Six weeks and a day

It seems sometimes he's been with us forever, and then a moment later as though he just arrived. Naz and his parents are truly enjoying their ride together as a family so far. Its so much fun to just watch him, which is what we do almost all of the time as of late!

Our days have a bit of a routine to them. In case you are interested, here is what they look like:

6:30 am Adam's alarm clock goes off for what will be the first of many notifications that its time for him to start his day. At about this time Naz and Sera usually rouse themselves for the last of the nursing sessions taking place in the quiet of the family bed. Shula patiently waits for someone to let her outside.

7 am Adam heads to the hospital while the rest of us start our day. Shula chases cats, birds, and the dogs behind the house who jump the fence. Sera and Naz make coffee, change diapers, listen to some relaxing world music, and enjoy one another. Naz is truly his father's child as he wakes every morning smiling. Its wonderful.

Until about 10 am Naz nurses, Sera puts him in various position on her body to find something that comforts him. Shula goes in and out and in and out of the house hoping Sera will see her bored expression and take her for a walk. About this time at the hospital Adam has successful poked several patients as he spends his mornings practicing his blood draws. Hopefully around this time Naz falls asleep either on his own (praise God) or on the boob.

Afternoons Until around 1 Naz, Shula, and Sera enjoy a mostly serene scene at home. Then as the light shifts, so does the mood it seems. Naz has enters his fussy phase (please let this be a stage and not his way of being all of the time, every afternoon for the rest of his life!) when nothing satisfies. He moves from sleep to feeding to crying every twenty minutes or so from around 2 until 6. Sera nurses seemingly non-stop. Shula is done being patient and starts trying to herd us to the front gate. Adam is in class for an hour every afternoon, and then he studies for a bit before coming home around 4.

4-6 We head to the smelly dog park with Shula in tow. Naz is in his Baby Bjorn as we can't seem to master the Sling quite yet. He fusses, falls asleep, nurses, looks around, and sighs. Adam and Sera hang out talking of their days that seemingly from Sera's perspective look more and more routine. Shula runs, runs, eats trash, chases other dogs, and gets treats.

6-7 Shula and Naz eat. Adam and Sera cook and get ready for Naz's bath. It is usually during this hour that Naz puts on his greatest vocal performance of the day. Truly impressive. We do our best to "om" him through it, knowing that the bath is where he settles down. Adam is the nightly bather and they love this time together. Lots of cooing sounds can be heard coming from the room, and Sera slams her dinner, some water, and prepares to head to bed with Naz after the bath.

7 pm onward Sera and Naz nurse in bed for what is pretty consistently 12 hours now, with a few breaks for diaper changes, burping, and some slight fussing. Adam studies, does laundry, dishes, talks on the phone, and watches the Daily Show. Shula waits for us to call her in for the night, where she will take up her slumber on the couch waiting for it all to start again.

There you have it. Life as we know it today. We look forward to the day that he can tell us what he needs with words, or at least a gesture we can recognize. For now, we are all just finding our way. Sometimes when I look at him I think it would be really scary to have only been here for six weeks and not to be able to understand anything that goes on around me. Maybe that is why he cries sometimes, I have no idea. We are doing our best to reassure him that we love him, that we are so glad he is here, and that he is safe. We should all be so lucky to have someone tell us that everyday, right?

Check out www.nazrosenbloom.com for the latest pics of our little man engaging in such amazing feats as taking a bath and sneezing!

From us.....

Naz's debut

We headed up north to the birth center a few days before his arrival. This allowed for plenty of time to settle in, and enjoy one another as we passed our last few days as a duo. Here we are at the beach the day before labor started.



