The Summer Doldrums, Week 24, The Divine Proportion, Week 25

Posted on July 31, 2009 by David

Well, the summer is officially ‘on’. All of the kids activities and vacationing that we did in the beginning of our summer vacation are now decidedly over. The beasties are very much always around, which makes writing in this blog difficult. As I write this, one is arguing with the other about chore duties; a mere foot away from me.

There’s only so much room in a 1000 sq foot house.

Week 24

Week 24 was last week, in which fingernails were completed, nails were done, and the lungs started secreting a fat that allows for easier inflation. Movement-wise, she’s been quite the little jumper – kicking and bouncing quite a bit. I have yet to feel any kicks or anything of the sort. Usually she stops doing it as soon as I put my hand there.

At some point during this week we passed the divine proportion. The divine proportion is of historical, mathematical, and artistic significance. Numerically, it’s approximately .6180339887 – but what does it mean?

The Divine Proportion, Week 25

Essentially, the divine proportion it’s a ratio that’s derived from the Fibonacci Sequence. It’s also called the golden ratio and the golden mean. It has been used by artists, and observed in nature since about 300 BC. It really came into it’s own during the Renaissance in Europe, most famously used during this time in the Mona Lisa

monalisa

The face in this painting makes up almost a perfect divine proportion rectangle, with her eyes making up the line that delineates the portions. It’s also used in architecture, and seen in nature in things like beehives and leaf patterns in trees.

What it has come to mean is a pleasing, natural beauty that is apparent to everyone. Humans, and nature itself seem designed around this number. From what I can surmise, it’s true. Is it any coincidence that the majority of the development is completed in this week, with the remaining weeks concentrating on building up mass and developing the nervous system? Is it a coincidence that survival rates of premature infants past the point of this ratio are reasonable?

In the upcoming week, the baby will start to gain lots of weight. It’s the ending section of the pregnancy, and the baby is getting more and more strong as the days go by. 14 more weeks until her journey is complete.

Week 21, Ultrasound and Genetic Test Results

Posted on July 7, 2009 by David

We went for an appointment with the doctor on Monday – one of the ordinary checks to make sure all is well for the baby. We found out that the ultrasound results were completely normal, and the genetic tests that we took are also normal. This is especially good, because these tests tend to have false positives, which would make further testing necessary. We heard the heartbeat again, and when the doctor pressed against Jolene’s stomach to get the reading the baby kicked at the sensor.

The baby, she has an attitude! Excellent!

We also got a new chair and have begun some other changes to our house to better hold all of us. Shelves are planned, a new desk, removal of more furniture, and on and on… It all sounds so tiring…

Week 21

They’re still talking about bananas. This time, plantain-style bananas.

Her skin is no longer translucent, and is starting to get pigmentation. Movement is becoming more coordinated, and it has a greater facility for it’s own locomotion. Some sites are talking about how they can do backflips and stuff, but that all seems far fetched.

What doesn’t seem far fetched is that the tongue is becoming more and more strong. It’s nearly fully formed. Would it surprise me if it stuck it’s tongue out? Absolutely not.

Branson, Weeks 19 and 20

Posted on June 28, 2009 by David

I never made an update post regarding the branson trip that we took. The last few days that we were there were a flurry of activity, trying to get the most out of the last days of our vacation. We traveled back in a single day, and that traveling took a long time:

Yes, that’s correct. 17 hours+ on the road on the final day. We were slowed by a 1 hour tie-up in traffic on the way back through Indianapolis, and actually became trapped at a freeway rest stop while traffic backed up.

Overall though, it was a very good vacation. We got to spend time with family and relax a bit. Three generations of our family was there, which made it even better.

Week 19

Week 19 was actually last week, but I didn’t have time to write about it. Between decompressing from the vacation, a business law paper to write, and my new 12 year old constant companion (yay summer vacation) I had a lack of quiet time to write up anything. I’ve finally found the quiet time, and so here I am.

PFO8931

Last week, the baby was “the size of a large heirloom tomato”, or at least so say the baby sites. I’ve never heard of such a thing. Is it a old, dried up tomato that gets passed down from generation to generation?

Anyway, the baby is developing regions of the brain used for smell, touch, taste and vision. Most places agree that the baby will start hearing – and perhaps recognizing voices.

Week 20

During week 20 the baby is no longer measured from head to ‘rump’. Instead, they’re measured from head to toe – like a real person! Predictably…

banana

they’re using fruit again to demonstrate the length. This time, the baby is about as big as a banana. Perhaps bigger news than this, though, is that it’s the halfway point in the pregnancy. Yes, that means that every day from here on out we’re looking at a fast dwindling time of pregnancy. The baby will be here before we know it! We’re looking forward to the next ultrasound that we have, scheduled for the 1st of July. Perhaps we’ll find out if it’s a boy or a girl? I’m not holding my breath, but I’m hopeful.

