In this corner...

In this corner we have Rachel Louise Wood all of the way from the city of Angie's Belly. For the past nine months she has been preparing for this day and to make a grand entrance. On Monday, June 23, 2008, she weighed in at 7lbs 10oz and ready to take her opponent "Life" on. She stands a whopping 19 1/2" with dark hair and grayish-blue eyes. Rachel is ready for this fight and couldn't wait to get into the ring. She let her opponent know she wasn't messing around and broke Angie's water on Sunday night putting her into labor for 13 hours. This kid packs a mean left hook with a ton of attitude. She will haunt you in your sleep at 2am, swinging and trash talking with that hungry attitude she was born with. She takes her conditioning serious, gaining 5oz in one week.

So what can we expect from Rachel in the future? Right now her training is mainly consisting of feeding, sleeping, and a little exercise. Rachel is fully aware that this fight is going to go the distance, but backing her up in her corner will be daddy and mommy. They will be there every step of the way to make sure she gets the proper training to succeed and win this fight.

Rounding Third Base

Well, here we are. We are now 8 months along and it seems like yesterday I was getting the news. The time has went past so fast it really does seem like a blur. At this point I'm getting very impatient and ready to get this show on the road. I'm about as ready as I can be, not nervous anymore, but ready.


This past weekend we went to our baby class where we watch some videos and take a tour of the hospital we will be delivering at. I learned a lot of things in the class even though I grumbled the whole time. There was one part of the class that really got to me, the video on how they insert the epidural. When I say it got to me, I mean sweating and almost passing out. It was not a good sign for my wife who want to have me in the delivery room. By the time the video had finished my shirt was soaked and I almost got sick.

Getting past that now we only have about a month to go. So far Angie and the baby are very healthy and no real concerns yet, so check back in a month to see if I really passed out in the delivery room or not.

4D Mania

Last week we went for the 4D ultrasound. I didn't want to go at first, but if you know me by now you would know that you have to break my arm to get me to do anything different. I ended up having to also take my mom and brother to the ultrasound, and when we got there it was very different than what I thought. There was a huge sectional couch and chairs behind that. in total there was seating for about 15-20 people. Then on the wall was this huge flat panel t.v. where the ultrasound would be displayed.

The table where my wife had to lay down on was right up front. It was almost like she was on display and I guess in a way she was, we had quite a few people there.

At first the woman would go around her stomach in the 2d(what I call normal) ultrasound. The doctor would find a spot and then switch it over to the 4D. It literally took my breath away. I'm now seeing all of the facial features on my little girl. We could see all her fingers and toes in great detail it didn't seem real. At one point she even gave us a half smile, almost to smile for the camera. She got moving around a bit and then moved her hands which looked like she was now waving at the camera. I think the girl really likes being the center of attention.

Overall the process took about 40 minutes where they even make you several dvd's in a movie form. Anyone going through a pregnancy and not sure to spend the money on the 4D ultrasound, do it. You will never regret having done it.

New Waters

I have decided to change my major. A couple of post ago I talked about how I was going to change from Mechanical Engineering to Aviation at Ohio State. The past couple of weeks I wondered if this was the best time to be making these changes in my life. I have a new baby on the way which is going to be a huge adjustment in itself. Now I'm going to change majors on top of that, what am I doing to myself?

This spring quarter I decided to take the Aviation 310 course to see if this is the avenue that I want to take. I've never stepped outside the box until now. I'm going to use this class to determine if I should just do this as a hobby or as a profession. My work right now has been very stressed out and I'm just not enjoying it anymore. I don't want to be the grumbling daddy coming home complaining about work.

I deserve to be happy, but most importantly my family deserves it more.

My Blogging Experience

I was never much on blogging or writing at all. When our english professor told us that we would have to keep a blog for class, I thought to myself, "Oh great, more writing."

As we picked a topic I couldn't think of anything else better to write about then the newborn I have on the way. By keeping this blog it has allowed me to express my feelings and tell what I'm going through. I have really enjoyed writing post every week and being public lets other people comment on my post. When people comment on my post it gives me the feeling that they are understanding what I'm going through and give me advice.

Also by writing blogs for class it has given me a look at what other people in the class are interested in or going through. It's hard for us to see things that are going on in other people's worlds because we are so caught up in our own. It was nice to see what some people's views were on steroid use in professional sports. It was also interesting to see that there wasn't much confrontation due to the fact we were all trying to be coutious of each other. I would like to see how outsiders of the class would view some of the topics and respond.

