Picking a hospital

So the Whittington does a Maternity Ward tour on Saturdays at 3. We braved the cold to have a look. Turns out they do some Saturdays, and randomly cancel when they're too busy. Would have been nice if the website said that. Oh well. To cut a pocket-sized story short, we've decided on UCH. Now to start the referral process...

And now she's ill

So now she has a bit of a cough. Not surprising given how cold it's gotten. They say it'll even snow this weekend, but I really doubt that.

Her illness seems quite minor, just a bit of coughing and stuffiness. But she has to experience it all without any meds. Definitely no sudafed. Just lots of hot water with lemon. Would be honey if I could remember to get to the shops. It's just so cold, when the work day is done I just want to go home.

We've told all the parents and immediate siblings. All done over skype since they're all too far away to tell in person, and phone just seems so impersonal.
I'm not comfortable announcing at large until the new year when we're a bit sure it's taken. So this blog remains anonymous

In "that's interesting" news, I find myself being usually polite to her. Carrying things for her, putting up the kettle, that sort of thing. I'm not quite sure why. She's just a few weeks in and not a delicate flower at all -- she can leg press 2½ of me. I'm wondering if it's some hardcoded male thing: Must provide for woman carrying my spawn. I guess if I'm still taking out all the rubbish in a month, we'll have our answer.

Her superpowers have emerged

The heightened sense of smell and taste has started. She complained to me about the men in the gym last night just smelling bad. Also, I made rice noodles with dinner last night. When it came to seconds she declined the noodles saying they tasted wrong. They were a bit overcooked, but tasted like every rice noodle ever. So I’m guessing she either detected some subtle difference or rice noodles are out for the next 8 months.

No time to tell the parents last night. By the time we were done with dinner we were too knackered to deal with breaking the news. Perhaps today we’ll try

Gestation begins now

The point of this blog is to note down somewhere the process of becoming a father. I've read dozens of blogs from women detailing all the things they go through in becoming a mother, but few men I know go into anything but the most superficial details. I'm partly curious to see if it's a personal thing or something inherent in the fact that all the action happens somewhere else. So, without the squicky bits, is there anything to blog about?

I’m going to keep this anonymous for a while, mostly due to the fact we’ve not told anyone at all. Finding out you’re going to be a grandparent via a blog is a little cold, as I see it.

Now that that's out of the way...

It’s been 4 days since the test showed up positive. We’d suspected something since her period was really quite late at this point. We used a bog standard pee-on-a-stick test. When three minutes passed she told me I had to look at it. Fair enough. It was clearly positive. No ambiguity there. I just handed it to her... I wasn’t speechless. But I was surprised how much of a shock it was. I mean, it was not a surprise and nothing unexpected, but somehow it being real just was different. I somehow keep being surprised that I’m just made of meat and hormones and not just sense and logic. So when I get life-changing news I am stunned and I do babble and falter. I put on the kettle and made tea.

Of course, I don’t drink tea. But, being British it just felt the right thing to do for such a momentous event.

This was around 10 on a Friday night. We spent the next couple of hours backtracking to when she must have conceived and when she’ll be due. She estimates that she’s just shy of 5 weeks along and will be due on 23 July. We decide we won’t tell anyone til she can get to the GP and get a proper test from a proper doctor to be sure.

Saturday is spent with various friends at the pub and dinner. The only issue was making excuses for her not drinking. Easy enough to avoid. Or at least I tell myself that no one noticed me switching wine glasses with her when mine got low, then switching again, when mine was empty.

Sunday night we decide we need to sort out our diet. This is important for me to know, since I do just about all of the cooking. I’d been trying for ages to get our diet a bit more diverse, but now I really need to.
Folic acid! Lots of it. Oh the beans our diet will need. So many.
Vitamin D. That’s, ummmm…. mushrooms and sunlight. We’re fine for mushrooms, but sunlight? In England? In winter? We’ll just hope eggs, salmon and soy milk will do.
Vitamin A, but not too much. How much is too much? Is a big carrot too much? How do I go nutrient overboard and just leave out A? Then there’s the rest of the Bs. So I make pasta. With a sauce that has all the veg in the world in it. She computes that it’s shy on D but otherwise hits all the marks.

She can’t get an apt with the GP til Tuesday. She gets an early slot and calls me at work when she’s done. Yup she’s preggers. Yup, she’s 5 weeks along. Yup she’s due on the 23^rd of July. And, yeah, she still needs folic acid supplements. The cook in me is slightly offended.

Today is Wednesday and we’re planning to tell both sets of parents. I’ll post later how that goes.