by all accounts, i’m in the second trimester now. i thought this day would never come. so unless the screening test reveals something awful, it should be mostly smooth sailing from now on. (as smooth as pregnancy can be, anyway.) i love going to all the week-by-week websites on wednesdays and seeing what proto-joey is up to. apparently, this week she’s the size of a fist. it’s kind of crazy how fast she grows… and i should be able to feel her moving around in about a month or so. i thought i felt her move just a tiny bit the other day, but there are so many weird sensations emanating from my lower abdomen, it’s more likely that it was gut-related. now that she’s probably going to stick around, i’m going to try to take the rest of the pregnancy slowly and not be in such a rush for the rest of it. i am excited about impending things like feeling her move and having a proper bump and knowing what gender she is. but it’s not accompanied by the sense of frantic urgency i’ve felt up until now. and if i get to hear her heartbeat on the doppler thingie at my appointment next tuesday, the lead-up to future appointments will also feel less manic. the appointments before were preceded with excitement but panic. what if the ultrasound showed that her heart wasn’t beating anymore? but now that things are supposed to be relatively safe for her, i’m only a little nervous about the next one. just to make sure nothing’s happened during the last couple of weeks of the first trimester, you know? i would assume that after this, i can just mostly look forward to future appointments under the assumption that of course she’s still alive in there, duh!