kicks!!

so friday and saturday i was feeling some kind of movement in my belly, not entirely sure that it was the bean or not. it felt like someone had replaced all of the amniotic fluid in my uterus with 7up. then, sunday night, i began feeling some definite kicks while we were driving up to oregon. what was awesome was, even though i've been reading everywhere that i would feel them for awhile before jason would be able to, he put his hand on my belly and could feel them right away. he's a strong little guy! we are naming him samson, so i guess that's pretty fitting. when we were at the bookstore on thursday, he gave me a kick so strong, the surprise i felt nearly knocked me off my chair! friday and today, however, he has been a little more quiet. but he doesn't appear yet to have any times of day or specific activities that will set him off. in fact, i've even tried poking him a little to coax some movement, but so far he just does it when he darn well pleases. but when the movements are strong, i'm even able to see them just by looking at my stomach. and last night while laying in bed, jason was able to feel the first punch-kick combo so far. it was pretty awesome. there was a poke in the middle of my belly, then a poke lower and to the left immediately after. that kid isn't messing around in there! it's really an amazing feeling, and i'm so grateful it's finally here. i can't stop thinking about it all day long, wondering if i'll feel him while i eat, or do dishes, or fold some laundry. it makes me feel like there really is someone in there with me all day, every day. a constant companion. and it's an incredible thing.

16 week checkup and ultrasound

well i guess i have to start off with an embarrassing confession--i apparently cannot count. :( as it turns out, i have been off on my count this entire time by one week. i'm not really sure how or when this happened, but it looks like i'm 16 weeks now, not 17. that's ok, i guess. just one more week to prepare, right?
so anyway, we had another checkup this morning, and everything was looking STELLAR in there. :) the placenta seems to have moved up some since a month ago, when it looked like the area it attached to might be covering the cervix a little. so, it seems to be correcting itself, as they most often do. good news. :) little bean was looking great, as well. lots of powerful kicks and punches going on in there. it's amazing i can't feel any of them yet. he was also a lot more substantial looking since we last saw him, when he was so skinny and jumpy he looked like a little tree frog. now he looks like a big fat baby, just miniaturized. his heart looked and sounded fantastic, and he looked like he really enjoyed stretching his legs out as far as he could. we got a few good pictures, but i think a video would be the only way you could be as impressed with him as i am. to see him moving around is really something else. and besides, he was so active it was difficult to get a clear picture of all his limbs. but when we were watching him, we got to see hands, legs, arms and everything, and they were pretty amazing. maybe next time i'll try to get a little bit of video to post.

in this one he's sort of facing us, but i think looking down toward his feet a little. his brain is so awesome looking! you can see the two halves so clearly. neat :)

these next to are both a side view with him on his back. you can really see all his bones.

and in this one, i forgot to put it in the caption, but that little black area just above his spine is his big strong heart. pretty awesome. and look at his big old baby belly! :)

and this last picture has a bit of information that some of you may want to see, and some of you may want to avert your eyes from: the crotch shot.

it appears we may have a real monster on our hands. :) (if you click on it, it gets bigger and you can see it a little more clearly.) i have to say i'm a little psyched about the toy situation that would result from such a thing being true--boy toys are just so much cooler than girl toys. sure, my heart would break a little if he NEVER wanted to have a pretend picnic with me, but i think playing with GI joes and cars and pretending to be dragons and daring knights would more than make up for it. but nothing's for sure, and we remain strongly opposed to pink and blue color-coding, anyway. so, a bean's a bean, beanpole or no. (and yes, i did use the following site to come up with that euphemism: http://www.gregology.net/Reference/Dicktionary) *snicker, snicker*

and lastly, here are the missing pictures in the growing belly chronicles:








first lying down picture


my cute little over the pants bump






we painted these blue, and the walls are going to be green and yellow. we can't change the drawer handles, so we're going to paint them. not sure what color, though. i wanted to just use the same green or yellow as the walls, but the handles are very ornate and antique looking, so i feel like maybe they should just be silver. anybody have any opinions on that?

well thanks for reading my ridiculously long update. :) hope you're all doing great.

ps
if anybody has any name suggestions for a boy, we would love to hear them. we're not doing too well in that department...

