A Poetry Journey

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. . . and so it begins part one
And begin it did.

My dad and I started out on this earlier today – around 8:15 A.M.

We finished about noon.

What you see in the video above is the first part of what we want to do to fix up the landscaping around the house.

Since my wife and I moved in we haven’t done a lot on the landscaping. This year – being out of work and having time – I decided to give it the love it deserves.

I hope to document this journey from where it is today to the final completion somewhere far, far, far, far, down the road.

. . . and so it begins.
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April 2, 2012
Week 15
Week 15 and still going strong.

I added a little bit of stuff to the description this week because it was so fascinating.

Mom to be is hanging in there.

She is still getting the headaches, but they are not as severe.

I can tell things are starting to subside.

She’s still getting wiped out at the end of the day, but who wouldn’t. Carrying a child and working a full-time job. It’s tough.

15 Weeks Pregnant

Your Body

Your energy may have returned but that doesn’t mean you should be hitting the clubs until 4:00 AM every night. With a baby growing inside you, sleep is one thing that you can’t go without. Try these tricks to ensure you beat up the sheets.

If your growing belly is getting in the way of a good night’s sleep, surround yourself with pillows to make for an extra-comfy nest effect. Sometimes room temperature can affect sleep, so make sure that your air conditioner is cranked up if you’re feeling too hot.

Some sleeping positions are more comfortable than others for pregnant woman, like the “I’m just going to pass out on the La-Z-Boy” position. And get comfy sleeping on your left side while you’re preggers: It’s what the docs recommend to keep the blood flowing full steam ahead between you and the tadpole.

Your Baby

Although many women don’t start feeling the baby move until the 17th week (or later), your baby has been having his own party in the amniotic sac he calls home. If you feel a little flutter in your belly this week, don’t discount it as gas or hunger. It could be your babe banging around. Here’s more to look forward to:

Baby’s head is now resting on his well-formed neck instead of directly on his shoulders like Igor. He’s beginning to grow eyebrows and eyelashes this week. (All the better to give you that “Mom, you’re crazy” look when he’s a teenager.) The hair on the head also begins to grow and, with some creative styling, you’ll be able to turn those locks into a Maddox Jolie-Pitt faux-hawk some day.

Although baby’s eyes are sealed shut, he’s now able to sense light. His eyes and ears finally look like real baby features now. As your baby practices sucking and swallowing actions, he may actually hiccup. You’ll know he’s had one too many shots of amniotic fluid by the steady thump-thump you feel.

Over the next month, baby will grow faster than ever, so make sure you load up on enough nutritious food and fluids to support his growth. Your baby now measures nearly 4 inches, about the size of a Kit Kat “finger” (regular-size, not the Big one you get at the movies), and weighs almost 2 ounces.
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April 1, 2012
Poem – If I was a job what would I be?
If I was a job,

what would I be?

Would I be successful,

or tall?

Would I be grand,

or small?

Would I have power,

or would I have not?

Would I be a worker,

like the bee?

Or power nations,

like the president you see.

Would I stand against the rising tide,

or find the nearest corner to cower and hide.

If I was a job,

what would I be?
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March 30, 2012
Poem – Warm Miami Rain*
I sit alone in the darkness of the naked night.

A storm is rolling softly across the ocean.

Thunder cracks-Lightning flashes.

A Warm Miami Rain beginning its motion.

The turmoil I feel inside.

Can be expressed by only one man.

The feelings are his alone.

All a part of his own forgetful plan.

The plan was a simple one.

Full of joy, No pain.

Washing the spirit clean.

Like the Warm Miami Rain.

I stand naked at the window.

While the whore opens the door to leave.

It closes with what once was my soul.

Along with my heart on her sleeve.

She evaporates into the rainy night.

I watch her go so slowly away.

I’m just another man to her.

I’m just another lay.

She climbs inside her car.

The engine combusted with pain.

My heart slips further down.

As she drives off in the Warm Miami Rain.

This night is over for me.

Her’s is one with a cruel unthinking start.

The cars tail-lights disappear.

Into the storms beating heart.

I suck deep on a cigarette.

Crush the butt out slow.

I take a step into the shower.

Man I feel so low.

The water dances upon me.

Like a growing eternal pain.

The lights flicker.

It’s the Warm Miami Rain.

A door opens.

Thunder booms.

The lights flicker.

A meeting looms.

What will I tell them?

My friends who’ve come to see.

