Island Life by David Slack

awww david, you're giving me moosebumps.

beautiful, and your timing so on the button ... we are about to have our first baby and all we know so far is the ultrasound vision from when they were just a little thing, now so big my belly feels like a seed pod eager to pop ...

I think, given that the in utero shot is the photo of my oldest that I showed to people the most - the first substantial proof! - it's now the photo that I care about the least. I don't even know if I still have it.

Once they're two seconds old, the last nine months doesn't seem to matter any more.

Beautiful stuff, as per.

When I was sitting in that (presumedly same) Ponsonby Scans'R'Us last year my nervousness took on the form of ranting about the "4D" images they were advertising. "It's a still image? What's the 4th dimension FFS?"
Quantum mechanics can help distract the nerves of the expectant it seems.

Lovely post David. I had a similar feeling last week, looking at my wife's ultrasound, seeing a curiously tadpole-like creature. Then it rolled over and you could see hands and feet, and it settled on it's side, much like a cat settling down to sleep. The radiologist (is that the word?) said that he/she was indeed sleeping, and the rolling was a reaction to being prodded with the ultrasound probe. The transition from "it" to "he/she" was as seamless as that.

Gareth, heh, the 4th dimension is surely time? It is kind of hard to get your head around the idea that ultrasound can see in the first 3 dimensions, even if we can't. But how is it presented to us? Surely as a little movie, in which we can get the illusion of seeing the first 3 dimensions, by moving around the foetus over time?

I don't actually know, and am speculating. It could be presented to us using 3D goggles, or as a movie in which you can change camera angles? The data is all there. Could be an awesome thing to have, but what Kyle said is sooo true. Birth is still the most magic moment, when you don't need science to see your baby any more. Just your eyes, and wow, there's some little eyes looking back at you.

4D = next-generation 3D.
(What else would you expect in this context?)

What we appeared to have spawned, according to the grainy black and white image, was a small fossil.

Sonography recapitulates phylogeny?

As other have said: beautiful post, although we've come to expect nothing less.

Isn't it interesting how clearly fathers' recall these events; the scan's the first direct experience, albeit technologically-enabled. I also vividly remember the first sighting. I have mixed emotions about it though. My anxiety levels were the highest I think they've ever been. A perfectly normal foetus, phew. Immediately after though, the genetic counselling simultaneously allayed some fears and stimulated others: we could have more tests?

As Kyle's said; in the three+ years that followed, those early memories have grown distant as her spine has hardened, lengthened and granted her a degree of independence.

I too remember how quickly the memories of those first nine months were crowded out by new challenges (proper attachment, wrapping for sleep, sleeping or not as the case may be). Still, here we are again... 22 weeks through the process, two scans down, two scans unremarkable (I've quietly given my thanks to all deities). One of which is the 3D scan and shows a wonderful buddha-like face.

My partner and I are sleeping well at the moment. We are because we can and because we know we must for soon we won't.

Thanks David, again a grand piece of writing.

David, I hope that somewhere on your HD you are saving all your writing that pertains to your lovely girl (s). What a great legacy for her - the fathers' version of scrapbooking.

Re the bike ride...good job.

"Honey, we're having a vertebrate!"

What a delightful piece, you've made my day.

Heh - wait till she's 15.... you & Karren will need all the backbone you've got.

But they seem to come right at 16.

Thank you for the kind comments, everyone.

Jackie, that's a very good point you make about scrapbooking. I plan to try out some new digital ideas this year.

Don't mock Darwin. Just be thankful that it all works.

I'm nearly 80, have 3 daughters and a son, and I just loved your blog.

Goosebumps summed it up for me, too.

Jackie, that's a very good point you make about scrapbooking.

David "first stabber" Haywood has a nifty python script which automagically turns your PA ramblings into a perfectly formed paper back publication.

He might be able to pass it on in between bouts of coughing up gunks of Newcastle's finest broon.

Hat tip Simon Phipps.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/02/this-is-prayer-for-blueberry-girl.html