Okay, more on the insurance thing. We had pretty much decided that there WERE no options, ConnectiCare does have great coverage. But I decided to take another look at the site because something was bothering me.

Turns out the Blue Cross Blue Sheild plan Den’s brother is on is listed under Federal plans, not Massachusetts plans… which is why I didn’t see it earlier. It’s open to anyone (in the federal government), not restricted by area. (ConnectiCare is only open to those living in western Mass.) So I took a look at it.

First off, premiums are lower than what Den’s been paying – even the new, increased 2008 rates for BCBS is lower than what he’s paying right now for CC. Definitely a plus.

Next of course I look at the infertility coverage. And that, my friends is where BCBS bottoms out. They cover diagnosis. No ART whatsoever, not even IUI. And that sucks balls.

However, I am in the very happy situation of already being pregnant via ART. So I flip to the maternity coverage section. CC has awesome maternity coverage: no copays at all, not even for the hospital visit. And BCBS? Same deal. No copays for prenatal care, ultrasounds, labor or recovery.

I check the Preventative Care for children. Remember with CC it was vague wording, but seemed to indicate that it covered all well-child visits and immunizations recommended by the AAP, with a $15 copay each visit – which is pretty good. BCBS? Covers all well-child visits, all immunizations… and NO copay at all.

Den’s chiropractic visits (he goes once a month)? $15 copay for preferred providers vs. the $30 per visit he now pays.

Any therapy I wish to take with a psychiatrist or psychologist? $15 copay vs. $30 on our current plan. (And both plans do require that you get an “approved treatment plan”.) Thankfully my issues aren’t so bad that I would require anything more than some talk therapy. I function just fine without it, but I think it would be beneficial and possibly – just maybe – help me someday wean off my meds. (Maybe. After 5 years I’m not all that encouraged in that area.)

There is a overall calendar year deductable of $600 per year for some services – however all four of the things above have no deductable. (From what I can see reading the plan benefits, the deductable comes into play for bigger things like hospital stays, inpatient visits, medical equipment, etc.)

So basically, BCBS will cost us less money, for the same benefits. Yeah, it really really sucks that they don’t cover infertility. We could not/would not have switched to BCBS before getting pregnant, obviously. But you know what? We have managed to use all of our infertility coverage from ConnectiCare. Oh wait… I think we might have had an IUI left to use (snort). We used up all our medication limit, and both IVF cycles covered. So even if we stayed with CC we’d still have no more infertility coverage.

BCBS was kind of like my back-up plan… I kept thinking, hoping, that it would cover more IVF cycles for us. Den’s now really hoping we get pregnant by accident the second time around. (Me… I would mind an “accident” – or rather “miracle” – but I’d kind of prefer it didn’t happen within the first 6 months of our baby’s life. That would freak me out a little bit. Okay a lot.) I guess we’ll handle that situation when we get there… there’s always the chance of spending a lot of money to get me my own insurance coverage under Massachusetts which has a totally nifty-awesome infertility mandate. Would cost us a lot for insurance… but not nearly as much as a full IVF cycle (or two or more…).

Enough worrying, that’s far in the future, and for right now we’re feeling pretty pleased. I just really hope all our healthcare providers are in the preferred network. (Checking… my old OB/Midwife practice is in-network, our GP doctor is in-network, and – WHEW! – the hospital and new Midwives are too!)

Gosh, I keep sitting down to write this and then forgetting what I’m doing or – earlier today – falling asleep! Doh.

Today was my 16 week doctor’s appointment! I showed up a little early, had to wait a while for everyone to come back from their lunch and re-open. But I got called in pretty quickly after that.

First to get weighed. I groaned a little as I stood there. It read 139, but they take off 2lbs for clothes so my official doctor’s office weight was 137lb. Damnit. (I was 140 by their scale at my first appointment, so “official” weight loss so far is 3lbs.) I’ve been trying to gain weight (or at least to stop losing), but my body refuses! Luckily the midwife didn’t seem all too concerned, said that many people don’t gain any weight and since I’m still eating a variety of foods and not throwing up *every* day. She said that she thinks any kind of anti-nausea meds may not even help and would probably give me side-effects. So really, if she’s not concerned, then I’m fine. I just hope I put back on pound or two by next appointment!

My blood pressure was 102/50. That seems low to me! The nurse’s eyebrows went up and said, “Really good!” My normal pre-pregnancy blood pressure has always been around 110/60 so that’s maybe why I’m feeling a wee bit lightheaded!

