drew’s news

Last weekend, Chinese New Year celebrations ushered in the Year of the Pig (or “Year of the Boar” if you prefer). Wikipedia has some pretty nice things to say about people born in pig years: “In Chinese culture, the pig is associated with fertility and virility. To bear children in the year of the pig is considered very fortunate, for they will be happy and honest.”

The zodiac signs cycle every 12 years (so the last pig year was 1995). Each year is also characterized by one of five elemental signs: earth, metal, water, wood, fire (in that order). So each combination of elemental sign and zodiac sign occurs once every 60 years. Daphne and I were both born in a metal pig year (1971). Metal is apparently associated with “organization and stability… The metal person is forceful and set in their ways as metal is very strong, but they are self-reliant and enjoy the good things in life” (also according to Wikipedia).

This year’s element is fire, so our little July offspring will be a fire pig. Hmm, what does Chinese astrology have to say about that one? Well, as you might guess, it’s a bit more dynamic than metal. Not surprisingly, fire “is believed to govern the heart”. “Fire is associated with the qualities of dynamism, strength and persistence, and with restlessness and a sense of peacefulness” (Wikipedia again). Not sure how “restlessness” and “a sense of peacefulness” fit together, but hey, the stars, uh, don’t lie. (OK, don’t worry, we haven’t gone all new age out here in California…)

Furthermore (the whole zodiac thing starts to lose me at this point), the pig’s element is water. Ahh, fire and water don’t mix - uh oh, a sign of turbulence! And one more thing: the pig’s yin/yang polarity is “yin”, and everyone knows that a yin fire signifies tension and conflict. Hmm, this fire pig thing is starting to concern me.

But wait! Some even more obscure yin-yang theory says that this is the Year of the Golden Pig, which only occurs every 600 years! Apparently there’s a rush on Chinese fertility clinics - children born in the Golden Pig year are predicted to have great fortune. OK, now we’re talkin’. Of course, this is widely disputed (read this article in the Asia Times for more details), but hey, you never know…

“Ah, so there’s a stem in the apple, eh?” That’s what Dad said when I told him we’re having a boy. Daph laughed at that expression. Yep, this morning we had our 20-week ultrasound! Once Daph was on the table and gelled up, the nurse began to furiously wave the ultrasound wand all around her belly. She explored every conceivable angle, and measured just about everything imaginable. Femur, stomach, renal system, humerus, heart (you could clearly see the 4 chambers working in concert!), skull, lips, eyes, key brain regions, spine, hands, feet…

After about 10 minutes she stopped and announced that it’s definitely a boy. I was amazed that she could so quickly comprehend the images on the screen and locate everything, but I suppose if I were staring at ultrasound images day in and day out I’d probably get pretty good at it too. I was watching and I didn’t see anything pass by on the screen that made me think of an apple stem, but sure enough when the nurse positioned the wand at a certain angle, there it was! (She had trouble getting a good picture of it though because the little guy was wriggling his legs around almost continuously.)

Here are a couple of the better images. This first one’s a pretty straightforward profile - his back is at the bottom of the frame, head to the right (looking up), and his legs are folded on the left.

This second one is a forward-facing shot. He’s looking straight at us, with his chin about in the center of the frame and his head off to the right. At the lower left is his belly! Little hands clenched below his cheeks…