Warm thanks to you all for your congratulations and excellent suggestions! This baby has been a very long time in the making, and at first it was hard to believe that that little blue plus sign wasn't lying. But, like it or not, pregnancy is an incredibly visceral journey and it didn't take long for my body to let me know profound changes were underway. The latest development has been my favorite: since Sunday I've been wondering if a faint, popping sensation could be the little one knocking about. But last night's disco party left me in no doubt. It's terribly distracting and wonderfully delicious.
To answer your questions, the due date is 14 July and, yes, this will be our first. I very much agree that the time seems to be passing too quickly. I'd really looked forward to just the being pregnant part, and this has indeed been a remarkable time for me (and Janne!) even when it's not the most comfortable. Concetta and Dana both had wonderful suggestions for remembering this unique period, and I'm definitely going to follow through with the diary suggestion and hopefully some photography too.
I'm now working on a special baby design queue and will share projects and ideas with you as it develops. I'd like to use as many free, online tutorials as possible, so hopefully all this plotting and planning can also serve as frugal resource list for other expectant parents. As I rediscover my Ravelry addiction (Thanks, kettunainen, for the reminder!), I'm starting with Annie's baby blanket suggestion. I've been making little crochet circles with scrap yarn for months now with the intention of turning them into some kind of blanket, but haven't gotten past the stage of leaving colorful, woolly stacks around the house. Now the plan is to add some brighter colors to the mix for what will hopefully become the funkiest baby blanket on the block (ok, so I live on a block with a handful of retired people, but you get the drift).
Now I must tend to my furry baby, who had a brush with death yesterday when he raided my backpack and ingested xylitol gum. One emergency trip to the vet and an IV drip later, and he was safe but feeling very rough. Not that we'd leave gum out for the dog in any case, but we had no idea xylitol was lethal for dogs and will absolutely be more careful in the future. If this ever happens to your dog, it will cause swift, severe hypoglycemia, so feed the pooch some honey or sugar as first aid and rush to the nearest vet.