13 week ultrasound and check up

on friday we went in for a check up and had another ultrasound done as well. we got mostly good news, and a little bit of news that could potentially suck. let me start by saying about a week and a half before the appointment i went to the gym for routine number three, which is legs. i did some squats with a barbell and 30 pounds added on. although i hadn't done squats since i'd gotten pregnant, this was twenty pounds less than i was used to doing, and i did 3 sets of 10, no sweat; didn't feel like i was straining at all. (i had only been skipping them because it was usually occupied when i got there.) i also did another kind of squat which i hadn't done in awhile, with just twenty pounds or so, then some other leg stuff that i usually do. well, the next 2 days i could barely walk. i had no idea why i was so sore. and the scariest part was the next morning. i had a couple drops of blood when i woke up. i was really worried about this, even though i'd already read a lot about all the different things it can mean, and how it's usually no big deal if it's just a little (which it was) and i had no pain (which i didn't). i even checked online about doing squats during pregnancy, and everything was saying that it was actually a great idea. so i called my mom and my midwife and they said to just keep an eye on it, and to definitely not do those squats anymore. (don't have to tell me twice) so i was quite pleased when the day of our check up finally arrived and we got to see our little guy dancing around again. he looked healthy as could be, so i was quite relieved. however, my midwife took a close look at the screen and said it looks like my placenta may have attached a little low (which could explain that bleeding). in less than 10% of cases, this does not end up fixing itself as everything moves up and out in the next 2 trimesters, and when that happens you end up with placenta previa. that would mean the area where the placenta attached is covering the cervix, which would mean no natural birth for me. :( instead, it would mean a hospital, searching for a doctor i like, tons of medicine and interventions, a c-section, and possibly my entire birth plan going out the window if i don't find the right doctor/hospital. i wouldn't be able to bond with my baby right away, they would do all sorts of tests on it, breastfeeding would be delayed, they would cut the cord immediately...all these things i did so much research on for so long and feel so strongly opposed to. so, naturally, i was pretty upset with this news. but i'm trying not to let it get me down. in most cases the situation corrects itself, and even if it doesn't, the baby is still healthy, and that's priority number 1.
here are the three beautiful pictures we got this time:


this is him facing us. a little creepy, but cute.

this is him laying on his back. he kept putting his hand up to his mouth and it really looked like he was sucking his thumb! (which i did read they can do at this point)

this one is my favorite. he is facing down, back arched, arms out, and i swear he is doing a heel click! he looked like a little frog in there. he was squirming in this position for a good minute, and it was hilarious. he's just like his dad:

holy crap

we had another ultrasound today on a better, clearer machine. it's amazing what a difference one week can make. i was in awe of how human-like our little guy has become. his movements seemed less like involuntary flailing and more like joyful, playful wiggles. he would do this amazing dance that would cause him to rise up slightly in his cushiony liquid, and then slowly float back down. at first he was asleep, his little heart beating with determination, but the rest of him just peaceful. then our midwife gave him a few gentle jiggles, and he woke up with such excitement. it was really like he knew what we wanted, and gave us this cute little display just to please us. we could see his jawbone and spine, his arms and legs, and most incredibly, a little foot. it was perfect. it was this amazing, tiny footprint, so clear on the screen. it was as if he was trying to show me, see, i'm not a blob anymore. i'm a real human, just tiny. i could see his TOES. it was incredible. the entire time i was struggling to stifle this gigantic laugh/cry so that my movement wouldn't shake the screen and hinder my view. so i just laid there with this crazy, smiling, open-mouthed look of wonder and awe, several tears escaping this time. it was like i was a frozen image of someone who had just arrived at their own surprise party. it was the most amazing experience of my life, and i can't believe how lucky i am that it will only get better from here.
we unfortunately don't have a picture for you all to see, as the printer paper she had ordered had not yet arrived. i would have loved to have shared this incredible event i witnessed today, but hopefully my words will suffice. i know the image will never leave my mind.
we have our next real prenatal appointment on the first, and she said it *may* be possible at that point to find out what we're having. i think that calls for another "holy crap". should i start taking bets?

