I’ve been open about the pregnancy… I’ve blog-posted here, twittered and updated my Facebook status in reference to events. Today was a milestone.

The ultrasound was at 10:30. This was all driven by the techs, with our MD doing a follow-up visit just a half-hour afterward. Cheri’s been nervous about this, and I don’t blame her. I think I choose not to worry about anything until there is something to worry about; I kept that attitude until we entered the clinic and, bam, we went right into the ultrasound room. The techs were understandably poker-faced during the session. Added to that, this visit was handled by the tech-in-training, who whispered back and forth with her lead instructor. This was stressful for Cheri and I. I have no knowledge of what makes a “good” ultrasound visit, but I do know what it means to instruct interns and students, so I relaxed after a while. At the end, we were informed everything looked normal. Our baby continues to move around a lot, just as she did during the first sonogram, now so many weeks ago.

And, of course, we were open to the inforamtion that we are having a girl. Cheri and I decided a while back we have no desire to wait on this information. My logic is simple: the baby has fingers, toes, a spine, so it goes without saying we want to know the sex as well. It adds to the comfort of knowing who our child is.

I took the whole day off, and so now we are at home, getting ready to take a dip in the pool.

I was pedaling away on the exercise bike (more on that later), when Cheri called me in to the living room. She announced the first “flutter”, the first movement of the baby.

This is a pretty big deal for us, as we’ve been asked routinely if we’ve felt any movement yet. Cheri was glowing with excitement. All I could do was act as a witness to this, and wonder how it must feel for her. “We” may be pregnant, but she’s certainly front-and-center. I did take a picture of the moment (at least, shortly after), which I will post soon.

Cheri was back at UIHC’s Women’s Clinic today. This was a short visit, under 45 minutes, even with our MD just a tad late. The heartbeat was strong, and Cheri’s vitals were all good. This was a relief, as Cheri and I both share a small characteristic of expecting the worst. Or, at least, worrying about it. No need to worry today. We do have a lock on the ultrasound. We have an appointment scheduled for June 18th.