No barking from the dog, no smog...

In the immortal words of that legendary poet, Ice Cube, "Today was a good day." We had a follow up appointment with our doctor, Dr. Marshall. Tori, Toni, and I all went. The purpose of our visit was to see if any of the potential problems that arise from STS Deficiency were present. He took a detailed ultrasound of Jack to look for a cleft palate or lip, undescended testicles, or stunted growth. As we all hoped, everything looked normal. More than normal. Perfect. His head, arms, and body are slightly ahead of his due date and his legs were a bit behind (all perfectly normal). There is no sign of a cleft lip or palate. We got to clearly see his nose and lips from underneath. He hasn't been born yet and we've already checked for boogies. As far as the undescended testicles or hypogonadism (disproportionate penis and testicles), well...um...everything is...where it should be. 10 fingers. 10 toes. And one giant head. Sorry mommy.

The highlight of the appointment was when Dr. Marshall zoomed in on Jack's profile. He's beautiful. He's perfect. He was sucking on his wrist at first, and then he stopped. Almost like he new there were pictures being taken. For the second time I was moved to tears by images of my son in grainy black and white. This time for different reasons. I hadn't realized it but I had been really nervous for the appointment and what we might see. Tori was completely confident that Jack was fine, but I had a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me all of the things I should have been worrying about. When I saw that beautiful profile, I started to well up.

When the sonogram ended, we had a chance to ask Dr. Marshall some questions. He is so kind and reassuring, he makes us feel like everything will be just fine. I had a list of questions that I had plugged into my phone during our Bradley Method class two weeks ago, and he answered all of them calmly and assuredly. Toni told him how happy we were that he was our doctor, and he thanked her so earnestly it was kind of moving. Everything he said today was exactly what we wanted to hear. We feel lucky to be in such capable hands.

As we walked to the car I once again became overwhelmed with emotion. I was so happy. Relieved. Overjoyed. Tori saw the look on my face, and said, "See. I told you he is going to be fine." For the first time since we started getting the negative news, I really believe it. Today was a good day.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Jack Marchese Blum!

Here is Jack sucking his hand or wrist. He is facing up and this is his profile.





Here is Jack sucking his wrist again.





Here he is. He is pulling the hand away. What a beautiful boy!!