She flipped through my records to find the results of the first-tri NT screening… came back with risk of Down’s 1:19,000 and risk of Trisomy-18 1:36,000. Those are very good. ^_^ I was never really concerned, but Den’s a bit of a worry-wart. (In fact I read him those numbers and he was like, “I wish that number was even higher…” I had to reassure him that those are REALLY good numbers!) She asked about the quad-screening, and I shrugged and said I don’t really care, but hubby would probably want me to do it and it’s just a simple blood test so sure why not. (It tests for neural tube defects.)

I layed down on the table so she could check my uterus growth – I told her I could feel it easily now and she said it’s probably halfway to my navel. And yep, she just smiled and nodded as she felt it. Then the doppler! She checked the middle first, round in circles, then the left side, round in circles. She gave a little chuckle and said she can always hear kicks before finding the heartbeat at this stage, “They’re so active!” – so I’m guessing she heard something that I couldn’t make out! (There were little whooshes and thumps and who knows what else.) Then she moved to the right side and there it was. She said the heartrate is in the 130’s this week. :)

She asked how I’m feeling overall, I just said a few little “twinges” and aches here and there, all perfectly normal. She asked how daddy’s doing and I laughed and said he has tons of pregnancy symptoms and he’s not feeling well at all… heartburn, indigestion, headaches, moodiness, cravings… she got a good laugh out of that one. She said it’s usually the sign of a very healthy relationship, and a very good daddy! Tee hee.

She asked if I met with the other midwife group, I told her I did and that I have booked my 20 week appointment with them, that they were wonderful. She said they’ll miss me but she knows I’ll be in very good hands and she thinks I’ll be very happy with them, and she wished me luck. :) I’m really going to miss her!

She said the receptionist would schedule my anatomy scan for me at the hospital, so it’ll all be set to go, and that they’ll order my records. I just asked them to send the records to me… I might want to make a few copies of things, hehehe. Then I’ll pass them on to the new Midwife group. Unfortunately the receptionist and nurse were a little confused about stuff…. first she said that I needed to get a bloodwork slip so I could wait in the waiting room while the nurse got that for me. I mentioned the anatomy scan. So she had to ask the Midwife about that. I stepped out to the waiting room for a minute, and when they called me back in she was on the phone with the ultrasound office making an appointment for me. Then she said I was all done. I was like, “Ummm, what about the lab slip?” “She didn’t give that to you?” So I had to wait again for that. But it all got sorted out.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) the blood draw had to be that day (it’s based on my weight, she said – so I had to do it the same day as they weighed me). It’s right next door, but it never fails getting my blood drawn takes forever. I had to wait for someone else to finish, before even getting called back. The blood lab at the hospital where I went for IF treatment is so quick, in and out. The one in this office is just one person, and for some reason they are SO much slower. So that made me late getting back to work. BUT she found my vein right away and there was no hunting under the skin for it… cheers!! (And PS, the needle stick hurts way less than taking the bandaid off. Owwie!)

And that was my appointment! All good news, other than my weight. I’m glad I had this appointment there, so I could say goodbye to the Midwife. I might switch back to her after the baby’s born, for my annual paps and stuff.

Oh, I guess I should reveal the big date for my ultrasound: November 9!! That’s only 3 weeks away!! Den originally said we’d have to wait until after the 12th of November, which made me sad, but then today he said anything after the 8th was okay… so when they offered me the 9th I was all, “Okay!!” It’s at 3pm, so I have to somehow get through work that day before my appointment. I am SO excited. :twirl:

Anyone want to take a guess at what I have in my belly? Is it a boy? Or a girl??

I feel like there are two of me.

One of me takes things as they come. That me is the glowy-me, the pregnant me. Happily moaning about still having nausea, enjoying the little aches and pains, enjoying keeping track of things, posting and sharing with other like-minded pregnant women.

Then there’s the other me, the IF me. Who is hovering around. And every once in a while she glances down in the shower and does a double-take. “Holy crap! I’m pregnant!” It’s the me who just lays here and tries to get used to the idea. Who is still really really shocked by the idea of bringing home a real baby.

It’s gotten easier along the way. I know when I first got pregnant – even a month or so later – I was still really struggling with dealing with “normal” pregnant women. I know most of them really didn’t mean to offend or upset, but sometimes their attitude seemed so blase to me. I’d get really angry. I’d feel like I didn’t fit in. I didn’t fit in with the IFers, because the last thing I want is to hurt any of them, and I didn’t fit in with the pregnant group because most of them got pregnant by accident and what the hell do I have in common with that? But things have gotten a lot easier with time, just like people said it would. I have more in common with the pregnant group… sharing appointments, sharing excitements, sharing shopping lists. I still get really irritated, but it’s much less frequent now.

