The Pregnant Lady

This being one of my favorite recent pictures of Monica, I think I'll be forgiven for posting it here... right, honey? When this picture was taken in September in St. Louis, we had just been to the 9 week appointment, and had brought the ultrasound picture to show my uncle Tom and his wife Kathy on our trip to visit them there. That was a fun surprise to share with them. This photo was taken at the Lohmeier Sculpture Park in St.Louis--what a wonderful place. If you ever are in St. Louis, it's more than worth the stop.

@ 20 Weeks Part Deux

December 2006. My kid will, I hope, forgive me this indiscretion. I also hope it's not so bad for him that he'll feel the need to invoke Philip Larkin's sentiment in "This Be the Verse," but I'll wager he won't. When this little one is old enough both to know the great joy he will have brought to us and the importance of the gift of forgiveness--perhaps then.

You see in this picture...well, you figure it out. We're sure you can. "Immodest" -- as my great friend Adam's little nephew Aidan might say! (Imagine you're looking up from below the kid, who looks to be sitting down.) The doctor said she's 90% sure he's a boy -- and that he's certainly not shy.

I'll hope he might remember something more like a moment in passing, something like Gary Snyder's poem "Changing Diapers." I think I will.

@ 20 weeks

December 2006. Monica has been going to regular appointments to check on peanut since September. For the first several months, there is really very little evidence that she is actually pregnant--she has no "bump" yet, and she, fortunately, wasn't even morning sick. It began to feel like we were going to the doctor's office to "visit" the baby -- to hear the heartbeat, to be reassured by the doctor that this really was happening. By December, though, the "bump" is just beginning to become noticeable, and for the first time Monica thinks she might be feeling the baby moving. At the December appointment, the doctor completed a full scale ultrasound, checking on all the baby's requisite parts. In the span of three months the baby is more recognizable as such--we see a four-chambered heart, two working kidneys, the brain's two hemispheres, two legs, two arms, two feet, two hands, two eyes, a healthy spine and skull, and exterior plumbing.

This is a picture of his face -- he's lying on his side, as if he's asleep, facing you -- so you're seeing the top of his head and left side of his face. Top of his head is on the left.

@ 9 weeks

September 2006. Monica and I head to Sierra Women's Health in Reno, excited and full of anticipation about the kind of news we might hear. Here's what Dr.Dearmont had to show us. Heartbeat? Check. Where the head will eventually be? Check.