Baby Update

As far as my pregnancy goes, things are progressing normally. My tummy has grown to the point where I am most comfortable in my roomier tops (maternity shirts are not a necessity) and either elastic waist or maternity bottoms, but maternity clothing has not yet become an essential element of my everyday wardrobe. Despite the fact that I am wearing non-maternity shirts still, I am showing. This fact was evidenced yesterday when a lady at a store, who I had never met before, congratulated me on my pregancy.

I am getting a good night's sleep on a regular basis (something that the midwife asks me about at every appointment), and do not have any trouble sleeping on my stomach if that is what I desire. I really am grateful for these little things, as I am sure that they make my pregnancy much more enjoyable than it would be without them.

On Wednesday, J.R. felt the baby move for the first time. It is not that the baby does not move much, which is not true at all, as I feel the baby moving multiple times a day and even the midwife felt the baby move at my last appointment. Rather, whenever I would mention to J.R. that the baby was moving, he would place his hand on my tummy, only for the baby to become shy and stop moving. After going through weeks of this, J.R.'s patience in waiting for the baby to move had dwindled, and, after so many failed attempts, his interest in feeling the baby move was no longer at its peak.

Questions concerning our baby are starting to come in now. The most popular are probably "Do you know what you're having?" and "Do you have any names picked out?" The answer to both is no. Although we have a list of names that we like, J.R. and I have not come up with anything conclusive as to what we would like to name our baby. My little sister, however, has picked out names that she thinks would do nicely for our future bundle of joy: Michael, for a boy, and Bernadette, for a girl. Unlikely though it is that we are going to pick one of these names, I give Miriam credit for being able to decide upon baby names in such a timely fashion.

Guesses have started coming in as to the baby's gender now, too. My father has guessed boy, and, though I recognize that he has a 50% chance of being correct, his average when it comes to guessing a baby's gender is only 25%. Dad guessed that I would be a boy, then that my brother would be a girl, that my other brother would be a girl, he did not even try to guess for my two little sisters after batting zero for three, and then, on his sixth child, my father correctly guessed boy. My mother in law, who, based on the old wive's tales that she uses to determine a baby's gender tells me that she has never guessed incorrectly, has guessed girl. J.R. is hoping for a boy (directly related to passing down the family name and having a son to do boy things with someday), but I do not believe that he has put in an official guess as to the gender. Now, though truly I desire only to have a healthy baby and would be happy with either a boy or a girl, I have a feeling that this baby is a girl.

At any rate, to sum things up: I am pretty happy with my pregnancy right now, things are progressing well, and I look forward to meeting this little one in about three and a half months.