Drum Roll, Please!

Today we opened the envelope. As of the last ultrasound, it would appear (according to the tech, because --believe me-- I can't tell much from the photos included) that we're expecting a baby boy! And, as I suspected, we will now need to work on finding a boy name since my brilliant choices for girl names will likely have to wait more than another 18-20 weeks to be put to use. Not the worst type of problem to have by far.

Christmas vacation continues to go wonderfully: sunshine, surf, lots of reading of books that have nothing to do with work (four books down, searching for another to sink into soon).

The Vacation Cometh

Indeed, 'tis the season! I can't wait this time on Friday -- the kids will be waving (or making hand gestures of some sort) at us from buses as they pull out of sight... my stint of bus duty will end, and, a few hours and one pot luck later, my winter vacation will start. Two weeks out of school... ahh. It's just as good for the teachers as it is for the kids, if not better. (And here I'd spent years thinking that vacation was all about us when we were the kids -- so wrong-- when it's really a sanity saver for teachers.)

We'll be trekking south this year to warmer lands where there is salt water and sunshine: Florida, ahoy! It sounds so appealing as I sit here typing away over my little lunch, all wrapped up and still chilly. We'll enjoy a week with my family at a beachfront property they've rented for the week, and I've already made big plans: rest, relax, read, repeat. If I can stick to that, I'll be ready to come back, bigger and better than ever, to face the next semester.

Until Friday, though, I'm still making it through the days with help from a little Tylenol and Benadryl -- trying to fight off some creeping crud that's settling in my head. My usual treatment plan (find what's on hand and take 2x the recommended dose of several things, repeat until I can breathe or sleep comfortably) is not advisable in pregnancy, so I've been a bit up a creek on this one. Thankfully the kids are generally understanding of, "Ms. Watters isn't feeling very well, so we need to work quietly." I'm a very lucky girl to have such considerate middle schoolers. (I don't think that my friends and I were very good at being considerate at that stage... hum, again, this does not bode well.)

It's A Jungle Out There

Well, moving beyond the disappointment of not being able to have the face that an 18-week baby-to-be currently has saved as a picture, I've decided to share other faces.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we had our families in to visit and they helped us with many projects, small and big. Among those, a wall mural that we put up in the guest room... well, bye-bye guest room, hello kid room. This is the result. A wonderful jungle of animals that has been tested on children under 5. (And, yes, they all knew what those animals were supposed to be -- Whew!)

So, while a 10 x 6 foot mural probably isn't ideal for future resale, it's great for boy or girl and... it's much more interesting than plain wall. Granted, it might freak out anyone self-medicating or those who are big fans of adult beverages, but we assume it will take the kid awhile to get into either of those things and think we're safe to leave this up for at least a few years... not to mention that crayon will blend right in. (Yes, we're thinking ahead.)

Please, No Pictures!

So, after an hour of ultrasound work, we have been diagnosed as having a very stubborn fetus who is camera shy.

Sigh.

For all the work, we've got a face down kid who refused to turn over for a profile shot, and some random parts that photographed poorly. These are, believe it or not, the two 'best' shots of the lot. We have a spine that attaches to a head, and a right arm in motion.

It appears that the uncooperative Chickpea has all the correct parts, two of those things that should come in pairs, and everything in the right place. The gender is apparently obvious, so a picture was printed and put into an envelope with the correct "It's a Boy!" or "It's a Girl!" card, and sealed by our very apologetic ultrasound technician (who tried every trick to get the kid to move, and all we got was more kicking of feet and flailing of hands). We'll open that little present later, but Ajay's still convinced it's a girl and I'm still sure it's nothing feminine at all.

Will the Dancing Baby Show Him or Herself, Please?

Today's the day -- the "anatomy scan" -- this is the ultrasound where they make sure that all is well, and that Baby Chawan's put together as it should be. I can't wait to actually see something moving in real time!

The first ultrasound we had at 6 weeks showed nothing that looked at all like a baby to me. I suppose that is why we're all called "embryo" until 10 weeks, then we graduate to "fetus" as more obviously human characteristics develop. I saw something with a blinking heartbeat. The ball of something is what the trained eye was able to label a 6 week old embryo.

So, having done what you're not supposed to do since we're all unique and no two pregnancies are the same, and having looked at about every picture online of ultrasounds done at 18 weeks and all the pictures of pregnant bellies at the same time, I'm feeling hopeful that Chickpea will be average today. I'm not looking for amazing -- like measuring a week or two ahead of schedule with amazing dexterity or anything like that, but I'm hoping everything's within normal ranges and growing in the appropriate places.

Of that, we'll likely have the option of knowing today whether we've got a boy, a girl, or a stubbornly modest Chickpea. The decision has been to get all the other information, have the person doing the imaging note their findings on paper, then stick it in a holiday card to ourselves. We'll wait until Christmas to find out since it's not that far away. (Not to mention this means not having to buy gifts for each other again this year -- we're getting good at not gifting!!)

More updates after we get to see the dancing that I've felt starting in there... and sometime I'll write about the Chickpea's reaction to some serious jazz saxophone last Saturday.

Our Coming Attraction

Coming in May, 2009: Baby Chawan! We don't know whether Baby will be a boy or a girl, but we know Baby's on the way. We're nearly 18 weeks into the 40 week wait and I've entered the Maternity section of the store (thanks to a widening waistline that doesn't seem to like being constrained by regular people clothing anymore).

So far, the journey has been mostly uneventful. The first six weeks (two of those on the clock without anything even having happened... I guess they think you deserve a head start) were cake! We found out very early on and just kept things to ourselves--a happy little secret!

The next six weeks were the opposite. If a bus had run me over, reversed, then parked on me... that was how I felt. Worn out beyond belief, nauseated all day and night -- unless eating something bland every 2-3 hours, unable to be in the kitchen because the smell of any real food was enough to about knock me over.

Unless that smell was Cheese Whiz or steak. The cravings went in fits and starts. Cheese Whiz on toast one week, tomato soup the next, nothing but red meat and cheese another. No salad, no black beans, no chicken or fish, no nothing that had been a usual part of the daily diet. Rather NOT my usual self.

I was amazed that something the size of a chickpea could possibly cause so much havoc in the life of an adult! I mean, really, from 6 weeks until about 12, I wondered why something I wanted so badly was trying so hard to kill me. It didn't seem right, but apparently becoming a parent is the utter end of life having the potential of being 'fair.'

So, "Chickpea" was born as these discussions of tiny terrors filled our conversations. And, even now that Chickpea is much bigger than its namesake legume, the name has stuck and we're waiting to find out whether this is a little pink or blue chickpea, waiting for chickpea to start really kicking around from the inside, waiting ... so, we wait!