It's been such a wild ride already that I've already forgotten about our blog here, and so has Shannon. It's time to make some updates, and the first one is most important: we are having another daughter! Meredith Renee is who we'll be expecting to make her way into the world on December 21st. She's healthy, fidgety, strong, and Shannon and I are extremely excited that she's doing so well.
Of course, you'd think that seeing Meredith up on the screen would calm the seas a little bit, but things feel so much more turbulent. In the screening room, I sat there with baited breath, nervous as hell, at the mercy of the ultrasound tech who was moving her way through each image of Meredith. She kept looking for image after image of her heart; yes, there are four chambers there, I kept thinking. How many times do you want to look? I swear, she got a shot of Meredith's heart from six or seven different angles. Of course, we got fun 'xenomorph' like shots of Meredith's face and a cute picture of her 'BABY FEETS!', as Shannon says, but the long slog through heart shots with little to no word from the tech made me SO nervous.
Of course, Meredith's fine, and of course, Shannon's fine. I've been talking to her every chance I get, because I've heard so many people tell me that, the more our baby hears our voices, the better. I can't wait to start reading to Meredith...maybe I'll start doing that tonight. We have great pictures of her legs, feet, heart, face, and, of course, proof of identity, for lack of better words.
It's so different to be at this stage of the game knowing (almost) exactly who our child is, if only in name. I almost feel like that means I'm so much more invested in making sure things go right, and that has made me a little more nervous...just a little bit. That's okay, though. So far, even though I'm frightened, things are going well, and I'm so excited that we chose to know our daughter the way we have. It feels almost surreal, and I'm stuck between the elation of knowing our baby, and the heartbreak of August 10th. Emma's first birthday is coming up in a little under two weeks, and I know that will be another tough obstacle to overcome.
Now, I have to get to work. Shannon is expecting a pork tenderloin dinner, and I gotta get on making it!
