One of those days

Today was our 16-week checkup. We waited about 1/2 hour past when we were supposed to have been seen (but hey, we'd already decided to play hooky a bit, since the timing of the appointment really blew both our chances to be at work anyway). Then, Nice Chinese Doctor came in, asked us if we had any questions (more on that later), took my blood pressure (something ridiculously low, like 105/50, as usual with me), and listened to the baby's heartbeat with her Doppler.

Then we were free to go. Duh. That took like 5 minutes. MurkyDad commented that, since we've been listening to the heartbeat every damn day for a couple of weeks now, we could save a lot of money on med school, etc. and just go into the fetal-heartbeat-listening business ourselves!

Oh yeah, and when she asked if we had any questions, we made sure to ask about the results of the maternal screening tests, for which I had blood drawn 5 days ago. She told us that if anything had been abnormal (more than a 1/270 chance of abnormalities), the office would have heard within 48 hours; otherwise they don't get the results for 10 days. So our risk was deemed to be, well, not too risky. Great! Thanks for telling us that ahead of time, guys.

We also asked a) what I can do about the Perma-Headache (keep well hydrated, since it's probably sinus-related); b) what I can do about being tired all the time (I think she gave me some sort of look like "You're pregnant, dufus! Of course you're tired!"); and c) How often can we use the home Doppler (once a day is just fine; it's really low-intensity ultrasound). Well OK then.

So yeah, things are going along swimmingly. The "anatomy" ultrasound is on June 28, at which we may be able to determine the sex of the baby. Ooooooohhhhhh!!! I'm not sure, but today may have been the first time I heard MDad say "I hope it has a vagina." Sorry, MDad, but you have to admit that sounds pretty funny.

Today was perfectly lovely, and a great opportunity for MDad and me to feel "normal" for a change. As you may know, we're currently living in different states (well, he's in a Commonwealth), which has made our relationship, not to mention the pregnancy, difficult and very stressful at times. I think we're handling it well, but with two jobs, two mortgages, my mother living with me (not for long, I swear, but that's another whole story) -- it's nice to have those normal-like days where Daddy comes to the prenatal visits with Mommy, takes her to an al fresco lunch afterwards, and then they both firmly cement their playing-hookiness by going to see a matinee of "Ocean's Thirteen." Which was excellent, by the way. There were only like 4 other people in the theater. And no, I did not succumb to movie theater popcorn!

Oh, which reminds me: I'm 16 weeks today and I've gained 4.4 lbs since my first prenatal visit. Not bad, right?

Anyway, today was lovely, and MDad and I agreed when he left to drive back to Commonwealth that we want more than anything to be "normal." Neither of us has had a normal life in a long, long time. But dammit, I think we're both committed to Murky having as normal a life as possible.