We're halfway there

Monday I hit the halfway mark and yesterday we went in for an ultrasound. Our baby girl is looking good. All parts are accounted for and in the right place. We even got a couple of waves during the ultrasound.

I've been feeling her move pretty regularly. I think it feels kind of like when your heart beat is racing and you can feel your blood pumping, but not quite as rhythmic. Then Friday night during dinner I got my first big kick. I looked down and stared at my stomach for a couple of seconds because I couldn't figure out what had happened. Then I couldn't stop smiling because I was so excited.

Matt and I have also started reading to the baby. We generally read children's books, but Matt is reading selected Sports Guy columns to her. I vetoed Roberts Rules of Order. If anyone has suggestions for good books I'd love to hear them. Here's what the baby library currently has.
-Corduroy
-Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel
-Madeline
-Eloise (my goal in life for many years was to be her)
-A couple of Dr. Seuss books
-Baby's first Stanford text-board book (a gift from my dad - because it's never to early to start the pressure to be the 5th generation to go)
-Hippos Go Berserk (bought solely for the title)
-The Runaway Bunny

Latest Baby Purchase

Because brainwashing can't begin early enough.

Because The First Lady Is All Sorts of Awesome

During an interview when someone asked her how to catch a great guy like she did. This is part of her answer.
"Look at how the guy treats his mother, what he says about women, how he acts with children he doesn't know. And more importantly how does he treat you? When you're dating a man, you should always feel good...you should never feel less than...you should never doubt yourself, you shouldn't be in a relationship with someone who doesn't make you completely happy or make you feel whole. And if you're in (such a) relationship, don't get married, and find that person who brings you complete and utter joy."
God I love that woman. I hope some day to be that smart.

Not the swine flu

After getting fully vaccinated last week, yesterday I came down with something. After conferring with the doctor this morning it looks like it's just a cold. There's no fever, so they don't think it's the flu (either kind) but if I do come down with a fever they will be getting me a prescription. For the next few days it's rest and lots of fluids for me. I have been around people who had been exposed to swine flu, but the time between when I saw them and when I started to feel nasty wasn't enough time for me to get sick. The doctor said that I might be having a reaction to the shot, but not to worry. So everyone, don't worry. Mom and Gloria I'm looking at you specifically.

The Madness of Infertility

I think this is an amazing essay that so accurately describes what it's like to be infertile. The author explains how she's jealous of a panda bear who manged to get pregnant while she and her husband still struggle. It's the best example I've seen of how you can be jealous of ANY pregnant being, even one trapped in a zoo. I also like that the author is in her 20's. So much is written about infertile women in their 30's and 40's that the younger ones tend to get forgotten. One of the final straws with the first doctor we saw was when he told me "You're still young and have plenty of time" during a visit. I later realized that it was the third January in a row we'd had an appointment with him. Just because I have time doesn't mean that I haven't already spent too much time dealing with stupid heads. (For the record the time between first appointment and positive pregnancy test with the new doctor? 4 months.)

And the answer is...

It's a girl. We also got the test results back from the ultrasound and blood work a couple of weeks ago and everything looks good. I also had my cervix checked and everything looked great. My mother spent at least 2 months on bed rest with each of her children due to an incompetent cervix (three months hospitalized with her hips above her heart and unable to get out of bed with the last one) so I was very paranoid about my cervix. I might have high fived Matt about because I'm not like my mother. But it was done with love and appreciation for the time she spent in bed with me and my brothers.

We are super excited and can't wait to meet our little girl. Based on what we've seen in the ultrasounds so far she's definitely energetic and has problems sitting still. The technician today had trouble getting a recording of her heartbeat for more than 3 seconds before she moved again. Only time will tell if she's really the OCD/ADD combo that we're expecting.

Last Chance to Guess - Hopefully

Tomorrow we go in for another ultrasound, and hopefully are able to find out the sex of the baby. I do know someone who had a baby that never cooperated and they had to wait till the baby was born. I'm praying that baby doesn't have a twisted sense of humor, but I'm not holding my breath.

Last week I spent a couple of days with my family in the Bay Area and then a couple of days working in San Francisco. It was good to see everyone, even if the weather was worse than El Nino. I also managed to get out of my dad's house with none of the reserved baby clothes from the basement. If I wanted to I could dress the baby from birth to 12 with nothing but the clothes in the basement, so this was an epic feat. Roughly the equivalent of climbing Everest.

For the most part I'm feeling better. I'm still exhausted and going to bed early, but everything else seems to have calmed down.