The Newest Gummy Bear Weinstein

Little one, today we got to see you again! Your brother was at school, but I skipped out of work -with permission, of course- and met your Mom at the Doctor's office. Dr. Bertrand said this would be one of our best photo sessions, and he wasn't lying!

First he found you, and your mother commented on how much you've grown in two weeks. It truly is incredible how much shape you've taken. Last we saw, you were a smudge in an equally smudgy sonogram. But when we looked at you today, we saw a little gummy bear person!


First, Dr. Bertrand listened to your heart beat: a whopping 181 beats per minute! Your heart beat was far faster than last time, and sounded good and strong. That made your mother and I very happy. It's gotta be one of the best sounds in the world. Some people say that a fast heart beat indicates a female gender, but we'll just have to see if they're right!

Then we took a closer look at the beautiful you!

Can you see yourself? You're growing arms and legs...they're just little buds at this point, but soon they'll be long enough to help you crawl and reach and hug and hold. But, since they're little buds, they make you look a bit like a gummy bear. See?

Still not seeing, it, huh? Well, don't worry. I wasn't quite figuring it out either. But, the Doctor drew us a diagram that illuminated you in all your gummy glory. I've crudely recreated it here.Seeing your little face turned toward us and your little arms and legs growing along was very awe inspiring. It's hard when you've been through this already to feel like an old pro...but, I must admit, seeing you taking human form and growing your human legs and arms was pretty awesome. I don't want to be too mushy or over-sweet, but I think I'm in love with a gummy bear.

The Doctor measured you from crown to rump. The result: 2.78 cm! Which somehow translates into us gaining two days on you. We estimated that you were 9 weeks and 2 days old, but, no, you're 9 weeks and 4 days. Which scoots your due date back to 10/14/2012...which is awfully close to the awesomely cool 10/11/12 birthday.

So, you're 9 (almost 10) weeks along, and you're the size of a green olive. Congrats: you're no longer technically an embryo; you're now a fetus! It's a bit creepy, but I think it's actually pretty cute...you look a bit like this:
It's not a big stretch to jump to this conclusion: Continue growing, my little gummy one. You and your mother are almost out of the sickies and cravies and yuckies of the first trimester; hang in there...with your little gummy arms and legs!

Love, your Proud Papa

Heart and Soul

Boo! Your Mother and I misunderstood the Doctor last time. There was no photo shoot today- no sonogram, no pictures for the fridge (or blog (or the fridge's blog)). I guess now's as good of a time as any to find out that your Mother and I are not perfect. But, to be honest, it was Holly's fault; I am perfect. The end.

Moving right along, though, today's Doctor's appointment wasn't a complete bust. We got to hear your heart beat loud and clear again. Dr. Hagood jelled up this device that was about the size of an old school Walkman (I'll show you one of those in a museum one day) and put it to your Mom's belly...and out from the speaker came your heart beat:

Woosh woosh woosh woosh.

An antique.

It was really great to hear the old ticker again! It sounded strong. Dr. Hagood said "that's a good sound." Your mother replied, "I like that sound." It was a really cool moment.

Hearing your heart lifted my heart this morning. Yeah, that's the signature Weinstein sappiness, which you should probably get used to.

The device used to hear your heart: a "Doppler".

The device instantaneously counted how many beats per minute your heart was pumping out and the result is (drum roll please) 160 beats per minute.

This is pretty fast for a baby, but definitely within the normal range. But, there's an old wive's tale that says fast heart beat means the baby is a girl; slower heart beat means the baby is a boy. But, this is not scientifically proven. Not even the National Enquirer thinks that's true. So let's just let the theorists and predicters think what they will of these 160 bpm.

Officially, let's still say there's a good chance you will either be a boy or a girl!

Since you probably don't have a built-in metronome (unless the future turned out to be pretty lame), here's what 160 bpm sounds like.

Listen for the ticker...not the piano...



Actually, your heart was beating a bit faster than that! And it sounded really good.

Now if only we could figure out how to get a piano in there...