What a day!

Yesterday my wife and I went for our scheduled check up to find out what exactly is in my wife's stomach. We had been looking forward to finding out, but I hadn't given much thought to the overall picture.  As the lights dimmed and we began, I became overwhelmed with worry.

My wife sensed my nervousness, squeezing my hand and asking if I was okay, I nodded furiously, not taking my eyes off of the screen. The fuzzy image appeared and I stared at the monitor while the tech marked and measured, holding my breath until hearing the words I needed to hear... That looks good.  I saw an arm, another arm, then two legs, and some toes.  How does the spine look? How's the heart? And then the moment of truth,  There's no doubt that it's a boy.

We watched as he bounced around, laughing as it appeared he had come down with the hiccups.  He put on a great show, kicking his feet and holding up his little fist for us to see. I would have been just fine with a girl, as all I hope for is health at this stage, but a boy is something extra special for me as I've always had a special bond with my dad. I will try my best to duplicate that with my son.

Until yesterday, I'd never felt the love that a parent has for their child, and words cannot fully explain what I experienced.  Father knows little indeed, as I wasn't prepared for the foreign feeling that came over me in that room. After the ultrasound, I buzzed around the health center as I had worked myself up into a mess, pacing and unable to sit still, elated that everything was normal.   Afterwards, it was time to celebrate, we went out and bought a couple of outfits for him and I didn't even complain about the shopping.  But my day of first wasn't over, later that night as we lay in bed, I just happened to put my hand on my wife's stomach and I felt him kick.  As faint as it was, I felt his little thrust on the palm of my hand. I jerked my head up to look at my wife.  Did you feel that? she asked.  Yep, I'm feeling a lot of things...