Chronicles Of A First Time Father

It may seem strange to see a picture of an ultrasound next to that title, but they actually do go together. My wife has an app on her phone that gives her updates throughout pregnancy, and one of the things it does is it tells us the size of our baby in comparison with fruits or vegetables. One week the app said our baby was the size of an onion, and ever since then I have called him “the onion”. Each week my wife will tell me that he is a different fruit or vegetable, but I always respond with “No, he is just a bigger onion.” I’m not sure how long that will stick (or how long Lauren will let me call him that), but for now, to me, he is “the onion.”

Lauren and I just had an appointment with a specialist because our little baby only has one artery in the umbilical cord instead of the usual two. The doctor said this is apparently a normal thing, but that we should go see a specialist just to keep an eye on the baby’s growth. At the specialist, they took a ton of measurements of the baby, and he was not wanting to behave. He kept moving around and the doctor was struggling to get his measurements. Eventually, he let the doctor get his measurements, but he didn’t comply peacefully. The doctor told us that thankfully he is measuring normally, and structurally he is looking good. There was one thing the doctor noticed about the baby’s heart that we are going to have to keep an eye on. The baby has a certain heart arrhythmia that the doctor said is pretty common and not dangerous. The only danger with it is that it could grow into a more serious condition. So the doctor is keeping an eye on his heart and Lauren is not allowed to have any more caffeine or chocolate (they apparently can affect the baby’s heart). Our little guy seems to be growing well though, so we are very thankful for that. We loved getting to see him the other day on the screen, and we are anxiously awaiting his arrival into this world.