Another Op-Ed about Sarah Palin.  I completely concur with his conclusion: "In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally
irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this
important case, it is simply not true."

Well, if I had any doubt that there was a little person in there of some kind, the ultrasound put that to rest. Unlike the last ultrasound at ~7 weeks, which looked like an amorphous blob with a flickering center (heart), this time it looked like a baby-- arms, legs, head, etc. The nuchal translucency measurement was normal (though, supposedly, you have to wait for all the blood work to get the "results" of the test). It was good to see that the spine appeared to be intact and that the placenta was on the top of my uterus (no previa!). The baby was not terribly cooperative in letting the tech get measurements, it kept turning either to face the ultrasound or away, when it did finally roll on it's back it then put it's little hands up by it's face/ neck. I asked if this was the usual level of uncooperativeness, or if it was indicative of future personality traits. She laughed and said, "If we could tell you things like that, we'd make a lot more money doing this."

Other than that, the Fetus and I need to have a little chat about the terms of his/her lease, because section 3, Part A clearly states: "All escalation of morning sickness shall be completed by 12 weeks of gestation, with de-escalation to commence shortly thereafter." Well, after not throwing up at all (except when I had food poisoning), I threw up very suddenly Sunday morning. I went from brushing my teeth to thinking, "I had better stop this right now" to blehhhhhhh. Good times.

DH and I went to our first official prenatal appointment with our midwife (well-- one of the pair of our midwives) yesterday. It was relatively uneventful. She asked us questions, the "birth attendant" (aka midwifery student) took my BP and had first shot at finding the heartbeat on Doppler. When she was unsuccessful (nothing like not finding the heartbeat to put a mom at ease), the midwife stepped in to do it and it took her a little while to find it-- but, she started on my left side and the Fetus was curled up on my right. Maybe it's normal, maybe it's remnants of having been through infertility, but it was reassuring to hear the heartbeat if only just to know the baby was still there. I mean, I'm not showing, I don't feel any movement, there are times I feel like the nausea is all in my head and I'm not really pregnant. Before finding the heartbeat there was a little part of me that felt like a fraud, like I was wasting the midwife's time. I know it's crazy, I have positive home pregnancy tests, positive blood tests, and saw the little flutter of a little heart at 7 weeks, but there are times it still doesn't feel real.

I'm 12-ish weeks and tomorrow I go for the nuchal translucency ultrasound. I was leaning pretty strongly toward skipping it. Not because I worry about the effects of ultrasound, but because I don't think the test gives you very helpful information. DH wanted it and didn't see much of a downside... so, since he felt more strongly about doing it than I did about not, here we go.

The Reason Palin Is a Bad Choice for America--

Note I said "for America" not for "the Republican Party."

I've had a hard time articulating why I think Palin is a bad choice for the Vice Presidency-- it isn't about whether she will get votes or not (which is why the GOP appears to have picked her), it's about whether she's really ready for the job. This NY Times Op-Ed says it Better than I can.

For those of you who don't care to read the whole thing, I'll include what I think is the most disturbing quote:

"I feel for Ms. Palin’s son who has been shipped off to the war in Iraq. But at his deployment ceremony, which was on the same day as the Charlie Gibson interview, Sept. 11, she told the audience of soldiers that they would be fighting 'the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.'

Was she deliberately falsifying history, or does she still not know that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks?"

And she could be president.

(And I don't even want to talk about how interesting I find it that Palin's son's deployment ceremony just happened to be on Sept. 11th. I thought the parties claimed they were both taking that day off from campaigning-- or was it just the presidential candidates?)

So, here's the thing. I am not arachnophobic-- I mean I don't like spiders, but it's not like I freeze up and hyperventilate when I see them. Now that I have moved into a house FULL of spiders, I might be developing a phobia. Seriously, when I lived in Boston I would see the occasional spider, in New York I only saw maybe one (but what he lacked in numbers, he made up for in size, google "Gigantic House Spider" if you want to see what I mean), in San Francisco maybe a couple in 4 years I lived there. In Seattle, it's been non-stop spider action 24-7. I have seen at least 4 different types in or on the house. There is a bush next to our driveway that I counted at least 10 on at one point. I understand that having a yard increases the number of spiders you're likely to come into contact with, and I wouldn't mind it so much if they would STAY IN THE YARD. That's actually my main issue with spiders, their lack of respect for personal property and personal space.

At first, my DH was laissez faire about the whole thing. I mean, we have a different theory when it comes to spiders to begin with-- he's more of the catch-it-and-release-it-outside type and I am more of the kill-it-before-it-reproduces type. I stopped parking in the driveway because I was tired coming out to the car and having to first separate the car from all the webs that had been built across to it from the bush and then there was the day I found four different spiders (and their webs) on my car. My issue is not so much them ON the car, as it is them getting into the car with me and me finding them while I am driving.

To appease me, DH bought a bugzooka, which allows you to catch bugs without touching them and is "environmentally friendly" because it usually doesn't kill the bug and doesn't use batteries (I wanted the battery powered bug vacuum that kills the bug and is opaque so you don't have to see the damn thing once you've caught it). When it got here, he went out to the bush by the driveway and took 20+ spiders off of it (and it's not that big of a bush). Then he "walked 2 blocks away" and released them (I wanted him to leave them in the container until they killed eachother or died). I put the "2 blocks away" in quotations because he showed me later where he released them and it wasn't even a full block from the house. When I saw that I was like, "Good job, now they're going to make their way back to the house and this time they'll be pissed." I was only half kidding.

