Happy belated Valentine's Day!

Hello ladies!

I am finding myself to be in a much improved mood lately due to the weather. It has been above freezing and sunny for the last couple of days. For at least part of the day, Nick read an article that said Syracuse hasn't had a precipitation free day since September. I felt like I was being a little dramatic by feeling so down about the weather until I was informed that we have gotten over 12 feet of snow this winter, the only place to come close in both the Mid-West and New England areas is a town bordering Canada in Norther Michigan, and we still have them beat by a foot or so. But what I have noticed as a really nice thing around here is that when it is nice outside, even if it's only for a few hours, everyone is really cheerful. Also, what I hear from the locals, is that they celebrate summer in style, festivals and concerts and fun things to do. One more reason to look forward to summer!

Kev and I went to the doctor on Monday. It was just a quick check up, but much anticipated. A month ago when we were at the doctors we had sort of a unpleasant experience. The PA tried to find the baby's heartbeat, but couldn't. And while that was disappointing to me the PA told us that it was really no big deal, sometimes you can't find the heartbeat at 13 weeks without an ultrasound. She then told us she didn't want us to worry for the next 4 weeks that something was wrong, so she squeezed us in for an ultrasound. While having the ultrasound the technician kept exclaiming things like "oh no" and "that's not right" and asked me if I had a double uterus. Basically she was just putting us on edge, when we could hear the baby's heartbeat and see it moving around frantically like a healthy little fetus on the screen. She ended the ultrasound by telling me I had a titled uterus and a folded cervix (I am really sorry if you feel like you could go the rest of your life without knowing the details of my anatomy like this). The titled uterus I had heard of, and found out shortly after that my Mom, and about 1 out of 5 women, have this condition. What I couldn't find any information on was a folded cervix. I told a few of you this but when you google folded cervix, you get scientific articles on the folded cervix of sheep and dolphins and also links to incestuous pornography. But after talking to many of the brilliant women in my life about this strange experience, I took their advice and tried not to worry. If something was wrong, someone other than a ultrasound technician would speak to me.

So when we went to see the PA my first two questions were about my titled uterus and my folded cervix. She told me the first is nothing to be concerned about, it's just the way my body is and it shouldn't have any affect on labor. But with the second abnormality she looked at me and said, " I have no idea what that is." After going and talking to the technician the PA let us know that the tech meant by her commentary is that my cervix looked folded from a certain angle. So yeah, there is more I want to say about that and the tech in particular, but it's done and now I know that there is nothing wrong with my lady parts.

This time when the PA looked for the heart beat, as soon as she put the little scope-thing (Sorry MJ, my medical terminology must be just as annoying as the ultrasound tech) to my stomach we heard it loud and clear. Our next appointment is in three weeks when I am 20 weeks (half way!) for the big ultrasound where we can see the sex. At first I thought I would want to know the baby's gender before it was born, but then Kev talked me into waiting. And now that it is right around the corner we are both tempted to just find out what it is. Like anything, there are pros and cons to finding out the gender or waiting. I think the thing that resinates the most with us is that we are most excited to see the baby, regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl. And waiting until it's born, we won't have any preconceived notion of it at all. It won't have a pink or blue room, or tutus or trucks, before it has even taken a breath. I think it seems like the first step in letting our child just be itself. I recognize that actually isn't the most rational thought process, because as soon as it's born I will most likely buy it clothes and toys according to it's gender, but my gut feeling is that it would be best to wait. What do you guys think about the whole thing? Do you think you'll find out the gender when you choose to get pregnant?

Sorry that was baby-talk overload! I miss you guys and love hearing what you are all up to! Hope everyone is well and I will talk to you soon!

Maria R