Clocking in at 154 BPM.

Yesterday was our first appointment with the midwives. It was a great appointment and we had some good discussions about diet and exercise. We also got to hear the baby's heartbeat again - I will never get tired of that sound! It's 154 beats per minute now, which is right where it should be. I also got to feel my uterus through my belly. Kind of freaky, but now I have tangible evidence that it's growing! I haven't felt any movement yet - well, I haven't felt anything that I'm sure was movement. I expect that to happen in the next few weeks, though.

We're also doing all of the admin stuff around having a baby: scheduling birthing classes, calling insurance companies, thinking about house prep. There's a lot to do and I feel like I don't have enough hours in the day to get it all done. Since I am planning to be a stay-at-home-mom, I now have a new appreciation for how hard it is to be a working Mama! Props to all you lovely ladies out there who balance work and kids - mine isn't even here yet and it is tough!!

I'mma get all sentimental and stereotypical on you guys for a minute here...

I'm a little amazed at what is going on here. I am growing a person! It's all such a normal and natural biological function that every species can do: reproduce. And yet, I feel so awed by the feat. It's completely common and normal and so completely amazing and complicated at the same time. And as my belly expands (and believe me, it is expanding!), I feel more and more like I am the vessel for a gift that we get to open in February. The box outside is neat looking, but the real treasure lies within. I am intensely curious about how our baby will look. Will it be a boy or a girl? Will (s)he look like me or Allen? My blue eyes and Allen's black hair? Or Allen's gorgeous hazel eyes and (by some stroke of luck) auburn red hair that runs on my side of the family? (Though it seems to have skipped me...) I've never been one for delayed gratification, so on the one hand, February can't get here fast enough! But on the other hand, I'm really reveling in the wonder of my new state of being - even if I can't savor the mystery over a martini... Plus, we have so much work to do, I really need time to slow down for a bit.

I know, I know. I sound like every other first-timer, ever. But seriously, you guys... I am growing a person in here!