Les Jones

Home Life > Pregnancy Half-time Report

Went to the OB-GYN this morning for our scheduled ultrasound. To cut to the chase, everything checked out fine, no problems. On the ultrasound you can clearly see the long bones, the profile of the face, the feet, spine, and ribs. She has her mother's mandible and her father's femur.

Oh, and it's definitely a she. We weren't 100% sure at the 20 week ultrasound that it was going to be a girl, but we are now. We've pretty much settled on a name, too. Kathryn Elizabeth (Katie Beth). We haven't settled on the spelling of Kathryn|Katherine|Catherine|Cathryn. Caitlin is possible, too, I guess. We bounced around a lot of names, but once I mentioned Katie, it stuck. The grandmothers took to it right away, and this past weekend Melissa pointed out that I was saying Katie instead of "the baby" or "it."

The ultrastenographer estimates that the baby weighs 2 pounds, 3 ounces. Projecting that out, the doctor tells us the baby will probably weigh 9 pounds. Melissa thinks the epidural is sounding better and better. If it doesn't come out of a test tube it's natural child birth in our book.

If someone wants to be a purist on natural child birth, I guess they can run out into the woods and squat behind a tree. After the baby's born you could cut the umbilical cord with a sharp rock.

I speak from some experience. Besides cats and dogs, I've helped birth a calf. I'll spare you the part about how we tied ropes around the calf's short leg and pulled it out. Once the calf was born, the cow rested for a while. Once she had her strength back she got up and walked a short distance to break the umbilical cord. Then she walked back to the calf and ate the placenta. I told Melissa about that. She says the epidural's sounding better and better.

P.S. We're actually past half-time. 25 weeks. Almost third trimester. Due date is September 28.

P.P.S. After the ultrasound it was time to go to the doctor's office four floors up. Hooray, I said. That doctor had good magazines. Sure enough, I found a copy of Outdoor Life with the cover story "Best Rifles and Shotguns of 2004." Melissa and her mom couldn't believe I - the gun nut in the family - found that in a doctor's office. Even better, on page 18 there was a sidebar of "Sites We Love" featuring my pal Alphecca. Life is good. That same issue has a good article about catfish noodling|grabbing|tickling.