Weekly Dad Post

Hi everybody! Hopefully this will be a weekly tradition for me. In this week's edition, I would like to talk about 1) a medical students perspective on the Expectant Motherhood Book that Roo's mom has been reading, and 2) update you all on where Roo is going to be born. 1) As you may or may not know, I am almost finished with my clinical rotations in medical school. I finished my OB/GYN rotation 4 weeks ago, that means I still remember a few things about it! If it were 4 months ago, all bets are off. As someone who knows slightly more than the average person about prenatal care, I can without a doubt tell you that the advice written in Expectant Motherhood is completely accurate. I can't tell you how many times I told a pregnant patient that the most important thing she can do is look good. More importantly, we all know nothing bad can come from smoking a pack and half of cigarettes a day. I remember patient TK saying, "Jeremy, I smoke 10 cigarettes a day. I've heard its bad, can you help me quit to protect my baby." I responded, "TK, obviously you don't read the literature because I am going to write you a prescription for a pack and half of smokes per day." In a nutshell, the medical community of 2007 fully endorse the Expectant Motherhood book. What was good in the 50s is good today, because science and medicine really haven't advanced all that much :) 2) This past Wednesday my rank order for residency became final. After I finish this year, I will begin a residency in pediatrics. To do that, I applied to programs and they interviewed me. After the interview process, I ranked the programs I interviewed at from 1 to 10, I applied to 10 programs. That list was finalized on Wednesday. Now all the programs I interviewed at will rank me and a program will try to "match" me to the highest program that I ranked that also ranked me high. On March 12, we will find out if I "matched." It won't tell me where yet, but it will let me know if I did. If for some unknown reason I did not match, my school and I will look for a program that did not fill all its positions and try to get me in there. That is a worst case scenario and is more common for more competitive programs like derm or ophthalmology etc. Then on March 15, there is a party at school where they draw an envelope with your name on it which tells you where you matched. So sometime between 1130-2PM on March 15 we will know where Roo will be born. For those who don't know, the potential destinations are (in no particular order): Richmond, Charlottesville, Winston-Salem, New Haven, Hartford, Boston, Springfield, or Worcester.

expectant motherhood on... smoking

oh boy. this is a good one... "A few years ago, Dr. Alexander M. Campbell of Grand Rapids, Michigan, sent a questionnaire to leading obstetricians in the United States asking the question: In your opinion does the smoking and inhaling of twenty-five or more cigarettes daily have an unfavorable effect on maternal health? Seventy-five replies were returned. Sixty-three, or 84 per cent, answered the question with "yes." Two, or 2.6 per cent, answered the question with "no." The ten others, that is 13.3 per cent, made replies which indicated some uncertainty. A number of obstetricians who answered "yes" qualified their replies by saying that moderate smoking is harmless. While most obstetrical authorities, then, disapprove of excessive smoking in pregnancy (twenty-five or more cigarettes daily), there is no reason for believing that a woman who smokes moderately, let us say ten or less a day, need change her custom at this time. If you have been smoking considerably more than this for several years, by no means try to give them up in pregnancy. There is no surer way of upsetting the nerves at a period when you should be calm and happy, or of converting a placid, sweet-tempered girl into an intolerable shrew. With negligible effort, even the most inveterate smoker can usually be content with a package a day or somewhat less, and if you arrange this there is no great cause for concern." again, bolding added by me for emphasis. a pack a day - no problem!

snoopy fun

we've gotten a couple more cute things for the eventual nursery! cute bookends, a toy phone, and some fabric for pillows

putting together quite a collection!

appointment #2

the good news - i got to hear roo's heartbeat for the first time! it's strong and healthy. i also learned my blood type which i've always wondered about - A+ the not-as-good news - my morning sickness continues. my doctor is a little concerned about it since i haven't eaten much of anything for months. i lost another five pounds and she's worried that i'm not getting enough protein. so she prescribed me an anti-nausea medicine. we'll see how that goes. ironically i am currently reading the chapter in the 50 year old maternity book called "common discomforts and their treatment." some good stuff and some funny stuff. so here it is - expectant motherhood on... nausea. "As many examples show, nausea is often psychic in origin. For instance, a repellent sight, or an obnoxious odor, or the mere recollection of such a sight or odor, may give rise to nausea or even vomiting." bingo. that is exactly what i have. i can make myself sick on command. but then it takes a turn for the weird, seeming to imply that fear is what causes morning sickness... "An upset mind may cause an upset stomach. Now in all life's encounters there are probably few things more upsetting, mentally and emotionally, than the realization by a young woman that she is pregnant... Emotionally, the implications of pregnancy extend far back into the past when she first met her husband, while its future ramifications are endless. The responsibilities entailed are plain enough also and seem on first thought, perhaps, more than can be assumed. These, and a thousand other thoughts, crowd themselves into the mind, and not infrequently the stomach, in a perverse sort of sympathy with the mind, reacts by nausea." yup. it's all in my mind. it goes on to advise that distractions like movie, novels, and comic strips will cure your morning sickness because they distract your evil mind. sigh. if only. oh - also from my appointment yesterday - my OB is also pregnant! she's having twins in may, and is only planning a 6-week maternity leave. i think she's crazy!

