garage to a storage unit then filled the space with baby more baby stuff, built storage racks for the extra wipes and diapers, did the baby shower.  If that wasn't enough for a month my wife also had a skin rash.  It wasn't the pregnancy skin rash called PUPPS, blood test ruled that out, it was actually 2 different problems.  The first was more like the rash you get during the summer.  The moisture under the breasts and where the tummy meets the thighs caused a rash.  That was treated with some cream the dermatologist prescribed.  The other is a little bit more complexed, it's not really a rash or an allergy.  My wife's skin just itches.  At first we tried Benedril but that put the baby to sleep and my wife wasn't able to feel the baby move so she stopped taking it.  The only thing I can come up with that is causing it is just nerves, anxiety or something.  Finally after a month of suffering the doctor suggested Clariton, not the Clariton D, and some skin cream.  That has made a big improvement.  It doesn't put the baby to sleep and it controls the itching.  I would recommend that any itching be checked out.  My wife let the rash and itching go for 2 weeks before she said anything and now it will take her skin about 2 months to fully heal.  Waiting for it to go away doesn't work.

Update:  After Baby Dumpling arrived the rash and itching went away.  The doctor was correct about this being pregnancy related.

Cord Blood

My wife was really thinking about saving the cord blood when we have our baby and paying for the service to preserve it for future use.  Some real questions came up and are still coming up about doing this.  Is it really worth the cost to save it?  I guess the initial cost is about $2000 then you pay a yearly fee of about $200.  Every now and then a person from the cord bank calls and asks if we have made the decision to proceed or not.  At this point I don't think we have made up our minds.  But with D-Day just 4 weeks from now we really should decide.  If we don't decide to pay for it, I think it would be o.k. to donate it.  I found the National Marrow Donor site that list hospitals that participate in the donor program, but naturally ours isn't on the list.  The site did refer me to a company that accepts donations, but that makes me wonder if they in turn sell that for a profit to someone that really needs it or do they give it away at cost?  What I've read really makes me wonder.  These places say that it's a type of insurance against diseases that often require stem cell transplants, but when you read the reports not many transplants are from the individuals own cord blood.  Some sites also said that usually when the person needs the transplant they are adults and there isn't enough from their own stored supply.  Then there is the possibility that the lab that does the processing and storage does it right so it can be used.  If the bank fails to properly process and store it, then it's useless and we pay all that money for nothing.  I also read there seems to be a lot of people paying for this service.  Is that true or just made up by the labs trying to sell their services?

5 Weeks until delivery

We are now 5 weeks until "D-Day" and nothing is ready.  My wife and I have had so many projects going on at the same time and we haven't completed any of them.  The remodeling that was started a year ago is still not finished, courtesy of Home Depot, and won't be finished until after the baby arrives.  My wife was planning to complete most things when she stopped working at 8 months but the doctor tells her that she has no reason to stop working and won't take her off work because there is nothing wrong with her or the baby.  I always thought that being 7-8 months pregnant was reason enough to stop work in this country.  I could understand in other countries where the woman is working in the field, falls down has the baby then gets back to work but in this part of the world I thought pregnant women were better cared for by the medical industry and everything that we've read says the doctor and the pregnant woman will decide when it's time.  Maybe we just have one of those lousy doctors that won't do anything until the patient is almost dead or doesn't feel that 8 months pregnant is a valid reason to stop working.  But regardless of when my wife stops working or when everything gets finished I really feel that as new parents we'll never feel ready to have the baby.  There will always be something that needs to be done or something that we'll need to buy.  What is important, in my opinion, is that we have what we need.  Things like Car Seat, Stroller, Crib or Bassinet, clothes, diapers, camera, small tub for washing, bottles, patience, and love.  I call this my emergency shopping list, it will do until we can figure things out.

