Whole Family Pregnancy

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"Hold you, Mama?!" his chubby little arms and pleading eyes raised up, I glance at the laundry basket perched on my hip, sigh with a smile and hoist him up opposite.  He clings to me like a monkey, and as we walk together he loops one arm around my shoulder - and with the other, gently pats my belly.

F spots me knitting on the couch, and clambers up onto my shrinking lap.  Curling herself into a C shape to accommodate my roundness, her eyes pop open and her lips form a perfect "O!" when her sibling within me responds to her presence with a pointed *kick*.

B, my oldest, asks questions regarding the development of the baby.  I pull out the books I have on the subject and together we learn about taste buds forming and the brain expanding, all while that little heart is just trucking away.

It can be easy for me to assume that, being the one pregnant, this is only affecting me at the moment.  But each and every member of this family can feel it, the winds of change blowing, the excitement of something new.  In some ways, we're all expectant here.  As the baby continues to grow, so does its presence in our lives.  I am plied with requests for birth stories from my little people, and listen in when they tell each other things they remember.  "I remember when Mama had F, and Libby stayed with us."  "I remember when Mama had Jojo, and Daddy ran over to Grandma's to tell us it was a boy!" "I remember how tiny he was!"

Baby name lists written by little hands, asking me for the spelling of names like "Katie" and "Jack" and "Agatha."  The midwife comes for a visit, and all gather close to "help" take my blood pressure, feel my belly, listen for a heartbeat.  I am constantly reminded that this is not just my baby, but our baby.  S/he belongs to us all.

Amidst all of these remembrances, I'm trying to cherish these little moments up in my heart.  Remember the joy and curiosity of little ones, expecting great things.

We're all expecting here - waiting on the miracle, knowing it is right around the corner.  Watching how my children are being shaped right before my very eyes, how these experiences and conversations are creating in them the blueprint for their lifelong view on babies and birth, well...it takes my breath away.