Life, Part 1: Ups & Down
There has been a lot going on these past weeks at LoydLand. So much in the last 4 that I've often been stuck deciding where to begin in posting them. That's probably a reason why I never posted before and now have to start at the beginning, where it all began.
My wife Angela and I traveled to China in August for two weeks. I've posted some of my daily journal entries here, and continue again. Soon after we returned to the States, we found out that we brought a souvenir back with us. We were pregnant! Made in China, born in the USA. Needless to say, we were thrilled. We had also wanted children, and were somewhat 'planning' to try in 2005. We figured God and/or the body decided to up things a bit, so firmly registered in the 'pleasant surprise' category, we dove head first into becoming parents.
Various books suddenly appeared at the side of my wife's bed. From the 'manuals' of 'What to expect when you're expecting', to more esoteric tomes like 'Birthing from Within'. Not wanting to be left out or thought uninterested, I bought my own copy of 'The expectant father', and 'Father for Life'. To paraphrase Bill Cosby, my wife and I were intellectuals and we were going to study as much as we can how to do something that is going to happen anyway.
We decided to try being as natural as we could. C-Sections were frowned upon, Episiotomies something to be feared. Epidurals only if truly necessary, and I wanted to catch the baby. Yes. Not only did 'Male' want to be in the delivery room, I wanted to squat with a medical catcher's mitt and catch the kid as he came out. We found a program we liked at UCLA Medical Center, locally in Westwood that combined a midwife program within the support of a medical hospital. We could have it both ways. We had a great initial consultation with the midwives who answered nearly every question we had with the answers we wanted to hear - the initial consultation is part consult, part interview. They scheduled our 1st trimester ultrasound and screening for 13 weeks. A tad early, our best friends Joe & Aimee had theirs at 15 weeks, but UCLA is a teaching hospital, and their Ultrasounds look newer than the 'scrubbers' in 'minority report'.
The ultrasound practitioner was sick the day of our appointment, but we came in to meet with the midwife anyway, rescheduling our ultrasound for the next morning. The appointment went swell and after a scary moment where they couldn't find the heartbeat on their walkman-sized 1986-era fetal heart monitor, they drafted the doctor on call to operate the ultrasound for us. There, in GE glory, was our baby. He/She (too early to tell) looked happy, bundled up in a ball, actively kicking his legs around for the delight of all of us - Angela is a dancer, so to see her baby dancing already! The heartbeat is beating happily away, and we get to see and hear it go.
(I had a geek moment here. Unhappy with just receiving one printout of the ultrasound, while everyone left the room for Angela to dress, I start fiddling around with the machine, discover that it records the last 30 seconds of every scan, and in a few minutes, start manipulating the trackball to choose 4 shots I was really happy with. Yep, editing on an Ultrasound. All hail, King of the Geeks!)
Thrilled with multiple pictures of the baby, we go back to work and spread the happy word. The next day, we go back to the hospital for our true ultrasound checkup. The nice practitioner starts the ultrasound and begins to measure the baby from multiple angles, comparing the relative size of the head, abdomen, femur and humorus (thigh and upper arm) to statistical counts in the computer.
There's a problem.
The head and femur are registering at 13 weeks, but the abdomen and arm is not. They're registering around 11.5 weeks. Well, can it be late? Probably not. The head and abdomen need to be developing at the same time and not, it's an indication that something is wrong...
Something is wrong.
She starts looking for the problem.
"It usually is a defect in the abdominal wall." She says.
"What's that?"
"It's where the abdomen has a hole in it and all the insides are outside."
"That can happen?"
"Yes, but it's not happening here."
"Oh, thank god."
Meanwhile, my wife gets to lay at the mercy of the machine as more time passes and more horrible things are described, then ruled out. The practitioner finally says that she's not qualified to interpret, and makes an appointment for us to meet the High-Risk pregnancy doctor.
High-Risk Pregnancy Doctor.
