Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Dale: Yes, an excellent day. A red letter day. Couldn't beat it.
And, to think that Heather wanted me to take yesterday off instead.... Actually, that idea made sense, extending the weekend and all. Given the insane, non-stop busy previous week, it was tempting. Only one problem--an unavoidable deadline at work. The good news was that I could make the deadline, so I did. That left today free, and the unexpected thrill of hearing our baby's heart beat for the first time. 180 beats per minute. That means girl.
As prospective parents, we received all sorts of folk advice as to how to determine the sex of our child. There was the "how sick are you" test (always posed to Heather--like dad's never ill or something). If the mother's sick a lot, that's supposed to mean it's a girl. Then there's the "how does she look from behind" test, one fraught with enormous (no pun intended) peril for the husband. If mom looks the same as she did before she was pregnant, that means "boy." Prospective dads: she looks the same. It doesn't matter how she looks: she looks the same.
Another one of the proposed scientific tests was the ever popular "how's she carrying the child" test. If mom's carrying the child high, that means boy. Or girl. We heard both. Science! Then there was the pendulum swing test, which involves hanging an object on a string over the womb as mom lies on the floor. If the pendulum swings lengthwise (along mom's body), it's a boy. Perpendicular, it's a girl. All of these tests pointed to "boy." It really didn't matter to me. By this time, I was regretting the fact we hadn't let the damned ultrasound determine our child's sex. Even the unsolicited self-proclaimed psychic (a nice woman who claimed her talents were from the Lord--and hey, she didn't make money off it, so what the heck?) said boy. All of the accumulated folk wisdom and insights, and we got Madeleine.
The one test that seemed semi-scientific was heartrate, which was high during the visits. It was high this time, too. Plus, my gut instinct (also scientific) says girl. Hey, it was right the last time! We even have the name lined up.
Anyway, today was a great day. We weren't prepared for the heart monitor. If we'd thought about it, we'd have taken the tape recorder with us. It doesn't change that moment of wonder, though, when you realize there's another person growing, another child being given to you. I really can't describe it, but the feeling never goes away--it grows along with your unborn child.
Afterwards, I did my best to get Heather eating more, as we drove through McDonald's. The iced tea, added to my five cups of coffee (I couldn't bear to through my good friend Mr. Coffee through a window) woke me up for the trip to the Detroit Zoo.
We arrived at the parking garage, where Heather and I discovered we were now card-carrying members of the Venture Party, a/k/a Minivan Nation. Two thirds of the vehicles in the garage were either minivans or SUVs, tending strongly toward the former. I've also never seen so many strollers being broken out. We fit right in. I also saw a significant number of dads for a Tuesday morning, which was impressive. Lots of kids, lots of young families. The only real danger was that, at the end of the day, I would be standing before a pewter Chevy Venture, pushing the unlock button and getting frustrated because we couldn't get in. You see, we passed three other vans identical to ours on the same floor.
The zoo is well maintained, and worth a stop if you're in the area. If you want to see the whole thing, budget five hours. The high points (since the camels didn't spit on anyone) were the primate areas, and the Arctic Ring of Life, as described by Heather. Maddie was intermittently amused, but more by us than the animals. We were too pooped to go to the petting zoo at the end, which she probably would have liked. At that point, we'd been there three and a half hours. We limped back to the Venture, drove back, and Daddy decided he needed a nap. Plus, he got to watch one of his favorite Babylon 5 episodes, "Endgame." I'll go into the glories of the finest sci-fi series ever made at another time. Suffice it to say it's a magnificent episode in a magnificent series, surpassed only by "Severed Dreams" in Season Three, and "Sleeping In Light" at the very end. Spoken like a true geek, I know.
The best part was that my daughter fell asleep on me as I rested on the couch, and pretty soon I was out, too. Heather snapped a picture, which I'll treasure as a momento of a blessed, blessed day. Thanks be to God.
And, to think that Heather wanted me to take yesterday off instead.... Actually, that idea made sense, extending the weekend and all. Given the insane, non-stop busy previous week, it was tempting. Only one problem--an unavoidable deadline at work. The good news was that I could make the deadline, so I did. That left today free, and the unexpected thrill of hearing our baby's heart beat for the first time. 180 beats per minute. That means girl.
As prospective parents, we received all sorts of folk advice as to how to determine the sex of our child. There was the "how sick are you" test (always posed to Heather--like dad's never ill or something). If the mother's sick a lot, that's supposed to mean it's a girl. Then there's the "how does she look from behind" test, one fraught with enormous (no pun intended) peril for the husband. If mom looks the same as she did before she was pregnant, that means "boy." Prospective dads: she looks the same. It doesn't matter how she looks: she looks the same.
Another one of the proposed scientific tests was the ever popular "how's she carrying the child" test. If mom's carrying the child high, that means boy. Or girl. We heard both. Science! Then there was the pendulum swing test, which involves hanging an object on a string over the womb as mom lies on the floor. If the pendulum swings lengthwise (along mom's body), it's a boy. Perpendicular, it's a girl. All of these tests pointed to "boy." It really didn't matter to me. By this time, I was regretting the fact we hadn't let the damned ultrasound determine our child's sex. Even the unsolicited self-proclaimed psychic (a nice woman who claimed her talents were from the Lord--and hey, she didn't make money off it, so what the heck?) said boy. All of the accumulated folk wisdom and insights, and we got Madeleine.
The one test that seemed semi-scientific was heartrate, which was high during the visits. It was high this time, too. Plus, my gut instinct (also scientific) says girl. Hey, it was right the last time! We even have the name lined up.
Anyway, today was a great day. We weren't prepared for the heart monitor. If we'd thought about it, we'd have taken the tape recorder with us. It doesn't change that moment of wonder, though, when you realize there's another person growing, another child being given to you. I really can't describe it, but the feeling never goes away--it grows along with your unborn child.
Afterwards, I did my best to get Heather eating more, as we drove through McDonald's. The iced tea, added to my five cups of coffee (I couldn't bear to through my good friend Mr. Coffee through a window) woke me up for the trip to the Detroit Zoo.
We arrived at the parking garage, where Heather and I discovered we were now card-carrying members of the Venture Party, a/k/a Minivan Nation. Two thirds of the vehicles in the garage were either minivans or SUVs, tending strongly toward the former. I've also never seen so many strollers being broken out. We fit right in. I also saw a significant number of dads for a Tuesday morning, which was impressive. Lots of kids, lots of young families. The only real danger was that, at the end of the day, I would be standing before a pewter Chevy Venture, pushing the unlock button and getting frustrated because we couldn't get in. You see, we passed three other vans identical to ours on the same floor.
The zoo is well maintained, and worth a stop if you're in the area. If you want to see the whole thing, budget five hours. The high points (since the camels didn't spit on anyone) were the primate areas, and the Arctic Ring of Life, as described by Heather. Maddie was intermittently amused, but more by us than the animals. We were too pooped to go to the petting zoo at the end, which she probably would have liked. At that point, we'd been there three and a half hours. We limped back to the Venture, drove back, and Daddy decided he needed a nap. Plus, he got to watch one of his favorite Babylon 5 episodes, "Endgame." I'll go into the glories of the finest sci-fi series ever made at another time. Suffice it to say it's a magnificent episode in a magnificent series, surpassed only by "Severed Dreams" in Season Three, and "Sleeping In Light" at the very end. Spoken like a true geek, I know.
The best part was that my daughter fell asleep on me as I rested on the couch, and pretty soon I was out, too. Heather snapped a picture, which I'll treasure as a momento of a blessed, blessed day. Thanks be to God.