The joy one moment couldn’t give.

To a man who is me.

The water turns off.

The floor is cold.

I towel off naked.

As I long for someone to hold.

The pleasure of a loved one.

After such a moment of glee.

This night it’s not a pleasure.

A pleasure for a man like me.

I dress, and open the door.

I step from the mist of heat.

They wait there.

Anticipation on the edge of their seat.

They think it was fun.

A pleasure for me.

They do not understand.

There is no pleasure or glee.

Just a hollow feeling.

Like a knife inside with pain.

I tell them everything.

While I stand and watch the Warm Miami Rain.
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March 30, 2012
Week 14
14 Weeks in. Still going strong.

It has been a pretty decent week this week.

Mom to be is still having the headaches which according to her is normal. Most women get either those or morning sickness. Headaches are not so bad when you think about it that way.

Heard the heartbeat earlier in the week. I think all of that was in my last post.

All in all things are moving right along.

Your Baby:

14 Weeks Pregnant

Think of it this way: You’re a third of the way through and baby’s a third of the way cooked. Now that the “big stuff” (like skeletal and organ development) is taken care of, your baby starts a period of rapid brain growth, fat buildup and detail work. Highlights this week include:

Your baby now has fingerprints! Book ’em, Danno! Believe it or not, he actually created them himself while swimming around in the amniotic fluid. As he moved his hands, the skin on the tips of his fingers formed unique ridges and folds. That’s why no one on earth has the same fingerprints, not even identical twins! Cool, right? Baby’s arms are now in proportion to his tiny body, but his legs are still on the short size in comparison.

Meconium, that tar-like, sticky first baby poop, is now loading up your baby’s intestines, which means you might want to set aside a bottle of olive oil, one of the few things that will get the gooey poop off of baby’s bottom.

Your baby continues to gain new and impressive skills such as practicing and controlling voluntary muscle movements (this will help him fling food across the room later in life). Your tiny dancer’s movements are no longer the jerky, uncontrollable twitches of yore—he now moves with graceful control.

Your baby is now weighs about an ounce and is the length of a flip phone, or roughly 3.5 inches—he’s tripled in size from a mere three weeks ago! Luckily, you haven’t done the same.

via 14 Weeks Pregnant – 3D Pregnancy Calendar.
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March 25, 2012
Blanket
Moving this over from my main blog to this blog. I think it fits better here.

Something Random: My mother in law made this great blanket for me out of some of my concert shirts and I thought I would share.

Front

Back
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March 23, 2012
Hearing The Heartbeat
Well I heard my baby’s heartbeat for the first time today.

I can’t say it was the most amazing thing so far, but it was up there.

The most amazing moment was probably seeing the baby move for the first time. I still can’t believe how I felt during that moment. I probably will not forget it.

Here’s how it went today (3/20/2012):
- Midwife placed the device on Emily’s stomach so we could hear the heartbeat.
- At first I didn’t hear it.
- There was too much static and then she said: “Got it.”
- I strained my ears to hear it and unlike the last couple of times (when I saw the beating heart right away) it took me a moment.
- Then all of a sudden it hit my ears. It sounded -I kid you not- like marching soldiers. I wish we could have listened to it longer because it seems like I didn’t get enough time. In future visits we should hear it each time we are there so there will be more chances.
- A quick visit, but hearing the heartbeat for the first time was great.
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March 21, 2012
Week 13
via 13 Weeks Pregnant – 3D Pregnancy Calendar.

Your Baby

Your baby can make a fist and even suck his or her thumb this week—both skills that are über-cute during infancy … and not so much at the age of 9. If you’re really lucky, you might catch a glimpse of baby’s thumb sucking on an ultrasound photo. That’s a framer! Other exciting developments include:

Your baby’s eyelids are fused shut to protect his eyes as they develop. His bones and skull are solidifying and soon itsy-bitsy ribs may appear. (Baby ribs! How cute is that?!) Baby’s intestines are finally right where you want them—in his or her belly instead of poking out into the umbilical cord. Baby’s tooth sockets are all loaded and ready to pop out baby teeth six or seven months after baby is born (causing baby a lot of pain and you a lot of lost sleep).

Who’s that singing? Elton John? Could be your baby: His vocal cords and larynx are completed now.

Your baby-to-be now weighs about 20 grams and is nearly 3 inches long, or about the size of a Nutter Butter, covered in chocolate. OK, it doesn’t have to be covered in chocolate, but isn’t everything better that way?

