The Fam

We’ve just returned from the hospital. Yes, it’s not the due date yet. No, he wasn’t early.

There’s nothing quite like having your wife wake you up at 4AM to tell you she’s been awake for a couple of hours and hasn’t felt the baby move. I couldn’t decide to jump in the car or throw up first. We tried to be rational, using all of the techniques they use at the checkups to make the little guy move around. First (before I woke) was ice water, milk, and soda. Next, we tried the spoons, which involves placing one spoon with the concave side on the belly, then whacking the everliving crud out of it with another. (I hate the spoons. It hurts my ears, I’m convinced the kid will have tinnitus from birth.) Still nothing. As a last resort, we tried the shower with hot and cold water. No change.

So, we called grandma to watch the other kid, and piled into the car. In case you’ve ever wondered, the Honda Element is incredibly stable and quiet at 100MPH+.

Once we arrived at the hospital, they hooked The Mom up to the monitoring machines and got a strong fetal heartbeat right off the bat. After several hours of waiting, The Mom was given the equivalent of her twice weekly exam, which includes a very thorough sonogram. By this time, however, the little guy had been kicking and eluding the fetal heart monitor for some time, so we figured that everything was okay. We were given a clean bill of health and sent home soon after.

I’m glad everything is okay, but I sure hope Z day gets here soon. I had a flashback to losing our last one, and that was almost too much for me.