16 Weeks

This week was good: I slept well and had more energy despite a very hectic week at work.
My patients are all watching my growing belly with great anticipation, filling my ears with
old wives' tales and baby gender predictions. Isabelle and I have been making
breakfast smoothies every morning and they are the perfect solution to my early
morning queasiness.  I continue to drink more water with lemon than I ever thought
humanly possible, my thirst as ravenous for this pregnancy as my hunger was for the
previous two.  It's an amazing thing, this whole pregnancy business.  Amazing how
each experience can be so similar yet so completely different, a woman's body
reacting differently each time according to hormone levels, age, and life events.  I find
myself making little notes here and there to remember this pregnancy for the
individualized journey that it is.

I have a visit with my doctor this week and I look forward to hearing the sweet sound of
the baby's heart beat.  The appointments are simple and brief at this stage: the two of
us checking in with our gentle, compassionate doctor, exchanging stories and making plans
for the months ahead.  My mother, who has been by side through each and every one of
these babies, calls me as soon as my appointments are over, so excited to hear each and
every piece of information I may have gathered.  She is proud of me, proud of our
growing family and all the hard work we have put into making this foundation strong.
She laughs at me when we're on the phone and the kids are howling in the background and
my laundry is backed up and supper is boiling over on the stove.  She laughs and says,
"Don't worry, you will manage.  You always do".  And the honesty in her voice and the
warmth of her smile are enough to make me believe her.  To believe in US.