Graduation! Vacation! Chicago! St. Louis! Branson! Week 18! Too Many Exclamation Points!

Posted on June 15, 2009 by David

Well, it’s been a busy weekend and beginning of the week.

Friday, Graduation Day

We started off our festivities with a graduation from grade school. This marks my third and final graduation I would be attending this year. Maddie earned a presidential award for academics. It was a nice time, and afterward we left for Chicago to begin our vacation. The kids wanted to buy things at the Lego store and the American girl doll store.

We left and arrived in Chicago in the evening. We checked into our hotel room, which we pricelined for $50 downtown. It was literally right downtown. We were within walking distance from “the Magnificent Mile,” known by that name for it’s shopping and other items of interest. The room was nice, and it had a flatscreen tv. But it had to have a flatscreen tv, because a regular tv would not have fit. You couldn’t walk from one part of the room to the other without running into someone.

Behold:

The queen size beds were actually twins. It felt like we were sleeping on chiclets. Still, the price and location couldn’t be beat.

We brought food but decided to eat out, since there’s TGI Fridays all around the area. We stopped by the Apple store, which is always neat to go in and play with the new toys they have.

Saturday, Traveling to St. Louis

We woke up Saturday to a rainy rainy day:

Still, there was shopping to be done. After eating some in-room breakfast, I drove the girls to the girl shopping store. The valet was very nice and held the car at the front of the hotel for me, since the garage was blocks away. Afterwards, we picked them up and I took off to the ‘boy store’, the lego store. This was only a few blocks away, so we walked it. Driving in downtown Chicago isn’t the easiest thing, with the construction, traffic, and a GPS system that can’t find satellites because of tall buildings.

We departed after shopping at noon and proceeded on to St. Louis/Collinsville.

We arrived at our room. This was another $50 priceline special, but this one was quite a bit better appointed:

This was a new hotel, and walking in wearing my ‘driving outfit’ made me feel hideously underdressed. The rooms for this were likely four times the price we paid, and there was a wedding reception being held there. Everyone was wearing gowns and formalwear, I was wearing reebok gym shorts and sneakers.

There was a Ponderosa up the road, which is reasonably priced for kids to eat at the buffet, so we decided to eat there. The she-beastie though is now 12, and doesn’t get kids discounts there anymore. It ended up being more expensive than we thought, but filling and convienent.

Then, we went swimming and enjoyed the complimentary free WiFi internet access.

Sunday, Catsup, The Arch, and Branson

The hotel was actually in Collinsville, IL – just 10 minutes from downtown St. Louis. Interestingly, the town is known for having the largest bottle of catsup in the world. It’s actually a water tower, but still… being just 2 miles away from our hotel, I had to get pictures.

while my family looked on disinterested from the car

I guess they don’t get the allure of large bottles of catsup (sigh)

We headed down to the St Louis Arch, and took pictures of it and the Mississippi river:

Then we got on the road. 5 hours later, we arrived in Branson and ate at one of our favorite locations there, the Hard Luck Cafe. The waiters and waitresses sing to you as you eat, and have cd’s for sale in the gift shop.

Afterward, the kids got to spend some time where they wanted to be most – the pool

It was nice, and a welcome sight.

Pictures

There are lots more pictures that I didn’t put in this post, but you can look at them. There are some other nice ones.

Week 18

This week, the hearing of the baby is supposed to be getting better and better. It’ll try to cover its ears when it hears loud sounds and can start to hear voices. It’s going to be gaining weight and size from here on out, having developed almost all of it’s final organs. Mom is doing well, though is feeling ‘very pregnant’ now. The long car rides aren’t optimal for her, but she’s doing very well overall. Sometimes ‘flutters’ can be felt, but the baby is still a bit too small to make the movements felt very often.

Week 17; Ultrasound!

Posted on June 8, 2009 by David

So I missed week 17′s update on Friday, I was trying to get caught up with school. I figured I’d just postpone everything till Monday when I was sure to want to write a new post anyway.

This week the fetus is as large as a turnip. The baby site obsession with the produce section continues. The eyes are sensitive to light, so the baby now knows mom stays up too late every night. The cartilidge is turning to bone, though still flexible.