I’ll never feel not-IF though. I still feel a little rush of frustration when people – who don’t know – mention offhand how easily they got pregnant. When they laugh about it. I hope they understand how lucky they are. I’d never wish IF on anyone. But it can be hard to listen sometimes still.

And yeah, I think my IF is one of the reasons I have really thrown myself into this pregnancy. I think I would have enjoyed pregnancy anyways – I really do love being pregnant, and I know I’ll want to do it again – but with this perspective I just want to enjoy every. little. thing. I don’t think I’d have had the discipline to take a picture every single week were it not for IF. I would have gotten tired and lazy. But now it’s like I wake up on saturdays and all I can think about is taking my picture, taking my weight, and celebrating another week gone by. It’s freaking fabulous. Saturday is kind of like “my” day – I’m really glad my retrieval fell on a saturday! LOL

This baby is going to be such a blessing to us. IS such a blessing to us. Even though sometimes I “forget” it’s in there. I eagerly look forward to feeling it move around. I’m freaking beyond excited to have my big ultrasound in 3 weeks. I really feel like knowing the sex will make it seem even more real. We’ll be able to name the baby!!

I was going through my calendar and writing down the week number on each saturday square, up to 42 weeks. I was noticing how quickly it’s going to go from January to April! January I’m going to be 30 weeks already… and that seems so far along!! I’ll be nearly third trimester while I’m in Canada visiting…. that’s seriously crazy-talk.

16 week photos coming up tomorrow morning. 4 “months”!! Baby’s size is apparently around 5 inches long! Holy crap! That’s… big! :D

This is really frustrating. I’m really quite hungry, I had a hot dog for early dinner and nothing much else since but a small little cup of applesauce. But I’m feeling such nausea that I don’t think attempting to eat would be at all a good thing. :( I really want to be able to eat!

All I’ve eaten today, besides the hot dog and applesauce, was a tiny couple-bites of Den’s beef sandwich, a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and a handful of cashews mid-day.

I’m trying, baby! I’m trying to give you the food you need! But you’re making it really difficult for me.

::

Mel posted about a cookbook that’s helping her feed good things to her very picky son: Deceptively Delicious. I’m honestly thinking of buying it… for myself. I really dislike most veggies, even though I know they’re good for me. And pancakes sounds really good right now. ;) Even sweet potato pancakes. (Actually… that sounds REALLY good right now.)

::

Know what tastes good? Toast. With jam. I’m eating a ton of that right now. White bread – I was buying only whole grain bread, because that’s what DH prefers, but I found I really wasn’t eating any sandwiches or anything with bread. I bought a loaf of white and went through it in less than a week. So clearly, even though white bread isn’t as good for me, at least I’ll eat it. And white bread toast, with butter to make it soft and yummy and Smuckers seedless strawberry jam on top? Truly, truly delicious. Nutrition value? Questionable. But it goes down, it stays down, it tastes good… and right now I’ll take any calories. I even ate the end slice. I never, ever eat the end slice. Ever.

So there was a point in time, about two weeks ago, where pregnant friends were asking about dreams. And I wasn’t having any weird ones. Well, one here and there, but that’s par for the course.

Well apparently the dream fairy caught on that I was being skipped over and has sprinkled me with an abundance of bad dreams. It feels silly now waking up saying, “I just had a bad dream!” because that’s what it’s like every night (or nap!).

Last week I was actually late for work on friday because when my alarm went off I was in the middle of a horrible dream. Someone had taken my baby out of my uterus and put it in someone else’s. And I was freaking OUT. The whole dream centered on me trying to convince people to put it back in me, that NO that wasn’t a part of IVF, NO it wasn’t normal, I WANTED MY BABY BACK. I woke up crying. I also woke up very late, because when my alarm went off I heard it in my dream but I kept saying to myself, “I can’t wake up, I have to get my baby back first!!” And I seriously wouldn’t let myself drop the dream… even though I appear to have known it was a dream, it was like in my head I thought it would be true if I woke up before fixing it.