Overall, I really enjoyed making post and I will continue after this point. It is a very informal way for me to express myself and get feedback, good or bad. I just want to keep on writing, I know thats a shock to those who know me best.

Blogology 101

The internet has become a good source for information for us. We can find anything but what more blogs can offer us that we couldn’t already find on the internet. Blogs have become an unscripted source of information. Blogs are real people talking about real things. I have found that blogs are a good source of information, maybe not factual, but a way to get honest answers and feelings. You can find blogs where people are talking about consumer products and giving their reviews and blogs that are talking about how people feel about certain things going on in their lives. Blogs are a good source of entertainment too. People will write about comical things they have experience in their life. I think that there are more pros than cons that we get from blogs and I think that there is more to gain than to lose by blogging ourselves.


Blogging to me has become my therapy. I’m not a guy that is very open about a lot of things. In the blog USMC and Me, the author Bigwetdirt talks about the life experiences he has been through to lead him to where he is at today. In his post he talks about wanting to join the Marine Corps, but talks about his life struggles that are keeping him from joining up right now. Blogs offer us space to share what we are feeling and going through as individuals. We all struggle through life in different ways but sometimes they are very similar to other people struggles. In blogs we can talk about those things and even get feedback from people who can relate to us. Blogs let us communicate with other people and give us a chance to see what they have posted and relate it to ourselves.


The down side to this is you also need to be ready for negative feedback. Just as people would be able to relate to you there are others that won’t be able to. You definitely need to be able to take the constructive criticism and move on. Since blogs are open to just about anybody, this leaves a chance for someone to get a rise out of you by giving you some negative feedback. The way to keep those people out is just to make your blog private to those who you want to read your post.


Blogs are also a good source of consumer information. On the website babyproducts.com it gives consumers the opportunity to write post on baby products they’ve had experience with. This allows the consumer to write their own review and get feedback on their review. As I’m going through this pregnancy with my wife I have found blogs very helpful in learning about certain kid’s toys and products. The advantage to the blog over internet research is that you will not get a generic answer. Most research that you will do on the internet about products is what that company wants you to see. There are some sites that are primarily for consumer reviews but they never get into depth on what problems and why they had them. Blogs give people a chance to talk in detail about good or bad products out there in the market.


The draw back to this is getting a disgruntled consumer and they just go on and on about how they hate the product. They really don’t provide a good reason why, but just bash the manufacturer. These types of people are very negative people who just want to project their negativity on other people. That is what blogs can do for us; speak our mind openly and honestly.


Entertainment is another good reason that I think blogs are great. People can describe things that have happened in their lives in a comical way. In the blog Because I Said So, the author Dawn writes about her challenges of raising 3 boys and 3 girls. She writes about it in such a humorous way that you want to laugh with her as your reading her blog. She even adds funny pictures of the children at their best moments as a visual to what she is going through at that time. As a reader this will keep very interested and it lets me know that she is an everyday person like me.


Blogs have been very helpful to me. I think they are very important in this internet age that we live in because of the raw form blogs are given to us in. They have let me into other people’s lives and let me learn how they deal with things in their experiences. It also has given me a chance to relate to them what I’m going through. It has been a really good and informal way for me to share my feelings. Blogs are can be very helpful to people in many ways because there are so many variety of blogs. Blogging has changed my life and has been very helpful in the most important time of my life.

Rounding Second Base

We are over half way there and I'm pretty excited. Its coming so fast my head is about to spin off. I don't have time to fear anything right now, but just to be excited for the new one to show up. My whole perspective on this whole pregnancy thing has changed. It has really just really sunk in with me and I'm ready to go.

Last week I painted the nursery. All of this stuff is more time consuming than what I thought. What about all of the baby things that you need out there? All of the bedding, dressers, and changing tables are so expensive. This girl is going to have a nicer room than my wife and I. This girl will be spoiled and not just by me.

On my in-laws side this will be the first granddaughter. I can see all of the pink and purple stuff now. I won't have to do any of the spoiling, she will get enough from all of her grandparents.

This has become a real exciting and fun time for me. I had to quit fighting the fact that I was scared and losing some freedom. I don't look at it like that now. I'm truly blessed to be having this child come into my life and I couldn't ask for anything more. OK, I lied, maybe another motorcycle.

Going Off Track

In this post I'm going to derail but stay with me, there is a point to all of this madness. Over the past few months I've really been thinking about what I really want to do. I dumping all of this money into school and I want to get a degree in something that I love to do. Right now I'm going for my degree in Mechanical Engineering. The problem with that is, I do it on an everyday basis. I design, build, and automate industrial machinery for various manufacturing plants. I'm content with what I do, but it doesn't make me happy. I work too much and I just don't feel like I have a life anymore.

