Half way to Fatherhood

I warned you all this would happen. I promise the next post will be something not baby-related. However, we've hit a milestone in the pregnancy so aside from the typical facebook status update, I thought I'd take a few moments to elaborate and share some news. Today is Thursday, June 7, 2012. Last night Kristen had her 20-week ultrasound, which included a full fetal scan (almost typed 'fecal' there... could you imagine?!). Although the "results" of said scan are yet to be known, an unofficial review of the measurements seemed to be right on par with the average/appropriate point of Baby Jackson's development. We'll know for sure in a week or so, but we feel a lot better having seen the baby move, the heartbeat, umbilical cord, and counted all fingers, toes, arms, legs, organs, brain hemispheres, etc. We're not expecting any huge surprises or disappointments when we hear from the Dr. As many of you know, another major potential discovery from such a scan is that the gender of the baby can likely be determined. After much waffling and talking to others and each other, we decided before the appointment that we would let it be a surprise during the birth. However, we also both admitted that we'd be looking during the ultrasound and if we saw something, we saw it and we'd be okay with that. Alas! the images we saw were pretty much inconclusive. The technician mentioned that even if we wanted to know she probably wouldn't be able to tell. Apparently Baby Jackson is a bit restless - go figure considering the parents... So we did get to see him/her moving all around but the legs stayed together and the genital region covered and remaining in darkness most of the time. So I guess we were granted our wish in not finding out, but truth be told I would not have been disappointed to "accidentally" get the news. Looks like we'll have to wait until October for that one... and it also looks like a unisex decorating effort for the nursery! I guess the next step IS the nursery. We've already been doing some research, but need to hit it harder now that we're past the halfway mark. I suppose once that 3rd trimester rolls around in a few weeks I'll be transforming our empty bedroom into a baby utopia outfitted with all the goods and necessities... So that's all for now. I'll be in touch soon. -me