BEWARE: SPOILERS BELOW. IGNORE THIS POST IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW FOGGY'S SEX.

Anyway, we went to the doctor on Thursday. (We were in Chicago all weekend and this is the first chance I've gotten to post since then.)

Before we went to the doctor, though, we went to the ultrasound technician. After a bit of searching around, looking at various parts of Fog, the technician focused in on Foggy's privates. Poor Fog. It was a most undignified position. As the technician described the scene, it was like Foggy was sitting naked on top of a glass table and we were looking up at the kid through the glass.

It turns out that Fog is a boy! We could see his privates as clear as daylight. No doubt about it.

So, Tara and I are going to have a son. We celebrated by promptly going to Baby Gap and H&M while in Chicago and buying a slew of (boy's) baby clothes.

I think Karen, Tara's mom, was a bit disappointed. I think she was looking forward to buying girls clothes for Foggy. They do tend to be a lot cuter than boys clothes. (But we did find some really cute stuff in Chi-town!)

I think Karen had also been half-convinced by one of her colleagues that Foggy was definitely a girl. The colleague had used some Chinese horoscope method to determine Foggy's sex. I guess we won't trust that method anymore!

Karen and I both took video of the ultrasound exam, some of which I will post later. We also got a whole passel of still photos from the sonogram that I will also post once Dan scans them in.

Oh, one other thing about the ultrasound. Foggy may be further along in his development than we thought. The kid is 10 inches from head to rump--as the technician so delicately phrased it--and about 8 oz. That size would make him about 20-plus weeks along, according to our technician.

Going into the exam, we thought Tara was a little more than 19 weeks along, so Foggy's either a week older than we thought, or he's gonna be a big baby!

Despite being further along than we previously expected, Foggy's due date hasn't changed. The kid is still due on April 7.
  ¶ 9:51 PM

  So, it's been confirmed: Foggy is alive and kicking!

I felt Fogbert kick this morning. Tara felt it too, so we're pretty sure we actually felt a kick instead of just imagining it. Of course, it could have just been gas or something, but I don't think so.

Foggy apparently has been kicking up a storm lately. S/he is so tiny though, that the kicks are barely perceptable; they fell more like soft thumps than anything else.

Tara and I got our own kicks last weekend shopping for clothes. Yes, we finally broke down and bought some maternity clothes for Tara and me. Well, mine weren't exactly maternity clothes, but I did get them at the same time that Tara was getting hers.

Although much of the maternity wear we'd seen in the past was pretty awful, we did find some cute things. And since we got them from Old Navy, we were able to buy a ton of stuff and not spend a whole lot of money. (Well, we spent a lot -- but not nearly as much as we would have if we'd gone somewhere else.)

Tara got two camisoles, a pair of yoga pants and a cute ruffled top. I had my doubts about the ruffled top, but it did look really cute on Tara. (I looked awful in it.)

The maternity clothes became necessary, because Tara is starting to show. She finally broke down and decided that she was having too difficult a time getting into her normal clothes. So we wound up at Old Navy after seeing a play last weekend.

As much as Tara disliked the idea of getting maternity clothes, I think she's happy we went. The stuff does look cute -- and it fits her!   ¶ 10:40 PM

  One more thing before I head to bed. Tara might have felt Fogbert kick for the first time this week.

She said it felt like something almost tickling her on the inside. She had me press her tum with my hand, but I couldn't feel anything, and I don't think Tara's felt anything since then. But it could have been Foggy's first recorded kick. I'll let you know when Tara feels more!  ¶ 10:20 PM

  Speaking of shopping, Tara and I went into Baby Gap last week. Oh my goodness!

They had some of the cutest baby clothes. It's a wonder that Tara and I didn't end up buying anything.

We ostensibly went in there to shop for maternity clothes for Tara. Tara's been pretty depressed about the whole maternity wear scene. For some reason, maternity clothesmakers seem to think that women seem to lose all sense of fashion during pregnancy. Most of what we've scene has been pretty awful, in drab colors and awful styles. Much of it seems to overemphasize the fact that the woman is pregnant; the clothes might as well include a flashing neon sign that says "Baby On Board."

