The verdict is in....IT'S A BOY!

Well, as I said in a previous blog, I was horribly wrong. It appears that the Facebook vote was right, by a count of 13 girl votes to 18 boy votes. We went to the OB's office today for our long-awaited visit with destiny. We heard that beautiful little heartbeat once again and watched, rapt, for about 20 minutes during the ultrasound, marveling at the size our of little pumpkin. I was blown away at how much it had grown in 4 weeks! I'll post the pictures below, don't worry.

The doctor carefully did her measurements of the kid, checking the crown, the belly, the legs, etc. Forever it seemed she looked for the evidence of masculinity or lack thereof. The stupid umbilical cord had gotten in the way. I had just about written it off to a positive "girl" verdict, when lo and behold, the final parting shot from LP was of the little guy showing off what the good Lord gave him. That's right, I said little GUY. IT'S A BOY!

Now, before I launch into my drawn out forgiveness speech to my firstborn son, let me explain something. I wanted a girl, quite badly I must say. My family is nearly all boys. On my mom's side, there are 5 boy cousins, my brother, and I. On my dad's side there are 3 boy cousins, 1 girl cousin, my brother, and I. My mom has 3 brothers, my dad a brother and a sister. That's a whole lot of Y chromosomes in one family! I have no problem with that and I'm ecstatic that my name will carry on for one more generation. But, I was looking for a little diversity, a little change of pace in a girl. I know that the first girl born into this family will be spoiled rotten and I was looking forward to being wrapped around a little girl's finger. But, if Lisa's previous dream was prophetic, I'll have plenty opportunity with the 3 girls that come next. =) I love you Sunshine!

So, without further ado, Son, I'm sorry that I thought you were a girl and that I claimed it for so long. It's not that I don't want a son, but you've read my explanations above. You've learned a very important lesson today by reading this, well a couple very important lessons. First, as I'm sure you've figured out or your mom has told you, I don't know everything. I can be wrong at times and I'm so glad that I was wrong about this. I'm excited about teaching you how to fix cars, build stuff, play football (the American kind, not soccer), play basketball, burp the alphabet, burn ants with a magnifying glass, etc.

Second, and this is very very important, the so called "mantuition" apparently is nothing more than gas. All those feelings I was getting about you being a girl, just my body digesting food and creating exhaust.

So, please forgive me for hoping you were a girl. I'm sure that your sisters will bug you about this and throw it back in your face, but you are my firstborn son, my little man, and I hope that I can be all that you ever hoped for in a daddy. Love you son!

Now to the pictures. I'm gonna post the first ultra from week 10 just for comparison of how much the kid has grown in 9 weeks. Keep in mind, the doc zoomed in as much as possible for this one.

And now the one from today, without any zooming in. In fact, it was out as far as possible!

Note the length of the legs and torso...definitely my little Giant! And now for indisputable proof of gender, a picture that will be used later for blackmail...=)

Yeah, that's not the umbilical cord. The doc assured us of the fact that it is a boy. In fact, she said, "Look at the little turtle." I about died laughing!

So, there you have it. It's a boy. I have plenty of years of rough-housing, playing football, wrestling, playing video games, etc. ahead of me. Sorry, Sunshine, you're gonna have to take a crash course on how to deal with little boys. =) Cause you're about to have 2 around the house: one baby and one adult little boy!

Week 19 - Boy or Girl????

Ahhh...the long awaited week when we will finally find out what our baby will be: Pink or Blue. We are about to head to the doctor's office and hopefully the baby will be in the right position to show off what the good Lord is giving him/her. I've started talking with our little pumpkin on a regular basis and last night I told him/her that he/she better be good for the doctor. This is the only time in life when he/she is allowed to be an exhibitionist. After today, no more showing anything off until the wedding bells ring!

Why am I suddenly putting he/she on the post? Because yesterday Lisa put up on Facebook that we were going to find out the sex of the baby today and we got an overwhelming number of boy votes. That caused us to think a little bit and I'm not gonna lie, a little bit of doubt entered in. Lisa also had a dream a few nights ago about babies. In her dream she gave birth to 4 kids, a different times, the first was a boy and the other three were girls. Was it prophetic? Who knows! All I can say is if God has 4 kids in store for us, WOW, I'm not sure how that works in the mission field! =)

So, today in our little pumpkins growth, Baby Center says that LP (Little Pumpkin) weights 8.5 ounces (that's half a pound for those wondering) and is 6 inches long, about the size of an heirloom tomato or a mango. I love mangoes! Her arms and legs are in proper proportion with each other and the rest of the body, the kidneys are working and producing urine (still an odd idea that LP drinks and pees the same fluid) and hair is starting to sprout on the head.