Naz Menno Rosenbloom
Born October 1, also Rosh Hashanah and the Eid (last feast of Ramadan!)
Named after the city where he was born, Nazareth, and Adam's mother's father whose anniversary of his death was today.
Weight at birth was 8.8 Ibs and length as 22 inches

The labor was everything I'd ever hoped it would be: deeply hard, gratifying, and raw. Adam was a rock and was with me contraction for contraction for all 30 hours. We labored at a birth center in the Galilee and were attended by two midwife friends of mine here, they were amazing. The hours we labored we walked in the gardens, danced to music prepared by my sister (awesome mixes of Bruce Springsteen, Pat Benetar, and other such inspiring faves to me), and spent lots of time in the water in the tub at the birth center. Everything I'd ever wanted. We really had a great time.

However, after 30 hours of long, hard labor I was stalled out at 7 centimeters (for about 8 hours) and little Naz had not even entered the birth canal. We all decided it was best to transfer to the private Arab hospital in Nazareth. Upon arrival I decided with calm and contentment to have a cesarean as the idea of laboring with an epidural for some mystery amount of more hours with little hope of moving him down was too much for me. So, Mindy our midwife and I headed into a surreal, uneventful surgery and Adam awaited the arrival of Naz to join him in the nursery so he wouldn't be alone. Given the circumstances, as lovely as it could be. Really.

Here is the view from our hospital room, Nazareth.



Being in the hosptial was hard, I won't lie. People in and out of the room every hour, an incredible amount of pain, and a great sense of isolation as it was just Adam, the babe, and I. Every once in a while folks would drop by and each times I felt my spirits soar. But I needed to get out of there, so I checked myself out three days early and we headed back to the birth center.



We returned to the birth center for some water and cranial/sacral therapy, and to try to catch up with all that transpired in our bodies and spirits in the last week. We arrived home in Be'er Sheba last night to a clean house, a stocked fridge, and meals that keep arriving provided by our friends in Adam's program here. What a wonderful community we feel apart of.



Thanks for the love, keep it coming. We are doing well all in all. The current focus for us is that I am having some trouble nursing while doing my best to not get swept under by the emotions and hormones shifting inside of me. A full time job, both. Adam's family is here, and I can't even describe how helpful that is. Let us know when the rest of you will be cruising by, we can't wait to see you!!!!

More to come, promise!

Wedding video

Hi folks,

We've recently received this incredible wedding video as a gift from Adam's brother, Jonas, and his truly talented wife, Nava. I hope you enjoy it; what an incredible day it was~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT0evGD4K34

The grass is always greener in Vermont

I write these sad lines on the runway of Burlington International Airport, as we wait. Rain, rain, rain is the theme of the last week or so here in Vermont, and it won't let me go it seems as we wait, again, for the rain to pass so the plane can fly. That said, wow.....it sure is green here!

Adam and I passed a leisurely week + a few days with his family at their farm, Hyde Away, in Vermont. It is currently the third wettest summer on record, which makes for raging rivers, lush greenery, and jungled gardens. We had a wonderful time, even making it up to Montreal for a day to enjoy a tea shop, bagels, and the required stop at Schwarz's smoked meat counter.

Several of our friends who are somewhat local to the area, as well as some extended Rosenblooms who were close at hand, joined us for a baby shower. And it showered, and showered, and showered! We painted onezies, ate tasty treats, received henna tattoos, and even watched a birth movie. Our kind of party.



I sit here on the run way waiting to go to NYC, Adam has already flown west and spent a night of debauchery with friends in Las Vegas. We will reconvene for a brunch with friends in NYC on Sunday before heading later that day to Israel, via Rome. So, there is more to come of our adventures this summer but I wanted to post some of the baby shower pictures here for your viewing. Yes, I am getting bigger by day and this wee one is a tad bit antsy as it doesn't stay still for long! Eightish more weeks to go until we meet it, and I am enjoying the last few weeks of round, full Sera before I become an official member of the Mothering Tribe.

There are a few other images compliments of our wedding photographer, Orah Moore, and a one year wedding anniversary gift from the Rosenblooms. It was really fun! Hope you enjoy them, and the glamor that pregnancy CAN be.

Enjoy the pics, and more to come soon!

