16 weeks pregnant. The nausea is practically gone. I feel icky first thing in the morning before breakfast, and also if I go too long without eating, but otherwise I feel normal. I’ve been feeling more pregnant: back aching if I stand too long, wanting to sit down and feeling so much better if I do, a slight imbalance in the frontal tum region, sharp muscle pains in the tum/hip region if I stand up too fast.

I would probably be in maternity clothes except that I lost some weight before becoming pregnant and still had my larger-size pants. I’m wearing two-sizes-bigger jeans, stretch denim. And I have two men’s t-shirts I wear on alternating days, tossing one in the laundry whenever I’m doing a load. I am a fashion plate, clearly, but I do like to delay maternity clothes when I’m still in the “overdid the fudge” stage of tum size: it looks like such overeagerness to be wearing a huge maternity smock over a flabby little bump.

I had blood drawn for that MAFP test where they screen for the likelihood of various problems. I get more nervous about that test with every pregnancy, as I get closer and closer to age 35. I can’t remember how long it takes to get the results back, but Christmas will delay them even more. When I’m pregnant, screenings and tests aren’t good enough to ease my mind anyway. What I want is magical powers. I don’t want a “Your odds are 1 in 1000 for Down’s, 1 in 10,000 for spina bifida.” I want a window I can wave to the baby through.