Hello!
My name is Conor, and I am the happy husband of Mandy, my one and only, my
wonderful wife, and woman of my dreams. I hope to write a little
something here a couple times each week about my experience with her
pregnancy. As a student of poetry and a former amateur journalist, I must
beg your forgiveness from the start if I droll on at times. It is my nature,
and I will do my best to edit it out. I'm thinking this will be part
journal and part common-place books for me: a space to share daily
observations, favorite passages from pregnancy/parenting books, informative web
sites, DIY projects, and other cool stuff my wife and I find. I also hope
to include at least one reasonably related passage of poetry in my posts.
I know it's a bit more self-serving than other content, but it's one of my
passions, and it helps me to reflect on my own life and make myself a better
man, husband, father, and son. Hopefully that and all the other pictures,
anecdotes, and web links can allow you to do the same.
I'd like to give a little background on Mandy and I before jumping into my
side of the pregnancy story. Mandy and I have been married for 8 months,
2 weeks, and 1 day. We met and fell in love in a small town in southwest
Colorado, where we both relocated for work. It was a match made by fate
from Day One, and we were married at the courthouse 1 year and 12 days after we
met. After my work contract ended, we found work in the DFW area, liking
the urban/suburban feel, the schools, the weather, and the job
opportunity. I work in the research program at a university, and Mandy
runs an online business from our apartment. We have two sweet and lively
dogs, Breslin and Penelope, both of whom I'm sure will be mentioned many times
in the coming months. Our family is the focus and joy of my life, and
everyday of my life is wonderful because they are a part of it.
When Mandy told me she was pregnant about two weeks ago now, I couldn't have
been more excited! Part of me wanted to call my family and friends and
let everyone know the good news! Another part of me relished keeping the
news to ourselves, because then it could be ours, something Mandy and I can
share and learn about together. This experience will teach us more than
we can know now about how to love each other and to work at our relationship
and grow as individuals and as a couple.
We have a little collection of pregnancy books, which we have started
reading in bits and pieces. I will go over the books in a later post in
more detail. For now, I just want to mention the book "From
Conception to Birth", which has some really amazing images of the growth
of the baby from implantation to delivery. It pinpoints by the day when
the nervous system starts to form, facial features, organs, etc., and it just
amazes me how must the baby grows in such a short time in the first six
weeks. The whole metamorphosis from egg and sperm to this complex,
living, breathing, intelligent person is almost unbelievable. The more
unbelievable thing is that this happens thousands of times everyday!
At this point, Mandy's cravings and heightened sense of smell have kicked
in. We're getting more ice cream and frozen yogurt than usual (which is
fine with me), and the other day she really wanted barbeque sauce. Not
barbeque chicken or steak, just barbeque sauce. Luckily for both of us, I
enjoy pretty much all food, and I'm looking forward to see what see craves and
what makes her nauseous! So far, the only thing on the
"nauseous" list is pineapple, which we didn't eat that much of
anyway. We've cut out of our diet the typical, recommended foods and
drinks like alcohol, caffeine, raw fish sushi, deli meat and hot dogs, and
certain cheeses (probably the thing I'll miss the most!). Some of those
things had been some of our favorite foods, so I'm going to forgo those items
with Mandy. It just doesn't seem fair for me to eat things I know she loves,
but can't have. Plus, they will taste all that much better when we get to
have them again in a year-plus time.
I don't think Mandy's behavior or mood has changed much at all. We're
going through the stressful process of trying to buy a house as well, so that has
affected the both of us. We are both really excited (and reasonably
nervous) about having our first child. There are a lot of variables to
consider, and for us health care costs are paramount on our minds because Mandy
is self-employed. We feel very fortunate my job has great benefits, and
we will be able to handle a new house, a new baby, and a new stage of our
life. We are storing up ideas and projects to reduce our expenses (like
making our own baby food), and as we come across good ideas, I will share them!
I am looking forward to keeping and sharing this blog with my wife, and I
hope any readers will enjoy our thoughts and stories! I will leave you
with four lines from Charles Wright's "Littlefoot", which speak to
the beauty and awe in the ecstasy of beginning new life, and the joy and
calmness we receive from giving ourselves to the moment of ecstasy, and falling
into its knowledge.
"Within such splendor, everything falls away, even our names,
All trace of our being here, breathed in by the night’s lips.
This is as close as we get to them,
Their tinkling crystal folds just ahead of us
how
sweet a sound."
-Conor
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