Tight as ticks

Hello gentle readers, I have a tale or two to tell of my recent adventures to the hills of Arkansas. Yes, spending time with the red-neck kin there always proves entertaining; full of meat, water, and pyrotechnics. I am including some pictures here for your to get a sense of what the place looks like; gorgeous really. And at the end I have a story to tell you all of a small girl and her lucky fur. Read to the end and you shall be rewarded with a chuckle or two.

For the American 4th of July, i.e Independence Day holiday, I flew all of 1.5 hours to my east to join my clan in Arkansas. It was a super quick trip: 35 minute flight from Austin to Dallas, and one hour from there to Little Rock, for three short days. My proud papa gathered me at the airport whisking me away to his house just north of Little Rock in a rural community called Caddo. There we passed a nice afternoon pondering how it is that only 1/2 of his mother-in-law's double wide trailer was delivered. Where, indeed, was its mate? All in good time, I am sure.

We headed that evening an hour 1/2 north to our family farm in central Arkansas in a town aptly called, Clinton. Arkansas, like much of the Mississippi delta region, continues to find itself battling rising waters in rivers, creeks, septic tanks and the water keeps coming. This makes for a green wonderland, but also one too wet for its own good. Farmers are really struggling and there wasn't a vine ripe tomato to be found!

Here is a photo of the waterfall directly behind my grandmother's house. It was just outside my bedroom window and I felt a bit as though I was at a spa as I was lulled in and out of sleep by its melodic mantra of wetness.

Here is an action shot of my Macgyver like father cutting the brush so his expansive daughter and her girth can get a good view of the water. Thanks dad.....

Water was definitely the theme of this most recent trip to the Ozarks. I grew up swimming in this wondrous lake: Greer's Ferry. Its one of the largest man-made lake in the US and this summer its even bigger. The water was up so high (how high was it, you ask??) that when I started each swimming session last weekend I started next to a picnic table surrounded by pine trees, swam over a massive parking lot, and then finally out to the buoy. I learned to water-ski, scuba dive, and fish on this lake and it holds a special place in my heart. Part of me feels like I am home when I am there. Does a body good to have a few such places in the world to return to.

My dad is a real life cowboy, for those of you who haven't had the good fortune to meet him yet. He hosts a massive rodeo, in collaboration with the neighboring ranch, each Labor Day: The National Chuckwagon Races. You can visit his website here to see some action shots: http://www.southforktrailrides.com.

Here is one of his trusty companions seen eying me for more tortilla chips. I was sharing my chips with her, and she was really enjoying them. Its pretty funny to listen to a horse eat tortilla chips.

One of the tasty treats that I look forward to the most when I am in Arkansas with my Dad is eating local meat. And when I mean local, I mean its from our land. My Dad's baby brother, Dan, still has a hearty cattle herd wandering the place and these burgers seen here are a product of his efforts. Well, of the cow's efforts, really. Can't say the hot dogs were local. I mean, is there even such a thing given the true nature of a hot dog? Anyway, the baby seemed to enjoy its first sampling of a Bonds-grown burger, and its mother certainly did, as well.

When I am in Clinton I stay at my grandma Betty's house. My grandfather, Herman, passed away about 10 years ago. There are many photos of the two of them and their years together gracing the walls of the house where my father grew up. This is one of my faves. I like to think of them as cartoons sometime defying gravity, escaping falling Acme anvils, scaling mountains in a single bound, and looking at each other with little hearts coming out of their eyes. We miss you grandpa.

Here is a pretty picture of my pop, my step-ma, my grandma, and me. My family was so nice to me when I was with them: telling me how healthy I look, cooking my fave foods, and humoring me by letting me watch the swimming Olympic trials. GO DARA TORRES!!!!! She is my new hero and I have a photo of her I am going to take to my birth with me. If she can break TWO American records at age 41, making her 5th Olympic team, I can birth this baby.


