Boxcars

It was a pensive, slow-start morning. When I finally got out the door to run, it was hot. Unusually hot for the second day of Fall here. Many thoughts, good and bad were buzzing through my head. I hate seeing SR look scared, and that's how he looked this morning. We stayed in bed for a while this morning staring at each other's eyes. The humid and hazy run was broken up by a freight train going by me at a frightening speed. I watched one rusty box car after another and had the inevitable thought that the train was all too much like life. It seems like in the end, things will have all gone by so quickly. And what meaning can be made of it all?

But then, as usually happens when I'm running, my thoughts got a bit more optimistic. This time I thought about Kurt Vonnegut. One of his characters had looked at his life like a range of mountains, with events and emotions combining into beautiful scenery when you look at them all together. And in the end there is no time and nothing has passed you by, but everything important in your life makes up this panorama, with great breadth and height and beauty.

Life is amazingly good when you think of how we can shape it. And how many wonderful things there are in the world, especially when you have found someone to share them with.

On Friday we had our 19 week ultrasound. And the baby looked beautiful, though lizard-like at times. It moved around quite a bit. It's head was wedged in comfortably by the cervix. It was 75th percentile for size for this time in pregnancy, so we were quite happy considering I have only gained 1 lb since the first OB appointment. Just goes to show that the baby does have an amazing ability to get what it needs. The nasal bone was long enough that it seemed unlikely the baby would have Down Syndrome (interesting new screening test). The heart, kidneys and stomach all looked normal. And the cerebellum looked normal, making Arnold Chiari malformation unlikely. There's way too much to worry about when you know all that can go wrong. We had the ultrasound tech write down the sex on a piece of paper for us to open later.

At the OB appointment, a new midwife saw us and when she walked in she said we looked like such a Scandinavian couple. We got a kick out of that considering our upcoming move. She was proud of how much I had been running and encouraged me to do the half marathon this coming weekend if I felt up to it. She reconfirmed that the baby's size was normal and that I needn't worry about the lack of weight gain (I'm hoping that a couple weeks after the delivery I'll be thinner than I started). She was stumped by a few of our questions and had to refer to us, the two doctors for answers. It is fun but a little scary to know more than your provider.

That night we went to my parents' house in Milwaukee. They got to see the dvd of the ultrasound. They were quite happy. And also seemed glad they got to spend more time with SR. My mom in particular seems crazy about him.

SR and I had sex in my old bed and then opened the envelope to learn it was a boy.

Here's me going to bed, ear plugs in place, after we learned the exciting news.
My dad cried a little the next morning when he learned he would have a grandson.

Near my parent's house is the Ice Age Trail which has winding, rocky dirt running trails in the forest. We ran for three hours in bliss. Perhaps we will be ready for an ultra marathon in the Spring.

That night my 10 year high school reunion was quite enjoyable. It was fun to introduce SR to everyone. And to show the ultrasound pictures. The girls from my class looked really good. I was proud to hear about their jobs and the fun many of them seemed to be having. The most interesting conversation was about 20 HETE protein and its role in cerebral ischemia.

Here's us going to the reunion:

When we returned from our weekend away, we spent time with SR's kids. We had a Napoleon night where his daughter and I looked up everything we could learn about Napoleon. Life without TV is good. We made lox, vegetables & peanuts with grits and soy sauce for dinner. Yum! The vegetarian lifestyle seems to be going over well with SR and his kids. We even joked about a new Religion of Low Impact (ROLI), where a omniscient man named Roli would tell us what was best for the environment. But we have become serious about buying the ingredients for everything and avoiding processed, pre-packed foods. It's really a lot of fun.

Running Song of the Day: Alting Kan Gå Itu by Anne Linnet