Latest Pregnancy News

Since I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday and an ultrasound on Thursday, I should probably give an update on how the pregnancy is going.

I'm at the half-way point, twenty weeks, and all seems to be going well. My doctor says that the baby's growth seems to be on track, and he agrees that I've been more reasonable with my weight gain this time. My second trimester blood test has come back testing negative for problems.

The ultrasound results won't be ready until Monday, but we are fairly experienced with ultrasounds by now. We know that the technician isn't allowed to tell us how the baby looks to them, but we can ask questions like, "are we looking at the stomach?," "Is that the division in the brain?," and "Are we looking at the left side or right side?" According to our own view of the ultrasound, the baby's body parts seem to be in the correct number and positions. The brain is divided and formed properly, the heart is on the left side, and there are two kidneys. We did not see any sign of the problems that baby E had. If I don't hear any results on Monday, I'll email my doctor to get an official report from him (since I'm not scheduled to have another appointment until July).

My doctor was a little peeved that I didn't have an appointment with him until 20 weeks. I had been scheduled with nurse practitioners (and not my usual one at that) since they were having trouble scheduling me. I've had this doctor long enough through enough pregnancies and memorable events that he knows me by name and face. He told me not to let that happen again, if I'm having trouble with appointments, I'm to email him and they will work it out. He's been a good doctor. That's all of the pregnancy news.

Now for my homeschool update:

The book I picked up this past week wasn't as useful, but I was distracted at the library with a misbehaving three-year-old. I picked up "Making the Grade: Everything Your 3rd Grader Needs to Know." I thought it was one of those guides that covers what subjects are usually covered in third grade. It is not. It is a set of supplemental lessons to be used to reinforce the traditional curriculum (though it doesn't spend much time covering what that curriculum includes). I thought that the most useful part of it was the introductory material. It has a section describing how the book should be used, a note for homeschoolers, a section talking about ideal communication between home and school, and finally a section describing what a third grader is like. Perhaps if a parent was not happy with their child's current schooling, a book like this might be helpful to supplement the regular school day. If a homeschooler is trying to scrounge up more lessons to teach their kids, this might be helpful. However, we are pleased with the lessons we already have planned and don't see this type of supplementary lessons as a helpful thing. I did find the section describing a typical third grader to be helpful. I haven't come across descriptions like this for my kids since they were preschoolers. I had noticed various ways my oldest was growing and changing, but I had no idea how typical some of this was. Now I know that she's actually acting normal (for her). Who knew! I'll try to find a better book next time.

Combining pregnancy and homeschooling, my husband tells me that I'm already nesting. That's because we discovered that our baby is a boy and now I can sort through all our baby things to give away the girl stuff. I'm also getting the "Boys" room reorganized to house two kids and revamping the "Girls" room to have room for desks. Four and a half months early is only early if you don't realize that we will be starting our new school year in only three more weeks. Once school is in session for us, I will not have nearly this much time to organize and move furniture. I will be doing third grade for the Pillowfight Fairy, kindergarten for the Adrenaline Junkie, and keeping track of a preschool Happy Boy who will soon not be taking afternoon naps. Desks for the girls are so they can have a quiet place to write, color and do lessons when they need the quiet. We are going to have four kids ages eight and younger, quiet places are getting harder to find.