Ok, you've done well. You made it to the end of the blah blah blah blog. Now for the tale of the little girl and her lucky fur.

I went to Greer's Ferry Lake each day at least once to ease the burden of the extra 20 pounds I am carrying these days. Its phenomenal how much better my whole being feels after spending some time surrounded by water, weightless. On most of these visits I was the only person at the beach due to some powerfully majestic thunderstorms passing through. Ah, sweet solitude.

Something you may not know about me is that I ADORE swimming in big open bodies of water during thunderstorms. Really, I do. I know, not the safest smartest idea I've ever had considering I am now responsible for another body currently in residence in its own large, naturally occurring body of water, but I couldn't resist. Floating on my back, the water meeting the sky and the clouds, hearing only my own heartbeat, breath, and thunder; I am fully at peace. Anyway, on one of these serene visits to the lake, my solitude was broken by the arrival of a small girl.

She was about seven or eight years old, I am guessing. Her parents were pretty busy chasing her younger brother in his under-roos up and down the shore, so she was free to play in the water as she desired. And apparently all of her own accord, she brought along something very special.

She and I started chatting innocently enough when I was taking a break from swimming out the buoy and back to the shore. We were chatting about how her father had "lost" the boat, so she was bound to the swimming area this summer. I asked where he had put the boat, if he'd lost it. She didn't seem impressed with my wit, and remarked that he'd had to sell it. All the while she was playing with what looked to my untrained eye as a piece of plain black fabric.

Once I had won her confidence with my empathy regarding her restricted summer plans sans watercraft, she beckoned me closer, whispering, "Do you want to meet my friend?"

I replied with abundant curiosity as one can never have too many friends, "Sure, where is she?"

The little girl looked at me as though I was pretty dim witted, "Um, right here." She gestured to her shoulder where she has laid out the piece of thick blackness and was petting it. "This is my pet; my lucky fur".

Now, reader, I am sure that you are all having the same reaction as I did at this point. One mixed with hilarity, curiosity, and sheer wonder. Please feel free to laugh out loud as I could not do at this point as I didn't want to hurt the feelings of this sweet young thing who was clearly enamored with her new and lucky pet fur.

While all the while lovingly, adoringly stroking her pet, she told me tales of their adventures together and of her undying love for this special friend of hers. During the entire soliloquy I am holding my mouth tight, and my inner voice is cackling, open-mouth laughing, at the scene unfolding before me that can only, dear readers, take place in Arkansas and seemed so natural when shared through a thick southern drawl.

So, when I couldn't hold it together any longer, I excused myself from the scene and returned to my laps. When I was about 40 yards away from the girl and her pet, I (as was anyone within earshot) was stunned by a soul piercing scream coming....."MY LUCKY FUR!!!!!!!"

I quickly reversed my direction and swam as fast as this I could, dragging this big ole pregnant lady (and if I do say so myself, I can still set a good pace even with this weight around my gut) body with me. When I reached the little girl, she was inconsolable, and her father (beer and cigarette in hand) was saying the well intended but inappropriate things, "Hush up, I will buy you a new one from the feed store" and "It ain't that lucky if you done lost it!".

It seems, fair reader, that she had dropped her lucky fur in the lake, and it had sunk to the bottom. Never to be seen again.

At this point I couldn't hold it in at all and was openly, blatantly laughing. Thanking the angels around me for this bit of social satire helping to ease my own discomfort with my own family that I was feeling. What a great trip this could be, if I could just laugh through it rather than being so disturbed by it all! A profound realization for me, really, it was.

So, our young heroine is standing on the beach, encased by storm clouds both above and within. I timidly approached, giggle and all. I offered her the consolation that perhaps it was time for her lucky fur to bring some luck to someone else, attempting to appeal to her benevolent side.

