Isn't it beautiful? That's the Bell Curve, or the normal distribution. And even though I see it and work with it every day to explain test scores and make sense of things I'm learning, it's become a bit more real for me lately.
See, you start hearing a lot about percentiles when you start this whole human-growing thing. Suddenly you want to know what percentile the baby is at for growth. What percentile for weight? Height? Head circumference? It can become an obsession. But it can also really easily become distorted and misunderstood.
Like when the UNC ultrasound doc told me that Baby B was "at the 39th percentile for growth, well within the normal range." And I said to myself, WHAT? Normal? 39th percentile? See, I was thinking (like maybe you might, too, or maybe it's just my math impariments shining through) that 39th percentile is kinda like 39 percent. And we all know that 39 percent equals F. Low. Not average. But the 39th percentile? I've marked it on the normal curve there with the red line. That doc was right on the money. It's well within the average range and pretty darn close to just straight up average (which is of course the 50th percentile). So no worries about Baby B's growth. But perhaps you can worry about her propensity for math and statistics, if she gets those genes from me :)
The 35-week appointment went well today. They did a non-stress test (NST) to make sure Baby B is cool with chillin in my uterus, and (s)he was happy as a clam in there. I also found out from the NST that I'm having some contractions! Yay, uterus! Get yourself in shape for labor! We're heading to UNC for another ultrasound on Friday to measure growth and fluid levels (good fluid = baby is peeing = all systems go and happy healthy baby). And then I'll start heading in at least once a week for NSTs and ultrasounds and the like until Baby B gets fed up with all the tests and comes out to meet us. I'm of course hoping for sooner rather than later.
The house inspection also went very well. Only a few very minor things here and there need some tending (extra caulk, new lightplate, etc. - nothing big at all) and we're asking the sellers to do all these small repairs. The 18 year old roof, our big concern, is in excellent shape and the inspector said he'd say it has another 10 years easy. We also discovered that the nice letter we wrote to the sellers during the bidding war is what is allowing us to push the closing date out so far (late April) because we let them know that we're expecting a kid next month so they agreed to hang around their house for another month so we don't have to close and have a baby at the same time. Isn't that nice of them? We thought so.
Well it's almost time for some shake-n-bake so I'm off.
Comments