For the past couple of months my wife and I have been talking about what will make me happy. I have decided to change my major to Aviation. I already have a private pilots license and want to go all of the way with it. I love flying so much that I would like to make a profession out of it. The good thing is that all of the classes that I've taken this far work with the Professional Pilots program at OSU.

The down side to all of this is it will consist of a lot of traveling. With the new one on the way I would really like to be around my family as much as possible. The great thing about my wife is she is very understanding and she sees how excited I get when I talk about flying. She is behind me 100% and that's what I love about her.

Problem number 2 is that I've never jumped outside the box. I've always done what is comfortable and where I don't need to take risk. In my job now I know what to expect from day to day. Now I'm stepping into a whole new world. Sometimes I think I live for the stress and I actually feed off of it some how.

The Guest Blogging Experiment

Guest Blogger did a good job keeping the flow of my blog going. They got a good sense of where I was coming from and what I am going through. They understood the trouble I'm having adapting to this new time in my life. The person that wrote the post even refered my wife as "my wife" which made it seem like they really put themself in my place. Guest blogger did get a sense of me getting very excited now. It has really set in with me and I'm very happy to be having a girl now. I think now I'm happier with that than I would have been with a boy. Guest blogger understood how important it was to me that I keep the name a secret and I want that to be special for my wife and I.

Understanding the person that I really am, I usually don't give in as easy as the blogger might think. It is nice that they think that of me but I really do have a hard time of what would be good for my daughter. I still have no idea about girls clothes and what they would like. I know at this point it doesn't matter, but it will only get more complicated as they get older.

Overall I think the guest blogger did a good job and they represented me very well. Thank You

Guest Blog by Alyssa S. Gartner

Thank you for all the congratulation comments I got responding to the previous blog that I posted. I am really beginning to get very excited. Although, I did sort of want a boy first, like most men do, I am thrilled just for the simple fact we are having a baby. Boy or girl it will most definitely be loved the same. I did want a boy first, and then possible a girl that way the older brother could have looked out for his little sister, but it doesn’t matter all that much.

I went shopping again, with my wife, looking for baby clothes. We picked out a few outfits, and it was actually really fun. I wasn't very good at picking out the clothes, but it was a really fun experience thinking that I will have a little one wearing those clothes very soon. My wife and I have thought of a bunch of baby names for our baby girl lately. It’s easier to think of more names since we know what the sex is now. Like I’ve said before though, the both of us would like to keep them a secret because we don’t want everyone’s input on the name; we’re going to name her whatever we would like to. We've found a lot of really neat names off of the internet.

To Answer the Questions

Everybody has been asking me, How do you feel about having a girl? There is a part of me, a big part of me, that is very excited. I know that it will be unfamiliar territory for me, but thats the kind of guy I am. I like a challange. It will be a whole new challange for me but I can't wait. The biggest challange right now is picking out little girls cloths. We've been going to BabiesRUs and I'm really lost when it comes to girls cloths.

Another question everyone ask, how will I handle boyfriends in the future. I am really worried about that becuase I remember how I was at the dating stage. I would do anything to feel a girl up, thats if she would let me. I was a frisky little guy. I think I have a while until that day comes and my wife, daughter, and I will all be different in some way. I may not think about it the same way I do now. I do know that I will be a little protective of her.

I'm sure my thoughts will change in the months to come but at this point I'm just happy and excited. I'm really curious to see how she will change my life and how I conduct my life differently. I know she will make a softy out of me. She will be daddy's little girl.

It's a girl

Well what do you know, it's a girl. We found out just this past Thurday. Talk about your worst nightmare. For a dad anyway, the first few thoughts that came to me was boyfriends and I have to pay for the wedding when she gets married.

It was the coolest thing that I have ever seen. On the ultrasound we saw her little fingers, toes, and her little face. Oh yeah, we seen the private parts too. That is kind of important. At one point it looked like she gave us the thumbs up, thats my girl. She was pretty active while we were doing the ultrasound and our doc could tell her size and weight at this point.

So whats next? We are talking about doing the 3D ultrasound next. If you haven't seen a 3D ultrasound they are really cool. They are so detailed you can even see the babies facial expressions. And for now, we are just running around telling everybody what we are having. It's just a really happy time right now.

Still Going

Things are still moving along. They are actually moving a lot faster than what I had expected. Here we are at the half way point of the pregnancy and it feels like yesterday I just found out the good news. The wife is definately showing signs now and is getting a belly on her. My wife has always been thin but it is funny to see her with a beer belly. We are just taking it all in right now and enjoying the time during pregnancy. I did finally feel the baby kick the other night and if there was any question who it would take after, its definately me.