The Ultrasound

The nervousness for me started about 3:00. I tried to take a nap to settle down, but it didn’t really work; I could not nap. All we have seen or heard so far is the heartbeat that once. I tend to think about the worst case scenario, and was just thinking ‘what if’? Jolene seemed not nervous at all.

Madalyn got home and asked if we were going to see the baby. I had previously told them about the first ultrasound. “Not without your mother,” I responded. Eventually Jolene got home and we left. Ben was on a field trip to Lansing and couldn’t make it.

By the time we hit the road, I was a wreck. What if?

We got to the hospital and found the radiology department. Dropped off our form and nearly went straight back to the ultrasound room where a former coworker of Jolene’s started the examination.

Within moments the machine was working and showing pictures like these.

Once I saw the baby jumping around I felt a huge rush of relief wash over me. Not only does it seem ok, it seems like it might be a future Olympic gymnast! These pictures are hard to tell what’s what. In motion it was much easier to see things like the facial features.

My favorite part happened when we zoomed in on the hand:

The baby, swear to god, waved at us.

It’s not very chubby right now – the form is very skeletal in nature. We got to see the heart beating, and hear it again. The baby was looked at from all different angles.

The Big Question

I know, you’re thinking “Is it a boy? Is it a girl?”. I am proud to announce that….

…

it is either a boy, or a girl! We couldn’t tell from today’s examination the gender. The technician zoomed into the baby’s bottom and we looked for quite a while. The 15 minute ultrasound turned into a 30 minute one. In the end, we think it might be a girl, but are unsure as yet.

Week 15 – Oranges!

Posted on May 22, 2009 by David

As predicted, we’ve moved up in the world – from lemons last week to oranges this week. The fetus is about the size of an orange, so the baby websites say. Of perhaps more importance, this is the week that the fetus will start reacting to sounds that it hears around it. That means that when we go to our Decemberists Concert on the 1st of next month, the baby will get to hear it’s first concert as well.

It can also now make a fist. It’s a good thing that it couldn’t hear when we went to the heavy metal concert, because it would probably be sad it couldn’t throw one of these

It’s said that some women can start to feel movements this week, but it’s uncommon.

On a sad note, peanut butter cravings have ceased. I’ve waited for a while to post this, because I found it incredibly sad. The resultant mania that accompanied the peanut butter cravings is now over. Hopefully we’ll get some other strange and bizarre craving soon. I wonder how long it’s going to take to use up all the accumulated peanut butter in the house?

Week 14 – Lemons

Posted on May 15, 2009 by David

We’re starting week 14 today. Notable developments include the fact that the baby is able to frown. Last week it was able to smile. Next week I’m expecting it to make a sucky fish face

In other news, it’s getting bigger and bigger. The plum days are over, now all the webpages are describing the development in terms of citrus fruits (lemons right now).

What a bag of fetuses might look like

Things are starting to get hairy. ‘Lanugo’ is what the hair that’s starting to appear all over the fetus is called.

It sucks its thumb a lot now, as well as other movements.

We’ve cleared out our geek den. We used to have both of our desks in our bedroom, so that we can use the living room for… living purposes. But we’re going to need extra room coming up here very soon, so I moved one of our loveseats out of the house. Both desks came into the living room. There’s now a vast expanse of space (for very small amounts of ‘vast’) in our room that will be good for an infant. We have some time to go, but figured that while I’m off of school I may as well do the heavy lifting.

I’m reminded that I’m getting older during times like these. The next day I was crazy-sore. That night I slept like a baby.

Ending the first trimester

Posted on May 8, 2009 by David

It’s scary.

It seems like just the other day that we found out Jolene was pregnant. Now we’re starting week 13, and things like the teeth and everything are already in place. The ears I guess are still moving around, it’s practicing swallowing, and so on. The weirdest part is that one of the sites I’ve read says that it’s practicing smiling as well.

Can you imagine a smiling fetus?

I can’t.

I’ve started cleaning out stuff to make room for the eventual crib. We’re going to be moving a bunch of stuff out, and moving some computer stuff to the living room from the bedroom where it currently is. Not the best situation, since we don’t have that much room. However, it’s probably the only setup that will work in the small house we’re now trapped in.

There’s a lot of work to be done. I’ve started a savings account. I’m working as hard as I can to get things ready. I feel like we may never be fully ready, but I think that’s probably part of the way things go. I am sure everything will end up more than ok.

Allegro!

Posted on May 5, 2009 by David

Jolene had her first prenatal examination today.

