Hello, everyone.

It's been a busy trip back to the U.S. Eishin is still looking for a job and we still have no real idea where we will end up! I guess either Japan or America will work out to be fine.

I need to report on my doctor's appointment. I'm pretty sure I haven't done that yet.

I had a few shocks at the last appointment. First the good news: I am pretty much OK. Everything is developing right on schedule, placenta looks great I've been told and my weight gain is on track -- 1 kilo this month.

But, I also learned that I have a little swelling in my ankles that I wasn't even aware of. And, I had protein in my urine. The doctor told me not to worry because sometimes the protein in the urine thing is just because of being tired. We'll wait and see if it reoccurs.

I was right, by the way -- my intestinal discomfort eased considerably by the time of the appointment and they told me not to worry about that, either.

Lastly, during the ultrasound, we looked at the baby -- we could see the baby's individual little fingers and everything. It was amazing! And...while we looked at the baby's internal organs we accidentally caught a glimpse of a little bitty pen*s. My husband asked the doctor if that was what it looked like and the doctor said yes. So, we are having a little boy probably.

I was a little upset to find out what the baby was -- I wanted to wait until birth. Also, I had been hoping for a girl and I was a tiny bit disappointed at first. However, that feeling has gradually been replaced by anticipation of a little boy, and I am feeling very happy again. No matter what, if the baby is healthy, we will be satisfied.

Names are a challenge, though -- harder for boys than girls. We are thinking about Matthew. For a girl, we thought about Marissa, so we've been calling the baby Ma-chan for some time now. The "ma" is from both names and the "chan" is a Japanese endearment -- if someone loved me, they'd say Beth-chan. It's very cute. So, we are safe either way. However, if the baby gets a different name -- for example, we've been thinking about Ricky -- then that would be trouble. Although, I don't really think the baby would be hurt by being called a different name while in utero...

Lastly, one really great thing about having a boy is that after this, we are freed from the "create an heir" thing. In Japan, it's still rather important to have a boy to carry on the family name. Our last name is common in Japan, but my husband is the last of his line. Having a baby boy makes things easier.

More on my trip home next time. Wait til you hear about the baby shower!