BABY V!

Finally! Our trusty laptop has returned home safe and sound! Turns out herbal teas without sugar make for easy computer survival! So we thought we'd take this moment to share photos of the last few months.

Here's our first belly photo of J at 12 weeks:

Then Steve turned 35 on Jan. 21, and J turned 30 on Feb. 6. This next photo is before J headed to the spa for her 30th! She's 18 weeks.




Then, on Valentines Day we got to see our little baby for the first time with our ultrasound! We were just astonished by how amazing it all was. Our first image of the baby was face front with one arm above its head! That's how Steve sleeps!! HA HA!! Genes are amazing things!

Throughout the entire ultrasound the baby kept touching its face and at one point even put its hands over its eyes! It was so amazing! The mouth was moving the whole time. When we looked at the legs to measure them they were completely stretched out and crossed at the ankles! It was hilarious! The heart was beating a solid 145 and looked great. The brain was full and fantastic. We looked at the hindbrain and the ventricles and the spinal cord and the little rump. We even got to watch blood going in and out of the umbilical cord! That was crazy! And when we went over the feet they kept moving like a tap dancer against the probe. We were astonished!

Then Mary, our ultrasound technician, asked THE question. Did we want to know. Hmmmmm.... Originally, NO, we did not want to know. Yet, we told her that we thought we needed to be thrown a bone since the beginning of the pregnancy was so difficult. We looked at each other and decided that she could look and if she saw something to tell us and we'd decide then. So J intently watched her scan across the rump over and over (the cord was right between the legs in front). J knew just watching. There was nothing there at ALL! No hanging goodies that we could see. So when Steve said, yes, he'd like to know, we weren't suprised when she said she couldn't be 100% sure, but she's 90% sure it's a..............................

GIRL!!!

We trotted home with this news and felt just fine that we gave into the heat of the moment. Life is like waves, right? Fight it or go with it. We love the thought of a baby girl! Although we didn't care, and still, the babe could have been just hiding a little something something, we enjoy calling it a "her" and enjoy taking polls with family and friends on our names we're thinking about. If you'd like to get in on the action, let us know! Not that we'll listen to any of you, but it's fun!

So, lastly, here's Mommy again at 21 weeks (Febuary 25) Clearly J has finally popped! She's gained a solid 15 pounds and is loving watching everything expand. Unexplainable. Creation. (please note for the tender eyes of the bunch, this next photo shows some skin)

We end the photo slide show here. With the trusty Dell-tastic friend back at home we will continue to post more pics as time goes on. Thanks to all of you who have inquired after our health and the well-being on Baby V. We love you all.

a Belly and some Tea

I know many are wondering what happened to us! We've received some "where are you" emails just today in fact!!

Well, the computer is fried... J is starting to pop out and balancing tea on her stomach while typing is clearly not an option anymore. The tea in the laptop has disconnected us from the cyber world until a fix-it solution is found.

A quick update for ya all!

J is 18 weeks along! Almost half done! Can you believe it? We can't! Yet, it has been a bit of a rough 18 weeks. The all day sickness is the beginning was replaced by pregnancy migraines! J used to get migraines as a teen and young lady but healed herself through diet, water and massage when the pill popping got to be too much. Yet, low and behold, here there are again. Clarice, our new midwife (to be explained), informed us that this happens often. If a woman has had migraines before, they may come back in pregnancy. So although the throwing up from stomach bobbles is over, it returns with the headaches. The good news is it's been a week of headache free J!! We're hoping she's here to stay!

As the belly expands, we are starting to get very excited! We have opted for a 20 week ultrasound that we will be receiving on Valentines Day. We are looking forward so much for this.

So, yes, as stated above, we have new midwives. We have a new birthing place as well! We discovered the Greenhouse Birth Center in Okemos, Michigan! We began looking to switch our home birth aspirations as we learned that our insurance would cover the birth center! So we visited. From the first step in we knew this was where we wanted to birth. The "exam" room is 2 rocking chairs and a day bed. The 2 birth rooms are complete with wood floors, a queen size bed and gigantic birthing tub. The classes offered there are active birthing, hypno-birthing and many more! And the midwifery care model was solid with these women. They trust women to birth and are supportive of their natural process We were sold!

Our first appointment was 2 hours with the midwife where we not only discussed physical history, but also emotional history, present situations, fears, ideas, philosophies. We feel incredibly blessed to be making a deep connection to the women involved in assisting J to labor and deliver our little Voller. A big change from the normal 6 minutes women see their doctor at an OBGYN office.

please check out our birth center! www.greenhousebirthcenter.com

Steve is still plugging along with his consulting firm. He's been keeping busy with winter compost operations out back, shoveling snow and practicing classical guitar, not to mention connecting with baby V every morning with his energy through his hands and with his voice as he says good-bye to the belly each day. We discovered the ears are fully developed and are beginning to read and play guitar to baby.

Steve has finished his first birthing book, Deepok Chopra's Holistic Guide to Childbirth and is on to his second, Birthing from Within. He is so supportive of J and even sat down to do "birth art" as suggested in Birthing from Within. We painted and drew pictures of ideal births, "a womb with a view", a j, a self portrait. We've been having so much fun!

J is going back to massage 6 hours a week and is helping her ex-sister in law with her new Biodynamic Energy business. So the finances should look a little better very soon.

Well, we'll be back soon, hopefully with photos once our computer is returned to us!