Today is the start of the 2nd trimester. Therefore, the risk of miscarriage drops significantly and supposedly I'm supposed to start feeling better. That would be nice!!

We have a dr's appointment on Thursday and he should be able to hear the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. That will be pretty exciting, and maybe he'll release me from "pelvic rest" and let me get back to semi-normal life. I don't know if my life will EVER actually be normal again, but that's okay. :)

This may not be a popular opinion, but please hear me out in full before you jump down my throat. I honestly have the best intentions behind it.

I was thinking the other day of the great "gay marriage" debate and it occurred to me that perhaps the issue has a lot to do with semantics. Therefore, I put forth a possible solution that may make it more palatable. <lj-cut>

Whereas I may not personally, from a religious standpoint, agree with alternative lifestyles, it is not for me to stand in judgment of them. And what I realize is that when two people (whatever gender they may be) have made a lifelong monogamous commitment to one another, it seems to me that they should be afforded certain rights. What I see as a major issue in the debate is that two people of the same sex in this lifelong commitment to one another are not afforded the same rights that a heterosexual couple in a lifelong commitment are, i.e. insurance, property rights, medical choice rights, etc. I find it detestable that as a gay person's partner lay dying, they may have no right whatsoever to make life or death choices for that person, when they are the ones that would know more than anyone else what the other person's choices would be just as one example. There are, of course, many other very LEGAL issues that arise in these situations when gay partners cannot be legally joined.

Having said that, I have no issue with gay partners having legal rights. And I think a lot of other people would not have those issues either. However, I think the argument and the frustration and the indignation and the emotional vile comes from semantics, i.e. the use of the word "marriage" itself. It is a difficult thing for me as well, as I see marriage as a religious ceremony between man and woman (even though I do realize that it is a legal term for the joining of two people) and that makes it hard for me to be totally comfortable in using the word to describe the union of man and man or woman and woman. Before you fly off the handle, please finish hearing me out!

What I think is that a new word should be coined for the legal joining of gay partners. In this way, perhaps, there would be less resistance to a ceremony that unites life partners, yet they would still be afforded what they really want and need which is a recognized legal bond. It is a compromise, but perhaps it is a necessary one to get us past all the vitriol and get to what I believe is the bottom line - gay couples legal rights regarding one another, and gay couples being recognized as a legal partnership.

That is my solution. May the mudslinging begin. ;)

Perhaps in pregnancy 13 is a lucky number. Tomorrow I will be 13 weeks pregnant, and I'm FINALLY starting to feel better and have more energy. It's about time. :D

Finally. I can go to a baby shower and not feel like my heart is going to break. :) Today is Mike's cousin's wife's baby shower and I am going. And guess what? I'm NEXT!!! :)

Well, one of the positive things about pregnancy is you get to buy new clothes!!! YAY!!! And, so my friend took me to Target today and I bought 3 pairs of pants, a pair of shorts, a dress, a blouse, and 3 t-shirts. Fun! That is obviously not the extent of my pregnancy wardrobe yet, but at least it's a start. I actually am not QUITE ready for maternity clothes, but my regular clothes (at least the pants) are all too tight, and I decided I would just rather be comfortable thank you very much. And the happiest part was, I'm still wearing size 6 and size small! YAY!

The test results came back today. So, at my age I have a 1 in 156 chance of having a Down Syndrome baby - which is still a 99.4% chance that I won't. The test results were all in good range, so THAT raises the odds to 1 in 10,000 which I think are pretty darn good odds. So, no amniocentesis for us as that would not give us better odds anyway. Everything is looking good! :)

I think the scariest thing about being pregnant is the worry that something could be wrong with the baby. I think everyone wants their baby to be perfect and healthy, and we are no exception. Since I am of "advanced maternal age" there is a slightly greater risk of chromosomal abnormalities (like Down Syndrome) or birth defects. There are, of course, tests that can be done that can pretty much rule out some of those, but of course there is no way to know 100% that everything is okay until baby makes its appearance in the world. Today we had what is called a nuchal translucency ultrasound where they basically do a regular ultrasound, but measure the fluid in the neck which is a good indicator of whether or not the baby might have Down Syndrome. They also take a blood test called a "triple screen" which combined with the ultrasound gives a 90% accurate reading. If things don't look good, they can go ahead and do amniocentesis, but that carries a small risk of miscarriage, and why stick a needle into your uterus and jeopardize the baby if it's not absolutely necessary? I'm 12 weeks pregnant now, and the only thing knowing the baby had Down Syndrome would do at this point is prepare me to deal with it. I wouldn't terminate a pregnancy that is a third of the way finished. I certainly wouldn't fault someone for doing it - I know that those babies and babies with other birth defects are very high maintenance and it has to be a personal choice, but after seeing the baby wiggling around on the ultrasound 2 weeks ago, how could I terminate its life? It is moving, wiggling, with a beating heart, putting its hands on its face - it has a personality already. That is my child. Our flesh and blood - what we've wanted for a long time. And whatever happens, I will find a way to deal with it. I certainly pray everything is okay, but I figure if God thinks I can handle it, then I must be able to. What do I think the results will be? I think they will be fine, and the baby will be fine and healthy and normal and so smart that she or he will drive us both crazy. :) Either way, the baby will be ours and ours alone. It's a wiggler - definitely Mike's. It puts its hands in front of its face when on camera - definitely Karin's. A product of our love. That's a pretty cool thing don't you think?

Who came up with the arbitrary number that pregnancy should take 9 months? It MUST have been a man.

And it must have been the same man that invented girdles, high heels, underwire bras, waxing, pms, menstrual cramps, morning sickness, eyebrow plucking, and piercing just to name a few.