The Week That Wuzz

This bottle of root beer is about how big our growing baby is at this stage. It's nice to hear common sense references like that -- so much of the baby literature is too scientific and intimidating. We've found the best books are written in common language, like The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy sent to us by a friend from my radio days. Thanks again Sarah!

So it's been a fun week -- we had the second ultrasound recently, which was every bit the awesome experience I'd heard about. I was not able to attend the first one with Bethany, so this was my first live look! We had my mom there as well, she was up for a visit so the timing worked out very well. The body is much more developed now, with finger bones, ribs, eyes, skull and beating heart all visible. The scan is a sort of cross section, so we're really seeing an almost 2-D image -- sometimes bones, sometimes soft tissue, one point it was just darkness with hands and feet reaching out, so cool! We also attended a prenatal class this week, the kind that are offered free through the Health Authority. It was a sort of intro class, seemingly meant for couples who were earlier in the process than we are, and largely concentrating on nutrition. The session pretty much confirms we've been doing our homework and Bethany is doing a super job of making healthy choices. Now if her husband would only stop bringing home potato chips! These classes will get more in depth and detailed, and more frequent as the weeks go by. We have a checkup with our midwife next week -- she'll be the one in the delivery room with us.

I got some work on the ferry the past week, one Saturday shift and two night watches. Those overnight shifts make things pretty screwy, and they were back to back so that was a strange few days of sleeping into the afternoon and catching evening naps before going on duty at 11:15pm. The regular full-timer on the night watch has to pull a four-on, two-off rotation and the present crewman has been doing it for a year or so now. As one moves up the ladder, that's the first full-time job offered so everyone gets a turn -- so mine is coming, but it's still years off.

I also filled in at a safety meeting -- when the usual guy couldn't make it, he asked me because his alternate is the night watchman and isn't really up for morning meeting. So I got to sit in and learn a bit more about some of the issues at our ship/terminal and even offered a few suggestions. I may get a chance to write some ferry-related blurbs for the local newsletter soon.

We had to take Penny in to the vet for some booster shots (she's 7 now). That was an intense struggle between our normally mild-mannered kitty cat and two full-grown humans! A bit of background: Penny has always been a condo cat in Victoria, and remains indoor-only here on Denman, but she somehow slipped outside several weeks ago and got into a scrap out there. We didn't realize she was gone, but it could have been several hours for all we know. After dark I walked by the front door only to hear the familiar mewing from outside -- she came in limping and with several claw swipes on her face. We went to the vet the next day and got the needed treatments, and Miss Penny was quite good for that one -- she was hurt, and wasn't about to resist. But this time she was her normal self, and had to be pinned inside her travel cage to be stuck with the needles. Those vets are very brave to handle strange animals all the time, scratching and hissing and struggling. My respect for our vet that day was shaken, however, when he squirmed like a wee girl at seeing a tiny spider drop from the ceiling onto my hair. He did pick it off for me, but was recoiling and jerking around like it was a tarantula -- right after wrestling a crazy housecat! This spider was smaller than a ladybug.

Had a great visit with some Vic friends, Wayne and Sarah. Wayne and I were in a band for several years, Radiant Leader -- the only band I was with for longer than the usual one year term. He on guitar and two brothers (guitar, drums) had a lot of fun jamming, and did a run of local gigs and recording. That action scaled back some, but we kept up the weekly jams for quite a while anyway. So, it was nice to catch up with Wayner and take them out to the Denman Island Goat Ranch and Country Club for a round of "golf". We had a BBQ, hung out on the beach and enjoyed a brilliant canopy of stars in the backyard -- two planets, the Milky Way, shooting stars and satellites. Turns out his girlfriend Sarah is a lot of fun to hang with, and she's a Trekkie too. We're going to have to scale back the visitors soon, as we'll be altering the house for baby and will just not be up for overnight company as the third trimester approaches. It's been mostly family who comes up, so it's been great to also have a handful of friend visits for some variety.

Normally this weekend, I would be at Camp Barnard in Sooke with my family and friends for the annual getaway. That's been going strong every year since 1986, amazingly, and includes a group of families who became acquainted through their kids (my age) attending preschool and kindergarten together. I can recall way back thinking 'one day we'll be able to drive out here by ourselves!' and later 'maybe the kids (us) will be bringing our own kids to Camp!' Well, that's happening now too -- babies have become a big central theme to our traditional weekend, several of the 'kids' now have their own, with some others on the way. Alas, this is the first time in 24 years I haven't gone. It's a bit of a bummer I must say. It's been such a regular annual routine, and often the only chance I have all year to see these lifelong friends. This time however, Bethany's comfort is of course a major concern, and I would have felt strange talking to everyone about my wife and baby without having them there with me. I got a chance for some extra work this weekend, and that helped tip the scales towards taking a pass on Camp Barnard this year. It's been a bit tough, but I can always look forward to next year. The parents have done a spectacular thing to keep us coming back every year -- and it's booked for another two summers at least.

Well that was quite an eventful week I guess. I still owe you an explanation of the recent First Biffy Games, which will be another lengthy post I'd better get to before too much time passes. There's lots of photo and video evidence to prove that wacky competition actually happened. To stay informed, stay tuned...