Think of it this way… it means that in at least 6 Billion other cases a mother has managed to get through the pregnancy and the birth. Nature works 
Congratulations! The world needs some more mice to balance all us lousy H. Sap-s. If it’s a boy, you might consider calling him Frankie or Benjy 
Ah, that doesn’t sound like too big of a size difference between spouse and mouse so you should be OK.
Though I can speak from experience that if you reverse the size differences (I’m 5’11" and Typo Knig is about 5’7") it makes for less of that “get this elephant child out of me NOW” feeling in month 8 
On the toxo concerns, it sounds like you’ll be fine with your work as long as you don’t take to snacking on your test subjects 
Oh, and ::: dances happy dance ::: at your news
What is the average litter size for a mousie mama? ::d&r::
Congrats, and here’s hoping it’s a relatively smooth ride.
Not to be a noodge, but . . . given your hypothyroidism, and the history of treatment for depression you mentioned near the beginning of the thread, I’m sure you’re already aware that you’re at higher-than-average risk for perinatal depression. Make sure your doc takes this into consideration and do educate yourself (which it sounds like you’re good at doing) on the subject. Consider enlisting help from a psychiatrist who specializes in perinatal mood disorders before you actually need it.
Because my wife has some uterine structural abnormalities she was under the care of an OB/GYN who specialized in high-risk pregnancies. Given that she had been on Paxil for a couple of years before becoming pregnant, her doctor referred her, midway through the pregnancy, to a psychiatrist who specializes in perinatal mood disorders – he’s also one of the leading researchers in the field. Best thing that ever happened to her. By having consulted with him early on, she was much better prepared to deal with everything that happened (bed rest for four months due to pre-term labor, a couple of stints of hospitalization for the same problem, pre-eclampsia and an emergency c-section at 32 weeks, with all of the fatigue and attendant issues that can cause). She continued under his care after the birth, and while the medication was helpful, the cognitive benefits of understanding what was happening, being prepared for it, and believing that he could help her get through it made a world of difference. Ten years, three kids and a miscarriage later, she’s still seeing him on a regular but infrequent basis. It was actually her psychiatrist rather than her regular physician who diagnosed her hypothroidism a few years ago (she was involved in a long-term study that involved regular blood tests). As difficult as things have been at times, I’m confident it would have been much worse if she hadn’t been doing things to actively monitor and manage her emotional health throughout.
Anyway, I hate being one of those people who tells every pregnant woman they meet about all the bad things that can and have happened to others, but I’ve become a big advocate for proactively dealing with these types of issues rather than reacting once they’ve already become a problem. And the kids do make it all worthwhile.
I feel like I’m going against the whole “fighting ignorance” thing by coming in here with an anecdote, but I just want to say she shouldn’t assume anything.
I used this same logic to assume I had it. I have been a cat owner my entire life, including owning cats (when I was little) who went outside regularly. Then I worked for a vet and came in contact with hundreds of cats that way–including cleaning their litterboxes. Furthermore, that vet contracted with the city to house the pound, so I also dealt with all the strays and lost cats that came through, cleaning their litterboxes too. I had that job for several years.
I figured if being around cats could give you toxoplasmosis, then I had it for sure. So , when I got pregnant, I asked my doctor for the test to confirm what I figured was certain could be sure. To my shock, it came back negative.
According to my parents, a hurricane in the fall of 76’ lead to me, so blizzards sound like a likely culprit too.
Mouse_Maven, isn’t a six inch height difference pretty much normal? I bet your babies will be normal sized. Not 8+ and 10+ pounds like me and Vynce. Our dad is a full foot taller than Mom, though. No c-sections for her, by the way. The brat was delievered by a midwife, despite his huge size. He never wore newborn clothes!
OTOH, I think it’s my mom’s fault, genetically speaking, that we were big babies. Her dad was almost 12 pounds at birth. :eek:
Congratulations! That’s wonderful news. Keep us all posted.
What that probably means is your cats never had it-- and according to my vet they aren’t going to get it if they’re indoor only.
Which is why I imagine Mouse_Maven’s lab animals would be fine, being generations bred in complete captivity.
BTW, you never can tell with baby weights. My mom, all of 5’2" and 125lbs was nearly 12lbs when she was born.
My mom also got pregnant with my little sister on the first try-- stopped taking the pill and never got a period. She had to beg, plead, and nag the doctor to give her a pregnancy test, because he was convinced that it was just her cycle adjusting, and no one gets pregnant after a week of trying at 37, right?
Weight at birth in my observation has little or nothing to do with the size of the parents. My 5’ 2" sister’s babies were both larger than mine – I’m 5’ 7". Hers were well over 7 pounds; her son was IIRC over 8. My first was 5 lbs 5 oz. Years later when I had a hysterectomy the surgeon offered in passing that I had a rather small uterus. So maybe that has something to do with it. My sister also carried well past her projected due date, and I was in both cases a little bit earlier than expected although babies were definitely not premature.
