Normal

Normal [nawr-muhl]: conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural.

Last Friday, I was arriving home after picking up some dinner because Mrs. Connell? – not so much with the cooking on Friday’s – and Owen met me at the door with a kind of worried look on his face. He said that the OBGYN, Dr. H. had left an automated message with my test results. This was very unexpected, as Dr. H had told me that he would only be calling if the test results were not “normal”. The message said I could call an automated service to receive the test results or access the results online using the login information Dr. H provided to me on my first visit.

So dinner (California Sandwiches – chicken with tomato sauce, provolone cheese and mushrooms – if you were wondering) was quickly set aside as I tore around the house trying to find my login information. Owen sat on a chair in the living room with his head in his hands.

I finally found the paper I was looking for and dialled the automated service using the speaker setting on the phone so we could both hear the news delivered by a robot:

“Your pap test result is……normal.”

High five from Owen. Yay vagina!

“Your first trimester test result is…..normal.”

Double high five from Owen. This test was the “Down Syndrome” test. Based on the measurements of the fetus and blood work results the doctor was able to determine if further testing was needed to see if there was a chance that the baby would have Down Syndrome. Because my test was normal no further testing was necessary.

Owen and I hugged and headed down to the basement to eat our sandwiches, watch America’s Funniest Home Videos, (because that's how we roll on Friday nights!) and periodically rub my belly and let the baby know that even though we were both off our rockers, it was normal.

Normal.

God, what a wonderful word.