Future fatherhood
Far too much has happened in the past several months for me to even dream of succinctly summarizing it all so I'll start with the present situation and go from there.
First and foremost: I'm going to be a father! It's a grand new adventure, to be sure, and most of my daydreams these days are consumed with things to come. For most of you this is old news but for those friends of mine who are only now hearing of this, let me catch you up.
The woman I am deeply in love with- my girlfriend of the past two years- came to me one evening* several weeks ago with a copy of McElligot's Pool by Dr. Seuss. As she handed me the book, she looked me in the eyes and said, "I think we're going to need a few more of these." I was shocked, elated, confused- a whole symphony of emotions in a single moment. The one thing I was sure of ,though, was that this was something I needed to embrace. I was committed from the very first moment.
In all honesty, it was the kind of thing we sort of assumed would happen eventually but which wasn't in our immediate plan. Regardless of that, we've embraced it as a new direction to travel together and we're just excited about the road ahead. We decided that night that we were fully committed to one another and that neither of us really wanted to just go out and hastily get married because of this new development. So, no shotgun wedding this summer but we're both hoping the little one can maybe be our little flower girl or ring-bearer when we do get married some day. :)
Yesterday, we went in to do a blood screening and got our first ultrasound which I think I was looking forward to more than her. You see, I've had this sort of nagging anxiety for the past several weeks that something is horribly deformed and we just don't know it yet- an anxiety I've comically and perhaps morbidly characterized as the head being "inside-out". It's become sort of a macabre joke between us that I hope the head isn't inside out. Well, yesterday I finally got to confirm that the head is indeed properly situated and that all systems are nominal. We have a full complement of arms, legs, and a right-side-out head at one end! Yay! You can't imagine how giddy and relieved I was. We often find humor in the odd role reversals we sometimes notice in our relationship. I was a total sap at the ultrasound yesterday and she was fairly objective about the whole experience. It's really rather cute.
Well, there are a million more things I could share but I'm trying not to write a short novel for my first time back in a while. Suffice it to say, I'm excited to become a father and all my friends and family have been so supportive and wonderful, it's been nothing but positive all the way around. Chantelle (that's my love's name, BTW) has been great and our relationship has taken on a new dimension, more deeply bonded than before and every bit as great.
I hope you all are doing well and thriving wherever you're at. Love,
_Phaedrus_
* For posterity's sake, I'm pretty sure it was April 28th, a Monday night after I had come back from playing poker with my dad and his friends.
First and foremost: I'm going to be a father! It's a grand new adventure, to be sure, and most of my daydreams these days are consumed with things to come. For most of you this is old news but for those friends of mine who are only now hearing of this, let me catch you up.
The woman I am deeply in love with- my girlfriend of the past two years- came to me one evening* several weeks ago with a copy of McElligot's Pool by Dr. Seuss. As she handed me the book, she looked me in the eyes and said, "I think we're going to need a few more of these." I was shocked, elated, confused- a whole symphony of emotions in a single moment. The one thing I was sure of ,though, was that this was something I needed to embrace. I was committed from the very first moment.
In all honesty, it was the kind of thing we sort of assumed would happen eventually but which wasn't in our immediate plan. Regardless of that, we've embraced it as a new direction to travel together and we're just excited about the road ahead. We decided that night that we were fully committed to one another and that neither of us really wanted to just go out and hastily get married because of this new development. So, no shotgun wedding this summer but we're both hoping the little one can maybe be our little flower girl or ring-bearer when we do get married some day. :)
Yesterday, we went in to do a blood screening and got our first ultrasound which I think I was looking forward to more than her. You see, I've had this sort of nagging anxiety for the past several weeks that something is horribly deformed and we just don't know it yet- an anxiety I've comically and perhaps morbidly characterized as the head being "inside-out". It's become sort of a macabre joke between us that I hope the head isn't inside out. Well, yesterday I finally got to confirm that the head is indeed properly situated and that all systems are nominal. We have a full complement of arms, legs, and a right-side-out head at one end! Yay! You can't imagine how giddy and relieved I was. We often find humor in the odd role reversals we sometimes notice in our relationship. I was a total sap at the ultrasound yesterday and she was fairly objective about the whole experience. It's really rather cute.
Well, there are a million more things I could share but I'm trying not to write a short novel for my first time back in a while. Suffice it to say, I'm excited to become a father and all my friends and family have been so supportive and wonderful, it's been nothing but positive all the way around. Chantelle (that's my love's name, BTW) has been great and our relationship has taken on a new dimension, more deeply bonded than before and every bit as great.
I hope you all are doing well and thriving wherever you're at. Love,
_Phaedrus_
* For posterity's sake, I'm pretty sure it was April 28th, a Monday night after I had come back from playing poker with my dad and his friends.