Today’s dream was a lot stranger. First of all a very large portion of the dream centered around visiting a dairy. We got to make biscuits on this assembly line from the milk/dough that came out… and there was milk being made (different types of milk), and it was like a do-it-yourself-meal. Except it was going too fast and I got mad that all I got was one biscuit and no milk. Very weird. Why the hell would a dairy be in my head? Well anyways, the second half of the dream, after the dairy part, was that I was supposed to go get an IUI. I was there at the dairy with my dad and we were driving to wherever we were going, to meet my mom and brother. And then it was revealed that my appointment was for 12pm, and it was now 2, and they were all, “We get there when we get there, it’ll be fine.” And I was (yet again) shrieking and screaming that it’s NOT fine, you can’t just show up whenever you want to, we had to get there NOW. Something about this particular “IUI” was required during pregnancy, to fix the baby or something. I have no idea how my brain pieced together that one, but whatever.

I mean, seriously. I could make this journal all about the crazy dreams I’ve been having.

::

I think I’m moving KFC to my shit-list. … Yup, definitely moving it.

::

Is it possible to grow overnight? I felt so much bigger yesterday than I did the day before. I ended up throwing on an old pre-pregnancy t-shirt in the morning, and that turned out to be a bad idea. My poor belly was hanging out all day! Granted it was always a short shirt, but still. It just accentuated how big my belly is getting! (Longer shirts seem to not make it look so bad… probably because it doesn’t make it look like I’m busting out of all my clothes!)

It’s very round, too. Den just woke up and we both stared at my belly for a little while. :)

Unfortunately he’s still awake and getting cranky, so I need to shut off the laptop now!

I have noticed I can’t lay in the same position that I used to, while on my laptop in bed. However, I think this may have more to do with my 3 pillows losing their stuff than my belly. I need new pillows, apparently.

Tonight when I got up to use my big computer at my desk I stopped first to put on my bra. If I’m laying down I’m fine and dandy; if I’m sitting straight-backed I’m fine… but if I’m just curled up in my chair reading forums my boobs fold over and drive me freaking nuts. I have found that my bra helps with that. (The non-underwire Hanes bra.) So I’m thinking, hmm, maybe one of those “sleep bras” isn’t such a bad idea. I’m still not sure exactly what the purpose of wearing a bra during sleeping is… but it wouldn’t be a bad idea for around the house.

I suddenly have the desire to knit a wool soaker. I didn’t even want to attempt wool. But I want to knit something, and wool soakers look pretty interesting. I don’t even know how to knit in the round (yet). (I taught myself how to knit months ago… and all I made was a couple of baby hats. Since I wasn’t pregnant at the time, this depressed me and I didn’t knit any more!)

Did I mention the caramel squares here already? Yes I did. Well I’ll mention them again – they are sooo delicious. Lifesavers, really. I can’t/don’t want chocolate. But I do have a sweet craving, plus I find myself wandering around the kitchen sometimes. I’m hungry, but full, and if I eat anything substantial I know I’ll be puking it up in half an hour. So… the caramel squares. I grab one, suck on it for 10 minutes, get my sweet craving out of the way, AND don’t feel any worse.

The chocolate thing, it’s the only food craving/aversion that is seriously WEIRD for me so far. I avoid things like apples because, well, I totally had a bad reaction to an apple and puked it all up and a) it didn’t taste so good coming back up and b) I really don’t want to provoke any more puking. But I LIKE the taste of apples… the aversion is purely due to the morning sickness. The chocolate thing is totally different. I haven’t ever gotten sick from chocolate yet. It simply tastes gross. Just… wrong. When I think of chocolate I get an immediate “Ugh, not THAT” reaction. WTF? I am the chocolate queen extraordinaire. I am a chocolate aficionado. To be totally and utterly turned off of chocolate is… well…. simply crazy. Whatever are people going to put in my stocking this christmas?? Even cashews aren’t making me feel so hot. (Also another major love of mine… usually.)

Well, obviously… caramel squares. LOL!

::

Tonight we went over BIL & SIL’s for dinner and to watch the Red Sox game. Den’s idea was to buy a bunch of salad greens, some chicken breasts, boil some eggs, shred some cheese, and make us a big ol’ chicken salad for dinner.

Now honestly my first thought when it comes to chicken breasts is “ugh” – and it has nothing to do with being pregnant. Every time I cook up some chicken breasts they’re tough and bland and just not at all appetizing. However, BIL is an expert cook so I figured it’d be okay to let him handle it.

OMG that chicken was amazing! All he did was coat them in some oil, sprinkle some sea salt on them, and put them on the grill. They were SO tender and juicy, it was fantastic. I hope I can replicate that next time… if I can cook chicken breasts like THAT I’ll actually eat them more often! (And light knows I need a ton more protein in my diet right now.)