All is well on our side of the computer screen. Emily is doing well. Maternity clothes shopping yesterday went well. All in all not a bad week all things considered.

Emily’s headaches are still bad from time to time, mostly after work, but she is soldiering through them. She is also disliking the fact that her bedtime is around nine thirty now. I guess that would be tough on a night owl.

We are now into week 13 and as you see above there are some big changes going on with the little one. I tell you it just gets more interesting from week to week.

Big appointment on Tuesday, possible heartbeat time. We will see. I’m still not sure on when we will find out the sex of the baby, but I know it isn’t this week.
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March 18, 2012
Poem
I wrote this poem a little while ago and I decided to publish it in this blog. I hope you enjoy it.

On Becoming – Upcoming Fatherhood

Hello,

I hear you little one,

growing so big and strong,

deep inside your mother’s womb,

I hear you, I swear,

I sit and I wonder,

what kind of dad will I be,

will I be a father who puts you at the center,

or puts you to the side thinking of only me,

will I do all I can do to make you strong,

to make you wise,

to make you better than I could ever dream of being,

or will I simply keep you as a prize,

no, I am not yet a father,

but I hope to be so soon,

to live, and love, my precious one,

sun up, day, night and moon.
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March 14, 2012
Week 12
This weekend moving on into week 12.

via 12 Weeks Pregnant – 3D Pregnancy Calendar.

Your Baby

Baby’s face is looking more human as his eyes have moved to the front of his head and his ears are in place. Hooray! Other amazing fetal highlights this week:

Your baby is able to swallow this week and practices on the amniotic fluid he or she floats in. (And you thought baby food was kind of nasty!) And in case you’re wondering how your kid can breathe in all that fluid, here’s your answer: Fetuses get oxygen from the blood pumped into their bodies by the placenta and don’t breathe with their lungs. Mystery solved!

This is kind of gross, albeit fascinating, so feel free to skip ahead: Your baby’s intestines are well under way, but they aren’t all where you’d expect them to be. Instead of all being locked away in the body cavity, some are dangling on the outside, in the umbilical cord. Ewwww.

Don’t forget to put a baby nail file on your registry—your little nugget’s finger- and toenails are forming this week. The chin and nose are also becoming more defined.

Junior has doubled in size over the past two weeks and now weighs almost ½ ounce. He’s also now around 2 ½ inches long, about the length of your pinky finger or a Vienna sausage, which, in a few months, will be indistinguishable from one another.

Well, Emily popped this week.

If you are unfamiliar with popping it is basically the moment a pregnant woman goes from not looking pregnant to looking pregnant. Emily went to work Thursday morning and came home that evening with the belly protruding out. It is the craziest thing I have ever seen.

Other than that, all is quiet on the home front. Emily is getting her rest and I am doing the best to take care of her.
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March 11, 2012
Week 11
11 weeks

From this site: http://3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com/calendar/11-weeks-pregnant.html

Your Baby
All of your baby’s vital organs are now formed and functioning, so the risk of defects decreases this week as your baby becomes less susceptible to outside influences. Phew! Other exciting developments include:

Baby’s ears are assuming their proper place this week and the fingernail and toenail beds are beginning to form. Your little “pumpkin head” really lives up to his nickname as his head is nearly as big as the rest of his body.

While testes or ovaries are completely formed now, don’t start decorating the nursery. You won’t be able to see your baby’s gender for a few more weeks yet.

Your baby is really on the move now. In an ultrasound you might be able to see your little acrobat flailing his or her arms and legs and doing somersaults worthy of Cirque du Soleil. You still won’t be able to feel any movement, so if you feel something “kick” in there, it’s probably gas.

In the next nine weeks, your baby will increase 30 times in weight and almost triple in length. You might feel like you’re increasing 30 times in weight at this point, too, but we can assure you’re not—because, honey, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Your baby now weighs a third of an ounce, about the same as two small, Starbucks-sized packets of sugar, is about 2 inches long, the length of one of those sugar packets. Isn’t that sweet?

Mom and baby are doing well. She is getting her strength back as she moves closer to the 2nd trimester.

All is good in Renfro land right now.
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March 4, 2012
Week 10
So far so good for mom and baby this week. Just the normal pregnancy stuff. Emily is currently passed out on the couch which is a good thing to see. She’s had some crazy dreams and other things keeping her up. I’m trying to do what I can to help her, but it is pretty much out of my hands. Just yes mam and no mam for me right now.

