Another Ob/Gyn appointment, another blog post. It’s getting to be something of a pattern, I suppose, but you can’t complain: the kid is hugely changed every time. It’s 7.2 cm today, over twice its previous length! Last time I was hugely excited because it waved at us. This time, I’m excited because the kid was active! There’s no question today as to whether its motions were the result of drifting in the currents, or not; the kid was squirming around, kicking from one end of the uterus to the other, the whole time. We could actually hear its heartbeat, synthesized from the visible motions of its heart!

Of course, there was a reason for this appointment, and it wasn’t just to marvel at how active the kid’s already become. This is the appointment at which we were looking closely for any chromosomal abnormalities; this was the scary one. The definitive results from the bloodwork won’t come back for another week, but all the initial signs of development and activity look very good so far.

That’s not just wonderful news in its own right; it’s the last thing we’ve been waiting for before going public about this pregnancy. Our families already know, of course, but this is the point at which we’re comfortable telling friends, co-workers, the world at large. This blog should itself go online within a few days, now. I suppose that this is the time when I should describe my intentions.

Many years ago, I encountered a dad blog in the wilds of the internet. I have no idea anymore how I ran into it that time, but it was cute. This guy just wrote and published whatever he was thinking about, from early in his wife’s pregnancy, through his daughter’s fourth birthday. He had a nice way with words, and his writing was charming; I ended up reading the entire thing. I didn’t save the link; at that time, I’d been single for many years, and saw no prospect of that changing anytime soon. It wasn’t relevant.

I intend to do more or less the same thing. It’s a great way for those people who are interested to keep up with us, and it’s also a decent way to pay it forward to the internet. If I can’t find and link to that long-ago dad blog, at least I can do my best to write my own. Why be so public? Well, I may have alluded earlier to my desire to shout this news to the world, and putting up a website is a pretty practical way of doing that, I think.

And if this blog is currently too self-centered, too personal, just wait until July. As of right now, we know very few facts about this kid: they’re large for their age, they’re squirmy, and they’re healthy. We don’t even know the gender yet. Fear not: once they’re in a place where I can properly interact with them, they’re going to take center stage. Until then, you’re going to have to deal with me staying personal.