Of course, tonight, instead of walking with an angry look on his face and his ears pinned back in that, �Ok, you win � this time� look, he kept pawing at the halti and bucking and generally giving me a hard time.

Sigh.

It was still a fabulous walk though � the night is relatively cool (85 degrees) and it was the end of dusk while we were out � streetlights on, but it wasn�t too too dark yet. We kept a pretty good pace, although I don�t have quite the speed I used to. I�m not able to chug along as fast � I�m breathing a bit heavier and my body is more comfortable at a slower pace right now. (Hmm. Could it be because of the baby? The increased amount of circulating blood? The increased basal heart rate?)

Blue has been working a crazy amount of hours lately. He�s got a huge project he�s trying to get done, before the next big project comes crashing down upon him. Plus he�s trying to tie up some loose ends that have been loose for a while � all of this stuff before the baby comes.

So this morning (Sunday) he was out of bed by 6am and off to the office. I slept in for a few hours, then lazed around for another hour � then I got to work, myself.

I put the iPod on, grabbed my supplies and cleaned the house. (Well, most of the house. Somehow, the toilets never got done. I kept meaning to get to them, but other things called to me to be cleaned.)

I keep a box of exam gloves in my kitchen for cooking (I hate touching raw meat � especially chicken � eew), cleaning (don�t want those chemicals soaking into my skin) and various unsavory tasks (cleaning up dog vomit, etc.). I threw a pair of gloves on and got to it.

The kitchen is spotless. The laundry room is pristine. The floors are fabulous. I even got the carpet steam cleaner out and hit a couple of spots that I�d been ignoring. All of the laundry is done. The bedroom is organized.

In short: I rock.

Here we are at 17 weeks, 2 days of pregnancy. And I�ve been really really wanting to know the gender of the baby. I don�t care one way or the other what I�ve got cooking in there � I just want to know what it is!

Think about it: I started off this pregnancy knowing everything that we could possibly know.

I know the number of eggs and sperm that we produced.
I know the exact date and time of fertilization.
I have 5-day photos of the embryos.
I got to watch the doctor place the embryos in my uterus via ultrasound.
I had implantation cramping and spotting � I know the day and time the embryo dug into my uterine lining.
I know what my hCG, estrogen and progesterone hormone levels were starting on day 10, and continuing every two days until day 26.
I know how big the embryo measured at 5 weeks (gestational sack!), 6 weeks (heartbeat!), 7 weeks (starting to differentiate!), 8 weeks (first u/s at OB).

Since then, we�ve seen the kid once more on ultrasound (at the nuchal scan) � too early to tell gender. But that was over 4 weeks ago � and nothing since.

I�m now in information limbo. And it�s making me a little nutty.

It doesn�t help that everyone else I know (or whose blogs I read) know the genders of their babies. I�m slightly green about that.

And it also doesn�t help that every time I see someone I know, they ask if I want to know the gender, and whether we know the gender yet. (�Yes, no.�)

Although I have a checkup scheduled for Tuesday, I technically don�t have an ultrasound scheduled until late in July. That will be the �anatomical scan� ultrasound, where they look at every bit of the kiddo and measure and check things off on the checklist and confirm that everything is continuing to develop just fine.

But I don�t want to wait three more weeks! Seriously. I could, but I don�t want to.

So I called one of my nurses on Friday and laid it on the line with her. �I don�t want to be a pain in the ass patient. Really, I don�t. I deal with them all the time and I refuse to be one. But I also don�t want to make myself any nuttier than I already am � so let me just ask � is there any way we can take a peek when we�re in the office next week?�

I held my breath.

�Of course. Just tell whichever nurse is helping you that day that Sunny said you could take a peek. They�ll get the ultrasound out and fire it up, and you can see the baby.�

Whew.

I know, I�m making a big deal out of it. And really, I could wait. But � I�m glad I asked. Now I don�t have to! Hopefully the kiddo will cooperate and we�ll be able to discern the gender. If not � well, that�ll teach me!