Good-bye Trimester Uno!

This Christmas, we shared the news of our pregnancy with family and friends who were, delighted. Tears flowed and well wishes abounded. As did the stories of everyone's awful pregnancy. "I didn't know I was pregnant until I was five months! (Im not sure how that is possible) And then I was sick every day until she was born." It seems as if folks forget that this is my nine to five gig so I am a) not impressed with their stories, and b) not interested. I feel great, so there you have it.

The Hypnobirthing method encourages parents to bond with their babies prenatally. They believe that that loving feeling creates a calm baby, calm child, calm labor, calm birth. So, here at just 12 weeks with our baby the size of a lime (and as a midwife I've always seen them as fetuses, not quite all there yet) it is strange to think of a bond with our future baby. I received a ukelele for Christmas and as I strum away, I try to imagine our pre-person bouncing around in there listening to my strummings and howlings. When I attend births, parents seem so surprised to see their baby when they are born. I often ask "Does she look like you imagined?" but no one has an answer for that, like they never imagined what their baby would actually look like. Having seen tons of newborns, they all do kind of look alike. Out here they come with a full set of hair, sometimes like a mullet already. They have those black orb-like eyes, those flat noses so they can breathe at the breast, and most often, a very surprised look. I picture our baby. It looks like every other brown baby I've seen, lovely.