Swine Flu, Fort Worth, and the Pate Family

I'm sure that many of you have heard different things regarding the Swine Flu in Texas--especially the DFW area.

For the sake of all of our midwestern family and friends, I thought I'd take a few minutes to describe our situation.

First of all, please don't worry too much. I'll list the facts:

-There are 7 confirmed cases in the entire Dallas County
-There are 5 confirmed cases in the entire Tarrant County (our county)
-There has been 1 confirmed case in the entire FWISD
-FWISD was shut down yesterday (sending 85,000 students to sit at home for a week)
-a few random schools have also shut down

At my small, private school, we have had no cases, nor are we shut down.

That's not to say that my principal is not taking every precaution to make sure that we don't have a problem. If any case is reported, we will be immediately shut down for a minimum of 7-8 days.

In the mean time, our cleaning crew wipes down the desks, door handles, railings etc. with disinfectant wipes. Each room, by the end of this week, will have been sprayed with a special disinfectant (carpets, corners, and closets). Each room will also have 3 hours of some sort of atomizer that takes the germs out of the air.

I am very careful, as well. I hum the ABC song as I wash my hands (thus washing for 20 seconds as the health department recommends). I'm using hand sanitizer and I don't hug the kids.

Should I experience anything out of the ordinary, as far as "flu-like symptoms" or fever, I will see the doctor immediately.




On a happier note, I'll be posting my 1st trimester picture this weekend...you can see a difference.

This is "Mama Pate" signing off....

Say "hello" to our little shrimp!!

Thursday was our 2nd appointment with Dr. Deem. Even though the wait was a while, we finally were called in for our sonogram.

Right away, our nurse started the sonogram. It was a beautiful picture...but, I have to admit, the position of the picture makes him/her look like a shrimp. The nurse described the picture to us: the white areas are the bone structure of the baby. His/her head is to the right laying on his/her back.



We could see the baby moving--it was amazing!! The next picture shows the baby in a better position:



She used the line drawn to measure the baby: 1.5 inches.


Finally she read the baby's heart beat. it was a beautiful moment, and made everything very real. According to the nurse, the baby's heart beat was 173 bpm--"Excellent!" said Dr. Deem.




We think that this is the best of the 3 pictures!!


Beautiful!!!

PS--New Picture of the "baby bump" coming next week!

8 weeks and the first visit!!

Well, as you all know by now, we're expecting a baby!! Just in case you've forgotten, here are the stats:

• I'm eight and a half weeks along as of tonight.
• Apparently, the baby is the size of a small strawberry right now! :-)
• "Baby Pate" is due November 8th (3 days after my birthday!!)
• I will be returning to work next fall...

On Wednesday, April 1st, I had my first visit with my obgyn. Huge disappointment. We were hoping for an ultrasound or at least a chance to hear the heartbeat, but no such luck. Dr. Deem doesn't work like that. She's SO popular in fact, I had to schedule another appointment TWO weeks later, just to have an ultrasound!

Anyway, she did the usual tests to affirm my pregnancy, including a blood test. She talked me through the basics over the next 7 months, and answered questions. Then she sent me on my way!

WE hope to have more on April 16th. We (I, at least) hope to maybe have a picture or two from the ultrasound.

In the mean time. I'm posting my first 2 pictures of the pregnancy: 5 weeks & 8 weeks. You can barely see anything...but I promise, it's there!! Unfortunately, I've also lost 5 lbs. in the past month due to the ever-exciting nausea...and I can kind of tell (yipes!)

They tell me it gets better..... [wink]