update of the visual persuasion

i thought it might be neat at this point to put together a little pictoral timeline. so here it is:

first ultrasound

so yesterday we had our first prenatal check up and ultrasound. our midwife said i look and sound like i'm doing great, and the baby also seems to be doing very well. the ultrasound was amazing. it was a very old machine, which did not provide a very clear view, and was not able to zoom in, but what i was able to see was the most amazing thing i have ever laid eyes upon. i just stared at it with my mouth open, stupid smile on my face, one little tiny tear rolling down my cheek. i kept wanting to peak over at jason and see his reaction, but i literally could not take my eyes off the little guy even for a second. we saw this little white dot, his heart, beating like crazy. and then, every once in awhile, he would do this dance, that looked as though he was training to be a prize fighter, working on dodging blows with great speed and proficiency. it's funny, because just the other day i was telling jason how he now has knees and elbows, and is in there learning how to move them. when i told him that, i imitated a boxer, and jason just laughed. but it turns out i was right! he's gearing up to be a tough little cookie. :)
here is the picture we got. it's not very good, i know, but his head is on the left, and if you really look closely, you can see his leg all the way on the other end. i think i see an arm, too, and one of those dots in the middle might be his heart. anyway, we're going to her other office sometime next week where she has a better machine, and we'll hopefully have a much better picture to post after that.



she did try to find the heartbeat using her doppler, but was unable to because she kept getting a lot of feedback on it. she said that had never happened before. jason is convinced it's because our baby's superpowers were interfering with the transmission... whatever it was, she wasn't concerned, because it was definitely going strong on the screen.
as for me, it's been quite a rollercoaster ride lately. every time a new thing comes up, it's gone in a few days. like earlier this week, i was finding that if i went just a few hours without eating, my empty belly (holy crap! has my metabolism increased!) would start making me nauseous. that only lasted three days, thankfully. then yesterday, i just felt grumpy all morning for no reason. i just wanted to yell and scream, no matter what was going on. after that ultrasound, however, i felt very at peace and couldn't keep the smile off my face.
my belly is getting bigger. i put a rubber band through the loop of all my pants and shorts now. it makes them so much more comfortable! and i went and bought a couple new shirts, as well, because some of mine are so tight now that i feel a little self-conscious in them. found some on clearance for $5! :D
food has continued to be a pain in the butt. i decided today that the only way i'm going to be able to stop myself from wasting food (and not wasting a ton of money eating out) is by figuring out what i want for dinner when it's almost dinner time, and then going shopping for it right then. if i don't do it one meal at a time like that, i'll buy things that sound good at the time, but repulse me the next day when it's time to eat them. or just keep eating at restaurants, which is like a terrible trifecta--costly, time consuming, and not as healthy. too bad i can't just have a chipotle in my back yard. mmm...those crunchy tacos are ALWAYS good...
the gym has started to feel good again. i think going earlier in the day helps. i'm not as tired then, and always feel pretty good. went swimming last night and that was pretty awesome,
too.
for a couple of nights now i have been waking up in the middle of the night and had trouble falling back to sleep because i'll be having some anxiety about how much my belly can really stretch, and whether or not i can really push this baby out of me, and without any pain killers! i know it's normal to worry about all that, and it's more a general pondering at this point than an anxiety attack, but i do feel like i should probably get started on the hypnobirthing stuff. i'm excited to learn it, but nervous about whether or not i'm truly capable of having a birth that is virtually painless, instead of just barely manageable. i do believe that we're all capable of giving birth naturally, but i also believe a very large part of that is whether the individual person believes she is capable or not. so i guess i better start getting rid of this negativity, and quick.

Raising a superhero

It's gonna be awesome.

one month/8 week update

so far, so good. i have had a couple days of fatigue, and my chest hurts worse and more often, but other than that it's been smooth sailing. i guess right now he is about the size of a raspberry, and growing a millimeter every day. he's got some webbed fingers and toes right now, and he's forming the beginnings of his eyes, ears, and some organs. he's hard at work in there! and i'm trying to work hard out here to give him all the help i can. a couple of times in the past few days i've had moments where i didn't feel like eating, but i still managed to do so without inducing any nausea, so that's good. i also added a DHA pill to my short list of supplements, which fortunately tastes like cinnamon. :) that's all for now. i'll leave you with this picture for future comparison:

