It's pretty hard to believe that we're about 75% of the way through Phase One. Only 40 more years to go.
Apparently, our baby is now the size of a Chinese Cabbage (the baby site that emails me every week uses fruit and vegetables for points-of-reference). Nikole's belly is a bit bigger than a cabbage.
The past week was almost uneventful, and then I went out of town for a conference. Historically, that's when something traumatic happens.
This time, it waited until just before the conference ended. I got a phone message from Nikole on Friday afternoon that she had some heart palpitations and dizziness, and that her OB asked her to come into the office to check things out. Given all the trauma we've experienced, I immediately got anxious. It's sort of a new hobby around here.
I was in Washington, DC, and it was raining. We agreed that I'd wait to hear from her before getting on the road. She called me just before 4:00 with relatively good news -- she's anemic! Which is much better than a call saying, "Hey, they're going to take the baby out in five minutes. How soon can you be here?"
So, Nikole is going to OD on iron supplements. I'm trying to convince her to eat raw liver for breakfast.
When I got home, our new urban stroller from Phil and Ted's stroller manufacturing facility had arrived. After much gnashing of teeth, I put it together. My future = putting things together.
On Saturday, we headed over to Angie's house to stock up. Lilah is now 14 months old, which means she has 13 months of clothing she doesn't need anymore. Angie had gallons of baby clothes and way more gear than a sane woman should give another woman, especially a hormonal one.
The nursery is now as cluttered as it was before we cleaned it out to make it a nursery.
Foreshadowing for the rest of my life.
That afternoon, we headed to a workshop with a pediatrician and a nurse to learn about life in the maternity ward. Perhaps the best thing about the discussion was all of the insight I gained about the appropriateness of bribery and praise. Apparently, my role as a new father involves making sure Nikole and TES (Bumble's official initials; her name remains under wraps until post-delivery) get every single thing they want. This involves two options -- twisting the arms of irritated nurses, or asking my new best friends (the nurses) if they wouldn't mind doing us a favor. That's where bribes come in.
I'll be making lots of trips to Starbucks and Ukrops on delivery day.