Baby Stun Gun

So much for posting more regularly, huh? Life always seems to throw a few more curves than you expect, but that's all part of being an expectant parent. My wife will be 35 weeks as of tomorrow, so we are now dealing with the baby's very imminent arrival! We already know the doctor won't let her go past her due date of July 21st, but our little man could decide to come at any time now!

In any physical sense, we're ready as the nursery is stocked with just about everything he'll need for the next two years! But the emotional preparations are constant and, I'm getting the sense, never ending. Does one ever really feel fully ready for any of life's many challenges? I expect most folks would say no, so we're not really any different. While I've been able to hear the heartbeat, see him in the womb, and even been kicked in the head (email me if you want to hear that story), I don't feel that I've been able to bond with the boy as much my wife has the last 8 months. But I'll get plenty of time to bond with both of them in the weeks following the birth.

Still, I don't want to seem like I'm complaining. We've been to triage at the hospital only twice and both times they said the baby looked perfect. All of our non stress tests have been great, although today he was feeling a bit tired and perhaps a bit cranky. So, the nurse had to stimulate him to get an accurate heart rate with what my wife and I affectionately refer to as the "Baby Stun Gun". In reality it's called a vibro acoustic stimulator, but it's a lot like those buzzers that people put in their palm before shaking your hand.

In the end, the BSG did it's job, he moved, and they knew his heartrate was normal. But I have to say my wife and I were a little apprehensive about our baby's first real reaction to that kind of stimulation. Heck, it made both of us jump, so imagine the baby's reaction! We try to remember that everything is going as it should and he will be here soon enough, but that doesn't make my wife sleep any better with the equivalent of a bowling ball attached to her belly. But damn it, we love our little bowling ball...how could you not?