Cravings

It's early yet, but to this point in her pregnancy, Stephanie hasn't had any cravings. And this is someone who is probably the strangest eater I've ever encountered. How strange? Well... if we go to a drive-thru, she wants to drink Dr. Pepper, unless we go through a McDonald's, because McDonald's has "good coke" that tastes better than the coke at Burger King, Sonic, Wendy's, etc.


Oh, Wendy's. I think Wendy's was the cause of our first fight. And maybe our second and third fights as well. Wendy's is what helped me discover that my wife can be truly neurotic about a damn cheeseburger. Stephanie is very particular about Wendy's. She orders a Jr. Cheeseburger, plain. Small order of fries, medium Dr. Pepper. Every time. That in itself isn't so neurotic...just slightly strange. Indeed, it makes it easy to remember her order when she calls and asks me to pick Wendy's up on my way home. EXCEPT WE MUST EAT WENDY'S INSIDE THE RESTAURANT. This is non-negotiable. On the very rare occasion that I persuade her into getting Wendy's to go, she changes her order. Eat-in, she wants a cheeseburger and fries. To-go, caesar salad. I know.


Why such madness? Why can't she eat a burger and fries from Wendy's in her own damn house? Because "it tastes better inside the restaurant". One day, I had had enough and I pressed her until she gave me the reason. It's the ketchup. She likes to dip her Wendy's fries in the souffle cup full of room temperature ketchup taken from the ketchup pump at the condiment station. This is why, when she wants Wendy's, I have to drive directly PAST the restaurant after work, pick her up from our house, and then proceed back. Because our ketchup is "different". Holy hell. I got exasperated again just typing that mess out.


So maybe she doesn't have any cravings because it's just logistically impossible to get any weirder about food. Maybe she's at 100% quirkiness regarding food when she doesn't have a tiny human growing inside of her.


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So, I was able to hear Lil Wooly's heartbeat for the first time today! I came into the bedroom and Stephanie was using the fetal heart monitor she bought to try and find Lil Wooly's heartbeat. We've had it for probably a month and have had zero success finding Lil Wooly. HER heartbeat is easy to find, however, so when she put her finger to her pulse this morning I figured she'd be disappointed again.


When she took the headphones off and handed them to me, however, I realized she wasn't disappointed at all. I slipped them on and for the first time heard our baby's heart beating. This wasn't a line on a pee stick or a speck on a picture Stephanie brought home... this was my baby's heart beating in the here-and-now, and I was able to hear it. It was amazing.


And you know what was even more amazing? Several minutes later, we were talking about Lil Wooly's heart rate, and I discovered that even though I hadn't counted it when I had the headphones on, I could recreate it in my head so accurately that I could figure it out. I timed myself for fifteen seconds. 37 beats. Stephanie put the monitor on again, found Lil Wooly, and timed it. 37 beats. 148 beats per minute. Just as it has been. I just replayed it in my head and timed myself with a stop watch. 37 beats. It's like it's burned into my brain. Pretty cool stuff.


By the way, I sacked away some major points today. The NFL playoffs were on, and I didn't watch one single down. Nope. Today we watched Summer Catch, Cheaper by the Dozen, Failure to Launch, and The Wedding Planner. All of them. I shit you not. That's got to be worth, like, a 36-hour guys trip to Tunica.