A Lie

So, I've been living a lie for the last 13 weeks. Um, apparently I don't know how to count??? So, the way this pregnancy is counted is by COMPLETED weeks. God in heaven. How am I supposed to learn these things? So, today is called 12.2 - meaning I have completed 12 weeks and two days. Well, today is the second day, so it's not - technically - completed. The funny thing is, I am actually in my 13th week, but does it count? I mean, am I still in my first trimester or what??? (This ends at the end of the 12 week.) So, in actual time my 12th week ended on Thursday...but in pregnancy counting is this my 12 week? I am at a loss. I suppose it doesn't matter much...but I would sort of like to know if I've left the first trimester - just for precision's sake.

To make it complicated, one of my pregnancy books says that the chance of miscarriage takes a major drop at the end of the 12th week. So, I'd think, taking into account the way weeks are counted, maybe next week? However, another one of my books has a nifty little chart where you can look up the date of your last period and it maps out all kinds of things - your due date, when the sex can be determined...and the date where miscarriage drops off radically. That date, for me, was yesterday. Friday the 13th. I am confused.

Fortunately, all of this only matters because my attention to detail is bordering on pathological. I can work on that.

The more obviously exciting news (that some of you may wonder why I didn't lead with - hey, remember my obsession with detail, folks) is that we heard the heartbeat yesterday. It was pretty soft and very fast. The midwife had to take a few minutes to find it. We'd hear it for a second...then Cletus would dash off to the other side of my uterus. The midwife was like, "It's shy."

Back off, lady, let's not start projecting personality traits onto little Cletus, whose bones haven't even calcified yet. I mean he's pretty flexible still - literally.

Ha ha. I'm sort of kidding. I mean, it was an innocent comment...but I kept thinking about it. We think a lot about the baby's sex...but what about shyness? Am I afraid of a shy child? Or an outgoing child? What if our child isn't good at math? Does that matter? What if it's tone deaf...or terribly clumsy? I'm not sure I care...it's just overwhelming to think of all the possibilities. There are so many aspects to each person's character... Some character traits are bound to be challenging for me to deal with. That comes with the territory. I guess each kid is what it is...and you both shape that...and sort of don't have any control over parts of it. I mean, they ARE their own person. C R A Z Y.

This whole parenting thing is going to be very...interesting.