We find out tomorrow what we are having. The big day is finally here. I'm still on the fence about this one because I think they both have their pros and cons. I am just excited to here the news tomorrow and tell my family what we are having .


We've been keeping our names for the baby a secret, because I really don't want to hear people's opinion on what we are going to call our child. Too many people (my family) try to put their input on what they think would be a good name. Sometimes they even tell you that they didn't like the name that you picked out. Well, I don't care what they think, it's not like I'm going to name it Clyde or Chuck. I have to be careful with my last name anyway. Wood doesn't work well with a lot of first names, Chuck Wood. See what I mean, its a real kick in the pants.

Slow Down

As we get closer and closer to delivery time my wife is trying to slow me down. She thinks that I need to slow down a bit especially with my hobbies. I love to ride. If you haven't figured that out yet you've been on another planet. There is a quote they said in Top Gun, "you won't be happy unless you're doing mach 2 with your hair on fire." Well, that's me in a nut shell. I'm an adrenaline junky and my wife looks at that as taking chances that I don't need to.

I'm really curious to see how I will be after Jr. is here. Am I going to be as crazy and irresponsible? It's in my blood and I don't know how to change the way it makes me feel to do 150mph. One thing is for sure is, it's not all about me anymore. I want to make sure that I'm there for this little one every step of the way. I would never just want to leave my wife hanging out there to take care of a family all by herself. So what do I do? Do I give it up? You can't say "Oh, I will just be more careful. It doesn't work that way with me. When I get on my bike the first thing I want to do is get the front tire off the ground before I make it to the end of the street. I guess I just need to slow down and think about it all.

New Life

It’s amazing how we change and go through the motions of life. I think there is a part of all of us that thinks we have it all figured out. There is nothing that can come our way that we don’t know how to handle. What can really freak me out? I work 60-70 hours a week running a business, go to school, am president of a motorcycle club, and have a family (wife, dog, and house). I really did think I was somewhat invincible. Well, that’s what I thought until about 4 months ago.

In October of 2007 I came home on a Friday afternoon just ready to kick my feet up and relax. My wife comes in the room and tells me she has a present for me. Now I’m sitting there thinking she got me something for my motorcycle or a nice little treat like a doughnut or something. When I opened the present, there were two pregnancy tests. At this point I didn’t need to even look, I knew what they were and what they would indicate. This was no surprise to me, because we had been trying for a few months, and I thought I was ready to make that next step. I’m 28 and getting older by the minute—no, by the second. I was just caught off guard and didn’t know what to say so I just hugged my wife. It was like that Twix commercial where the guy doesn’t say the right thing so he shoves the Twix in his mouth so she can’t understand him. Well, the hug was my Twix.

As a couple weeks went by, things didn’t really hit me too much. I was still doing what I always do, and the word was there (“baby”), but it really didn’t seem like anything had changed. My wife’s figure didn’t change in its features, and she didn’t get sick, so at this point I thought to myself “No problem man, I can do this.” Even though we were telling people and starting to prepare, it still didn’t sink in yet.

At the beginning of November we had our first doctor’s appointment and ultrasound. First, I’m very naive about the ultrasound procedure. So as the doctor was explaining what she was going to do, I started to get nervous and sweat a little. Once the doctor started the ultrasound we watched the monitor and there it was, the baby. I could see the head and the body but the arms and legs were just starting to form. I felt an excitement that I’ve never felt before. I was so excited to see the baby and hear the heart beat. Now it’s real. My wife looked back at me with a smile and asked if I could see the monitor ok. I said yes, but I tried not to show her how nervous I really was. As we finished up the doctor was asking her some questions and I was sitting over in the corner confused. My head was spinning from all of these different emotions: happy, nervous, anxious, scared, and excited.

At that moment the anxiety set in. I started asking myself “Am I going to be a good father?” All of the other typical questions that I’m sure most new dads would ask started flooding my mind. When we left the doctor’s office that day my wife asked me how I was feeling. She could tell that I had freaked out a bit. I just never thought that I would fear being a good father more than anything else. I mean I’m Duane Wood man, I do wheelies at 75 MPH. What do I have to be scared of?