homebirth

when i first started thinking about the financial side of having a baby, the most glaring question was, how much will the labor and delivery cost if we don't have insurance? i had heard numbers up to $10,000 from other people, and that, obviously, is money we don't exactly have saved up in a jar on top of the fridge. so, i thought i'd do a little research and see if homebirths are really as dangerous and crazy as everyone tries to make us believe. (many of you may already know my skepticism when it comes to common perceptions of things like this.)
one of the first things i came across was an article a friend showed me: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiane-northrup/c-section-or-natural-birt_b_323422.html
one of the things i really liked about that article is that so many of the quotations and references were shown in complete context, instead of little snippets that could have been purposely slanted one way or the other. i also appreciated her touching on the way things are done in other developed countries. i found the following to be quite upsetting:
"It's well known that the maternal death rate in any given population is a very good indicator of the overall health status of that population, as is infant mortality. Unlike most other developed countries, pregnancy-related death statistics for the United States include only women who die within a six-week period after a pregnancy ends. Other developed countries include deaths that occur up to one year afterward..." (the next paragraph has the actual numbers.)
we tend to cover up or misrepresent scary information in this country, and that can be very dangerous.
then there are all the tests done on the baby once it is born. many of these practices are now outdated and unnecessary, yet are still being done. for instance, vitamin k shots used to be given to help the baby's blood clot, as forceps were commonly used and could sometimes break the baby's skin. forceps are rarely used now, but the shots are still given. then there's this article on the eye drops: http://www.unhinderedliving.com/eyeointment.html
this page goes on for days about all the ways your child can be harmed in the hospital, even while still in your stomach: http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/robert_mendelsohn3.html
there are no citations on this site, so i've done some research of my own. for example, the author talks about the newborns being bathed with hexachlorophene soap, which can be absorbed through the skin and cause neurological damage. i checked into this, and found that this soap has been replaced by triclosan. but when i researched that, i found mountains of evidence suggesting that many different groups are now questioning the harmful side effects of that agent, (go here for a list of products it's used in: http://www.drbenkim.com/articles/triclosan-products.htm looks like i'll be getting some new handsoap. (you can read about the dangers of triclosan at the top of that page, as well as here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/07/AR2010040704621.html and here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samuel-s-epstein/the-dangers-of-triclosan_b_481323.html)
this study: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416 of over 7,000 women found that the rate of intervention in the homebirths assessed was much lower than for the same group of women giving birth in a hospital setting. the death rates were about the same in both settings. here are the findings of that study in a nutshell, with some info on the practice's reputation in other countries:

What is already known on this topic
Planned home births for low risk women in high resource countries where midwifery is well integrated into the healthcare system are associated with similar safety to low risk hospital birthsMidwives involved with home births are not well integrated into the healthcare system in the United StatesEvidence on safety of such home births is limited
What this study adds
Planned home births with certified professional midwives in the United States had similar rates of intrapartum and neonatal mortality to those of low risk hospital births
Medical intervention rates for planned home births were lower than for planned low risk hospital births

and this page shows the results of a very large number of studies: http://www.nashvillemidwife.com/safety.html

well, obviously i could go on for days about what i've found, so i'll leave it at this--overall, studies have shown that a homebirth with a professional midwife is at least as safe as one in a hospital, provided that the pregnancy is low-risk, and result in far fewer interventions.

my final take is this--when you give birth in a hospital, you are considered 2 things: a single number in a sea of other mothers, and a sick person whose delivery has the potential for disaster. in a hospital, giving birth is a business. you are one of many, so your delivery needs to be quick. and because of their (unfortunately understandable) fear of being sued, it also needs to be as controlled as possible. this means induction, unnecessary monitoring/exams, and c-sections (a whopping 33%!). (all of these things add up to more money for them, by the way, which should make anyone suspicious, in my opinion.) and most mothers don't put up a fight over any of this, because society tells us that giving birth is a terrifying, dangerous, messy, and inconvenient illness, so let's just schedule a time, and cut this baby out. then, once the baby is born, they will take it from you immediately to perform tests that you're expected to just go along with without explanation or evidence, at a time when the baby should still be getting nutrients through the umbilical cord, (which would still be pumping if it hadn't been cut already), bonding with it's mother while she still, for only a short time, has those labor-induced chemicals running through her body, and learning how to breastfeed at a time when it is most capable of doing so. forget that. i would much rather give birth to my child in the comfort of my own home, an environment whose germs he will already be immune to, in whichever position feels easiest and most comfortable for me, (which you can't do when you're hooked up to a dozen different machines in a hospital bed), at whatever pace feels right for me and my baby, with people around me who i know and love and trust. and when i hold my baby for the first time, i don't want any unnecessary distractions or interferences; i want that experience to be pure and unaltered. just me, jason, and this amazing new life.

