We just got back from a Celtic Faire. Aside from the Welsh cookies, the only souvenirs we brought home had very little to do with Celtic culture.
We're looking forward to summer, whenever that decides to get here. It's been cloudy and rainy, with the occasional thunderstorm and even a hail storm. Where is the sunshine?

Quinn continues to learn how to cruise.
He loves the piano. I can't blame him.
I took him to a cardiologist a couple of weeks ago. It was a follow up from the NICU. All babies in utero have an open shunt between their atria, and many babies are even born with it still open. Quinn was no exception. And since we know it's there, it must be followed. So we went downtown and Quinn got an EKG and an echocardiogram. The EKG took 30 seconds, but for the echo, he needed to lie still for 10 minutes. Ha. The tech said he could have his bottle or his pacifier. Ha again. He takes neither. So that was slow going, with a lot of changes of position to keep him happy, but we eventually got it done. Then we saw a doctor whose first name was Harm. I didn't discover that until we were leaving, thankfully. Anyway, he said the shunt is still open, but there's still a very good chance it will close on it's own, and we won't see a difference anyway. It won't affect his health or his activity level at all. You can't even hear it. You have to see it, hence the ultrasound. I asked what the risk was, since we wouldn't notice whether it was there or not. Apparently, it will pose no problem in childhood, but if it hasn't closed by adulthood, it can create problems. So we'll check it again when he's 3. I didn't think to ask until later what happens to kids who have this and don't spend months in the NICU. How would you know? It reminded me of when I asked an optometrist why he was checking me for cataracts and glaucoma and what happens to the majority of population who don't need glasses and don't get these checks. His response was that everyone should see an optometrist. Alrighty then. I'll tell that to my husband who has better than 20/20 vision and therefore would never see an optometrist.

For those who are bored by technicalities, you can stop reading now. I may have come to a conclusion about what went wrong with Quinn's pregnancy. About time, after a year and change. I have spent quite a bit of time over the last year researching various possibilities and narrowed down to two theories, one I had a lot more confidence in than the other. The less likely of the two was that I might have a blood clotting disorder. I finally went and got the blood work for that done about 6 weeks ago, and as I suspected, it was normal. I can rule out that option. My other theory was basically that Quinn never stuck well to begin with. I don't think my body was ready to conceive. Just because you ovulate, doesn't mean you are fertile. I was ovulating, but the luteal phase, between ovulation and your period, wasn't long enough to allow implantation. A normal luteal phase is 12-14 days long. I was nursing Faith, who was a year and a half old, and charting my cycles, so I knew what was going on. I had my first post partum cycle when Faith was 16 month, and had a 6 day luteal phase. Waaaaaaay too short. My next cycle, I had what I thought was an 8 day luteal phase, but it turns out I was pregnant. It tried to implant anyway but it didn't work and I miscarried. Incidentally, that's the miscarriage whose due date was two days after Quinn was born. So I tried a progesterone supplement with my next cycle, and Quinn stuck, but still not very well. Of the 26 weeks of that pregnancy, there were about 6 in the middle where I wasn't bleeding to some degree. And this theory was more or less confirmed by the pathology report on the placenta. I had to hound a bunch of people to get it, and it took nearly a month, but I finally got it earlier this month. Basically, the placenta never attached deeply enough, and so was malformed. Parts of it were dying, and it was more than 60% detached. So not only did I pretty much confirm that theory, I laid two other questions to rest: 1. How much better off things might have been if I'd held off labor a bit longer. They wouldn't have. The placenta was completely deteriorating, and wouldn't have lasted much longer. And 2. Whether the c-section was truly warranted. I think it was. With an abrupting placenta, and the cord inserted so that it could easily become detached, I think c-section was the best course of action. It's nice to not worry about those anymore.