Alright I had my first “overwhelming experience”. Victoria and I went to register at Babies-r-Us today. I’ve been reading the books on what is happening with the pregnancy, but we have not read anything on what items we will need once the baby is born. So, we were NOT prepared to go and pick things out for our baby registry. And we went mid-day on a Saturday — it was packed and everyone was signing up for their baby registry. (Jaime warned me not to go on Saturday because it would be crazy in there.)

We went aisle by aisle. First starting in the breast feeding and bottle area. I can’t believe all the options you have and all the “gadgets” that are needed. I mean come on — you’re just putting milk in a bottle. It is not rocket science. Well, they have special brushes to clean the bottles (and like 10 different kinds of brushes). Which one is the best one??!?!?!?! Then different kind of nipples for the bottles (I lost count). Then there are the bottle sanitizers — microwave, plugin, etc… Too many choices and we aren’t out of the first aisle yet.

I quickly realized I am a rookie. I have figured out where moms go for entertainment. I am sure there are a bunch of women that sit in the back of Babies-r-Us watching the live video stream of those rookie fathers attempting to be helpful. They probably place bets on when the father is gonna freak out and head for the couch. Well, I didn’t cave in and I stuck through it.

Victoria and I walked around like two chickens with their heads cut off. Victoria went to Jaime’s baby shower and has spent some time with her friend Trish (she has a 10 month old), so she had an idea on a few things. But all in all, we were lost and overwhelmed. 1.5 hours later, we called it a day. We will need to make some modifications, but we can do that at home through their website.

I had to decompress after that experience, so Victoria and I went up to the golf course and hit golf balls this evening.

Victoria’s cousin, Sandy, was in town this weekend and saw her for the first time since we found out she was expecting.  She was surprised at how much Victoria was showing already.

It has been funny watching Victoria over the past couple of weeks.  My cousin, uncle, and 2nd cousin visited last weekend and Victoria was showing off her stomach then.  She loves for everyone to touch her growing stomach and doesn’t mind showing her bare belly in public.  I think it is pretty cool that she feels this way.

Now to the “official diagnosis”.  Sandy made the comment that she feels we are going to have a boy because of how Victoria is carrying.  That’s good enough for me.  Time to sign that golf contract, baseball contract, etc…

Now don’t get me wrong, I am just having fun with this.  Prior to the pregnancy, I always said two boys is what I want but after we found out Victoria was pregnant, my tune changed.  I am just looking forward to having and raising a child — no matter what sex.

But for now, I hold Sandy’s comment as an “official diagnosis” on the baby’s sex.  I mean come on, she is as qualified as anyone (she has a boy and girl).  Now only if we can get Sandy and Phil to train us how to be great parents — they have done such a wonderful job with their kids!

Victoria went shopping with her Mom and Catherine last week and pick out a few things for Baby Woodruff.  Here are the first “noise makers” and a couple of cute outfits.  Take a look at what the outfits have printed on the front.   (As always, click on the thumbnails to see a larger view.)

Back by popular demand…more belly pics.

These were taken today and as you can see, she is showing quite a bit.

Some are suggesting there are twins and one of them has been hiding during the ultrasounds.

Here are a few more pictures of Victoria taken on June 9th.

Victoria and I went to have some additional screening done today. Part of this screening process included an ultrasound and a couple of extra treats for us!

Baby Woodruff was cooperating today! We got excellent shots from the ultrasound. They are at the bottom of this posting.

One of the extras we weren’t expecting was to hear the heartbeat. The ultrasound device they have at this office was much more sophisticated and it was able to do infrared as well as pick up a heartbeat. The doctor flipped the switch and caught Victoria and I off guard. We heard the fluttering heartbeat — it was beating away at 156 beats per minute. That was AMAZING!

As I was writing down the stats on our future Olympian (156 bpm), the doctor then switched on the 3-D view on the ultrasound. Victoria said, “Look, Donnie!” I looked up and I was amazed. I actually started to tear up a little bit — what a proud moment for the both of us. I am still getting chills typing about it right now. I am going to be a “basket case” when it is time for the birth! Oh, well — that is what this experience is all about. Be sure to check out the print out of the 3-D view below. It doesn’t look quite as amazing as it did in person, but you can definitely make out the facial features and 1 or 2 arms.

The baby was quite active and was jumping around. Imagine lying on your back and bouncing up and down. That’s what he/she did a couple of times during the ultrasound. At one point, it moved its arm as though it was waving at us. Pretty cool!

What an amazing day for us!!!!!!!

Well here are the pictures (click on them to see full size):

3D Ultrasound here –>

Today was suppose to be another big day.  It was, but it didn’t start out as expected.  We were suppose to hear the heartbeat using a doppler listening device.  Well, Baby Woodruff was not cooperating today.  Evidently, he/she has not moved up and out of the pelvic area just yet.  This makes it hard for the doppler device to pick up a heartbeat and makes for two very nervous parents-to-be.  The doctor says this is normal and that by our next visit, we will be able to hear the heartbeat.  Great…another thing I have to wait for.  😉

Jaime warned us that it would be hard to find the heartbeat and said it may take a little while.  After a couple of minutes of trying, the doctor decided to do an ultrasound so she could make sure everything was fine.  Again, it took a little while.  Victoria and I were starting to get nervous and then all of a sudden there he/she was — big head and the fluttering heartbeat!  That was a major relief for the both of us.

Previously, I promised that we would have the next ultrasound on the camera phone but I ran in technical problems this go around.  So, no videos this time either.  Most of you are probably going to think I am technically challenged and probably don’t understand how I can hold down my job if I can’t get my simple camera phone to work.

Victoria tells me I need to practice more with it.  Honestly, it recorded this time but when I tried to read the file from the disk it said it was corrupt.  If I have some free time, I’ll see if I can somehow get the files off the disk.

For now, just imagine a big head on the left hand side of the ultrasound screen and the heart just fluttering away.

Victoria weighed 109 lbs today and her blood pressure was 110/60.

As most of you have figured out, we have not been keeping up with the blog too much lately. We have had 3 weddings in the past 5 weeks and it has been keeping us busy.

We have one more wedding later this month and then we can get back to enjoying our time together as parents-to-be.  Our next wedding won’t be until late in October and then we will probably take a break until next April.

Victoria has been sneaking a couple of my brownie bars that I eat for a snack at work.  I am convinced the baby is going to be a chocolate lover.

To stay healthy, Victoria has taken up walking.  She misses running but continues to try to exercise as much as she can.  She takes walks almost on a daily basis in the morning.  We also walk in the evenings a few times a week.

She went to Dyna-Moms for a 2nd time last week and plans to go at least twice this week.  She has not had any morning sickness and we feel it is because she has managed her pregnancy pretty well so far.  Only 6+ months to go…

On Thursday, we visit Victoria’s doctor and hopefully will hear the baby’s heartbeat for the first time. They sell doppler listening devices and we are thinking about picking one up so we can listen to the baby’s hearbeat whenever we like.

On Friday, we go to Riverside and have our genetic counseling and a couple of tests. Basically they are going to tell us that our child will be an athlete when he/she grows up. (An Olympic gold medalist.) 😉

I’ll try to record the heartbeat and get it posted this week (if I figure out how to use my phone).