September 14th

Posted October 3rd, 2010 by Michelle

My baby is chromosomally healthy.  And a baby boy!

I got a call from the Stanford clinic today, and they left the perfect message: “We have good news for you about your CVS results”.  Still, I called back in a panic, as it was 4:40 and I didn’t know how late they’d be open.  But I got one of the genetic counselors on the phone who was far more warm and caring rather than cold and clinical – you can’t help but love the NorCal way of life – who told me that all of the results came back normal, and asked if I wanted to know the sex.  I said yes, and she said, are you ready?  And I said YES!  And she said “You are having a boy!”

I knew the baby was healthy – I’ve always known – but it was only this last week that I started to really know that it was a boy.  I wasn’t sure, and early on, both Jon and thought it was a girl.  And while the news about it being healthy was no surprise, it was an incredible relief that I got to finally share this news with Jon.  I called him at work, so he answered in his usual subdued tones, and when I told him that not only was the baby healthy, it was a boy, he said, with almost no emotion, “That’s great.  I have to go throw up now.”  I think it finally hit him that we are going to parents – and I also think he needed to release an incredible amount of anxiety and fear.

So… now the planning in earnest begins.  I’ll tell my board president at the end of this week, as well as the board and full staff, and finally I can relax into being pregnant (and all that means) in my public life as well as my personal life.  That will be my great relief.

Thursday I’ll be fifteen weeks.  And hopefully entering the trimester that was my mom’s favorite – she claims to have never felt better in her life than during her second trimester.  Mine has started off far rockier than hers, but still, every day, I’m delighted to feel so awful in all the right ways.