so i’m interested in maternity clothes, and how we’re going to tell our parents when i hit the three-month milestone. so i’m already planning for how i’m going to tell him, and how i (hopefully) won’t be able to drink when we go to hawaii at the end of june. so i’ve already thought of a list of songs i want playing softly in the background during labor. i already know the name we’ll choose if it’s a boy and the name we’ll choose if it’s a girl (…no, i’m not telling yet). don’t all women get this excited when they’re planning a pregnancy?

speaking of that labor cd, i mentioned to ryan that i’d like greg laswell’s “what a day” included on it. there’s one line he sings during the most amazing part of the song that goes “what a day to welcome a baby, to begin breathing.” it’s perfect. every time i hear it, i want to close my eyes and pay attention only to his voice.

then ryan said something about how we should also include “i love rock and roll,” and i laughed and said, “no, no, how about gimme gimme more, gimme more, gimme gimme more…” and then i said, “it’s baby, bitch!” and we both just burst out laughing.

oh little one, you’re just a glimmer in our eyes – a tiny speck of light that doesn’t even physically exist yet, and already we’re so excited to meet you.

/əbˈsɛʃən/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[uhb-sesh-uhn]

/əbˈsɛʃən/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation

[08:53] bryn: I WANT IT TO BE MAY.
[08:53] ryan: it’s ok, we’ll get there
[08:53] ryan: i’m excited
[08:53] bryn: it’s weird, i hadn’t been obsessing … until now
[08:53] bryn: i check my ovulation calendar EVERY DAY
[08:54] bryn: american pregnancy does this calendar where it predicts your fertile window and also when your positive pregnancy test can be expected by. so for may, according to my calculations, our postive pregnancy test COULD come back june 4
[08:57] bryn: of course i’d want to miss my period before taking the test
[08:57] bryn: otherwise, it could be a waste
[08:58] ryan: it’s going to be hella creepy expecting to miss it and then actually missing it
[08:58] ryan: since you’re so regular
[08:58] bryn: i know!
[08:58] bryn: i can’t wait

i really am obsessing and i don’t know why. i’m just as excited to get pregnant now as i was a month ago…

maybe the excitement and the urge will grow stronger the sooner it approaches. i can only imagine how crazy i’ll be in april! hopefully with our trip to texas and other activities happening near the end of that month, i’ll have enough going on around me to be distracted by.

but seriously. it’s only the beginning of march and i already bought two HPTs.

i got up early this morning for my appointment with dr. newman at valley women’s health. i found her online back in december knowing i was due for my annual pap and also that i wanted to see someone new who could give me some pre-pregnancy advice – what vitamins to take, how much weight i should lose, if i could bring ryan with me for our first appointment, etc. i may have had to wait three months for the appointment and 45 minutes for the nurse to call my name, but patience is a virtue and dr. newman was worth the wait.

she’s soft-spoken, she has kind eyes, and i can already tell she’s incredibly good at what she does. she recommended i either continue taking my multivitamin and add a folic acid supplement, or quit taking the regular multivitamin and switch to a prenatal vitamin. since i have plenty of one-a-day’s left, i think i’ll stick with those and stop by gnc tomorrow for the folic acid.

anyway, i really like her, and it’s good to know who i’m going to be calling when the HPT comes back positive.

according to dr. drew, “the practice of circumcision is thought to have originated 8,000 to 10,000 years ago in east africa. circumcision became common in the united states and england in the late 19th century, because it was thought to stop boys from masturbating. at this point in time, the united states is one of the only countries in which circumcision is still a regular procedure for all newborn boys.”

as for its purpose, “anthropologists surmise that circumcision was first used to protect men against infection and/or irritation due to dirt or sand getting underneath the foreskin. circumcision continues to have religious and cultural significance for people around the world, but whether or not it still offers health benefits is an issue currently under much debate.”

what proponents say: “circumcision proponents cite increased occurrence of urinary tract infections, STDs and penile cancer in uncircumcised men, as well as phimosis (inability to extract the penis from the foreskin), as evidence for why the procedure is still medically relevant.”

what opponents say: “research suggests that proper hygiene can eliminate almost all problems associated with not being circumcised. some people propose that circumcision decreases sexual sensitivity, although no valid research has been done on this subject. also, some fear that the pain of the procedure psychologically affects the infants, although circumcision is now being done under local anesthesia. perhaps the strongest argument against circumcision is the possibility of mistakes and complications inherent in any surgical procedure. a recent study concluded that one in 486 circumcised infants has some sort of complication. although most are minor, some can be significant.”

see, daniel’s against it because the child isn’t given a choice, and i can understand why it seems wrong to him, but there are so many instances where parents have to make decisions for their children because they’re neither old enough or educated enough to make them for themselves. of course, a child could grow up uncircumcised and decide later that he wants to have the procedure done after all. maybe it should be up to the child to decide.

but for me, it’s was never a question of choice. i didn’t consider how much it might hurt my baby, only because some things that hurt are good for you, like shots and weight-lifting (haha). i didn’t consider that my son might experience sex differently once he’s old enough to engage in it. i was only thinking about one thing: the supposed increased risk of UTIs, STDs, and other issues related to health and hygiene.

but since neither ryan nor i are very religious people, and because proper hygiene will absolutely be taught in our home (and maybe a little because one of my best friends is so passionate about giving people a choice), there doesn’t seem to be any good reason for us to have the procedure done.

our plan is to start trying in may. by then we’ll have been married for just about a year, and i think i’d like to be prego during the holidays. besides, what child likes having a birthday around christmas? and so it’s a valentine’s day baby we’re dreaming of.

i cannot believe tomorrow is the first day of february. january flew by, which leads me to believe the next three will do the same. the first week of may we’ll be in texas visiting eric and jeff, two of ryan’s best friends from college. we joked about conceiving in austin – a texas-made baby to be california-born – until i realized i likely won’t be ovulating then.

i’ve been lucky to have a very regular cycle since i was a teenager, making it a piece of cake to predict which days i’m ovulating and when aunt flo should be paying a visit. with the help of preconception weekly’s ovulation chart, i’ve determined my prime conception days fall between the 14th and the 23rd of the month, so regardless of what else is going on then, we’ll certainly be busy.

ryan and i were married in a backyard ceremony on a warm summer afternoon in june of 2007. we stood in front of our closest friends and family and promised our hearts to one another in soft voices, quivering some from holding back tears. it was beautiful. magical. the best day of our lives.

since becoming husband and wife, we’ve experienced things many young couples never do. from vacationing through europe on our amazing honeymoon to the incredible thrill of skydiving for the first time, our first year of marriage has provided us stories upon stories to share with our children for years to come.

i speak of our children, while they do not yet exist as more than a twinkle in our eyes, because this blog was created for them. i hope it will serve as a memoir of the last few months before they came to be, so that they may see how much we love them already, and how eagerly we’re anticipating their arrival.

we don’t know yet how many children we want. i know both of us want more than one, three at most, although baby #3 is going to take a little convincing on my part. raising our children in the same place we both grew up is a dream of mine, but financially, more than two may be unrealistic. though as they say, life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, and so however many children we’re blessed with, i know we’ll be happy.

i am starting this blog today, january 30, 2008, because this is the start of a new way of living in anticipation of babies. that means (among other things) less television, more books; less alcohol, more water; less time in the snack aisle, more time in the produce section.

i am unsure of the meaning of life, but i know our purpose will be our children. words cannot express how excited we are to begin this journey.