That’s it. Just felt like I needed to post up some baby news tonight.

Week 10:

According to this link: http://3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com/calendar/10-weeks-pregnant.html this is where we are at this week.

Your Baby

By the end of Week 10, your baby graduates from embryo to fetus, which literally means “little one.” It also translates to “I’m just going to keep getting bigger and bigger and so are you!” Other highlights this week:

Your baby has finally morphed from a little tadpole into, well, a baby. Not only is the face more human-like, but that unflattering “tail” (really just the developing spinal cord) has disappeared, fusing into the spinal column.

Your baby now has discernible fingers and toes, which will explain the steady stream of kicks and punches you’ll feel down the line.

Junior’s skeleton is starting to grow and harden. The ears are beginning to take shape and the eyelids are no longer transparent. Tooth buds are forming, although your baby won’t get any teeth until six or seven (or eight or nine or 10) months after birth.

Baby’s brain will make an incredible 25,000 new neurons every minute this week. While you may feel like you’re losing as many as he’s gaining, we can assure you it’s not permanent. “Pregnancy brain,” like nausea and bloating, is a temporary symptom that soon shall pass. (And then you’ll get “Mommy brain,” but we won’t go there now.)

If you’re baby is a boy, he’s started producing that macho hormone testosterone. And whether your baby is a boy or a girl, the kidneys are creating copious amounts of urine. Lucky for you, you won’t have to change a diaper for another 30 weeks.

Baby weighs only 4 grams and measures 1½ inches, about the size of a mondo Brazil nut.
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February 29, 2012
Welcome to fetustomeetus.wordpress.com
NEW BLOG IN ORDER TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS BABY

I guess I should go all the way back to the day it was first known to us.

Emily had been late for at least a week at this point so we decided that it was time to take the test. Since we had a few moments like this in the past that weren’t positive we were very hesitant about this one. There is nothing that stinks more than getting a negative. You get your hopes up only to get a non positive result.

It can be crushing to say the least.

So, we waited, and then we checked. Folks, this time it was positive.

With a cautious happiness we were excited about this one. If you only knew how hard it was to get to this point then you would understand our reaction.

Once we realized she was, we got her a check up with the mid-wife. For some reason they scheduled the check up too early even though Emily told them it was too soon. The mid-wife herself said she thought it was too soon and she too was unsure why they scheduled her, but the mid-wife did the test anyway. They did find something and she said it looked like all was developing normally. She couldn’t give us much more than that because it was too soon. We got our picture and went home. The picture really just shows what looks like a tiny sack inside her womb.

I will say this, to hear someone outside of your collected circle (me and Emily) call you father for the first time. That is just strange to hear. It was when the mid-wife turned the monitor so she could check for a baby. When she turned it she put it in a position where I could see it. And she said something to the effect of letting the father be able to see it. I don’t know her exact words, but hearing her say father just made me sit back for a moment.

Since that visit Emily has started to show some of the early normal signs of being pregnant. There isn’t much difference in her body right now other than her boobs. Those things are certainly starting to show. Other than that you wouldn’t know she was pregnant.

The one big change (other than nice boobs) that I have noticed are her eating habits. She is at the point to where whatever works, eat. Right now it looks like peanut butter, humus, and anything not too sweet are her vices to get her through this first trimester.

I have now experienced twice, the going out to get her some food she needs because she doesn’t have it at home thing.

The first time was a few weeks back. I think she was watching Cocoon at the time. We don’t own it, it was on TV somewhere. Anyway, she had a hankering for a banana and some ginger gum (ginger is supposed to help with nausea – found out Ginger Snaps worked well). We had nothing of the sort in the house. I got the bananas easy enough and then it was off to Walgreens to get the gum which they didn’t have. It also didn’t help that I started off by asking the guys there if they had ginseng gum only to call Emily to find out it was ginger gum. They didn’t have it so I went home with one of the two things she wanted me to get.

The other time was last Friday when she got a hankering for some lemon flavored ice cream. I had no idea who would carry lemon flavored ice cream. I was then off to Lowes Foods to search for the elusive ice cream. A couple of phone calls later and it was determined it was a bust at this store. It was then off to Harris Teeter which I got to say, though expensive, is probably the best grocery store out there, because they had not one thing cold and lemony, but several things. They had some Italian Ice and Gelato, but that wasn’t ice cream. It was the lemon cookie flavored ice cream that was good to go on that night.

