We returned home on Sunday after an enjoyable and relaxing vacation. The Alaskan cruise was perfect given the circumstances — right amount of activity, relaxation, etc. L continues to feel and do fine. We’re now into the 2nd trimester (week #14 today). And it’s so far, so good.

I’m back off to Minneapolis this week for work (left this afternoon). It’s been a hectic past few weeks for me in terms of travel. I **think** I’ll have been home a total of 5 or 6 days in the past 4+ weeks. Fortunately, I should have a two week break after this trip.

We’re still in Alaska. L is doing well, and we are having a great time. The weather had been favorable and the scenery fantastic.

Full details are posted on our travel blog.

FYI — I probably won’t be posting on AiF for the next week or so, as we’ll be off to Alaska on a cruise.

During past trips, I’ve created travel blogs specifically for those journeys. Going forward, I’m going to have a dedicated travel blog instead. I’ve linked to it here, if you’re interested — but, unlike AiF, I can promise relatively few posts that will be related to either pregnancy or infertility.

See you all in about 10 days! (Or, sooner if you visit the other blog!)

L had her appointment at the OB office yesterday. Everything went well: fetal heartbeat sounded good, weight gain is normal, and no signs of complications. All in all, everything seems to be progressing nicely. Honestly, there’s not a lot to say on the pregnancy front. It’s a lot of waiting at this point.

The doctor did stress that L will need to get two flu shots in the Fall. One is for the regular, seasonal flu. The other shot is for the H1N1 swine flu, a.k.a “Bacon Lung.” It seems that bacon lung and pregos don’t mix well. Thus, while it’s not risk free, it probably makes sense to take this precautionary step.

My travels were also uneventful. I’m now back in Tampa, and we’re getting ready for our vacation to Alaska.

I’ve discovered that while men don’t seem to generally want to talk about infertility when they’re in the midst of it, they seem to positively gush out details after they’ve successfully had children. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard all sorts of stories related to infertility, miscarriage, and childbirth.

These same men are also really willing to “tell their stories” about fatherhood. I’m going to start recording some of the more interesting observations and experiences here (after making them anonymous). I’m particularly interested by their willingness to share the raw emotion (good and bad) associated with these experiences.

In other news…

We spent some time this weekend getting ready for the trip. L was struggling with packing, because some of her clothing is starting not to fit properly. Due to her now more ample cleavage, many of her tops are either 1) actually too small, or 2) simply looking too good on (if you know what I mean). Pants are also becoming a struggle, as she doesn’t like anything too tight. It’s a challenge…

L is going for her next OB check-up this week. I’ll make sure to post details on it.

I’m headed to Washington DC tomorrow.