Memorable Moment #3: Insanity

Memorable Moment #3 leading up to week 29 1/2 (see previous posts) is more of a culmination of a lot of smaller moments. As you may have heard, pregnancy will mess with your wife. While my wife has been wonderful throughout pregnancy, even the best woman is only human.

Every once in a while, the effects of pregnancy will test even the most patient man's nerves. In the wake of one such encounter, I had the following text conversation with a friend of mine who recently became a father. I think it about sums it up . . .


Me: Okay, so speaking as someone who has been through this Dad thing, how long can I expect my wife to be insane?
My friend: I'll let you know when it stops...

Memorable Moment #2: There's Two of Them?!?

Memorable Moment #2 from the first 29 1/2 weeks (see my previous posts) has to be finding out that we were having twins. As is common, we did not find out from the first sonogram, which only showed Baby A. (No, we have not picked names yet.) Baby B was hiding early on.

I actually missed the first sonogram due to work. Surely, it will not be the first moment of my children's lives that I miss while providing for them. My wife had brought home pictures, though. Strangely enough, despite clearly seeing only one baby, I had asked my wife if it could be twins. She of course responded that this was highly unlikely.

A couple of weeks later, staring at a screen in the doctor's office, I saw this image pop up:





Now I'm no doctor, but even I know two babies when I see them. In case you are wondering what to look for at your first or second sonogram, that is it.

There are certain moments -- and the emotions that came with them -- that every man will remember his whole life: your first love, losing to Mercyhurst 4-2 in the league finals your senior year after out-shooting them 42-20 (not that I still have nightmares about that 10 years later or anything), seeing the planes hit on September 11. Finding out you're having twins is one of those moments.

What was it like for you? I don't think I have ever felt that many things at once. Joy. Fear. Pride. Inadequacy. All mixed together. Driving home, all I could think about was how I could possibly provide for two children when only one had been expected. It suddenly seemed ridiculously arrogant to think that I could even serve as a father to one kid, let alone two. I think my stomach finally settled down a few hours later.

Memorable Moment #1: I'm Pregnant

As I mentioned in my first post, my wife is currently at 29 1/2 weeks. I don't want to try to go back into the pregnancy too much, as at this stage everything is about looking forward to the babies, but there are three moments that merit a post. The first is finding out.

We had been trying passively for 2 or 3 months. I found trying to be somewhat weird and even a little difficult. I mean, not to get too personal or anything, but adding a goal to intimacy can make it a bit -- unnerving. Or is it just me?

Now, I know that getting pregnant can take months, or even years, and that many people would be jealous of success in 2-3 months. That said, it still seemed like a long time. Am I the only one that put it all on me in my head? What am I doing wrong? What is wrong with me?Anyway, a few weeks, my wife -- out of nowhere -- walked into our family room, sat on my lap, and told me that my boys could in fact swim.

How did you feel when you found out that your wife was actually pregnant? I'm curious to hear, as I had a flood of things run through my head. Things like, "Hey, I'm going to be a dad!" "Oh my, you mean I'm actually going to be a dad?" "Are we really having a baby in this economy?" "I hope these kids get their height from my in-laws." Thoughts like these ran through my head in no particular order.

Then there was a part of me that felt guilty. I mean, I was happy, but shouldn't I be happier? Shouldn't I feel more? Maybe it is true what they say, that the babies don't get real for the father until a little later in the pregnancy, or even until birth. Now of course, at this point, we did not know it was twins. I just knew that I was going to be completely responsible for another human being. It's a concept I am still getting used to.

I knew one thing I needed to do, though. And a few days later, I took care of that, old school style:

Go Caps!

What did you think about?