That’s a few brief stories that have come out of this early pregnancy so far.

Everything is going according to plan and today we go in for what should have been her first visit to the mid-wife. I am kind of fuzzy on what we are supposed to get out of this visit today. We think we should be able to at least see a heartbeat on the ultrasound. I think it is still too early to hear one. We should also be able to see a little more into the development side of things. Beyond that I am not sure. I guess we will know more once we get there. I will post up again tonight with what we get from the mid-wife.

So, that is why I started this blog today. I felt like now might be the time to start documenting this pregnancy in word, picture, and video form. That way, you dear blog reader, will be up to date on all things baby.

Don’t worry I am not going to be on here every five minutes hitting you up with some updates, but I will post up from time to time to let you know where things stand.

+++

Today, 2/8/2012, I saw my baby’s heart beating for the very first time and I tell you what that might be the greatest thing that I have ever seen. It really stood out on the monitor. It looked like it was beating a thousand miles a minute. I just got all warm inside when I saw it. There on that monitor was my kid’s beating heart. I really can’t go on any further than that. There just aren’t any words to describe it unless you’ve seen it for yourself. That’s all for today.

+++

Well the cat is out of the bag and people are starting to be told about it. We first broke the news to Emily’s parents and it was met with her mom screaming her head off. Her dad was more quiet and extremely happy. Then I met my parents at Panera Bread and I broke the news to them. They were equally shocked and surprised. I think if we hadn’t been in a restaurant my mom might have screamed as loud as Emily’s mom did. That afternoon I proceeded to call my brother and I led into it with this quote from Seinfeld: My boys can swim!

I have now told several of my friends and beyond that we are going to wait just a little bit longer before splashing it all over Face Book. Emily wants to tell her brother in person so we are waiting till at least then before announcement. I honestly can’t wait to get this out because it is like holding back a dam with your pinky finger. Once it gets out it gets out, quick.+++9 weeks as of today – 2/19/2012

According to this site :http://3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com this is what is going on right now.

Your Baby

Big news! You may be able to hear the heartbeat this week with the help of a Doppler, an ultrasound device that captures the chug-a-chug sound of baby’s heart. The first time you hear baby’s heart, your own heart may skip a beat—it’s the first real evidence that there’s someone growing inside you! If you can’t hear the heartbeat, no worries, your doc will just check again in a few weeks. Other amazing developments this week:

Baby is beginning to move, but you won’t be able to feel anything for some time.

Baby is growing nipples and hair follicles (although there’s still a chance you’ll be giving birth to a baldy!) His pancreas, gallbladder, bile ducts and anus are all in place, ready to poop and pee a dozen times a day when he’s born. Your baby’s head is half the size of his body and his little chin is tucked into his chest. His tiny tail is beginning to shrink away, giving Junior a more human and less amphibious look.

Until now, all pre-babies look the same “down there.” This week, however, your baby will begin to develop either male or female genitalia. In layman terms, your baby is beginning to develop her hoo-ha or his wee-wee. While you won’t be able to find out the gender of your baby for several more weeks, the version you’ll give birth to is being developed right now.

At this stage, your developing fetus is 1-inch in length, about the size of a martini olive (you remember martinis, don’t you?) and weighs a mere 2 grams—a little less than a penny.

+++

Today, 2/22/2012, could possibly be another big day for us. We may or may not be able to hear a heartbeat for the first time. I know this is one of Emily’s big appointments – two hours (+).

So far so good in the Renfro house. Emily is just getting through the ninth week the best she can. It has been a little rough on her, but according to the things she reads that is normal. The ninth week is supposed to be one of the toughest. All I can do is just help out in the best way I can. The father to be really does have the easiest part of it.

I guess that’s it for today until this evening. Hope to keep posting from time to time so check back often.

+++

Today, 2/22/2012 we did not get to hear the heartbeat because it isn’t twelve weeks yet. So in four weeks we should be able to hear one. We did get to see the baby moving and jumping around inside the womb. It was a shock to me and Emily. We could also see the arms, what looked to be feet or legs, the fetus itself, as well as various other things. The heartbeat like the last visit was just as steady and strong as before. I think this visit trumps the seeing the heartbeat visit. Today we not only got to see the heartbeat, but to see it moving around as well. I just wanted to keep that ultra sound in place so I could watch it every minute of the day. I am glad there isn’t a TV for that because I wouldn’t leave the house till September.
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February 24, 2012