What?!

I am going to be in charge of raising a human being. I get so nervous, it as if the entire 18+ years of responsibility crashes down on my head every now and then. And I was such an easy going guy, but now I have these nerve-wracking moments of intensity. I know I should relax and let things happen as the happen, but I what do I know about being a father? I would wager the answer is less than most. I guess it would be a bad sign if I wasn't worried at all and thought I could handle it easily.

I do see the upside of the equation though, the responsibility might be huge but the payoff is bigger. I get the bragging rights to bringing superman/girl into this world. It's gonna be such an awesome experience to watch my kid grow up, to extend my family and probably be blown away by just how many lives this baby will touch.

The baby must already be influencing me, otherwise this post would have been a one or two sentence comment/joke.

Known baby superpowers list: Telepathy-Check
Shapeshifting-Check

sleeeeeeep

well, i think i have discovered the too-tired-to-do-anything part of the first trimester. for the past three days now i have felt pretty sluggish at work, and when i come home, all i want to do is eat and go to bed, which has not been good for my exercise routine, or my social life. it used to be dinner, gym, then something fun, like going to the movies. but now by 9 pm i'm falling asleep on the couch. yesterday i managed to make myself get up and do a ton of dishes and even go do a full-body exercise routine in my room, and fold a load of towels, before going to sleep. but i really need to get back to the gym; it's been a few days now. the plus side, i guess, though, is that i have been sleeping better, only waking up once or twice during the night, and falling back to sleep pretty quickly. (i am a notoriously terrible sleeper.)
that's it for now. for the most part i'm just feeling lucky that i have no morning sickness, since literally every woman i talk to says she had it all three trimesters.
i'll write that homebirth blog when i have the energy....

first meeting with midwife

this morning we had our first meeting with the midwife i found online. i had already read a lot about her (treeoflifemidwifery.com), and just wanted to see if she was as awesome in person as she was in writing--and she totally was. :) jason and i both thought she seemed very kind, knowledgeable, trustworthy, intelligent, rational, and realistic, everything we were looking for. this first session we just talked and got to know each other, so i have no news about my little apparently-only-grain-of-rice sized baby. but i really felt comfortable with this lady, and felt like she seemed very capable, calm and honest. she said to make another appointment for about 10 weeks, because that's when she likes to do the first ultrasound. although i would have loved to have heard my little bean's hearbeat today, i still left feeling like i had found exactly what i was looking for.
i'll write more later about why i've decided on a homebirth. but right now, the GYM!

p.s.
jason just got an INCREDIBLE promotion today out of the blue. we're not allowed to discuss specific details, but we'll just say that it's one more amazing blessing to be thankful for.

stomach discomfort and headaches

so far, there is not much to report. with the exception of today and yesterday, i have been having a strange discomfort in my stomach, that i can only describe as tight and big, almost as though i've just eaten an entire thanksgiving dinner by myself. it made it difficult to sit straight up. there were even times when i would feel this while simultaneously feeling very hungry, so it was like the outside of my belly felt really full, while the inside felt like it was starving. it was really weird. anyway, i noticed the day before yesterday that the feeling started right after my huge morning smoothie, and then of course lasted the rest of the day like usual. so i thought maybe i was eating too much at a time. so yesterday i made sure to stop myself right before i got really full at each meal, and i had no discomfort, and my shorts felt less tight. today i've done the same thing with the same results, so i think i will definitely be sticking with this.
i also started getting headaches again a few days ago, but the last couple days i spread my vitamins out further away from my morning cereal and smoothie, and it seems like that has helped.
that's all i have to report for now. meeting with the midwife tomorrow, so i'm sure there will be lots to share after that appointment. :)

vitamins

vitamins, vitamins, vitamins. this has been a real issue for me. i tried several different brands of prenatal vitamins, and got pretty severe headaches and one bad bout of nausea from them. i figure it's because i eat a lot of cereal, which is loaded to the brim with vitamins, so i'm just getting too much of something. so, i've just been taking a regular multi with a lot of folic acid in it, and letting the cereal take care of the rest. i added a calcium supplement when i found out i was pregnant, too. anyway, a friend's advice was to start them again once i was pregnant, because at that point maybe the extra won't be too much. so, today i took one of the 3-a-day kind at 7 am, and so far i feel great. i'll take another at lunch and see how it goes. i'll keep my fingers crossed...

