Grow, baby, grow!

I'm more than 21 weeks now. Past the halfway point. I'm showing, but still not enough for the average stranger to be sure I'm not just weird-shaped and chubby. But it feels real now..."it" being the idea that I'm pregnant, not the baby inside. We don't have to say "it" anymore because we had our ultrasound. We're having a little girl. A little girl. And as one of my best friends, Jenny, pointed out, "It just feels right that you're having a girl." She said this mainly to honor my mom, who died of ovarian cancer in 2003. The baby will have my mom's name, June, as her middle name. But that's as far as we've gotten in the naming business. Lots of ideas floating around, but none I'm ready to share or commit to.





You see, we didn't really expect a girl. The deciding genetic material comes from the father, and the last 3 generations of Richter males created only...Richter males. I have a lovely and wonderful sister-in-law, begotten by adoption. So I was expecting a boy. But a little girl...? It took awhile for that to sink in, but I am oh, so happy about it. And I think Dave is proud of himself for breaking the all-boy trend. We're bringing the first grandchild into the family (on both sides) and the first biological daughter to top it off.





The ultrasound helped me connect what I've been feeling to her actual movements. Right now, we're calling her "Wiggles" because she is a squirmy, active little thing. Even at the ultrasound, she was doing sommersaults and moving from one side of my uterus to the other. I saw the little, gray, skeletal-looking images twitching around and I realized this was an actual child inside me. And now I'm hyper-sensitive to her movement. She's most active from about noon to the evening time. She seems to know when my bladder is full, and she likes jumping around on it. Already, Dave has gotten to feel some subtle movements through my belly. She's strong. A hard little ball of wiggly child that likes to hang out in my lower abdomen. I, and a couple of my students who have ventured to touch my belly, are surprised at how solid the mass is. Not the fleshy, squishy feel you might expect, but a firm baby ball.



I swim once a week, and last Friday, as I was doing laps, I could feel her- a warm, solid ball in my tummy. She's quiet when I swim, no wiggling around, and I like to imagine what she might be feeling or thinking. I'm sure I'm projecting much more intelligence than she is currently capable of, but it's a bonding experience for me. I can imagine it's just me and her in the pool, quietly coasting in the water. I can't wait to meet her.