Week Two - Pregnant Out Loud

"My Wife's 300 - Gonadatropins on the march !"

The wife has been laughing out loud more.

This is just one of a few indicators that things are different. Ever since I've known her (going on almost twenty years now) the wife is a "laugh on the inside" kind of gal. I've gotten used to it, though it took a while for me to not take it personally when she didn't laugh at my jokes.

It's not entirely her problem. Most of my jokes aren't funny, but when I happen to crack a good one, it has to be an amazing joke for her to laugh out loud. Lately though, I'm batting a thousand. I think I have our unborn child to thank for that. Even more reason for me to be in love with this kid.

This last week has been filled with...stuff. We're waiting on our first OB-GYN appt to roll around later this month. We have lots of questions and it'd be nice to talk to a doctor about these things in person. There are some concerns, but mostly, we're trying to pin down just how far along she is and if her large Gonadatropin count (HCg) is because she's really far along, OR because there's more than one fetus in there.

Tuesday night we went out and bought lots of baby books, some serious ones, and a few funny ones. This week I've learned that my wife will be experiencing "heightened closeness" at this stage of her pregnancy, which is good for me. She smiles at me a lot, wants lots of hugs and kisses and is giving me plenty of attention. I'm taking it while I can get it. I'm expecting this to ebb and flow with her hormones, and fearing the time when she feels ugly or uncomfortable or just doesn't want me around. I am a big fan of "heightened closeness."

Also, there will be gas. Another thing the wife doesn't tend to do out loud.

At the bookstore, the wife showed me things I didn't want to see in a delivery book; swollen women bursting at the seams, excreting purple and white human-raisins, ugly and pissed-off, that look more like Quato from TOTAL RECALL than adorable bundles of joy.

Later, the wife shared with me that during the ninth month, she will need a pillow between her legs while she sleeps in order to relieve pressure on her pelvic bone. Apparently, much like a werewolf, my wife's pelvis will be transforming into a new shape, something resembling those gaping shark skulls you see at aquariums, allowing for a larger birth canal. She laughed when I told her she was going to be like a werewolf. Ah, the magic of "heightened closeness."

There've been a few times when she's felt weak this week, so we're keeping on her blood sugar and eating/snacking habits. I'm doing my best to calibrate my reactions to the situation. But when she feels weak or "off" as she puts it, inside I tend to jump into panic mode, but only on the inside. I think this process of moderating my tendency to over-react is going to be a challenge, but a good muscle to strengthen for the coming months and the raising of our little raisin baby, however ugly and pissed off it might be.

Work being so close is a huge blessing and I was able to actually pick her up some lunch (a sandwich, her fave) this week when work was slow and bring it home to her. It felt good. I was being the provider. I like that.

More and more people at work and where we live have heard our good news; the joy is contagious. I've even altered one of my HALO 3 profiles; from ZOMBIEgeddon to ZOMBIEdaddy. It's the best I can do. The wife refuses to entertain the idea of naming our first-born ZOMBIE. I think it'd be cool. She didn't agree. And she didn't laugh.

In little ways, our lives are changing. I'm trying to be more supportive, encouraging her and helping out with little things, tag-teaming with household responsibilities and dinners and such. We're sharing a car now, so we're having to coordinate our lives in a whole new way, which dove-tails nicely into our baby-making. We're a team.