Another development is that the brain is starting to explode to life, designating the special areas for the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell. The baby is now able to hear our voices when we speak to it, which we do quite frequently. In fact, most studies show that the baby at 5 months starts to record memories and actual can start learning. The baby is also getting more active, which is something Lisa has noticed. She has felt LP kick around, but I have yet to feel it. Hoping soon I'll get that chance.

Well, now off for the fateful visit with the ultrasound machine. Boy or Girl??? We'll soon see!

The Wonders of the Womb

The other night we sat down and watched a National Geographic documentary called "In the Womb." I must admit, the advances in technology are amazing! I remember way back in high school when we watched "The Miracle of Birth" and let me tell you it wasn't a "miracle" to watch. I remember the bad filming and the part about delivery, but everything else I think I slept through. Science hadn't figured out as much back then, well at least in comparison with today.

As we watched the show, it blew my mind seeing all the footage of inside the womb throughout different steps of the pregnancy. The documentary essentially centered around one couple and it showed video from inside the womb throughout the various stages of pregnancy. It was amazing to watch the actual fetus grow and development over the weeks and months. I sat there in amazement of God and how He wired the body to work and function in perfect harmony. I marveled at the advances in science, such as actual video inside the womb, 4D ultrasounds, and even surgery on a fetus. It blows my mind how that a sperm and an egg can develop into a human being without any outside help or assistance. We talk about it and read it in books, we see the product of this union, but never have I ever actually seen the process take place before my eyes and it blew me away.

One of the first things to develop was the spinal column and brain. What an extraordinary organ the brain is! It controls the rest of the body. Once again, we know this and learned it in 7th grade biology, but hearing and seeing the science of it come to life amazed me. Also, the heart was fascinating to watch grow. Essentially, the stem cells can all become any type of cell in the body, thus the reason people want to study and harvest them. With the heart, one cell randomly twitches one time early on in the pregnancy, and then other cells join in the twitching and they all do so in unison. This twitching becomes the heartbeat and the cells pull together to form the heart. What? All the because one cell randomly starts to twitch. God, you are a God of wonders! Then, the heartbeat is regulated and controlled by our brain for the rest of our lives!

Another random fact is that a little girl develops ALL the eggs she is ever gonna have inside the womb! Before she is ever born, her body has created the set number of eggs that she will release throughout her life. I always thought the actual production didn't start until puberty, but low and behold it's already determined and set before she is ever born.

Then take the lungs for another example. The baby starts off breathing water in the womb. The little air sacs close off so that only air will get in them. The lungs breathe the amniotic fluid until they are fully developed. Once the lungs are mature enough (which by the way they are the last organ to develop), the baby's body releases a protein signaling the mother's body that the baby is ready to make the transition from water-breathing to air-breathing and that it can survive outside the womb. This protein initiates labor. Once the baby is delivered, in one heartbeat, the lungs change. One second the air sacs are closed and the baby breaths water and the next second the lungs expel the fluid, the air sacs open for the first time, and the baby begins breathing air! Amazing!

Granted, this may not be news to anyone else, but I was really amazed by all this stuff. God is amazing in the way He crafts a human life. He put within us the ability to create life, created our DNA to know how to develop from simple cells to the most complex creature alive, created our bodies to self-regulate, and even placed in there certain proteins and chemicals that signal labor, ease pain, etc. Oh yeah, that's the last thing I wanted to say. We discovered that also the mother's body releases a chemical that causes the mother to forget the pains of childbirth once the baby is born. Something like that and Lisa was all smiles when she heard that. Silly girl!

Man, this whole pregnancy process really is amazing and it's sooooo cool to read all about the marvels that take place inside my wife's tummy.

IN 2 DAYS WE FIND OUT THE SEX!!!!!

Peace and Panic...a never-ending war

I realized that I've really only been doing a weekly update on the development and formation of our little pumpkin, which quite honestly you don't have to read here. You can go to Baby Center, The Bump, or any other of the useful sites on the Internet that can give you the same information. Blogging is a very therapeutic tool and I really should do more of it.

As the weeks have gone by, my emotions and thoughts have gone through a variety of changes. I must admit that at first I was thoroughly excited and all I thought about was all the good stuff. That's not to say that I don't think about it now or look forward to our little baby, because I most definitely do. Ask anyone who knows me, all I talk about is the baby and Lisa, I listen to the heartbeat that I have recorded on my iPod, etc. I'm ecstatic about being a daddy, but after the initial excitement of those first few weeks, reality has set in and I'm starting to really face the truth about this pregnancy. I'm going to be a daddy. There's no changing it or putting it off, I'm on a course now that will forever change my life and I have to admit that it really scares me at times.

Even though I'm not personally going through all the physical changes that Lisa is, I too am facing some serious changes in my life. No longer is my wife just mine, I will forever have to share her with another human being. Granted, we still love each other deeply and that will never change, we enjoy a special relationship that no one else will ever have, but I still have to share her. My baby, whether boy or girl, will also share a very special relationship and connection with Lisa that I never will. She will likewise have a special connection with our child, something that I will never have. I won't carry the child through formation and birth, like Lisa (although I'm sure she would gladly give it to me if she could!).

