We had a bit of a false alarm early Tuesday morning… I prefer to think of it as a test run. Mal was having some contractions that were pretty regular and steady, so we called the hospital and they suggested I bring her in so they could monitor everything. We packed our bags. I put the baby seat out in the car. I grabbed a computer and a couple cameras.

We hit the road for Champaign and I had to fight every urge to floor it the whole way. Traffic is pretty light at 3:45 in the morning so we ended up having a pretty easy trip.

Wouldn’t you know it, everything pretty much stopped as soon as we got her up into the room. First he wouldn’t let us see his face in the ultrasound and now he pulls a late-night fire drill. I’m not sure which one of us gave him the stubborn trait, but I think it rhymes with MALLORY.

That adrenaline rush wore off pretty quick and my body suddenly realized I had only slept for an hour and still had to drive us back home. Ugh… Luckily I work semi-well with little sleep and we made it home just fine.

Since that morning every phone call gets my heart-rate going. Hopefully he doesn’t give us any more false alarms… We’re ready to meet him.

On the plus side, we have our bags packed and ready to roll now… I know the quickest route to the hospital from home… and even better, all of our paperwork is on file at the hospital, so we don’t have to worry about doing that when it’s time for the real deal.

We got to have another ultrasound at the doctor’s office today… and I learned a few new things about our son-on-the-way.

First, it’s definitely a boy. The little blobs and squiggles were supposed to mean something before, but seeing his manhood in 4D imaging helped ease any fear of having a little surprise in the delivery room.

Second, while he gets his manhood from me, he definitely gets his stubborn camera shy personality from his mother. We had the chance to do the fancy 4D imaging so we could see his face clearly and he hid behind his arms and hands the whole time.

He better shake that trait fast… because as some of you may have noticed, I like to take pictures. Lots of pictures. Having the camera-shy wife is bad enough, I won’t know what to do if my kid gets freaked out.

Mal is starting to wear out a little faster than normal. I keep telling her to toughen up, but apparently she has a book that says carrying a human inside of her body is hard work. I’m totally joking about that… I’ve been trying to make her life as easy as I possibly can. Hopefully I’m helping her out at least a little bit. We’re trying to find a good balance where she can still do things around the house to feel productive and still be able to relax and take care of herself.

He’s starting to run out of room inside the womb motel, so he’s kicking less and pushing/ stretching out more. I’ve been able to feel his tiny hiccups a couple times in the past few weeks… pretty crazy stuff that makes it feel a little more real.

Everything seems to be going as smoothly as pregnancy can be. All of the measurements look good, all of the ultrasound images look good. Hopefully we keep going like this all the way through.

Baby’s spine looks pretty good…

He definitely has my feet… I’m worried that Mal might have more problems squeezing his feet out than his head.

Stubborn little kid wouldn’t show us a clear view of his face. All we could make out was his nose and a tiny part of an eyelid… the thing looks pretty crazy with all of the extra blobs, but his hands and arms gave the computer problems.

He was smooshed up like he was preparing for an audition with Cirque du Soleil, so we were able to get a good view of his foot and tiny little fingers.

And finally, in case there was any doubt… the manhood. He won’t show us his face, but he’s pretty comfortable flashing this stuff around.

All of the baby-related photos (ultrasound, belly photos, etc.) are up on my Flickr page.

We go back in two weeks for another checkup…

What a difference four weeks can make. At the beginning of the month our little guy was on the small side… 14 ounces. This morning he weighed one pound and 14 ounces.

Strangely, now he’s almost a little big for his age. He must get that from his dad.

Other things he gets from his dad… feet the size of scuba flippers, an adorable button nose, bulging biceps and rugged good looks.

Things he hopefully gets from his mom… two earlobes and the ability to focus on one thing for more than three seconds.

His heart was beating strong and everything looked good. His heartrate was 146 bpm…

Mallory is doing great too… all of her measurements are right on track. Her vitals are all looking good, so it’s smooth sailing right now.

Her belly really started to look pregnant a couple weeks ago after baby’s big growth spurt. It really seems like it all kind of happened overnight.

The whole thing started to feel real when we saw him for the first time a couple months ago… felt better hearing his heartbeat… even better seeing him the second and third time. I think the best part is being able to feel him kick. I love it. I’m sure Mal is starting to get tired of it, especially since he seems to be most active right when she’s going to bed.

I’m sure there are more things to talk about, but my mind is starting to wander. Hopefully sometime this week I’ll get time to tell you about the name I’ve picked out…

Keep reading for more photos from the ultrasound –

(more…)