expectant motherhood on... maternity clothes

still working my way through the 50 year old maternity book... oh my how times have changed. "The most important consideration in regard to the expectant mother's wardrobe is that it should be attractive. This may sound like a superficial observation but it is profoundly true. Yes, more important than knowing the dangers of circular garters and high heels is the knowledge that you are well-groomed, because only then (if you are like most women) will you really enjoy entertaining your friends and meeting your husband's friends, and in turn visiting their homes. Pregnancy is no time to be a recluse. The more time you are in the company of others, the better off you are." (bolding added by me for emphasis!) screw comfort! focus on looking good! if only it were that easy! i'm still getting by with my two pairs of pants, but just barely. they are getting much too tight at this point. i bought a cute pair of maternity pants at target, which fit great except that they are made for someone significantly taller than me! i either need to find a good tailor or find somewhere that sells maternity clothes for short people! doctor's appointment #2 is tomorrow morning. fingers crossed that they don't need to take more blood. and hopefully i'll get to hear roo's heartbeat!

expectant motherhood

a few weeks ago jeremy and i found this gem of a pregnancy book at a thrift store for $1. so worth the price! it is the third edition of a book called "expectant motherhood" updated and printed in 1957 (the first edition was published in 1940.) it has some solid pregnancy advice that still resonates 50 years later. (sarcasm is hard to type!) as i make my way through the 198 pages, i will share some choice excerpts with you! page 1 of chapter 1 sets the stage and reminds us whippersnappers how much medicine has evolved...

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"even the most careful examination will rarely reveal clear-cut evidence of pregnancy until two menstrual periods have been missed, and occasionally the diagnosis may remain uncertain for a longer time. The physician bases his decision on three main types of evidence: the patient's observation, the physical examination and, in some instances on laboratory tests."

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No pee-on-a-stick home pregnancy tests that work days before your first missed period back then! but it gets better. later in the same chapter, describing the laboratory tests referenced above...

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"Since the very dawn of civilization efforts have been made to devise a satisfactory test for pregnancy. The priest-physicians of ancient Egypt, in the earliest writings handed down to us, tell of a test then in vogue based on the seeming ability of pregnancy urine to stimulate the growth of wheat and barley seeds; the itinerant physicians of classical Greece employed similar tests, while during the Middle Ages the omniscient physician merely gazed at the urine and in this way claimed to be able to diagnosticate not only pregnancy but many other conditions. Today, thanks to the studies of two German doctors, Aschheim and Zondek, we have at last a sound and trustworthy test for pregnancy and interestingly enough it is performed, like the tests of old on urine. In carrying out the test a small quantity of morning urine is injected into a mouse or rabbit. If the urine comes from a pregnant woman, definite and characteristic changes are produced in the ovaries of the animal within forty-eight or seventy-two hours; if the person is not pregnant no alterations whatsoever occur. The test is accurate in about 95 per cent of cases and in the presence of pregnancy will yield a positive reaction two weeks after the first missed menstrual period, sometimes earlier. It is expensive, however, quite unnecessary in most cases, and is generally performed only when the physician finds some medical reason for haste in making the diagnosis."

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wow. with that, we end chapter 1. stay tuned for more really current pregnancy advice!

one down, two to go...

trimesters, that is! still no sign that the morning sickness is ready to end. but i have adjusted to my life of constant nausea and only eating things that are tan (toast, plain pasta, cereal, crackers, etc.) we did go out to dinner for jeremy's birthday and i managed to keep it all down - even lettuce which has been my mortal enemy. so maybe progress has been made. haven't gained any weight but things have shifted so that i only have 2 pairs of pants left that fit enough to get through the work day. by 5 p.m. i have to unbutton those suckers because i just can't take it anymore! i bought some maternity pants from old navy but they are still too big. when i have enough energy i am going to head to target to find some better fitting maternity pants, or at least pants with an elastic waist!

happy birthday daddy!

love, roo

200 days til d-day

there are 200 days til roo's due date! roo's urinary tract is working, and its fingernails are growing. a big portion of the amniotic fluid from this point on will be baby pee. delicious! roo looks like a baby and has advanced to the stage that its brain can transmit messages. vocal chords are complete, and it can and does cry silently. the brain is fully formed and roo can feel pain. it may even suck its thumb. eyelids now cover the eyes, but will remain shut until the seventh month to protect the delicate optical nerve fibers. (from all that baby pee, i guess!)

last week... supposedly

this supposedly should be my last week of all-the-time sickness :) thankfully. i will be happy to have an appetite back. it's seems to have picked up in the past few weeks. we've added actual vomiting to the normal constant nausea routine. the past two days feeding the dogs has made me ill - just the smell of the kibble. ugh. it's a good diet, i guess! according to the books, i should have gained between 3 and 10 pounds by now. instead i've lost 10! it'll catch up to me eventually! thanks to the mcgowans for the care package. the books are awesome - we didn't have those and we have so much to learn! and i can't wait to try the morning sickness elixir :) i'm glad you guys have such beautiful pictures of eva on your blog because it makes it all worth it! :)

more ebay fun!

this week i found a twin size comforter, flat sheet, and a set of curtains in this fabric - circa 1966 - in three separate auctions. i won all three, though i almost lost the blanket. i got into a bidding war with someone (who strangely sent me a message through ebay to express their dissatisfaction with me.) but, tough cookies. it's an auction, that how it works.

Thoughts from Roo's Dad

Thanks to everyone who has posted! This is a very exciting time for us and we are very happy to be sharing our experience with our friends and family. Being the male in this situation has been exciting and humbling. While I am excited to be a Dad its very hard to watch Keira go through her "morning" sickness. I don't seem to help b/c all the foods I like to eat make her feel more nausea when she smells them. I really need to change my diet and replace Buffalo Wings and Orange Chicken with more benign smelling dishes like rice cakes or air :) She really hates needles too. I can't help but feel a little responsible for having to go through all this. Thanks again to everyone who posts/reads our blog!