"NO!!!!! THAT WAS MY LUCKY FUR AND I WANT IT BACK!"At this point, I have to admit, my sentiment changed, as did my perspective. I realized that this was not just a young child having a meltdown in our midst, this was my future. As I teeter on the edge of motherhood, I find that I have these kind of daily musings now: damn, that could be my child...fill in the blank: screaming inconsolably over something as seemingly insignificant as a piece of black fur, punching that kid over there, demanding a new Elmo toy at the top if her lungs. Whatever. Wow, this is my future.

That said, let us return to the tale of the lucky fur. The young girl, swaddled in her brightly colored beach towel, cried, gazed longingly at the lake, and mourned the loss of her friend. I really felt for her. But no one else seemed to. Her father had returned to his beer and his buddies, and her little brother was still chasing the waves in his panties up and down the beach. She continued to cry, and even about thirty minutes later when I was leaving the lake, she was still whimpering.

The next day when I went back to the beach to swim, I saw the little girl. She was laughing, riding her bike with her mother. She seemed fully recovered from the trauma of the previous day, and to have come to terms with her loss.

This is the image I want to take away with me. As ridiculous and light as the idea of a girl and her lucky fur are to me, and as thankful as I am that this comical gem landed in my lap at the time it did, I want to remember that she got over it. She moved on. We all do.

This child growing in my belly will have its heart broken. It will loose things, friends, pets, dreams, and hopes. But if I do my job well, it will move on to love again, and to make room in its heart for others. For perhaps, a lucky fur of its own.

We should all be so lucky!

And your reward for reading all the way to the end: a picture of me and my growing motherhood.

Happy trails, everyone!

Life in Austin, ahhhhhhhhhh

Adam and I've both been here now for two whole weeks, and boy oh boy, are we enjoying it. We've already been visited by both of our families, and some long lost friends from the arctic: Minnesota, really. Here are some pics of us enjoying our families, friends, and the fun & sun of Austin. More to come, rest assured.....


Adam and my bro, Zack, playing WII boxing. Its actually really fun, and a good workout!

Adam's sis, Nancy Pants, my sibs, Jordyn and Zack, getting rowdy out at my folks' place in Austin's hill country. This is what the heat does to you!

Two of the three of our dad's were together for Father's Day for a brunch and dinner party. Here is Sam, Sera's step-dad, reading a card.


Adam's folks and Adam here opening his father's day gifts.
Watching the Lakers get pummeled, it was glorious.....

Pretty feet and fishes in the hill country.

Adam hard at work studying for his USMLE exam.

Nature's fly catcher, otherwise known as a jar full of sugary water to drown the poor things in. This is what we do to pass time sometimes in these parts....

This is the view from the back patio at a local joint, Oasis, on the lake here in Austin. A great place for sunset viewing!

And our Nordic kindred who came to visit, Nicole and Jeff. Was so great to see you too, we miss you already. Thanks for making the time to come see us, it means a great deal.

So that about brings us up to speed. The bump and I are now 28 weeks along, can you believe it! And so you don't all start freaking out about flying etc, I gently remind you that we have plenty of time to get home and have this baby. But for now, we are loving our time in Austin and together before the arrival of the wee one.

Hope to see many of you soon, love from us!

Change of scenery

Adam and I arrived safely, and somewhat soundly here in the land of Oz: Austin, Texas. We feel as though we've landed on another planet. One where people speak the same language that we do, where you can order a meal and the waiter doesn't yell at you, and has huge cars cruising the highway as if gas prices weren't rising everyday!

Before we both headed away from our sandbox, Adam made sure to honor his last exam and to make certificates for everyone who attended the ethics course he led this last semester. He can be seen here giving out one of the fancy certificates to one of his classmates.

He is now settling into his "job" this summer of 8-10 hours a day of studying for his Step One USMLE exam. To be fair, he took his first practice exam yesterday and already scored a passing grade, so its just a matter of scoring as high as he can so we can have some control when it comes time for him to place into his residency in 2010. Go Doctor Adam!

I arrived stateside about two weeks before Adam to get some COHI face time with our dedicated Board of Directors, staff, and some volunteers. Here are some of us at the Board retreat in upstate NY.