Weight Gain During Pregnancy

As my wife is nearing the end of the pregnancy I was concerned about the amount of weight she's suppose to gain.  We were told my wife should gain about 35 pounds by the end of the pregnancy.  I felt that was way too much weight gain, I told my wife early in the pregnancy that she should gain between 20-30 pounds.  It seems that the medical professionals are gathering a bunch of data regarding the weight impact on both mother and baby.  They will make recommendations when the data is collected and studied.  In the mean time it seems that 25 pounds is a fair weight gain during pregnancy.  At 7 months my wife has picked up 13 pounds so I was getting a little concerned that she was going to come in under weight, but our doctor says everything is right on schedule and we don't need to worry about that.  As I looked into what my wife was eating and how much she was gaining I decided the doctor was right.  My wife doesn't eat the hamburger, pizza, french fries and that type of junk food.  She mostly eats leafy green vegetables, tofu and rice or rice noodles.  These are not things you eat if you're trying to gain weight, these are things you eat if you eating healthy and watching your weight.  If my wife gains 1-2 pounds a week for the rest of the pregnancy she'll come in under 30 pounds.  That will be just fine because she's gained weight eating healthy, therefore it should be a little easier for her to loose the weight once the baby is born.  From what I've learned there will be lowered chance of our baby being overweight at birth or later in life.  If my wife continues eating this way the baby will learn by example and eating healthy will become routine for her.  I was starting to wonder if my wife ends up just about 30 pounds for the pregnancy by eating the healthy stuff, how big is the baby going to be?  If she gains 20-25 the baby will be between 6-7 pounds but if she gains 30 pounds would the baby be over 8 pounds?  Is an 8 pound baby girl big?

Frequency of Baby Kicks

Lately I noticed my wife keeping a log of every time she feels the baby kick.  I didn't know that the baby has to kick a certain amount of times per day and it's important to keep track of this.  I knew that you must be aware when the baby kicks and if you don't feel it for a period of time you need to do something.  I haven't really had the problem of getting the baby to kick.  My wife says it's not fair that she's carrying the baby but I have a secret code with my daughter even before she's born.  It started the first time I felt her kick one night.  Since then when my wife and I go to bed I put my hand on her tummy and tap my index finger 3 times and the baby kicks my hand.  At first it only happened about 30% of the time, but now it happens more than 90%.  I also started doing it when I first wake up and I almost always get a response.  I don't know why my wife would think it's not fair.  I think it's a good thing.  My thinking is the baby has gotten use to it so when she's born and all that noise and stuff going on around her she's probably going to be a little scared, if I tap her 3 times with my index finger she'll recognize that and hopefully find some comfort with something that's familiar.  If nothing else she'll at least know that I'm the jerk who's been annoying her with the 3 taps, but at least it will be something that she knows.  I don't know if she'll remember or if she even knows what it is, but for now it seems that she responds to it.

Hello Daughter

Just a few days ago your mother and I got to see you.  Although it wasn't the first time because we saw you with the 2 other ultrasound's, but this time we got to see what you really look like so it's like we saw you for the first time.  There is so much that needs to be done before you arrive and we are hoping that we will finish in time, but if we don't please be patient.  I hope you will be patient with us, we've never had a child before so we will make mistakes.  I assure you that we will not be perfect parents, but we will most definitely try our best.  All of us will go through a learning phase and it will be important that we respect each other's feelings.  Please understand that as parents we will sometimes have to make choices that you won't like, we will force you to eat vegetables that you may not like at first but you will grow to like them.  There is a lot that we must teach you and a lot you must teach us.  During your life you will learn many things, I have found that you never really stop learning new things.  I hope you learn the good things that life has to offer.  I have so much to say to you it's had to keep my thoughts focused.  It feels as if my thoughts have been put into a mixer and the super charge mix button was pushed.  For now I will just say "HELLO"

