pregnancy

Bed Rest? More Like BORED Rest!

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When it comes to pregnancy, you generally tend to expect the unexpected and really prepare yourself for anything. Things can look great one week, only to take a turn the next. Why this happens, I’ll never know. It’s just the way the body works, I suppose. I’ll never understand it, and I’m quite certain I’ll never experience it with my own body. I’m also fairly certain that I’d be a gigantic baby if I were pregnant. I give an amazing amount of respect and admiration to women for going through it.

We had our second hiccup of Sarah’s pregnancy last week. At her regular check-up for 35 weeks, her blood pressure was elevated and her feet were swelling. For those of you who don’t know, we had Sophia 10 days early when Sarah’s blood pressure went up and it looked like preeclampsia was setting in. Obviously, this was a worry for this pregnancy. So, after being monitored at the doctor’s office for about an hour, we checked Sarah into the maternity ward at the hospital to continue to be monitored. What they found was that her potassium levels were critically low and they needed to do an IV to get the levels up to snuff. So, a one night stay in the hospital was on the books and then when she was released she was given two words you would think would be nice… BED REST. Continue reading →

To Find Out Or Not… That Is The Question

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One of our belly bump shots from the first time around with Sophia

One of our belly bump shots from the first time around with Sophia

One of the first questions expecting parents get asked, aside from the due date, is “are you going to find out the sex??”. It’s an interesting debate, both for the to-be parents, as well as for family members, friends, and those random belly-touching-strangers-you-meet-on-the-street (Sarah doesn’t understand why they keep touching MY belly). When we had Sophia, we found out what we were having. We found out, but only told our immediate family members what we were having. It came out at the baby shower that we were having a girl, but at that point, we were so close to the due date that we didn’t mind our cover being blown. Well we didn’t mind THAT much… Continue reading →

What to Expect When You Have No Idea What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Again

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Only child status ends soon...

Only child status ends soon… (shirt by ChicADeeEmbroidery)

There comes a time in almost every parents’ lives when they decide the time is right to increase the size of their family. Well, that time has come for myself, Sarah, and Sophia! That’s right, we’re expecting, again!

Baby Brownie number two, as he or she will be known for the time being, will be arriving somewhere around the first week of September. We don’t yet know the sex of the baby, but so far things are looking great. Sarah is feeling great so far, and again we’ve been blessed with zero morning sickness. None for her either… Continue reading →

Dad Reflections

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It really is hard to believe, but it’s already been 4 months since Sophia graced us with her arrival. To say it has been a whirlwind 4 months would be an understatement. From the sleepless nights the first couple months home, to now seeing her personality start to come out, it has been amazing.

Going into Sarah’s pregnancy I was so scared, nervous and excited all at the same time. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but what I did know was that my life would be changing forever. One of the funniest things that happened during Sarah’s pregnancy, aside from her pregnancy brain and pregnancy clumsiness… was the debate about what we’d be having, a boy or a girl. Naturally, as a man, I said we’d have a boy. Because, ya know, I gotta have someone to carry on my name and um, legacy?? The week we announced the news to our families we were away on vacation with Sarah’s family. While going back and forth on boy or girl I made a declarative statement that I can never take back and will forever live on in the form of a video on Sarah’s old phone. “We’re having a boy,” I stated. “I don’t make girls…” Yeah, I was THAT guy! When we found out we’d be having a girl at the 20-week ultrasound, that statement was thrown back in my face immediately. I’m sure that statement will one day make it to Sophia with her asking “What, Daddy, you didn’t want me to be a girl??” Followed by sad eyes… I’ll then have to tell her it was all a joke and that of course I wanted her and wanted her to be a girl. Pretty easy, right? On second thought, maybe I should find Sarah’s old phone and burn it AND the video proof… Continue reading →

The Not So Short Introduction

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Hello all! Times being what they are these days, many dads are living the life as a stay at home dad mom or “Mr. Mom”. As it stands now, with my wife, Sarah, due anytime in the next three weeks with our first child, a girl, it looks as though I’ll be the one staying home with baby and teaching her all the great things I learned as a kid. That is, once Sarah returns to work from maternity leave.

That being said, let’s jump right in to where we sit right now. Sarah is 37 weeks pregnant, the house is an ever-changing mess of new baby clothes, toys, car seats, diapers and everything else under the sun the baby gadget engineers have come up with. Take one step into a Babies r’us and you’ll know you’re in for a long day of shopping, staring blankly at shelves with things you didn’t even know you needed and, of course, avoiding being run over by the thousands of other newly crowned mothers-to-be or brand new mama’s with baby strapped to their chest.

When we first found out Sarah was pregnant and we would be parents, the first thought that flashed through my head was “awesome, I’m gonna be a dad!” Quickly followed by “Wait, WHAT?!!?” I had no idea what I was in store for or what the last nine months would entail. Of course, we ventured out to Babies r’us to register for “everything we need”, because, of course we knew exactly what we needed.

I’m not lying when I tell you, I’e never been more intimidated in my life than when we walked into the store to register. When I think of registering, I think of registering for our wedding, which was fun. “Hey, look a giant flat screen TV, don’t mind if I do!” “Oh, you mean someone is going to consider buying us this great wrap around couch? Well, add that to the list!” Yeah… registering for baby things does not equal the experience of running around and scanning anything and everything for a wedding. So after approximately 63 hours of scouring, searching and scanning, we left the store thinking we were set. Yeah, like there was a chance of that! We’ve since been back and forth at least 38,000 times adding, subtracting, adding, doing long division and adding some more things. Thankfully, after our baby shower and the approximate 49,362 bags and boxes of baby gifts later, it appears the never-ending trips to the baby store are over. Right?? I’m pretty sure I’m wrong on that one, but I’ll wait til Sarah tells me I’m wrong. Which should be as soon as I publish this post…

Let’s fast forward to today. Driving to Sarah’s parents for dinner with her brother, Sarah says to me, “I’m pretty sure Braxton Hicks contractions aren’t supposed to last all day…” I’m sorry, you said what now?! Knowing that my 37-week pregnant wife is now considered full-term and being told by the doctors last week that the baby had dropped into torpedo position, the first thought that popped into my head was CALL THE DOCTOR!!

As is turns out, it is not yet time for the baby currently known as Baby Browne to come popping out to say “Hello World!” I can only imagine that the time is coming and sooner than the March 6 due date we have been planning our lives around…