I then went to NYC where I packed in as many meetings as I could, before getting the flu. I just can't do what I used to able to do before this little one joined me. All in all, though, I had some wonderful meetings and things are moving right along for this little, fledgling organization. COHI is full of Geminis so we had a group birthday party while I was in NYC, as well. What a great way to kick off a new year!


Adam and I are now in Austin. He is studying, and I am doing a fellowship for NARAL Texas Pro-Choice. I will continue to fill my day with my COHI related work, as well, but I am starting to look forward to a year+ from now when I will be stateside for a good chunk of time and would like to perhaps get into politics a bit. So I am trying that on this summer, we will see how it feels.

We'd love to see you all this summer, but I recommend you wait until Adam's exam is over: July 25th, so he can play, too. This is the view out his back porch while he studies, so don't feel too badly for him!


We hope that all is well in your corners of the world, and lets meet up soon!

Sera, Adam, and the bump

Tempura baby

Adam, baby, and I spent an hour last night with an OB/GYN in the plush suburb of Be'er Sheba called Omer. Its where most of the professors and doctors live and it feels a bit like southern California with big stucco houses, green lawns, and big cars. All the same, we went there to visit Dr. Maymon, one of Adam's professors in the reproductive unit in school for a private ultra-sound. Let me explain a bit....

Israel does more genetic testing than any other country. Reason: lots of inter-marriage in the Bedouin community, and closely related gene pools in the Ashkenazi Jewish populations. Both communities are strongly urged to do genetic counseling and testing BEFORE marriage. Either way, all OB/GYNS require this special, 3D, ultrasound at 20 weeks of gestation. These factors make Israel, especially the southern part where we live, a fascinating place to study genetics. Or so I am told by all our geeky medical student friends.

We were not so hip to do this since we are minimalists when it comes to intervening in this pregnancy, but its the only ultra-sound our midwife, Mindy, requires. Additionally, this test isn't covered by insurance. Ironically, most of our prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care within the mainstream system (blood tests, ultrasounds) isn't covered by insurance although we bought the special "pregnancy package". When we complain about this additional, significant cost we are often presented with the suggestion that we should just become citizens of Israel. Then all of our problems would be solved, right? Ha, not quite. Anyway, I am getting away from the story.

So, off we went to Omer last night.

We arrived at the residence of Dr. Maymon, with his office behind his home. It was certainly the most western office we've encountered here so far: bookshelves with lots of medical books, pictures on the wall of babies he delivered, and a coffee machine! In the back room, with nice soft lighting, was this amazing ultrasound machine complete with flat screen TV on the wall facing the table the patient lies on so she can watch the whole thing in full-on technicolor and 3D.

The test was about an hour long, and we did not find out the sex of the little one. Gentle reader, you will have to keep tuning in to find that out. But we found out just about everything else. If our baby were a trading card, here would be her/his stats:

97% for weight according to gestational age
It has lips, eye lenses, and a nose (that looks like Adam's)
It has two kidneys
It has all four limbs that are all well above 50% for length according to gestational age
The fetal position during the exam was vertex (its head was on my left side)
The spine was anterior (towards the top)
The umbilical cord is inserted in the middle of the placenta (where it should be)
There is the right amount of amniotic fluid
It has ten fingers and ten toes
It weighs a bit more than 1 pound

What we learned about our baby from watching it on the screen: it doesn't like to be seen, it kept hiding its face and turning away from the belly camera; it is SUPER long, could be an Olympic swimmer or NBA star; and it is super mobile. That explains my incredibly sore belly. We also saw it scratch its face; so cool.