Ice Cream Consumption during Pregnancy

Last week I played a really good joke on my wife.  We bought 2 packages, 16 bars, of Klondike ice cream.  I naturally helped myself to several, about 4-6, but didn't say anything to my wife that I was helping to eat them.  At the end of the week we were on the way to the grocery store and the list was missing the ice cream.  I told my wife that we are out of it and we need to buy more so she can have it when she wants it.  She told me that there was 1 left and I told her that I saw it last night but not this morning before we left for work.  At that point she started thinking that she at all 16 in less than a week.  I knew she was starting to feel guilty about eating so much when she said that we shouldn't buy so many.  I naturally wanted to know why and she said, "because I'm eating them and not remembering that I'm eating them."  I questioned her a little more about how many she knew that she ate.  She said she only remembered eating about 10, but since there's no more she must have eaten all.  I tried to hold my laughter as long as I could, but when I started laughing she thought I was laughing at her.  She was not showing a happy face, I knew that she had the feeling of being a pig and feeling fat.  I knew that I couldn't let her suffer more and since I had my laugh I confessed.  I thought as long as I told her then everything would be o.k. and she'd feel better knowing that it wasn't her.  That dream was very short lived.  My arm hurt til the next morning.   Lesson: Don't tease a pregnant woman about her consumption of ice cream no matter how funny it seems at the moment.

Vision Problems due to Pregnancy

Today at our doctor appointment my wife told the doc that she was having trouble with either dizziness or blurred vision.  The doctor explained that blurred vision is actually quite common and some women actually have to wear glasses toward the end of their pregnancy.  I thought this was kind of strange.  The recommendation from the doctor was to track these blurry or dizzy spells and let her know at the next visit.  Dizziness could be caused by the hormones same with the vision problems.  The question that I need to know is how bad the vision problem is or will be.  Is it still safe to let my wife drive the car?  I suspect the vision or dizzy problems don't last very long, maybe just a split second.  I hope my wife will track this, just in case there is something that needs to be done about it. 

How common is blurry vision or dizziness during the 3rd trimester?

Third Trimester Strangeness

When people think of women acting strange during pregnancy they think of crying, yelling, throwing things, etc.  But my wife is definitely pregnant and acting strange.  Last night I told my wife that she should start taking time off work, just a day here and there.  She asked me what I expected her to do when she takes these days off and I said, "you can rest, watch TV, relax, mow the grass, or even go shopping."  For some reason none of these things seem to interest her, so I said it's important that we really get started on buying the baby stuff so you really should go shopping on the days you take off from work.  Now maybe I'm not quite understanding things, which is not uncommon for me, but I've always thought that if the husband tells the wife that can she take off from work and spend the day shopping she would be happy.  Not my wife, she would rather go shopping on the weekend with me.  Just because I got her pregnant she feels it's her duty to torcher me? Maybe she is truly pregnant and not thinking clearly.  I tried another tactic or a different approach.  I said that I am getting the feeling that we are running out of time to get everything done before the baby is born, and it would really help if she could take some time off work and go shopping for the baby stuff.  She said nothing didn't agree or disagree with me.  She didn't show signs of being upset, angry, depressed or anything that would indicate what I would wake up to this morning.  When I got up this morning and made my way to the kitchen for coffee, my wife was already there and the coffee was brewing.  I kissed her on the cheek and said good morning.  She greeted me with, "I'm upset with you!"  So I watched her face expecting her to tell me why or what I did to make her upset with me.  There was no further explanation, she just went about making her tea.  I got a cup and poured coffee for myself and I asked her, "are you going to tell me why you're upset or is that top secret?"  I got no response so I figured it was something she either dreamed about or just thought about and it would take time before she could arrange it into something that I would understand.  After a while I asked again why she was upset with me and when she started explaining her reason to me she started laughing saying that it makes perfect sense when she thinks about it but when she tells me it sounded so stupid.  Luckily I didn't laugh otherwise this story would not have been written.  The joke around the office is," will I survive long enough to see my child born, or will my wife break the cast iron skillet over my head for the comments I make."  Anyway back to why she was upset.  It seems that me getting the feeling that we are way behind schedule and I need her to take time off work and go shopping upset her.  I can only say that it must be the third trimester hormones or strangeness because I cannot figure out what other reason a woman would be upset with her husband when he is giving her the green light and credit card to go shopping.