I happened upon this beautiful poem.
Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn’t grow under my heart
But in it.
Written in 1952 by Fleur Conklin Heyliger for The Saturday Evening Post, it was inspired by the feelings of adoptive parents. Of course it is absolutely applicable to the situation of any "non-bio" parent. 

We were heading to a friend's birthday party. Kay's blood pressure had been quite high for the last two readings but it was nothing new. A quick stop at the hospital, a quick non-stress test to see that all was well and then party time!

StormyD had other plans...

Darwintoo/Stormageddon/StormyD no longer...

The following post was written during the early morning of Feb 11. Kay had been induced the day before, her water had broken a few hours before, she was sleeping and I was...

Rats sing to one another. I think that is a beautiful thing to know (and not just because I am a. Irish and b. a former addict to South Korean noraebang (karaoke))!
Click here to hear a rat singing to you now!
And click here for a lovely Rat Song by Margaret Atwood.

The placenta is an evolutionary marvel, in my opinion. These beautiful organs have likely been around since just after the (non-avian) dinos got evicted by a very large space rock and 95% of the 5500 living mammal species have them (the other 300 species comprise the likes of kangas, roos and platypus superheros that provide lovely pouches or eggs for their wee ones). 

This fantastic sandwich of maternal tissue (the decidua) and embryonic tissue (the chorion) finds its etymology in the Latin word for flat cake. (Placenta-replica cake for my next birthday, please?! The more vascularised, the better!)  >>warning, if you like cake, probs not a great idea to click on that last link! 

We have been on our fertility journey for a couple of years so have had a lot of time to think about very important details like what the theme for the nursery is going to be! Those that know me (or have read even one post here) would easily predict Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy or dinosaurs. Or perhaps lesbian witches (NB: don't view that video if you don't want the beautiful story of Willow and Tara spoiled for you) that travel the Alpha Quadrant in a Corellian YT-1300 Light Freighter searching for vampire dinos?

At 11:13am (MST) I turned 39. Kay and I are celebrating by doing things we won't get to do again once StormyD shows up! That is: sleeping in, going to a fabulous dinner (last night at Corso 32) and a movie tonight (Ender's Game). 

>>Small but important aside here: Ender's Game is Kay's favourite book. Unfortunately the author, Orson Scott Card, believes that "laws against homosexuality should remain on the books...to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society". I believe he is referring to the laws and members

I like naming things. From my cats Velvet (I was 9 and she was soft!), Sammer (she seemed like a Sam) and Willow (I was a burgeoning lesbian with a certain vampire-slayer sidekick on the mind) to my cars Jean-Luc (was white and bald), Rorge (sounded like a Jetson car), Jango (looked like a blue Mandalorian helmet) and Jedi (a Jetta!), finding the proper name for something has always been very important to me. Indeed, as a palaeontologist, I spent far more time looking into etymology than I did researching the functional morphology upon which my thesis was based.

Kay and I have decided to bring a doula into our fold. She has actually been a member of our team for quite some time already, providing acupuncture support to Kay throughout our fertility journey and she is so good that we are making our relationship official. There was a date and everything! 

It has been drawn to my attention (by my single reader) that it is a cruel, cruel thing to have left the blog un-updated at such a place in the plot. What were the results of the Nuchal Translucency scan? Did anyone get eaten by the Smilodon?! As Darwintoo: Stormageddon (Stormy or StormyD for short) is showing you in her pic below, all is thumbs up! Here is some updatey goodness for you!