I will no longer have the freedom that I once had, the freedom to go and do without thinking about it, being able to plan impromptu weekends away or date nights or the like. There will soon be another little life around that is completely dependent upon Lisa and I. We will never be as free as we were as a couple. We have to start thinking about babysitters, day care, schools, clubs, sports, family vacations, etc. We won't be able to just take off at a moment's notice, run out for late night ice cream, go to an afternoon double feature, etc. Our time is forever changed. As a bachelor I had a certain level of autonomy that disappeared to an extent when I got married and now as a couple that freedom has been hindered even more.

There is now another little life for which I am responsible. Every person has free will and is able to choose for themselves, but as the head of my home, spiritually and legally, I'm responsible for my wife and now my child. Her upbringing depends on me and my decisions. How she turns out is in part a consequence of how I act, what I say, what I teach, what I decide, where we go, etc. God is entrusting me with a life that I will have to account for. This beautiful little child that is growing in Lisa's womb is a lump of clay that God is placing upon my wheel for me to shape and mould. Will I be a good potter?

I get constant reassurance from Lisa and others about how I will be a wonderful daddy and a great father, but you still wonder about it. I want to be a man after God's own heart, a daddy patterned in the likeness of my Heavenly Daddy. I don't want to be a father, a dad, or another daddy in this world, but I want to be a great daddy, my child's hero and best friend. I want to be for my child what my dad was for me: someone who they can trust, who has the answers for everything, who can do anything, who can fix any problem, etc. I know I don't know everything and I definitely don't have all the answers, but I want to be a role model and hero for my pumpkin. But most of all, I want to be a mirror reflecting the glory of my Immortal Father and Daddy.

I don't know that I'll ever really end this war of emotional struggle between Peace and Panic. I know that for the rest of my life I will be on a never-ending journey of growth and development, striving daily to be the best daddy that I can be. I'm no longer living just for my God, striving to be a good man in His image. No longer just a man trying to be a great husband, demonstrating the deep love and compassion that I have for my wife, the greatest blessing God has given me outside of salvation. I am now on the journey of growth to be a great daddy, so that in my life my child may see the image of their Immortal Father. My development isn't for me or my wife, but now for my whole family.

I now wear multiple hats and my collection will only grow: man, pastor, missionary, husband, best-friend, confidant, daddy, source of wisdom, coach, encourager, provider, protector, monster slayer, ATM, mechanic, Encyclopedia, jungle gym, snuggle buddy, and the list goes on.

Am I ready for all this? Will I ever measure up to being a great daddy? Will my little pumpkin look up to me because she wants to? Or because she has to? Will she confide in me and come to me for advice? Can I really do this?

With God's help, I will do my best, to serve God, my wife, and my little ones, to reflect His glory in every decision and action, to share His story with my pumpkin. I will strive to make myself a better man, loving my wife more deeply, giving my child a proper view of what marriage is and should be. I will push myself to not settle for ok or average, but strive to be the best daddy a child could ever have. I will grow daily in wisdom and knowledge, as my God helps me, so that my child will turn to me for advice instead of the other influences in her life. I will reflect God for my family, showing His love, mercy, grace, wisdom, and compassion. As He enables me, I will be the best I can be and I won't work or fret about it.

Yeah, this battle will never really come to end and I'll always face the struggle for being the best I can be and wondering if I can really make it. I know now that maybe my dad didn't have all the answers or didn't know if he could do it, but he never let on otherwise. He trusted in God to help him be the best he can be and I'll follow that same path. I will be the best I can be because I serve the greatest Heavenly Daddy, who will help me. Thank you God for the blessing of life and for trusting me with this little beauty.

Bring on the bell pepper!

Even though Baby Center did redeem itself with the bell pepper comeback, I kinda prefer what The Bump has to say about my little pumpkin, which is currently compared to a Sweet Potato. I'm more of a sweet potato anyway, especially since pumpkins and sweet potatoes are common table mates during the Fall. She's now 5 1/2 inches long and weighs about 7 ounces. She's getting more and more active as time goes by and soon Lisa should be able to start feeling the movements. Our little pumpkin is yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, flailing, punching, sucking, swallowing, flipping, etc.

Her tiny little blood vessels are still visible through the thin skin and the ears have officially reached their right place, being properly positioned on the sides of the head, although they are still standing out from the head a little bit. Myelin is starting to form around the nerves of our little one, which is a material that coats the nerves and allows them to conduct the impulses in the nervous system and is essential to a healthy nervous system. Also, the reproductive organs are now developed and in place.

