Some more things that make me happy:

1) My OBGYN. Sure, there is a certain level of care that we can expect from our doctors, because that’s their job and we pay them to do it. However, every once in awhile I’d had a doc who has really made an extra effort. For instance, I was still a little nervous about how little Baby Z moves as compared to my friends’ babies. I told my OB that I had felt the baby give maybe 3 or so kicks that morning but that was it. A quick ultrasound showed the baby’s heart was beating. I wasn’t worried about the baby being alive, but I guess more that my heart meds were causing a reaction or that the baby needed more of a specific vitamin or whatever. I expected my OB to just shrug it off, but he insisted I do a quick non-stress test to check “how happy Baby is.” He didn’t make me feel silly about it, and he told the nurse administering the test it was b/c of his concern, not mine. Also, at the end of my appt. I mentioned a friend of mine in another state who also has Marfan, and explained her doctor doesn’t understand anything about the disorder and wants her to terminate the pregnancy. My OB offered to do a literature search and send me the results to help convince this doctor about the best course of treatment for my friend. He definitely didn’t have to do that, but I think it’s awesome!

2) My baby. Everything came out OK with the non-stress test, although my doc could only speculate as to why Baby Z is pretty chill. At least it doesn’t seem like I’m doing anything wrong. However, I also got some good news as a result of the test. Apparently non-stress tests are only kind of effective before 32 weeks, because at 32 weeks babies have fully developed nervous systems and therefore have reactive heart rates (their heart rate goes up when they kick) and that makes the test most useful. The nurse said that Baby Z was showing a reactive heart rate at 27 weeks, meaning his or her nervous system developed early. While I doubt this is actually as cool as the nurse made it out to be (she was probably trying to make me feel better about having a lazy baby), it was still nice to hear. I feel like we’ve worried a lot about the pregnancy and the baby so any good news is automatically great news!

3) My Grampa Brown. As many of you know, Matt and I flew out to Utah in August to say goodbye to him. He has terminal cancer; I helped get Hospice care set up in June so Gramma would have some help taking care of him. These past couple of weeks, Grampa has been talking on the phone with me: something he hasn’t been able to do in a very long time. Last night we probably talked for 7 or 8 minutes! Grampa knew who I was and was really positive throughout the entire conversation. He said he is getting stronger and stronger every day and he looks forward to me bringing the baby to come see him. I don’t know how long Grampa will be here on earth with us but I am eternally grateful for this time that I have to talk with him, to enjoy his positive attitude, and to see how excited he is about this great-grandchild (even though he already has many great-grandchildren).

(a picture Mark took of them back in early 2007)

4) My new haircut.

5) Running into old friends. Today I ran into one of the regulars from Victoria’s Parlor (the sandwich and ice cream shop where I worked for several years) while at the IGA in Granville. I also stopped by the Pataskala library to see if any of the people I used to work with were there. It’s been almost 10 years since I left, but the librarians were more or less the same and they remembered me. It was great catching up with them!

6) Pinata tortillas, which I what I was getting at the IGA because Giant Eagle doesn’t sell them. They’re the best!

7) Finding old pictures! My husband was wonderful and ordered me a new cord for my camera, so that I could FINALLY download old pictures. I didn’t even realize I still had these on my camera! They are from Easter dinner 2008, when Mark and I hosted Scott & Megan Lewis and Nate & Leslee Wood.