the gym...dun dun dun

so i just had my first workout with this little raisin-sized blastocyst/former zygote, and it was pretty interesting. i have been reading a LOT about what kind of exercise is ok to do when you're pregnant, and it looks like during the first trimester i can stick relatively close to what i used to do, even though that was a lot by most womens' standards i suppose. the main points to follow were to keep my heart rate under 140, and don't exert myself past 7 on a scale of 1-10. since i haven't bought a heart rate monitor yet, i took it really easy today, and that was difficult. it all felt very foreign and strange, stopping at 8 reps instead of 10, and lifting much lighter. it was also hard to force myself to rest for longer periods in between. but whatever keeps him happy. :) i just consider myself lucky that i don't have any nausea or fatigue to keep me from working out. i do still feel really bloated and firm in my belly, so doing the ab exercises was weird. my stomach feels the same way it does when i eat WAY too much, even when i haven't eaten anything. it's just really tight, and sitting in some positions is uncomfortable. anyway, they say you can do ab exercises until you feel discomfort, but i think i might just leave them out. what's the point in having a six pack now anyway? :) i am worried about the next two trimesters, though. i'll have to chill out even more with the amount of weight, and i won't be able to do any exercises on my back. that means that all the work i put into being able to bench 100 lbs will have to be done all over again.
also, i have to pee a lot (!) already (which is apparently due to a 50% (!) increase in my blood volume). this is weird for someone who used to go like twice a day.
i want to make it clear, though, that these are NOT complaints, merely observations. i will do anything and everything this baby requires, and i will do it with a smile, because he's not even born yet, and he's already done so much for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

had some fun today researching how old the little bean probably is now, and what he's doing in there. i've come to the conclusion he is probably about 1 week old, and only implanted his tiny little self into my *hopefully* stellar uterus 3 days ago. what a journey he has already had! it started 5 weeks ago, when my belly made a modest little bungalow inside itself, hoping to entice a nice little couple by the name of mr. sperm and mrs. egg (who had just gotten married, but the mrs. had not yet legally changed her name...you know what a legal rigamarole that is...). my belly has apparently been doing this every month for many years to no avail, but it was not until last month that it would finally fulfill it's destiny. what patience! so the newlyweds settled in, after having honeymooned in my fallopian tubes, (i hear it's really nice there this time of year). and there, in their new home, made just for them, the two became one, and made a baby. :)

p.s.
although by all visual accounts this is obviously an it, i'm going to stick with calling it a he until proven otherwise. i'm sure he would appreciate it.

first day of the rest of our AWESOME life

so today (day 3) is the day. it's finally hitting me. i can't stop smiling and thanking God, and i can't shake this feeling of wanting to scream "I LOVE YOU!" at the top of my lungs to a tiny little embryo i haven't even met yet. right now he(?)'s just a blob with no distinguishable features, but this blob is the best gift i could ever have asked for.

i woke up this morning, and thanked God for this amazing birthday present, and realized that for the next 9 months, every day will feel like my birthday. and then it hit me that after that, i would have a child. so really, every day of the rest of my life will be like the best birthday ever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

so far, all i have to report is that the usual "symptoms" i would have at this "time of the month" are heightened. so basically, my chest hurts and my pants are snug. and i couldn't be happier.

it's finally justifiable that i bought this little guy.

the first of many pictures

video 5

video 4

video 3

video 2

Great things come to those who mate ;)

So Jason and I are finally having a baby. I say finally because I feel like I have wanted one forever, but in truth, we were very lucky, conceiving in only a few months. As I write this, I don't yet know if the baby is 1, 2, or 3 weeks old. All I know is that I'm going to do everything within my control to make sure this baby comes out as healthy as is humanly possible.

Since Jason and I are both not much for phone calls, I thought it would be good if I had a website like this so that everyone could stay informed and involved. Our friends and family are the MOST important part of our lives, and we are very excited to share this journey with all of you.

So, here is the video of how it all started: