My last post generated some interesting conversation, not to mention comments. My favorite:

I think you need to sit down and think about if you are prepared for posting posts such as this one and then being all uppity when someone comments that you don’t agree with.

That one had me laughing. And so interesting as it is such a great example of what I was referring to at the end of my post: the Right Way Thinkers who get really bent out of shape and start attacking should you dare to speak up about a controversial topic and have a position that does not follow the party line. If you read my responses to the comments that came in, they were anything but uppity and I have no problem with anyone disagreeing with me. Which is more than I can say for her (!)

I love that she described me as being ‘uppity.’ Isn’t that what they called President Obama in the weeks before he was elected? The connotations therein are amusing: you little upstart, how dare you speak up, etc. I can practically see her wagging her finger at me when she wrote that. LOL

Yo, ‘Peta’, for the record, I am so not about the party line. And I’d rather be an upstart than a sheep any day of the week. And I suspect you fall in the sheep category.

I knew I was going to get some opposing comments when I posted my position on this topic, although the more nasty comments were disappointing (but not that surprising.) And actually, most of y’all were quite civil, it was only two trollish sorts that got nasty, thank goodness. The whole topic really got my head spinning though. I did some further research and I found a lot of papers in the Oxford Journals that brought up the very thing I was referring to (and were in agreement with me): the potentially negative psychological consequences of intrafamily gamete donation and the fact that this is a huge unknown. And we just don’t know what the impact is going to be.

I was going to write a lot more all about that, but it’s hot and I’m too tired, but I will mention what I think are the key issues at stake here:

• The general lack of forethought that is rampant in our society and the ‘I want it now’ culture that leads us to make choices that we have often come to later regret
• Our already rather messed up society (Columbine-type shootings, reality tv shows, obsession with plastic surgery, high divorce rates and I could go on) and the impact on society of further confusion in the nuclear family
• The potential for the real ‘right-wing nut jobs’ (another name I was called yesterday) to get a hold of this issue and use it to get the whole DE industry shut down (research the recent laws up for vote in Georgia if you think I’m being alarmist)
• The potential psychological impact on the child, who has no choice in being conceived this way – you can’t predict how it’s going to impact them. Conception via donor gamete is strange enough; why bring even more confusion into the equation by using gametes that create complicated and (depending on how you see it) unhealthy relationships?

Anyway, it was good to get the upset I felt about it off my chest. But I think, at least for today, I want to move on.

So let’s talk about something way more fun: I’m at 15 weeks today! Yaaaaahoo!

My belly did some more poppin’ in the last week and fortunately, my maternity jeans arrived yesterday. Because I really cannot get any other pants on any more and I am really sick of my yoga pants. Those are great in class but way too clingy to wear around the house all day. Not to mention a client meeting.

I scored at JC Penney. On sale, found additional discounts at retail me not.com (love them!) and got them for a very reasonable price. And they’re really not too shabby. Stylish, even, flared legs, a cool stitched seam down the front. And a cute mesh, stretchy maternity top.

The jeans I got at Old Navy were awful, just awful. Word: do not get the short panel type jeans unless you enjoy having a rather stiff piece of elastic digging into your uterus when you’re driving. The tops I got from them were mostly okay.

Anyway, now I have some clothes to wear and that’s a good thing. A few more on the way and I should be covered.

I’ve been feeling pretty good, nothing scary going on and m/s is almost entirely gone. Only slight urgency/nausea feelings if I go too long without eating. The belly pop was reassuring but I still have waves of ‘is the baby still alive?’ along with general worrying about toxoplasmosis (I wash my hands like crazy) and listeria (I ate a ham sandwich – heated, but it was ham. Totally forgot. Shit!) Maybe that will go away when he/she starts moving more. Haven’t felt any more flutters.

The only odd thing is sleep. For some reason, I can’t sleep more than 6-7 hours at night. Then I have the afternoon nap, 1-2 hours. I guess I’m getting enough, although sometimes I do look pretty ragged out and tired.

But in general, it’s so good to be feeling better. This pregnancy still feels surreal. I look at the bump every morning, surveying for every tiny increase. When I try to imagine that there is a real, live human being growing (living!) inside of me… I kind of can’t really get my head around it. Just doesn’t feel quite real, not yet.