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The whole story 1:
In the begining |
April - October 2002
A young(ish) father describes his experience of fatherhood, right from the time when his daughter (I don't think I've given the plot away?) had just become more than a couple of joined up cells...
April 2002
Good news on the baby front! Apparently we're in the blue - at least that's what the tester from Boots is telling us, which means in 9months from now I'm going to be a Dad (fingers crossed). Feel slightly sad this could mean the end of an active sex life, but who knows what might happen when the hormones kick in.
In the short term this meant an alcohol-free holiday to the States. Still Jackie got to fly business class whilst I sit in the main cabin fighting over the TV channels with a seven year old from Germany.
The only impact so far on our lives is that Jackie can't stand the smell of tuna. Had a few sandwiches to test this out and she's right, it does make her feel sick.
May 2002
Had the first scan at 13 weeks, and much to our relief everything seems to be in order. That said, all you really get to see is a fish shaped blur blowing bubbles, which they assure us is a healthy baby.
Told the Mums and Dads, plus close friends. Everyone seems pretty pleased, especially Julie who sees a new playmate for Jennika.
July 2002
Had the 22 week scan and the baby is growing fast. They can't tell us the sex, which means either a girl, or a modest (or modestly endowed) boy. Can't take after his father then, woof!
Only down side is Jackie's placenta may be low lying. Not sure what this means but we have to have a scan nearer the due date to see if it's moved. Not sure quite where it's headed, but obviously away from where it currently is.
October
2002
Jackie comes back from her first NHS antenatal class somewhat bemused. She's obviously been mixing with the wrong crowd as she describes the problems you can experience when breast feeding with pierced nipples (apparently it sprays everywhere), how to cope as your belly button disappears taking your piercing with it, and the pain involved in a two hour tattoo. One story about the girl who had never been swimming worrying that chlorine could infect her baby, and what stroke she should do if she took up swimming for the first time over the coming months gave a particularly good impression of what the people were like. When Jackie starts calling them "The Goth", "Fat Sharon" (and husband "Badger" - his real name) and "The Sane One" you know it's not something you're going to volunteer to attend.
I can only hope NCT attracts a better class of person. Anyway, I'm off to sip some brandy and discuss Middle Eastern politics with Archie (my invisible friend).
7th October 2002
Good NCT session this evening, Teacher sent the boys off to discuss why they wanted to be present at the birth (tomake sure it was for all the right reasons, not due to social pressure). However she hadn't banked on the old hand who had been through it all before with a previous wife describing it as one of the most disgusting things he had witnessed. Given he was a policeman and had seen some pretty horrible things in his time, he certainly started to raise some questions in all our minds. Just in time though teacher came back in to save the day - with another cup of tea and a biscuit she'd convinced us it was actually a beautiful thing to witness. I don't think PC Plod will be allowed to come again.
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