Induce Yourself

Yes, the title is correct. We have decided to force young Maddox's hand... we are calling him out. It's time for him to head on out of the womb and into the world. I'm sure he's not happy about it, but realistically, what's he going to do about it... cry?... we are already expecting that. Now, if he comes out of the womb with a hand gun to go along with his unhappiness, we might be in trouble. That is probably unlikely, but given that Nicole and I made a little person in there, can we really rule out the possibility of creating a handgun too? I think not.

But anyway, we have decided to shoot for a July 7, 2007 birthday for him. (i.e. 7/7/07). Nicole's doctor is going to get the thing started on July 6, to help us get the coveted July 7 birth date. It all starts on July 6, mostly because the hospital we are going to said that they don't allow inducing on Saturday's. Since Nicole's doctor is already on call that weekend, she's going to "override" the hospital slightly to make it happen. It's really best for everybody. This way Nicole and I can plan for it, we can get the birth date we wanted (7/7/07) and Nicole's doctor doesn't have to worry about when Nicole may or may not go into labor. So it's a win win for everybody. And it's kind of cool that our doctor is doing it. It kind of gives her an edge. In some ways, she abides by the same rules as a professional wrestler... the only rule is that there are no rules! I've also updated and upgraded the countdown clock. 10 days... are you serious!??

Nicole and I are finally finished with the baby room. I have sprayed every blue can of spray paint available in the Metroplex, thus completing the chore Nicole had set out for me. We've painted and hung some things to go on the walls, so we are all set in that regard. And we've also finished some remodeling around the house. Only thing left, house wise, is a good cleaning, and we will be ready for Max and all his visitors. I've updated the blog with a slideshow of our happenings. Hope you enjoy.

The only other thing that has really been on going the last few weeks, and is still on going, is that we are starting to buy everything we see baby related. He needed a mobile for his crib. (Mobile = crib thing that spins around funny objects and plays music. i.e. something for him to stare at while laying on his back in his crib). So, given that this is our first born, we went all out. What we bought is pretty cool. It spins these funny looking farm animals on a weird axis that allegedly helps develop his spatial something or other. It plays 3 different kinds of classical music and I'm pretty sure there is a 50:50 chance it will make him go cross-eyed. Fingers crossed luck goes our way on this one. But seriously, this thing is pretty awesome. And, I do realize there is probably a better than 50:50 chance that Max could care less what's up there. But at least we tried.

Other than the crib mobile, we are starting to buy some/a lot of developmental toys for him. Toy shopping for a new born that we haven't met is really kind of a funny thing. It's surprisingly easy to get caught up in all the different types of toys out there. Then when you step back and really look at what's going on, you find yourself stressing out over whether you should buy the vibrating cow/horse type thing that giggles or should you buy the furry duck/penguin with the abnormally large head that quacks and has crinkly feet. Then it really hits, am I really asking myself which one of these things would make Maddox smarter? A vibrating cow or big headed duck? What have I become? It's a harsh reality. But it's fun. I've enjoyed it so far.

It's been fun. I can't believe we are only 10 days away from this thing starting. This whole time I've been real relaxed about it all... now that I see the clock getting real small and have been talking about "the day" as "next Friday", all of the sudden I'm starting to get a little nervous. What happened to the good ole days when the countdown clock was in the 80's? Used to be so far away then. Now I'm down to my last Saturday. But, as nervous as I am about it all, and as worried as I am for Nicole and Max, and as leery as I am of the changes it will bring, I know deep down it will be a great time. It's just the few days leading up to "next Friday" that are going to get me.

And we shall call him....

Maddox Reed Bain.

Our biggest decision to date, outside of actually deciding to have him, was deciding what to name him. We'll, that is probably debatable. Deciding to have a kid now seems like it went without much of a thought. Sometimes the biggest decisions in life often don't generate as much thought as you would think they would. And that is probably a good thing. So here's how it feels it went: Hey, want to have a kid? Hmm... okay. 8.5 months later: What just happened? But I'm glad we decided to have him and am really pumped about him getting here already, it's just funny though, because I really don't remember giving the idea as much thought as it probably warranted. But I digress... back to the name game. Maddox Reed Bain it is. If you go by the book we bought, and the internet translations, Maddox is Welsh for good and generous. Reed is English for red. And Bain is apparently Texan for Bad A**. And, if you go by initials... he will be Mr. B, or better yet, Mr. Bad A**. And actually, we might decide to go by that translation. Only time will tell I guess.

So today marked the first doctor appointment that Maddox had that involved a sonogram in a long time. The first sonogram in months. The nurse freaked us out because having a sonogram at this stage in the game means either somebody screwed up, or that your baby might be sick. Nice of the nurse to point this out to the both of us, but as it turned out, it was the former... Nicole's doctor put us in for a sonogram a long time ago and forgot about it. So long story short... we got a sneak peak look at our unborn son. And it didn't take a long look to realize there is nothing wrong with that boy. He was having a good time. We got to see his face, his feet with all 5 toes and way too much of his man parts. So much so that the nurse admitted she was having trouble getting a good picture of something without them getting in the picture. Quite embarrassing really. We were all... "C'mon Max." To be honest though, the embarassment was met equally with fatherly pride. That's my boy!

The other strange thing from the sonogram was that when he wasn't putting on a fetal cabaret show, he spent the majority of the time/all of the time sucking on his wrist. It was really crazy. My assessment, either he is a vampire, or he's going to suck off all 30 coats of paint I put on his furniture. And given my inadequacies at spray painting, I'm going to hope for a nice baby vampire.

Oh, and one other piece of info... we actually saw him practicing his breathing for when he comes out. How cool is that? The nurse said that all babies do it. Very crazy. Of course, this is the same nurse that lead us to believe that something was wrong with our baby, so she might not be completely up to par. With our luck lately, he was practicing his crying. And if this is indeed the case, I will be the first to let him know that I am also practicing... only I'm practicing my ability to not care. And I play for keeps!

I've included a recent photo (yesterday) of Nicole for those that haven't gotten a chance at seeing her lately. She has really ballooned up. I'm sure she appreciates that analogy, but in all seriousness, she's kind of a big one. I don't think her belly can stretch out anymore. It looks painful. The only bright side is that Goose has taken to low rider status rather than living up around Nicole's rib cage. I guess a lot of babies start riding low in the womb at this stage. It's kind of making me think that Max might show up a little earlier than we all think. July 13th is the due date, but if I were a gambling man, I'd put money on the first week of July.

Also... two more quick things. 1. I did just nickname him Max. Feel free to call him whatever you would like though. 2. I have 4 sonogram pictures that I will try and post for everybody sometime this weekend.