19 wks 6 days

Jared read a sweet anecdote recently about an orchestra conductor who, as a young man, kept finding he knew the cello lines in pieces of music he had never seen or heard before. He mentioned this to his mother, who was a professional cellist, and sure enough, the pieces he seemed to know intuitively were the pieces his mother had practiced and played while pregnant with him.

I thought of this today when I put on "Let's Get Together" by the Youngbloods and the baby kicked me gently. When the song was over and something else came on, the kicking stopped. I waited a few minutes and played it again. More soft kicking. I think I'm growing a little hippy in there!

I've been trying to talk to baby more throughout the day. I feel sort of silly doing it, I don't really know what to talk about, and the dog usually thinks I'm talking to him and gets confused. I'm working on it though. Jared has started reading to my belly at night. Sometimes poetry, sometimes children's books, sometimes dry academic writing from his favorite series the Oxford History of Western Music that makes me fall asleep sitting up.

Tomorrow we (fingers crossed!) have a very big morning ahead of us. We are scheduled for our 20 week ultrasound, and if the baby cooperates, we should get to find out if the little kicker is a boy or a girl. I have never been so excited about a doctor's appointment in my entire life.

Wish us luck!