Hey, MM congrats!
Don’t worry about big babies. Over 8 lbs or so are often due to maternal gestational diabetes, which can be controlled. Besides, its neither the length (height) or weight that makes for a difficult delivery, its the head. Once the head and shoulders are delivered, the rest just kinda burbles out.
(If Mouse_Spouse has a big head, maybe Mouse_baby will take after you. I’m kidding!)
I was absolutely not a first try. Nobody believed Mom was pregnant. By the time she brought herself to the doctor we were 4 months along and he claimed it had to be a tumor and wanted to scrape it out.
Once more, I would like to thank:
Ok, I’ll bite, what the hell are you talking about with this frog bit??
Good point, sexual dimorphism strikes again!
This is a concern of mine. My family has a strong streak of mental illness, alcoholism, and drug use. Luckily, I am willing to seek help and change my behaviors for whatever is best. (Father was an alcoholic, Brother went down the same path and add drugs to the mix. Mother is Just Plain Nuts. I rarely drink, have never done drugs and - much to my family’s embarrassment - went to therapy. )
Today I’m going to an Ob/Gyn. Also, I am sipping on my last Coke. 
Some caffine is ok, but I’ve been lectured about how bad this stuff is for me in general(took part in an osteropetrosis study were I turned in a list of everything I eat and drank).
It hard to stay rational. Yesterday, the news reported on a radio personality was caught solicitating sex from a teenaged girl, and a girl was kidnapped. “Good Gods! What am I doing?”
Oh, I know! You’ve heard of “the rabbit dying” as a way back when, pre home pregnancy test, indicator that a woman was pregnant, right? We learned in Bio that somewhere in between rabbits and EPT they discovered that a species of frog could be injected with some sort of bodily fluid from a woman (I forget if it was blood or urine) and if the woman was pregnant the frog would immediately lay eggs. This didn’t kill the frog, so it was considered a better method.
C’mon over, I’ll set you and Mouse_Spouse up (if you aren’t already equipped) with suggestions on proper firepower, lessons for you and (in a few years) the little one, and you’ll feel a whole lot better. Daddy needs a big shotgun to clean for the first date, if it’s a girl.
badkittypriestess is still mad at me for the lack of daughters, but I maintain that I’d be in prison immediately after my little princess comes home with some little dirtball like myself.
Thank you for the offer. I have mixed feelings about guns. Being a Bayou child, I have shot hand guns of all sorts and a deer rifle. (The recoil made me trip and fall on my back, much to the amusement of Grandfather.) We don’t own any right now. Mouse_Spouse once had a very nice WWII area rifle he bought in Germany, but couldn’t bring it into the states. 
I doubt that you’re a dirtball. If Proto-pup is a girl, I’ll have Mouse_Spouse’s claymore displayed in the living room and the journal with my dissected mouse pictures on the coffee table. The father will kill you, the mother knows how to cut you into bits.
Disposing of the body is half the battle. 
Congratulations!
The shoulders were my sister’s problem. After she had the C-section, the OB looked at the baby’s shoulders and said there was no way she could have gotten her out any other way. Her husband has really wide shoulders, and evidently their daughter takes after him. She’ll probably have an easier time when she’s older keeping her backpack, purse, and bra straps from sliding off her shoulders than her aunt does.
Congrats again, MM!
(And I’ll fourth or fifth the “I’m glad it’s her and not me”…)
Given the history of mental illness in your family, you may not want to have any guns in your home while you have a kid, especially as the kid gets to be a teenager. My parents had a gun in their house before they had kids, but got rid of it once we were born. I’m glad they did- I really think that, if they had had a gun in the house when I was a teenager, there’s a very good chance that I would not be here today.
Okay, I just wanted to drop in to say:
1 - We had a midwife and it was great. She worked with the doctors and when she said it was time for a c-section, I knew it was absolutely true.
2 - I never thought I would want to have kids. Our family is, as my brother the professor says, “Like a Faulkner novel on acid”. My daughter is the greatest thing in the world and I would do anything for her. She’s in college now and I miss her.
Yep, bunch of crazy mofo’s in my family. Guns are something that Mouse_Spouse and I will discuss in due time. Right now, we have 2.75 attack cats to keep the house safe and dating is a loooooooong way off.
I saw an Ob today. It was a “Hello. Yep, you’re pregnant. Please tell me the medications your taking, your medical history, and every nasty disease members of your family has had.” Our next appointment is a full physical and by then I’ll have some information and questions about midwives.
I’m struggling with the idea of having a family. Right now, the responsiblity, my family history, my past are all overwhelming me.
Sounds like mouse_maven needs a day at the spa! You will be a great mommy and mouse_spouse will be a great daddy! Don’t worry! You have a ton of support here!
Blessed Be!