More Already (I'm kind of bubbling over)

The first real thing I learned when I found out we were pregnant was that I was woefully uninformed on the subject. I knew babies cry and they poo, and that despite the fact that they don’t seem to be aware of their surroundings at an early age, they will form and grow based on their environment, even though they won’t remember those years. I knew about conception, trimesters, and birth, or at least the theory of birth. I knew about alcohol and smoking risks, and I knew about healthy diets and cravings, and morning sickness. I thought I knew about some genetic concerns, and some birth problems, called defects, a word I dislike. And I knew that Angie would be moody and tired, the moody part being highly abnormal for her. Then came December 26th. I quickly learned what a blastocyst is, a word I love. I learned it develops into an embryo, and what arm and leg buds are. I learned about neural tubes and how early on the layers of cells divide and become specific parts of the body (skin, organs, and bones). I learned that embryos have things that look like tails, and that their organs develop outside of the body along where their umbilical cords will enter. They have yolk sacks, too. Weird. On Wednesday, I learned that at 6.5mms long they have a heart that flashes rapidly on an ultrasound and if the doctor holds everything just right, the highly uncomfortable Angie and her stunned husband can look at a fluttering heart inside her, and I can lean down and kiss her on the cheek and not think about anything else I don’t yet know.

For about two and a half minutes.