So where this leaves us. Mindy is happy as it seems our little one is seemingly very healthy so we are free to move forward with planning for our water birth. We still have a very elusive due date. According to some measurements from this test, the baby is at 20 weeks and 5 days of development. Then according to others, like the length of its leg bones, its at 22 weeks and 5 days. We are confident it will arrive just when it means to, and not a moment before. But we are sorry for those of you who are trying to plan travel to be here as it could be as early as September 22, or as late as October 5. All we know is, it will come to meet us when it chooses. And we will do our best to wait, patiently and gracefully.

Here are some pictures of our deep-fried baby (my sister says the pics look like the baby is being batter fried, I tend to agree). These are likely to be the last images we see of our little one before we meet her/him in the flesh. Enjoy!

Birth of two kinds

I feel as though I witnessed a birth last weekend. Not to the growing baby inside of me that stars in the last few lines and photos of this blog posting, but to a project we've been working on since 2004. COHI was finally able to host and sponsor the first meeting of Israeli and Palestinian midwives as part of our coexistence work in the mid-east last week. To say that I was humbled, moved, and inspired would not do the experience justice. I want to share some of the photos with you, there will be more published on the COHI site soon, but please take a few moments to bask in our success.

I served as the facilitator for the weekend's activities, and while this was a great honor, it was also a great challenge. We spoke together in English as this is our shared language. But many of the midwives from both groups don't speak English often and so there were some funny miscommunications. As the excitement mounted, women were speaking over one another and so we resorted to the old "talking stick" protocol. But as we were in a birth center, we used a fetascope as it was closer at hand.

Here is our token man, he is used to this role in these settings. He tends to disappear all day, running errands for us, and then shows up when chores need to be done. What a man, what a man. He can be seen here washing up the day's tea cups at the birth center after the first day's event.
Mindy, the Israeli coordinator for this project as well as our midwife and COHI Board member, can be seen here hugging two of the Palestinian participants. This is the sentiment that exuded from everyone present all weekend. It was heavenly, really.

The workshop over the course of the weekend paired up midwives from both groups to present on protocols regarding all aspects of labor and delivery in their countries. It was a great place to start the conversations between the women and to keep things focused on midwifery. Here are two midwives, one from each group, demonstrating some positioning options for delivery. Truly supporting one another!
Below you will see the entire group, minus one of the Israeli midwives who was called to a birth early in the am. I hope that the friendship, partnership, and goodwill established through our first few days together continues to grow, proving that peace is indeed possible in this part of the world, and women just may be the ones to make it so!

Adam and I stayed on for a day so we could do our scheduled pre-natal with Mindy. I thought you might enjoying seeing some of what our process involves, and the place where the baby will hopefully make its debut.

Here is our midwife, Mindy Levy, who is also a dear friend and COHI Board member, checking my blood pressure. It was just where it is supposed to be.

Adam working through the various positions that the baby takes as it moves through the birth canal. Lots of work for that little baby!

I have a a tipped uterus, meaning that my pregnancy is in the front of my body rather than in the middle. Mindy is modeling for us how my uterus is extending out over my pelvis right now, but as the pregnancy progresses it will straighten out. This is why I am showing so much, so early.
Adam checking my proteins, again, right where they should be. Reminds me of checking the chlorine levels at the pool all of those years. The scientist in him really enjoys this part of the appointments, I think.

This is the garden out back from the birth center, where should I feel up to walking during my labor I can wander around. Not a bad place to bring a new life into the world, eh?

This is the size of our baby as of now: 19 weeks, plus a few days. See the cell phone placed next to the picture so you can get the scale. No, the baby isn't making a call.

You can see here Mindy measuring what is called the fundal height. As it is, when I lie down the majority of the pregnancy disappears due to the tipping action of my uterus. We measured me both lying down and when I stand up. When I stand up, its significantly larger. All the same, I am where we should be with this, as well. Or I should say, the baby is where it should be!

So there you have it, an update on all of the excitement that we've joined in over the last week. I am set to fly away in less than a month to the US, and Adam will join me there in early June. We can't wait to see many of you quite soon, and we will post any news about things from our sandbox should we have the chance.

Love from us,

Adam, Sera, and the bump