Half Way Point!

Wow..we are at the half-way point! The past 140(ish) days have not exactly "flown" by but I'm still a bit in awe that we are here -- the mid-point.

I think we have started to let ourselves get excited about the fact that we have a little baby growing inside of me and that some day (in about 140 days, actually), if we are very lucky, we might actually have a happy, healthy daughter. Both W and I are too superstitious to let ourselves consider it a done-deal, but we have begun to talk about things more concretely and even let ourselves start organizing the nursery (i.e. moving mounds and mounds of books) - like others of you, we are converting one of our offices into the baby's room.

We went to the 'meet the midwives' event earlier this week at our birthing center and both came away feeling like we have definitely made the right decision. I needed to twist W's arm a bit to choose a "local, smaller" hospital versus one of the big-time, downtown ones. I was the one pushing for midwives over an OB and talking "crazy" about natural/hypnobirthing - BUT after last night, she was hooked. She LOVED the midwives, their stories and the real inspiration that they brought to the practice. I think it finally hit home for me that this whole labor thing is going to be hard (duh, I guess), but I feel like we are in really good hands. We also signed up for hypnobirthing birthing classes (through our midwives practice) and were excited to learn that the midwife who teaches it is gay - which eased our fears of awkward "dad" moments that others we know have experienced in other classes.

Both of our moms have been pestering us to have a shower, but we figured it would be more fun to invite relatives and friends for a naming ceremony after the birth - I mean meeting the baby is WAY more fun then sitting around staring at my growing belly, but we finally caved and compromised on also having a _small_ pre-birth shower set far enough into the future to feel safe - but it does mean we get to start thinking about our essential baby item wish list. A couple of you have posted must-have lists - THANK YOU, they have been really, really helpful. We are also going the cloth-diaper route so all of that advice lately has been great. Keep it coming if you have other advice on strollers, co-sleepers, cribs, bedding, etc. We are 'inheriting' a car seat and other goodies from friends, but still need the basics.

On the more "local" front, still no definitive movement-sightings. I know that because I have an anterior placenta, it might be a couple more weeks but I am jealous of other women in my prenatal yoga class talking about their babies going wild during savasana. Sometime I think I feel little movements on my side (like air bubbles) but then rationalize that it is likely just indigestion - oh well, maybe soon!

I was hoping to leave you with an updated belly pic (im GRROOOOOOOOOOWing) but I forgot the camera at home. So I'll post tonight/tomorrow....