It's so exciting to see each week what is going on inside Lisa's tummy. Sometimes I wish we had a little camera in there so we could see what was going on. Thankfully the internet is such a wonderful invention that I don't need a camera to see what an 18 week old fetus looks like, I just can't see my particular 18 week old fetus. In one week, however, we'll be heading in for another ultrasound and appointment, which will give us the opportunity to finally have assurance about the sex of our little pumpkin. I'm certain of the sex, but this will just prove me right. I'm not saying I can't be wrong, but I'm sticking to my guns.

I can't wait to see another ultrasound and hear the beautiful symphony of the heart pulsating in her little body once again!

A turnip?? Really??

Ok, so I'm having some trouble staying on task, but it's because of work. I've been away from the house for 3 weeks and haven't exactly had much time to be blogging about the baby, so unfortunately week 17 is going to be a short and sweet review of what happened in my baby's life a week ago. Ooops!

According to Baby Center, our little one weighed 5 ounces and was 5 inches long from Crown to Rump, about the size of a turnip. Now, I have a little bone to pick with this week's fruit/veggie comparison. Last week was awesome and really cute to say. "Ooooo...my little aguacate (avocado in Spanish)." Everyone thought it was cute and loved when I said something about my little aguacate. All the other ones have been cute and likeable:

week 4 - poppy seed (who doesn't like that little opiate they put on top of muffins?)
week 5 - sesame seed (sure does taste good on my General Tso's chicken!)
week 6 - sweet pea
week 7 - blueberry
week 8 - kidney bean
week 9 - grape
week 10 - kumquat (not sure what this is exactly, but it's fun to say)
week 11 - fig
week 12 - lime
week 13 - medium shrimp (not so much a fruit or veggie, put still awesome!)
week 14 - lemon
week 15 - apple
week 16 - avocado

Such a wonderful cornucopia of beloved foods, so great to compare to a newly formed life and then we have to go and throw in a turnip...a turnip! It's not even fun to say in Spanish "nabo". Who likes them? No one I know! How many people have seen a turnip? Such a waste of a comparision. Other sites compare it to the size of an onion, which I must admit is equally as disappointing. A smelly, layered veggie that makes you cry and grows funny little brown eyes on it as it goes bad. Awesome! That would mean you are comparing my baby to an ogre (if you're confused, please watch Shrek!)

Oh well, at least for only one week of the development so far as my beloved Baby Center failed me. I guess in some ways the baby will be like an onion at some point. They are smelly, from what I gather of those who have ever changed the first poop diaper and for several after that one. They do have multiple layers to their personality, most of which we will probably never really understand (what is THAT cry for???). And they will make me cry at times, of this I have no doubt. Especially when I'm going on 3 months of sleep deprivation and sensory overload.

Well, that's enough of my turnip inspired rant. Please, oh please, Baby Center give me something to compare to next week!

As for what was developing in my little pumpkin, apparently the skeleton is slowly changing and starting to go from soft cartilage to bone and the umbilical cord is getting stronger and thicker. She can also move her joints and her sweat glands are developing as well. Lisa also says that the baby is frolicking through her womb, swimming back and forth during her waking hours. She's sucking her thumb, playing with the umbilical cord, doing somersaults, etc.

Enough for this week. Pumpkin, please hurry and get here! I can't wait to see you and all of your wonderful baby cuteness!

Happy Mother-in-training Day!

So, Lisa read something in some forum and decided it would be an awesome idea to take a Mother's Day bump picture, so here's a little pic for Mother's Day from this Mother-in-training. She's so cute.

Week 16...a little late

Ok, so I'm a few days late with week 16, but I've been really busy. This is gonna be purely factual because I'm exhausted and my creativity is on vacation for the moment. According to what I read, we better be ready for some major growth in the coming weeks. The baby is about to double its weight and add inches to its length the next couple weeks.

Right now our little one is the size of an avocado, about 4.5 inches long and weighs 3.5 ounces. The legs are more developed, the head is more erect than it ever has been, and the eyes are getting closer to where they should be in front rather than on the sides. Her ears are just about where they need to be and her little scalp has started to form a pattern, although there isn't any hair yet. Trust me baby, I know the feeling. My hair had pattern at one time and now it's turning into male-pattern baldness.

She's started growing toenails and her heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood each day. Also, something we've recently noticed, our little one has decided that Lisa's bladder is a punching bag. We still can't see any movement and Lisa can't feel it per se, but she definitely knows that baby is doing something. I must admit that it is quite funny to be sitting with Lisa in the car and suddenly I hear, "OOOOHH, I have to go to the bathroom!" Then 2 seconds later, "Nope, nevermind...WAIT YES I DO...ooh, oh, I guess nottttt YEEESSS I DO!" It's kinda funny. Every little punch or kick makes her bladder go crazy. It is quite amusing I must admit. hehe...love you Licha!