So it's been almost a week now since I found out I am going to be a father of a SON! To be honest, I really had no preference. Shelly and I sat in the waiting room within 10 minutes of finding out and I asked her what her preference was. Neither she nor I had a preference at all. I think we have both been too excited about being parents to focus on one or the other. So it was a win win situation going into that room that day. Now once again as in almost every other time, I'm in uniform since I typically need to go to my office soon afterwards. And keeping with tradition, the doctor seems to not even know I'm there. Sure, the Army went to a new camouflage pattern about 3 years ago but c'mon, I'm standing 3 feet from the woman! Surely she saw me right?
The doc (a female) comes in and is really nice to Shelly. Asking her about her pregnancy, her lifestyle, eating habits, etc. And I'll agree those are questions Shelly should answer. But when it came to questions about things she sees on the ultrasound and whether Shelly wants to know the sex I believe I should have been acknowledged at some point. So when the doc asked, "Do you want to know the sex?", I replied, "Yes, we'd like to know". The doc looked at me like, "What in the %@%!* are you doing in here?!" Only after Shelly verbally acknowledged she wanted to know the sex did the doc say, "It looks like a boy!"
Regardless of whether the doctor liked me or even saw me my mind went a thousand directions when she said it was a boy. I thought of being really proud and telling people I had a son. I thought of my papa hitting me baseballs when I was really little and teaching me to drive a 5 speed car when I was only 14. I thought of my dad and I making my car for the Cub Scouts pinewood derby and him buying me my first 3-wheeler. And of course I thought of myself driving my red convertible to an OU football game 20 years from now with my son as the starting QB. Okay, that one didn't cross my mind. But don't rule it out my friends. You just wait!
Anyway, I've been extremely busy the past week and really haven't had the chance to just sit and let it sink in that I'm having a son. My 3-hour plane ride to DC yesterday was probably the closest I've come to just sitting and digesting all that is going on right now. But I can see and feel that coming as I'm on my last trip away from home right now without Shelly and I'm looking forward to getting to our cruise in Alaska this weekend. I'm in Virginia this week but will be home late Thursday night before Shelly's parents get to our house in KC Friday and my mom and dad arrive Saturday morning before our afternoon flight to Anchorage.
After 56 trips and over 600 days away from home since I met Shelly, I am so looking forward to having a little more stability and spending much more time with my beautiful wife. You guys who haven't seen her lately are missing out. She is so pretty and pregnant these days! I'll write more about that later.
So, you're probably wondering what the picture is above. Well, I typed "what will my baby look like" into Google. It asks to enter you and your partners' first and last names and out comes the pic. Pretty scientific right? Well, it's not like this little dude won't look like us. I think this was my exact position today here in Virginia as I listened to 9 straight hours of briefings.
More tomorrow. I must tell you all about my experience at Shelly's 20-year high school reunion last weekend. Let's just say the title will be called "Girls gone wild Wakeeney, Kansas". Goodnight.
Mike
Chesapeake, Virginia
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