In the last day or so, I've noticed DH's attitude towards his spider-friends has changed a bit. Probably because he was in the bathroom when he noticed a whole bunch of tiny spiders crawling all over the ceiling. Seems mischievium knew something when she warned him about the dangers of spider reproduction. Truthfully, the last thing we need here is more spiders. We are the Calcutta of spiders. Anyway, he killed all the tiny spiders he saw and then called me in there to help him, since I am "good at spotting them." Then I spotted a bigger black spider and DH sucked it up with the bugzooka and did not release it.

Tonight when I went down to our finished basement (the only place I had yet to see a spider-- but it is still a basement) to do laundry, I killed 1 medium-small spider and 2 small spiders, then saw a larger one-- let's just say that the carpet is a med-light brown color and he blended in because if I had realized how big he was, I would have shrieked for DH sooner. Anyway, the larger one was in the corner on the carpet and I was waiting for him to make for the wall where I could smash him, when I looked up the carpeted stairs and realized that there were webs in the corner of virtually every step going upstairs. That's when I called for DH. He arrived with his bugzooka in hand and went after the big one first (at my request). I think it was a wolf spider-- I say "I think" because I refuse to google it and look at pictures of spiders and scare myself more.

We've been trying to go the non-toxic, environmentally friendly route, but I am about 3 big spiders away from calling Orkin. It's making it really hard for me to enjoy my new house when I feel like I have to constantly be on guard. And, if the next door neighbors ever hear my conversations with DH while we're getting in the car, I'm sure that they think I'm crazy because it's virtually always about spiders (because there is virtually always a new one on the car). I would just like to be able to look out my windows without seeing a spider web on it or get in my car without having to do a spider sweep first -- is that too much to ask?

And no I don't mean morning sickness (I haven't been hit by that... yet). I'm in Missouri for DH's brother's wedding and it is HOT and HUMID! Heat index of 100 degrees and above for the past few days and for the next few days. My thanks to the Gods of AC.

I asked DH if he wanted to tell his parents while we were here (since we could do it in person) and he said, "No, it's too early." It also occurred to me that it might be stealing his brother's and my now SIL's thunder to announce it around the time of their wedding. Still, it's been hard to chat about what's been going on in our lives and not mention it. And to avoid lunch meat and consume minimal caffeine (trust me-- I'm not obsessing about it, I had some iced tea the other day, I'm just cutting back a bit).

On my way into MO, I spent an unintended night in Memphis. There was a big thunderstorm in Memphis and the pilot of the plane I was on was trying to beat the storm into the airport, but we arrived just as it was headed over the landing strips and they closed the airport to landings. We circled through very bumpy air for awhile and then were diverted to Jackson, Mississippi to pick up more fuel. When we got there, they didn't park the plane at a gate, they just brought fuel trucks out to the plane, but then several people demanded to get off (Jackson may have been their destination), so we had to taxi over to a gate and let them off. THEN they found a mechanical problem and we had to wait for a mechanic to come check it out. This whole time in Jackson, they wouldn't let us off the plane to go get food, so I hadn't really eaten something since 10am (PST) and it was now 9:30pm (CST). They finally let us go back to Memphis and, of course, my connection was long gone. Because the main delay was an act of god, they wouldn't pay for a hotel, but they did give us "discount" vouchers. I spent the night at the Marriott (without my luggage, of course) and got there around 11:45pm. "Luckily" there was a 24 hour IHOP close to the hotel so I could got eat something. Good times. Did I mention that I fly back through Memphis on my way home? P

A new little person came into the world last night. Welcome Romneya O'Melay! And congratulations to Tabitha and the rest of the O'Melay Clan!

Thanks for the reassurances. Whatever was aching is feeling better now and my beta from Sunday was 677, so I think I'm okay.

Today's beta: 289! (which is good)

Now on to my question...
First, I swear to God, I wasn't going to be one of those first timers who freaks out about everything, but... here goes :

I am only 4 weeks pregnant and for the past 2 days I've had a
continuous dull ache in my lower left abdomen, around where I think my
left ovary would be. When the nurse called back with my 2nd beta
results I asked her about it, she said (essentially) to keep an eye on
it and call if it gets any worse.

I'm obviously worried that it might be a sign of an ectopic pregnancy, BUT:
1) it seems too early for symptoms (I think I read most people don't usually have symptoms until week 6-7)
2) my betas have been good and rising appropriately (betas in ectopic pregnancies tend to be low)
3) I've had no spotting/ bleeding of any kind

The nurse said to come back in Sunday for another beta if I continue to
have the pain (obviously, call sooner if the pain is worse or I have
spotting) to see if the beta continues to rise as it should.

Anyone have any experience with this kind of thing? Either a pain that turned out to be nothing or an ectopic?

PREGNANT!!!

beta hCG results: 148 (they like to see it above 50)

YAY!!!!!!!

I'm supposed to go back in 2-3 days for another test to make sure that the numbers are rising as they should!