12 Weeks

So there was no magical moment, no twinkling of the universe, nothing remarkably grand when I woke up and stepped into my second trimester. Well, nothing more than feeling that the pregnancy is more sound and secure than it was a couple weeks ago and even more than several weeks before that. Honestly, that alone is sufficient.

But, if I could be selfish for just a moment...come on! Can I get some energy spurts? A properly functioning stomach? The delightful honeymoon phase? One piece of it, just something? I thought it was coming on last week when I went out to dinner at 7:30 at night (I know, so late, right?) with Beth, Meghan and Loey. I was so proud of myself for waiting until that hour for dinner (I'm really making myself sound bad now) and I felt great right up until we were heading home when I started to crash. I was so worried that I would have had to just stay home because I was too tired, too nauseous, or just too plain hungry to eat like a normal person in public. I remember thinking...this is it! It's coming. A return to normalcy--the end of the alien abduction of my body! The loved little parasite rests in waiting!

Alas, no. This weekend my sweet mother took care of me while I laid horizontal for nearly the whole two days. She had to witness me eat more food than she's probably eaten in the last two weeks. It's so not over.

I did however purchase my first "maternity" clothes. On Friday morning, I perused Fit Pregnancy and saw this epic-ly cute dress. It was black, stretchy, and edgy. Just my style (in better days, I suppose, but still). It retailed for $90 but I found it on ebay for $40. It wasn't a maternity dress, per se, however. It was a super stretchy little black cocktail dress that some falsely pregnant chick in a magazine fit herself into. I thought--eh, it's worth it. If I feel right now like looking that cute is in my near future, it's worth the money to take the risk. I bought it in a size large (fearful it was all a hoax), it arrived yesterday, and, dang, I like it. I think it will look even more cute when my belly is a more full size. Right now, my first scheduled wear is Nico's work holiday party, but we'll see if I get it out and about prior.

My ma and I also went to Target where none of the clothes in the store looked nearly as cute as the clothing available online. This is seemingly often the case in retail stores that have maternity sections in addition to women's wear. I bought a pair of stretchy pants, a stretchy top, and a pair of work pants. Basic, immediate needs met. I wore the stretchy pants and top all weekend long. Finally, some comfy clothes that fit.

Thursday is my first ultrasound, first picture of Little! Little is the size of a lime now. Once they see him or her on the big screen, we'll get a more precise due date. Right now, April 30 is the best we've got.

We'll also be undergoing genetic counseling to learn more about the likelihood of inherited outcomes. I'm just hoping to learn the exact probability that our child will be Deaf--I hope they can calculate that. That will be so cool to see that number, and feel like it's a good, distinct possibility. It would just feel right to have a Deaf child, like I'm keeping my family the way it is, and not morphing it into an all hearing family for generations to come. Fingers crossed.