Month: September 2002

Sometimes, there’s God…so quickly. — Tennessee Williams

In light of my recent postings of black and white photos from my extended family’s past, I should say right off the bat, in case it isn’t obvious, that the above picture is firmly rooted in my ever-changing present. It is an ultrasonogram from an obstetric ultrasound prodedure Naoko had two days ago at our local hospital, and confirms what we have suspected for a few weeks now: that Naoko is pregnant with our first child.

Given that Naoko had a positive home pregnancy test 3 weeks or so ago, I should have been better prepared for this “official” indication, but when she handed this image to me upon exiting the hospital room, the realization of what some of it all means enveloped me and I stood still in the middle of the hallway and started to cry.

In actuality, the image I stared at was no less abstract than the colored line of the home pregnancy test, but it met my sometimes rigid standard for truth and in a way gave me permission to succumb to the mass of emotions I had been keeping in check these last few weeks.

And so begins another challenge, another change in the road, and an infinite amount of discoveries waiting to be happened upon.

Some facts: Naoko is 13-weeks pregnant, and the doctor put down March 31, 2003 as the expected date of birth. Currently, the fetus measures just 7cm (2 3/4 inches). The image on the right represents the doctor’s pen outline of the fetus to better delineate it’s features. (Personally I don’t like it, in my present fancifully imaginative state it calls up thoughts of authority placing boundaries on individuality and creativity).

P.S.: If any readers have any recommendations of good books or websites that deal with pregnancy, especially as it relates to what a husband should know about his wife’s changing body and emotional state and what he should be doing to support her, please leave me a comment or email me. I’m also interested in any “child birth” blogs you know of or have come across.

Continuing my new “series” of family snapshots, here’s another from from my mother-in-law’s photo albums, a picture of her 2nd grade (?) class. This image, which as you can see is a bit worse for wear, was taken in 1954 when she was 8 years old (my mother-in-law is in the first standing row, far right). It’s a tiny tiny picture, hardly bigger than a postage stamp and smaller than the “sweet” picture I posted a few days ago. As I mentioned in that post, my mother-in-law has an excellent memory of names and predictably she could name just about every student in this picture. But what she remembered most was the teacher (first standing row, far left). The teacher would walk up and down the classroom carrying some sort of whipping stick, and if a student talked out of turn or in some way misbehaved (in her eyes), she would bring the stick to bear on the student’s person. The punishment she meted out was not confined to behavioral instances, but would extend also to students who couldn’t provide correct answers to her questions.