Codename: Rocket

Yes, that's right. Corinne is "with child", "in a family way", has "a bun in the oven", and any other pregnancy-related euphemism you can think of. She is due somewhere between October 14-16, though we've heard that first pregnancies can go as much as 10 days longer. We've had two ultrasounds and a number of blood tests (well, I guess technically Corinne has), both at her local doctor and at OHSU in Portland, and everything has come back completely normal. Given the results of all of the other tests, we opted to skip the amniocentesis, since the risk associated with the test is much higher than the likelihood of discovering any problems. So we don't yet know the gender.

Hold on a sec. Rocket?

Here's the story. Before we had told even our families, we had our first ultrasound back in early March, which was at about 10 weeks. The fetus at that point didn't have a whole lot of shape, but when we looked at the three photos they gave us to take home, Corinne thought they looked like a tadpole, a peanut, and a rocket (below, traveling from right to left).



Since most of the miscarriage risk had passed by this point, we decided to share the news with our families. Of course, we couldn't just tell them outright; we had to have a little fun with it. So we sent them an email and asked them to checkout the photos of our newest member at ilvedson.com/puppy. Just about everyone fell for it, and we enjoyed their responses. My brother Drew, in particular, was very excited. We shared with him Corinne's first impressions of those first ultrasounds, and he in turn generated some alternatives:

 


We of course didn't know the gender of the baby yet, and we weren't even close to thinking about names. But you have to call it something, right? I don't recall which of us suggested Rocket, but we both immediately liked it; it's gender-neutral, wasn't too cutesy, and just seemed to fit. And so, Codename: Rocket was born (so to speak).

(As a side note, the two ultrasounds above - the real ones, I mean - are only separated by 17 days, yet they are remarkably different. Amazing, huh?)

So far we've been pretty lucky; Corinne has had no "morning sickness" other than a requirement that she have something to eat in the morning before engaging in any serious activity, and in fact we haven't changed our diets much at all. We have made several minor culinary adjustments, though: we cook our eggs and meats a little more than we used to; we've both stopped drinking soda; Corinne's weekend lattes are now vanilla steamers; and soft cheeses and cold cuts have been given the boot. (We've never been big alcohol drinkers, so that isn't really a change.) I'm hoping that Rocket will enjoy spicy foods, since Thai and Mexican foods have frequently been on the menu.

Throughout the first trimester it seemed Corinne had lost all of her energy; we'd come home at night and she would inevitably fall asleep on the couch after dinner. As it turns out, this is fairly normal, and in fact has mostly passed now that we're in the second trimester. Her growing belly has made it more difficult to dress for work in the morning, though, and she has been forced to go clothes shopping (not one of her favorite activities). Thankfully her mom, bless her soul, has volunteered to go shopping for her and bring her the selections that she only has to try on and say yes/no. Anything rejected would be returned to the store, and anything kept would be reimbursed. As a result she now has a reasonable set of clothes that hopefully will last through the summer.

When my Aunt Anita visited in late March, she brought with her a gift that we particularly like. Several years ago my mom (her sister) gave her a craft book with patterns and instructions for making Sock Monsters. As the name suggests, they are similar to sock monkeys but quirkier. I received a sock monster that Christmas, and Corinne got one the following year. On her latest visit, she brought one for Rocket as well. They are the only stuffed animals that I will allow on the bed.

Since we're mostly still in the "denial" phase and haven't really started thinking about daycare, baby shower, furniture and other baby stuff, preparing the house, etc., I'll end this post now.

- Mike (& Corinne + Rocket)