Welcome!

We are so excited to share the news of our pregnancy with you!

We're starting the Belly Blog as we enter week 16 and hope you'll enjoy it as a glimpse into our world as we go through this incredible transformation from two into three.

We'd been hoping to start our family since last year, and received the good news in January. We were a little surprised that babies didn't happen as quickly as we'd been led to believe, but it was a good "parental" lesson in letting go!
(image from Jade's Dalies, her cartoon journal)

We're due September 18th, though we all know babies decide their debut. We'll be having the birth at the Monadnock Birth Center with Professional Midwife Mary Lawlor, a 30 year veteran of her field who has equal parts maternal warmth and medical expertise. We plan to use HypBirth for pain management, which has rave reviews from many first-time mothers.

The gender will be a surprise on the day of its birth, and names will also be kept as a surprise.

So far, Jade has had an easy pregnancy with no morning sickness, though she has a nasty aversion to brownies and a penchant for Alexia shoestring french fries... We've entered the 2nd trimester and the heavy sleepiness and queasiness have passed. Jade is just barely starting to show.

We admit the pregnancy was a bit unreal for the first several weeks, but everything became very real the moment we heard the heartbeat at our first midwife visit. Jade cried with awe at the strong sound of this being's heart inside of her!
(photo: hearing heartbeat at first midwife visit)

Please feel free to share your thoughts and stories!