Tomorrow

We're taking a couple of days off work this week, and have quite the day planned for tomorrow.

First, we'll drop Shrike's car off at the mechanic for an oil change and new battery cables. That will be the easy part.

Then, it's off to the perinatologist, for a follow-up ultrasound to find out that Peeper is just fine, after all and, golly, weren't we silly to be worried.

(At least that's what's on our agenda for the appointment.)

After that, we're going to DC to see Melissa Etheridge.

We're thinking that will be a great way to celebrate Peeper's health - by taking her to her first concert!

We'll spend the night, of course, and if we're not too worn out, we might do a bit of sightseeing in DC before heading home on Thursday.

I'd like to pop over to the National Zoo to check out the panda paraphernalia in the gift shop. Shrike wants to visit the spy museum.

We'll probably opt for the spies, since we can order panda stuff online.

And the spies are indoors and it's probably not as hot there.

Speaking of pandas - are you following the panda pregnancy watch?

Mei Xiang had an IUI on March 19, and her most recent blood tests show some hormonal fluctuations that might indicate that she's pregnant. Or, possibly, having a false pregnancy (which is evidently common in pandas).

If she is, indeed pregnant, she is due in mid- to late July.

No ultrasound signs of a cub yet, but evidently, they don't even start actually developing until the last few weeks of pregancy, so they don't really expect to see anything yet.

I think that with Tai Shan, they never did confirm her pregnancy by ultrasound, and were just keeping their fingers crossed, when he popped out.

So, let's put this whole thing in perspective.

Her IUI was two days after my first positive beta. That's fourteen weeks ago, tomorrow, and they are just now seeing promising hormonal shifts - and may not know for sure for another month. When she gives birth.

Holy crow.

And I thought the two week waits were awful.