Excitedly Terrified: The Latest News and Rants

Greetings. Natalie is now at 36 weeks and 1 day. D-Day (scheduled C-section) is 9/5/7.

It sucks to be the expectant father. I know ... a lot of people would scream that I'm a bad husband for saying this, but deep down I suspect they feel that way as well. Why? Well, first, you really have a minimal bond with the baby/fetus. You don't live with the baby, feel it kicking in the same way or have to deal with the burden. It's not difficult to turn on your side. Your sacroiliac feels fine. You don't feel fat. Well, unless you are fat. Then you should get your butt to the gym.

Natalie's a trooper and has been remarkably low-maintenance during this pregnancy, don't get me wrong. But it's hard to be into the baby when you hear are "Hey! He moved again!" all of the time. Great the first time, even the 20th time, but when you're in triple digits it just doesn't have the same impact. You just want to watch the game, especially if you have high definition TV. Life is much better with high definition TV. You really understand the artistry of "South Park" much better. And then you feel like a bad husband. Again.

I think all husbands feel this way during pregnancy, mainly because our sacrifice isn't even remotely what our wife's is. My body has stayed the same and I never thought the cat's litter box smelled like the depths of hell. Morning sickness? Only when I watched "The View". So I feel even worse for not being excited about every little kick. Hell, the kid's probably going to be kicking us around (figuratively, I hope) for the next couple of decades. Why get excited about it now? See? I'm a bad expectant husband.

Otherwise things are all going well here in Austin. Neither of us are on death row yet. Natalie is waiting for her malpractice insurance and I'm arranging some nephrology and hospitalist work on the side. We try to keep our minds busy before the impending nuclear attack on our sleep this coming 9/5.

So ... what does Natalie look like these days? She said the other day that she was "enormous". Trying to be supportive, I disagreed, trying to boost her fragile spirits.

"You're not enormous. I'd say titanic, but not enormous."

Ugh. Doghouse. Bad husband again. I need to work on that. But here are some pictures ...

Natalie 7 weeks ago in Burlington and our old house ... (actually, still our house as we are still making mortgage payments)