I Love Being Pregnant

I love feeling the baby squirm around inside of me

I love being asked "when are you due?" by strangers and grocery store clerks who take one look at my round belly and grin

I love collecting soft swaddle blankets

I love the ferocious urge to purge, cleaning out shelves and closets, organizing the mud room and attic, making even fluffier and cozier our sweet little nest

I love meeting other pregnant women at prenatal yoga, our instant comraderie and connection

I love watching my taut belly jiggle when M makes me laugh

I love the love that we feel right now, from everyone. I love that we were thrown a Nonesuch baby shower and got to celebrate with lots of former students who seem as excited as we are, who even gave us gifts of baby Doc Martens and hand-made knit hats and little cardboard books...

I love talking about birth, babies, and breast-feeding with any and every mom who crosses my path

I love reading about things I never would've thought about, like baby's first bowel movement

I love the anticipation of meeting our baby, girl or boy, looking into those giant eyes and saying, welcome to our world