I thought I lost this post, but it saved it!

Work has been absolutely insane the last couple of weeks, to the point of me getting home after 8pm several nights. Also, I hadn't been sick for over a week and this morning/ALL DAY I've been nauseated, vomiting, and experiencing other symptoms I'd rather not share. Anyway, what's the point of this post? No new data as far as the baby goes, and although my belly has popped out like Punxsutawney Phil on February 2, the only reason I'm posting is to give you my hypothesis about the gender of my impending spawn. So here goes:

I THINK...it's a girl.

I've compared lists of symptoms, and I will outline for you why I believe this.

1. Chinese Gender Calendar. This is something that's allegedly pretty accurate in determining your baby's gender--take a look at 22/November.

2. Morning sickness. Most symptom pages note that if you've had morning sickness (which good lord, I have) then it's likely a girl. Apparently boys are less likely to make you sick, and more likely to be active. I haven't felt any movement yet, so we can add that to the girl column.

3. Heart rate. Girls are allegedly above 140, and mine have been consistently high.

4. Cravings. All I've been craving is fruit. Boys are supposed to make you crave salt, and girls sweets and fruit. I haven't had any particular cravings for salty or sweet foods--just fruit.

5. Yeah, I actually tried this: hanging my wedding ring on a piece of dental floss (what? it was what I had handy at the time) resulted in back and forth motion rather than a circle. I don't know how that's at all reliable, but it's a girl symptom.

Most of the information I'm quoting comes from this site; I've seen places that say that if you're sick it's a boy, or if the ring moves in a circle it's a girl, so I don't know 100% that any of this is even remotely reliable. My guess would be no. But I wanted to put that out there so I can look back at it once the ultrasound comes back and see how accurate superstitions are.

Eventually, we'll need a crib or something

Things at work are less than awesome, so that's been taking up most of my brain space for the last week. I'm trying very hard to work on the things I need to work on and don't feel like I'm getting much out of my efforts. I don't want to end the year on a bad note, so I guess I'll just keep trying harder--although today I had to break a promise to my students; their grades aren't up to date because I can't get to the gradebook from home, apparently--and hope that something good comes of it.

This week was another checkup, mostly just having blood drawn and making sure that there is still a baby in there (there is). Heart rate is 156, my glucose and iron levels are about normal, and they're going to run the screens for birth defects. March 8 is when I learn if it's a boy or a girl. I'll scan or upload an ultrasound when I get it and be sure to let you know.

I'm also coming out of the morning sickness phase. It's gone back to the level it was in December--vomiting about once a week--with no daily nausea, which is so much more amazing than I ever would have appreciated before. I'm not feeling kicks or anything really yet, but hearing the heartbeat reminds me that there is a tiny little being in there whose heartbeat doesn't match mine. That's a weird feeling. My students are also starting to ask to touch my stomach, which I mind a lot less than I thought I would. Mostly they poke it and go "oh, that's weird!" or make a super-obvious comment like "there's a baby in there!" I really thought I would hate people wanting to touch my belly, but I don't. It's kind of funny.

The genius of elastic

I was doing so well until this evening...I've learned, basically, that I cannot go more than a couple of hours without eating or my body WILL rebel and make me throw up, and the fetus does not care where I am or what I'm doing.

I actually have a bump. I hate referring to it as such, given the disgusting "bump watch" mentality of celebrity tabloids, but I flatter myself to say that I have any measure of celebrity or that anyone is watching for my bump (save perhaps my students, who are all crazy). But it's there: the belly is poking out noticeably, and if you feel it, it doesn't smush in like it used to when the only thing in there was...well...fat. So today I bought a belly band, since some of my pants are fitting rather tightly. This whole situation is still weird to me.

We've been out of school for three days because of the snowstorm that hit this weekend, and it's been making me wish for summer break or the time that I can actually take a little bit of time off. Brandon went to the job fair today, and has some good prospects for possible employment in the near future. I don't know where we're going to end up, but as long as he has a job I'll go wherever. Although I wouldn't be thrilled about Detroit.