Can we come back, today, in 4 hours?
Phase 2 of our pregnancy has begun.
My wife Angela and I traveled to China in August for two weeks. I've posted some of my daily journal entries here, and continue again. Soon after we returned to the States, we found out that we brought a souvenir back with us. We were pregnant! Made in China, born in the USA. Needless to say, we were thrilled. We had also wanted children, and were somewhat 'planning' to try in 2005. We figured God and/or the body decided to up things a bit, so firmly registered in the 'pleasant surprise' category, we dove head first into becoming parents.
Various books suddenly appeared at the side of my wife's bed. From the 'manuals' of 'What to expect when you're expecting', to more esoteric tomes like 'Birthing from Within'. Not wanting to be left out or thought uninterested, I bought my own copy of 'The expectant father', and 'Father for Life'. To paraphrase Bill Cosby, my wife and I were intellectuals and we were going to study as much as we can how to do something that is going to happen anyway.
We decided to try being as natural as we could. C-Sections were frowned upon, Episiotomies something to be feared. Epidurals only if truly necessary, and I wanted to catch the baby. Yes. Not only did 'Male' want to be in the delivery room, I wanted to squat with a medical catcher's mitt and catch the kid as he came out. We found a program we liked at UCLA Medical Center, locally in Westwood that combined a midwife program within the support of a medical hospital. We could have it both ways. We had a great initial consultation with the midwives who answered nearly every question we had with the answers we wanted to hear - the initial consultation is part consult, part interview. They scheduled our 1st trimester ultrasound and screening for 13 weeks. A tad early, our best friends Joe & Aimee had theirs at 15 weeks, but UCLA is a teaching hospital, and their Ultrasounds look newer than the 'scrubbers' in 'minority report'.
The ultrasound practitioner was sick the day of our appointment, but we came in to meet with the midwife anyway, rescheduling our ultrasound for the next morning. The appointment went swell and after a scary moment where they couldn't find the heartbeat on their walkman-sized 1986-era fetal heart monitor, they drafted the doctor on call to operate the ultrasound for us. There, in GE glory, was our baby. He/She (too early to tell) looked happy, bundled up in a ball, actively kicking his legs around for the delight of all of us - Angela is a dancer, so to see her baby dancing already! The heartbeat is beating happily away, and we get to see and hear it go.
(I had a geek moment here. Unhappy with just receiving one printout of the ultrasound, while everyone left the room for Angela to dress, I start fiddling around with the machine, discover that it records the last 30 seconds of every scan, and in a few minutes, start manipulating the trackball to choose 4 shots I was really happy with. Yep, editing on an Ultrasound. All hail, King of the Geeks!)
Thrilled with multiple pictures of the baby, we go back to work and spread the happy word. The next day, we go back to the hospital for our true ultrasound checkup. The nice practitioner starts the ultrasound and begins to measure the baby from multiple angles, comparing the relative size of the head, abdomen, femur and humorus (thigh and upper arm) to statistical counts in the computer.
There's a problem.
The head and femur are registering at 13 weeks, but the abdomen and arm is not. They're registering around 11.5 weeks. Well, can it be late? Probably not. The head and abdomen need to be developing at the same time and not, it's an indication that something is wrong...
Something is wrong.
She starts looking for the problem.
"It usually is a defect in the abdominal wall." She says.
"What's that?"
"It's where the abdomen has a hole in it and all the insides are outside."
"That can happen?"
"Yes, but it's not happening here."
"Oh, thank god."
Meanwhile, my wife gets to lay at the mercy of the machine as more time passes and more horrible things are described, then ruled out. The practitioner finally says that she's not qualified to interpret, and makes an appointment for us to meet the High-Risk pregnancy doctor.
High-Risk Pregnancy Doctor.
Can we come back, today, in 4 hours?
Phase 2 of our pregnancy has begun.
posted by DLoyd76 at 12/02/2004 11:23:00 AM
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