So the salad was really good – I especially LOVE chopped up boiled egg on top of my salad, YUM. But I was full all night. And I have to admit, that thing I was worried about with my maternity jeans, was a pretty valid worry. When I bought them they fit well, but I worried that the elastic was very tight. Not tight then, but it felt pretty non-forgiving and I worried about how it would grow with me.

Well the last two nights I’ve worn those jeans, and I tell you I get SUCH a bellyache. I have to pee every five minutes, it feels like. I don’t mind wearing the jeans for a couple of hours for an outing…. but for relaxing on the couch after eating a meal?? Agghhh. Not next time. I’m going for my drawstring sweats. Screw looking good, my belly needs to breathe people.

::

And no really, I feel like my belly got huge the last few days. I was at about “not much change” for the last belly pic at 16 weeks, but then suddenly I felt huge! Not in a bad way, oh no… just that something has popped out a ton more. And maybe it’s only how I *feel* and not how I *look* – although when I lifted up my shirt and showed Den his eyes did bug out a little. I’m really round…. I’ve lost that double-bump pudge and it’s just gotten really rounded.

I find myself continually amazed at how my body just knows what to do… how it’s adapting to this being growing inside me. I’ve had blue veins on my boobs since I got pregnant, and now I have some along the sides of my belly. You’d think that would gross me out right? But I found myself standing in BIL/SIL’s bathroom, with my shirt lifted up, turning side to side to admire my growing, blue-veined belly.

I am seriously, seriously drooling over BabyHawk Mei Tais. Expensive… yes. But absolutely frickin gorgeous, and custom made. AND I realized… DUH…. I can pick a totally girly fabric on one side… leave the other side BLACK…. and Den would actually use it! (I showed him pics of mei tais and he actually… gasp… said if it was black he’d use it. He won’t touch a wrap or a sling or anything “foofy”, but something with straps and back-pack-ish he is okay with!) I keep going over the fabric choices. I’m in love with several of them, but I won’t be able to decide until we find out if baby is a boy or a girl. If it’s a girl I am SO going pink. (I admit it… my wardrobe is almost all brown/cream/pink. Same with my jewelry, all pink.)

I also really want a HotSling. No idea what color, though a nice black or brown one would be just fine. (Of course there’s a part of me that says “Why get plain black when you can get something totally CUTE??” Not like Den’s going to touch it anyways.)

Yes…. there are definite benefits to having some items that are just for me. :D Den hates patterns… hates stripes, especially. We were forever arguing over baby bedding because I adore stripes in the right colors… and Den absolutely despises stripes of any sort. And, well, since we kind of have to share the baby, I feel like I need to compromise on most joint baby gear.

We may end up getting separate diaper bags, though. We shall see. I’ve had other people tell me that’s what they did… hubby got a black backpack, wife picked out a girlie purse-like fabric, and all is well. But I kind of like black for my purses anyways.

Yes, this is going to be an expensive baby. Yes, I’m crossing things off my want-to-buy list as I decide that it’s unnecessary “baby gear.” There will be no wipes warmer, no “diaper stacker,” no changing table. I’m even waffling on the stroller, but I think Den will want one. However, on the items I do want… yup, that voice is right there. “This is our first baby. Who knows if we’ll have a second. We’ve waited so long for this…. SPLURGE. Get the good stuff. Buy the gorgeous crip, get the oriental batik fabric. It’s worth the little extra cost.”

Though to be honest, this is our general philosophy on everything. We live without a lot in our house… we have no area rugs, we have only a hand-me-down couch that is totally gross, we have a $10 dining room table I bought at a garage sale. Hell we don’t even have a headboard or bed frame for our bed. But when it counts? We spend money. We could have bought a cheap dishwasher… but I did the research and we bought a $400 Whirlpool. We spent good money on a king size, all-natural latex pillow-top mattress (which we LOVE). Our computers don’t even need mentioning do they? (We spend a LOT on our computers! Den’s a gamer, and I’m a web designer!) The dog food I buy is $40 a bag. (I’m DAMN picky about dog and cat food, much to Den’s disgruntlement.) You get the point. We make do with a lot of hand me down crap… but when we do spend the money, we invest it in good stuff.

But for the love of light, keep me away from Diaper Swappers, okay? :D

(And I am not even going to TALK about the $500 heating bill we just got. I think we’re pretty much %!%#ed this winter, with the oil prices being what they are. I refuse to think about it.)