Baby Gap was no different. I think that Tara found one top that she halfway liked, but everything else was pretty terrible.

While Tara was rummaging through the awful maternity clothes, I wandered back into the baby clothes area. It was fun.

The best part were the Halloween costumes. They had one that was a lady bug in a red outfit with a matching top and wings on the back.

Another was similar: a bumblebee outfit of yellow and black, also with wings on the back. And then they had an orange pumpkin outfit with a pumpkin head hat and a rounded tummy with stripes. They were adorable!

Also adorable in the non-costume area was a little maroon party dress with a white top. Then they were the hats hats. Tara loves baby hats! Our child will have a hat for every occasion and day, I'm sure.

We managed to walk out of there with only a red sun hat for Fogbert. We agreed that we wouldn't buy anything until we know Fogbert's sex. But it sure was difficult to walk out all but empty handed.

Too bad Gap's maternity clothes are nowhere near as cute as their baby outfits!  ¶ 10:18 PM

  Tara and I went baby shopping for the first time yesterday. We went to Citikids on Clement St.

The experience was a bit strange.

Citikids is a rather cramped space that seems to be overflowing with baby things: cribs, strollers, car seats, clothes, backbacks, playpens. You name it, and they've probably got it. But as a first-time parent who is largely uneducated in the whole process, it's really hard to know what the hell to buy.

For instance, the store had about 10 to 15 car seats all lined up next to one another along a store shelf. But it was hard to any difference between them, other than their cost.

Likewise, the store had probably 10 different cribs set up, but other than slight variations in design and color (white or natural wood), they didn't seem to be all that different.

I guess the strangest thing was that we got absolutely no help while we were there. We must have wandered around various areas of the store for about 20 or 30 minutes. But I don't think a single store representative offered to answer any questions.

You'd think they might want to provide more help. After all, the items were by no means cheap. The stollers, for instance, seemed to range in price from $200 to $400 or $500. But maybe they figure they don't need to offer much help. After all, if you're pregnant, you're going to be buying stuff anyway. And if you are ignorant like us, you'll likely buy the most expensive thing, just so you don't feel like your shortchanging your child.

Fortunately, we are smarter than we are ignorant. We walked out of there without buying anything. I wanted to read our Consumer Reports reviews to figure out what to buy. But I'm sure we'll be back.
  ¶ 9:54 PM

  So, Tara and I went to the doctor today. Exciting news: We got to hear Fogbert's heart for the first time today.

Last month, the doctor used her device to try to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Although she said she could hear it, Tara and I couldn't hear anything. The doctor said that was because Fogbert's placenta was placed in the anterior of the womb. So, essentially, the sound of Tara's blood flowing through the placenta was obscuring the sound of the baby's heartbeat.

Well, that's what she said. We were a little bit dubious and--as first time parents--a slight bit anxious.

So,we had the doctor do another ultrasound (we previously got one the month before, when we went into the doctor's office for the first time). That was not only reassuring, it gave us visual evidence to show our family and friends when we broke the news that Tara is pregnant.

Anyway, having not heard Fogbert's heartbeat last time, it was reassuring--and exciting!--to hear it this time. Maybe it was just the heart monitor, but the sound was something like whoop-whoop-whoop at a rate of about a couple times a second.

Geek that I am, I'm planning on taking a digital recorder into our next appointment so I can place a recording of the heartbeat on this site. Look for it next month!  ¶ 7:36 PM

  Welcome to the Fogbert's Web log. Here you'll find the latest news about Fogbert. I'll be updating this site periodically.

In case you don't know already, Fogbert is Tara and my baby to be. He or she (we don't know yet) is due April 7; Tara is about 15 weeks to her pregnancy.

You can find out more about Fogbert on the Frequently Asked Questions page. You can also check out his latest photos on this site. And if you have any other questions, you can always e-mail me.
  ¶ 7:19 PM