The Doctor

Our appointment was at 3:30 in Bay City, and we went for lunch to grandpa tony’s first. It was a good lunch, and I finally ordered the size of spaghetti that I can actually eat rather than the ultra large size that I never finish. Afterward, we headed to Jolene’s mom’s house and killed some time. We wandered around downtown Bay City, since we were extremely early for our appointment. Antique stores were where we tread, though I don’t really understand why people would want most of the stuff. Truth be told, I was worried. What if we didn’t hear anything at the exam?

We went to the appointment, and I stayed in the room in the extra chair while the doctor did the normal lady examination. I am told that I have to go through all of these things with her, so there I stayed. Following this she took a machine off of the counter and put some lubrication on it. I had previously seen the machine but didn’t figure that was what she was going to use. I guess I was thinking it would be something more substantial.

She used the machine and we listened in… eventually, ever so faintly, was a really fast beat in the background. The doctor told us that it was about 160 beats per minute, about normal for this time. She’s scheduled for a blood check for genetic issues and such. Otherwise, everything else was just about normal.

We left, and scheduled an appointment for a ultrasound. That will be happening June 9th, at 5pm at the Bay City hospital. That should be an interesting trip indeed.

Our Anniversary

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary of our wedding today, and our 5th anniversary of knowing each other. It was a nice day. Allegro means ‘fast and bright’ in Italian. It’s the same beat per minute range that we heard on the little machine just a few hours ago. Jolene gave me allegro today for our anniversary. It’s probably the best gift I’ve been given for an anniversary.

It’s been a good 5 years.

Week 12: Micturition

Posted on May 4, 2009 by David

Well, it’s been a busy weekend….

Graduation

Friday night I went through my graduation ceremony at Delta. I dressed up, of course. It’s about making mom proud, after all. I got there at about 5:55, and stood in line for an hour while the graduating class of 2009 got assembled around me. This seemed the longest, since I did not know anyone around me. An older lady, presumably in charge, kept reminding us to go to the bathroom. I have a nervous bladder anyway, so this didn’t help. It was like she was our substitute mommy.

Eventually we got in 2 lines, one on each side of the hallway. It was hot there, with little air circulation. I wasn’t looking forward to the gym, figuring if the hall was this hot the gym was probably going to be worse.

5 minutes late, at 7:05, we walked into the gym. I had enough people in front of me that I figured that I would be in row three or so. Ultimately though, the line on the right side stopped and let the line on the left side progress. I ended up in the front row, right on the very left edge. The lady that I was sitting next to was overly friendly. She treated me as though I was her best friend for years, which was kind of odd since I just met her minutes before. The gym was surprisingly very cool, and not bad at all.

I sat through the ceremony. Thankfully, the little old lady reminded me to go to the bathroom earlier, so I was a-ok. The entire thing only lasted an hour or so, and all culminated in this moment:

Video – Walking Across

After that, I sat and watched a large amount of people I did not know graduate mere feet from where I was sitting. I contemplated what would happen if someone really did have to go to the bathroom during the ceremony. I pictured random graduates as they walked across, regretting that bottle of water they drank just minutes before the ceremony. Overall though, it was nice, with refreshments afterward down in the commons area. I ate many many brownies. I drank a ridiculous amount of punch, having only drank a bare minimum of liquids that day. Again, I didn’t want to have to go to the bathroom. I couldn’t be that guy.

Saturday

We got home late Friday night and got up early Saturday, as per normal with the beasties. For some strange reason, they get up earlier on weekends than they do on weekdays, when they’re hard to wake up and get going. I don’t understand it. It’s probably one of those things, like how women go to the bathroom in flocks. Just strange behavior.

Anyway, we went to a pancake breakfast for Ben. I looked quite well rested..

… well, maybe not.

Ben was nominated as an “incredible kid”, and got free pancakes and all sorts of accolades.

Sunday

We woke up at noon and eventually made our way to Ghengis Kahn, a mongolian bbq place here. My parents took everyone out to celebrate my graduation that Friday. Afterwards, we went to their house for some cake…

… which was very tasty indeed. Thanks mom, it was a nice day. I got nice gifts, and I’m thankful for all of this.

Regarding The Baby…

I looked up the information for the development through this week, and it’s getting incredibly human looking

Also of note, vocal cords are in place, fingernails and toenails, the brain is fully formed, and facial features are in place. Most importantly for this entry, it has developed kidneys and have started to secrete urine. The cycle is complete. From me at graduation, to a large drunk man at the concert, to the fetus, this entire blog post is urine related. I’m not sure how I’ll top this.

Tomorrow is both our anniversary as well as the first doctors appointment wherein I’ll hear the heartbeat and see the kid. It should be interesting!

Oh, and if you’re still confused as to what Micturition is…

The Cooke Family Website

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