Baby movement

Ben was able to feel the baby move beginning about a week ago and now the bumps and jostles are getting more frequent and harder to ignore! We're moving right along and in just two more weeks we'll be going for the anatomy ultrasound which will also hopefully tell us "boy" or "girl"!

There are quite a few entertaining old wives' tales which claim to predict the gender well in advance of these modern medical tests. Here are a few and what they may mean for this baby:

1. If you carry high, it's a girl, low and it's a boy.  My little bump is probably higher than lower but it's still pretty early.

2. If the baby's heartrate is over 150 it's a girl. The latest doppler reading at the doctor's office gave the baby's heart rate at 140...so boy!

3. If you crave sweets, it's a girl! If you crave all things sour, it's a boy! I don't have cravings anymore but in the first trimester it was all things sour and salty. I still don't have my usual sweet tooth either. So, boy again!

4. The old chinese gender birth chart. There are many of these on the web and they can be contradictory. The one I used for my first pregnancy turned out right and this time it says I'll have another girl. 


We'll just have to wait and see...

Happy birthday/Joyeux anniversaire Papa!

A baby and orchard update

I'm 15 weeks along now and it's getting more and more difficult to fit into my regular pants. The aches and pains of ligaments and tendons from my shoulder to my hips and knees are becoming an increasingly prominent feature of daily life and disturbed sleep. But, the latest round of down's syndrome testing and ultrasounds have given us an excellent prognosis and the very lowest risk profile possible for these tests so we are breathing much easier and relaxing into the long haul towards October's due date. I have a close friend who is due a few days before me and she was not so lucky with the tests. Although nothing catastrophic as of yet, I know she would appreciate hearing some good news from the next, more detailed ultrasound. It is just such a miracle any baby is born with all ten fingers and ten toes and no complications.

As for the vines and orchard, our record levels of snow and rain are continuing into mid-April and we have not had to refill the three water drums we bought for irrigation. Ben is spending a few hours every weekend staking out and pruning a few choice rows of vines and very very soon we will need to put up the fencing and tree cages necessary for keeping the deer off the spring blossoms. We have spotted a family of 5 deer on the property near the barn and orchard and I'm sure there are more who call those 10 acres home. It will be a challenge to keep things alive and well through the growing season but this cold, winter-like weather is giving us a bit of a reprieve to get better organized and get a head start on the bud growth which we, as city-slicker-vineyard-enthusiast-wannabes, direly need!