A good read: Baby Bargains Blog. I have not got the book yet, but I will now. Very interesting stuff, I’m subscribing to the RSS feed.

A good reference: The Z Report: BPA in Baby Bottles. Lists all major brands and all bottles and whether or not they have BPA in them.

Which is giving me a pause. After doing significant research of which bottles would be best for my child, I singled out the BreastFlow bottles. Good for nursing babies, reviews were all excellent. But… they have BPA in them. So I’m not quite sure what to do. I did want to try the MAM Sassy Bottles, and they are BPA free. There’s also the Born Free bottles, which is a company dedicated to BPA free products (but expensive). So more research, I guess. I hate it when that happens.

Not that I think BPA is going to immediately strike my kid dead or anything. But I’m starting from scratch here… I have a choice. Why not err on the side of caution? I’ll have to think some more.

Also, there’s a similar article about BPA in pacifiers.

::

Today has been an interesting day. First, thanks to the paving going on across the street all morning, my sleep was broken at best. This led to me refusing to get out of bed until I woke up and realized it was 1pm, I was still exhausted, and I was supposed to be at work already. Doh. I ended up getting to work by 3 and not leaving until after 7. That’ll teach me.

I didn’t have a lot to do, however what I did have to do took me a long time to complete due to being restricted to a snail’s pace all day. I’m feeling a ton of aches and pangs (not pains, just pangs). It’s freakin bizarre, because I didn’t have this last week. My stomach just felt so… uncomfortable all day. I guess baby is sitting on my bladder, because I felt like I just wanted to pull my pants elastic away from my belly all day – and they are NOT tight pants. I’m also feeling aches in my left side that I swear to god is my ovary. It may still be tender, and is obviously also getting squashed now. It’s still aching on and off right now. And only my left side. I find that odd.

My hips are feeling a little… weird. I was wondering if this is the start of that ligament loosening they talk about. I haven’t felt a thing up until now, but now my hips ache here and there. Standing, bending… something just feels “off.” And maybe that sound retarded, but I know when things feel 100%, and something just doesn’t feel right. But luckily I have the kind of job where I can just sit on the floor when I feel like it and play with kitties for 10 minutes before going back to what I was doing – and no one looks at me funny. Sometimes they even join me. Did I mention I love my job?

Speaking of my job… my supervisor and I were talking a little about how I’ll handle maternity leave and coming back to work. She asked me what is “normal” for maternity leave, and she said I should definitely take the “normal” 8 weeks. (My employer is a non-profit, with a handful of employees, and I’m part-time with no benefits. Needless to say, I get no official “maternity leave” benefits or anything – however, they have no rules on vacations or leaves. People take what they need, and we all just kind of work together to make sure everything is covered. So I could take as much as I wanted, really. I just wouldn’t get paid, of course.) I mentioned how we won’t have childcare available, and she thought for a minute and said I could probably bring the baby with me to work, depending. I suppose it all depends on how baby reacts! We’ll double-check with the big boss-lady (we run everything by her), but it would be really nice if I had the option of bringing the baby to work with me.

Granted that only works until the kid gets to the crawling stage. No way baby will be crawling around at a cat sanctuary! Hells no! But as long as baby is happy with being in a carrier? That would be totally cool. And it would make the whole how-to-feed-baby-while-I’m-working a non-issue… my boobs would be right there and handy.

::

I’m at my laptop again tonight – okay, that probably didn’t need to be stated, since I’m ALWAYS at my laptop EVERY night. But as usual, I’m seated here propped up with pillows, typing away on my laptop. Den comes in and sits beside me, as he often does. (He likes to pop in here and sit with me for a few minutes, to ask me what I’m doing and basically to allow me to talk his ear off. I swear I store everything in my head until he does that, then I release it all in one stream-of-conciousness, he comments appropriately and goes back to what he was doing. What can I say, it works for us. He’s like my living sounding board.) Well today he flopped there and then said, “Oh my god! You have a basketball!!” And then he cracked up laughing. (Luckily it was happy, giddy, my-wife-is-sooo-pregnant laughter, not the making-fun-of-me laughter, because everyone knows how long he would have lived.) But no, he was totally giddy, staring at my belly with a big goofy grin on his face.

I really don’t know if tomorrow’s picture is going to show much though. It seems it goes away in the morning, at least to me. But I’ll let you decide tomorrow.

Quickly dropping off a link so I don’t lose it: Bravado Bras. Not the cheapest, but they fit a range of sizes… good for when you’re not sure what size you’re going to be!