Appointment Today
Blood Pressure: 132/70
Baby's Heartbeat: 145 bpm
Weight: Gained 4 lbs. (this means I am now breaking even with my first appointment and still down about 3 from my prepregnancy weight.)
Measurement: not sure, she did not say, I did not think to ask

When I consulted with Maternal Fetal Medicine in October, they said I should have my heart monitored at each appointment because I was born with mitral valve prolapse and an irregular heartbeat. I had a battery of tests done every few years throughout my childhood, but when I was 20 or 21 the prolapse was no longer detected and the murmur cased by it had disappeared. Today, my midwife detected the telltale murmur again. She said it could just be a normal variant that sometimes occurs in pregnancy, but with the history of prolapse, she would like to have it checked. So tomarrow at 8:45 I will go to have an echocardiogram (sp?) done to determine if I need to have any changes in my care.

I will also be going for my 1 hour glucose test and bloodwork to check my iron levels.

I need to check with my midwife about the serial ultrasounds to check growth rate recommended by the Maternal Fetal Specialist at my Level II. I asked her about them, but did not ask about when they should be done.

We're down to about 15... but we're not telling you what they are yet. Maybe we won't until the pickle is born. Then what'll you do? Cry? That's what I thought.

By the way, in case you were wondering, Rick James is not on the list.

Now that we know the gender of the little guy, the next questions we always get is "Have you picked a name yet?" But because we are responsible adults and are not allowed to say "We just found out that it was a boy 3 days ago you stupid monkey! Give us some time. Jeeze." We have to shorten it to just "Not yet." But here's an update for all of you that are curious.

The Naming Process Thus Far
A comedy in five acts

Act I
Time: Many months ago (before we were actually pregnant)
Location: Borders Books and Music, Michigan Ave.

Nicole: I want to look in the baby section.
Sean: Aw geeze, not again.
N: Shut up you crybaby. You want to have a kid too.
S: Well... yeah... but still there's parts of the process I just like better.
N: Well shut up and help me see if there's any books about conception or you don't get to do the fun parts.
S: Damn your infernal logic.
Searching Ensues
S: I don't think anyone writes books about trying to concieve unless they're dumb or else you've been trying forever.
N: Yeah, maybe we could get a book of names and look through.
S: Okay, here's one with 2,000.
N: That's nothing here's one with 10,000
S: Ooooh... how about this one: 20,001
N: We have a winner! 40,0001!
S: That's a lot of names. I wonder how many of them are stupid.
N: Probably a lot. But it has some cool lists, like the most popular names of the 70's
S: What, like Sunshine Rainbow Blowjob?
N: I can't take you anywhere.
S: Yeah but I'm cute.
N: Yeah... just keep right on telling yourself that.

Act II
Time: The next several months
Location: The bedroom, livingroom or bathroom.

S: How about Cowboy?
N: No.
S: How about Cromwell?
N: What does that mean?
S: Giving.
N: No.
(Scene repeats, roles reversed, different names. Throughout, players mark names they like in the book.)
N: I'm on "R" and you're only on "L" Slacker.
S: Just because I don't spend as much time on the can as you.
N: Shut up.

Act III
Time: Several months later
Location: The Bedroom

N: Done. Finally.
S: That was a lot of freakin' names.
N: Well... I've got all the girls names we marked in a spreadsheet, you do the boys.
S: Fine. Give me the hard part.
N: Damn right. You can have the hard part of naming the kid. I've got to do the hard part of having the kid.
S: Oh... yeah... that.
(time elapses)
S: I cannot believe how many name we still have left.
N: I can't believe that with a book of 40,000 names, we had to add one.
S: Yeah... that's kind of crazy. So all the names are entered.
N: We're such huge dorks... putting our baby names in a spreadsheet.
S: Yeah, but it'll make sorting through them so much easier. Don't forget to save it to the network.
N: Dork.

Act IV
Time: Very recently
Location: The Computer/Dining Room

S: Well we're down to 47 names.
N: Yeah... too bad it's not a girl... that list was shorter.
S: Oh well.
N: I guess we'd better work on this so eventually we'll actuall have something to call the kid.
S: Well at work, they asked if we'd picked a name, and I said "Not Yet" and then they asked what names I liked and I said "I don't know, I kind of like Dylan" which brought the suggestion of calling the kid 'Dill' for short which, of course, led to the suggestion of 'Pickle'... You know... Pickle's not the worst nickname for a kid.
N: True.
S: and we need something to call him besides just 'the kid' or 'the baby' or 'it'... From now on we should call him "The Pickle"... not as good as "The Squirrelly" but what the heck.
N: Yeah, and since that's already taken...
S: Okay... I guess I should post this since we've caught everyone up to now.
N: Okay.

Act IV
Time: Sometime in the not-too-distant future
Location: Probably the Computer Room

We'll let you know when we've come up with a name, but for now, feel free to call him "The Pickle"