Equatorial Calms

"Equatorial calms" sounds nicer than "doldrums." It's not a bad thing, but we've entered the quiet period of pregnancy. Nausea and fatigue are abating, jeans still fit, and sometimes I catch myself thinking, "Am I *really* pregnant?" Then I think, "You've seen two ultrasounds. You're pregnant." Pregnancy does weird things to your mind - don't make fun of your mother!

A couple of weeks ago (February 22, I think it was), we got to see you again, but you were very shy about showing us your face. Got a good look at your backside, though, and your ridiculously small feet. They are ridiculously tiny, which will probably have to console you later in life when you either have my long, skinny feet or your father's "Hobbit" feet. The nurse wanted to check your heart rate with the Doppler, but you were too squirmy for her to get a good read on you, so they decided to do a quick ultrasound just to make sure that you were fine and being productive. It just took a second for you to come into focus, and then all of a sudden, you flinched and wriggled and my breath just stopped. Yours didn't though - you were trucking right along, and your dad was the first one to spot the little tiny flicker that is your heart. So, we've confirmed you have toes (I didn't get the chance to count them, but I think you're good), and you have fingerprints and are now able to squint. Keep up the good work!

Your dad had a birthday this past weekend, one of the many things that makes me think, "This time next year, we'll be doing this with our baby," and we went out for birthday breakfast. Sitting there waiting for a table, I suddenly looked around this crowded Sunday-morning restaurant at all the older women, the young men in baggy pants, the new moms with babies, and realized that everyone, every single person on the planet, was once where and what you are now. Epiphanettes, we call those around here; the things you know, but suddenly see in a way that allows you to *know*. Was an amazing thought to realize that at some point, everyone I could see had once been so small, so formed yet unformed, so busy with the very basics of life, that they too had once not even been in existence. It's a powerful thing to realize life exists in a place where there once was nothing, and the knowledge that all of the things you are and will be and can be is already in there is beyond amazing. There's a lot waiting for you to discover out here....