Now that this new life is coming, I ask myself “What is going to change?” I work a lot right now running a business that also requires me to travel sometimes. When I think about it I’m a bit selfish. It’s hard to make that transition just because we are used to doing what we want to do. Well, at least for the most part. Now I’m going to have to adjust and make changes in order to spend time with the new baby. To be honest that is one drawback for me right now. My wife and I didn’t have anything else to worry about. We would take vacations, go places, and be as loud as we wanted when we felt like it. Now there is someone else to think about and that’s going to be a huge adjustment for the both of us, but mainly me.

I am really looking forward to having this child. This isn’t like anything else that I’ve done before. It’s not like designing and building a machine like I do day in and day out. Machines don’t have feelings or personalities. I will get to help teach this kid how to walk, talk, and become another person in society. I will be able to teach it values, responsibilities, and respect. I will love this child more and more as time goes on and I will do my best to send this one out into the world ready. As much as he/she learns from me (which I hope isn’t my potty mouth), I know that I will learn so much from them. I AM ready. I think?

Feelin' It

Now it seems that time is moving fast. Before I know it the baby will be here and i won't be prepared at all. The latest thing that has been going on for me is my wife has started noticing the baby kicking more the past couple of weeks. My wife is all into it, she loves it. Me on the other hand, I'm a bit freaked out by it. Maybe I just look at things in black and white but if I had something moving around in my belly it would make me feel sick to my stomach. I'm getting more used to this whole baby thing a little more each day and getting a little less nervous.

My wife is always asking me to feel it kick and watch her stomach. I'm not to sure about it yet. I just told her it bothers me right now and I'm not comfortable with it. I guess at some point I'm going to have to break out of this shell of mine and give in a bit.

My wife is just expecting me to share my feelings and this experience with her. I'm just not a touchy, feely type of guy. I've never been much on sharing my feelings but I know that is what she is looking for right now. I think she just needs some evidence that I'm happy we're having this baby.

What is it?

In one month from now we will find out what we are having. Most guys would want a boy first. I hear that they are a little easier and they can relate to them a little easier. I am kind of leaning towards having a girl first. I don't know what it is and why I would want one first. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. With a boy I think I would have a lot of fun with. Yeah, I could relate to him a lot easier and understand him a little better but I just think back to when I was a little boy. I was a little fireball. I was always getting into things that I was told not to and on top of everything else I had ADHD. I use to be very hyper and used to just bounce offf the walls. But the real problem is that I had a little brother that was only 13 months younger than me. It was a constant battle to see who was the tougher one.
With a girl I think it would be somewhat calmer. Now I don't know that for a fact but thats what I would like to think. I am also sure that the mother has a big influence on how the girl would turn out. My wife is a really laid back, beautiful person but my wife isn't far from myself. She is kind of a tom boy who enjoys football, playing cards, and drinking beer. So it will be interesting to see how all of that will play a part if we have a girl.
In the end I really don't care what we have. I will be happy to have either one and I'm sure I won't be as ready as I thought I was.

Afraid

I'm a guy who works several hours a week. Sometimes I get called in to handle things in the middle of the night. My work keeps me very busy not to mention that I take evening classes. So where am I going to fit in the time to take care of a new child. I really want to be a big part of my childs life and be there for him/her. My father was a workaholic also and he really missed out on some key moments in my life. I just don't want to be that father who misses out on the games and events in my childs life. I don't have the luxury of just changing jobs, its a little more complicated than that. The reason I'm trying to complete my college education is so I can find a job that allows me to spend the time with my family.
Don't get me wrong. I am really exited to have this child with my wife. I wouldn't change it for the world. I am ready to have a family and I'm not getting any younger either. I feel like I'm getting older by the second. This feels like the perfect time for my wife and I to have our first one. Is it the right time according to life to have one? I really don't think there will ever be a perfect time to have one. Whether it's finances, work, or any other of life's obstacles that we face it is something that is difficult to plan. I'm just the type of guy that likes to be prepared for everything. I know thats impossible in this case but I would like to do my best to be ready.

Blog Thoughts

I was trying to figure out what to write about. I do have one really important thing going on in my life right now, my wife is pregnant and I'm about ready to have my first. There are a lot of things going on in my head right now and I have many questions that need answered. I have went from panic to starting to calm down now and I still have 5 more months to go yet. Even though we planned it and really wanted one I'm finding myself not as prepared for this as I thought. We have had a couple of ultra sounds so far but we are not far along enough yet to find out the sex. I'm all for finding out because I want to be as prepared as possible for this new one. Now I just need help answering all of these questions about life after the pregnancy. Am I going to be a good dad? Am I going to have to give up everthing that I enjoy to do? I just have a lot of thoughts to share but don't know where to get some help. I'm sure that these are very typical for any normal first time parent and I'm not the first to feel this way.