My mind how it wanders

I have a few items rolling around in my brain today, so indulge me while I spit them out here.

First
I'm writing a piece for a magazine and I'm looking for one final person to interview. I want to interview someone that had preserved embryos and choose NOT to donate them to another couple. I want to know why donation was not an option. If you know of anyone that has gone through IVF, had preserved embryos,choose to either destroy or donate to research said embryos AND they would be willing to talk about it for publication (we can use a pseudonym.) please email me at redheadgur@yahoo.com. Thanks!!

Language is a funny thing
Listening to my son chatter away today I started thinking about how amazing the development of language skills really is. I mean really, think about it. Kids learn to words by listening to us use them. We point to things and label for them. "Tree, that's a tree. Can you say tree?" And perhaps our little one gleefully responds "Tee!"

In that vein there is some measure of instruction, but the complicated parts, they just happen. I never told my son how to press his tongue to the roof of his mouth in order to make an "N" sound. He just did it. I never showed him how to move his lips to utter the sound "Oh." Its instinctual. We hear sounds and somehow our brains just know how to mimic them.

Watching my child grow over the last two years has taught me more about the miracle the human body is than any science class ever could have. To see how many things are just inherent - things that we take for granted - is just baffling. To see how the wheels turn in the brain as we encounter something new is just fascinating. I find myself looking forward to the next discovery my child makes and to starting again from the beginning with my 2nd. It keeps me from getting bogged down in the "terribleness" of two. ha!

With a Kick-Kick Here
Speaking of the pending #2, she's really starting to get feisty. I started feeling movement about a month ago, but lately its gotten more consistent and more pronounced. Like her brother, this little bugger is active at night as I begin to wind down - she's punching my side as we speak. How am I sure she's punching and not kicking, you say?

Today we had our follow-up Level 2 ultrasound. I know the position she was lying in as of 9:45 this morning and unless she flip-flopped a 180 between then and now, she's punching.

Why a follow-up? Well last month they weren't able to see 'something' as clearly as they wanted. I have no idea what because the Perinatalogist doing the scan never said. He just said the baby was lying in a position that made it hard to get a good view of something he wanted to see so I had to go back. Well today we found out he was trying for a clearer view of the heart. Huh. Glad I didn't know that.

My husband, you see, has a mild heart condition. One wall is slightly thicker than it should be. His father had it too. And so hearing "We need to see the heart more clearly" would have sent me for a whirlwind panic attack. But alas, today Dr. H got a clear view and today all was declared well and wonderful.

Clearly nervous by the gathering storm of pink in our house, my paranoid spouse asked the doctor if he was sure this little turnip of ours was still a girl. So back I laid down on the table and back the little probey thing went on my belly. In the doctor's words - This is very much a little girl or one very poorly endowed little boy ready for Jerry Springer. So the pink stays. (Ok, actually we're not overloading on pink...I'm more a lavender and green for the girl type mom.)

And on the topic of kicking - my feisty little girl hates ultrasounds apparently. She the entire scan kicking the crap out of my stomach. Had she been larger than a mere 1 pound 1 ounce, the others in the room may have seen her little feet poking out my abdomen. What they did see, however, were her fists flying around several times. I'm thrilled actually, they printed out a picture for us of one balled up fist resting near her face. I have the same exact 'photo' of her brother when he was about half-way along in gestation.