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when are you due? do you know what it is? do you have names picked out? where are you delivering? are you going back to uganda? how long are you staying? are you excited?

when are you due? paige is 39 weeks pregnant. 40 is the standard for a full-term birth. we learned last night that 70% of first-time mothers give birth at 41weeks 3days.

do you know what it is? nope.

do you have names picked out? we have a short list of boys and girls names that seems to be getting longer. we hope to have settled on number one before we head to the hospital.

where are you delivering? methodist hospital in minneapolis (ok, st louis park). conveniently located across from meadowbrook public golf course, so i have something to do while paige is in labor. i’m kidding.

are you going back to uganda? assuming the bean is happy and healthy we’ll head back when it is 8 weeks old. we have tickets for october 4, with one free change in case the bean is early or late.

how long are you staying? we’ll probably be in uganda for another year. paige doesn’t have a set contract so it could be +/- some months depending on how things go with work and parenthood etc.

are you excited? um, yes. this is one that i’m going to try to remember not to ask pregnant parents. of course we’re excited and if we weren’t, it’s probably not something we’d feel like talking about except with close friends. i think there’s lots of hopes and fears associated with (especially the first) child birth, and we have those ups and downs like i’m sure everyone does. anyway. we’re super excited to finally meet the bean and find out the third word of that most famous of sentences, “it’s a _!”

here are answers to not so FAQs.

an organization called blooma at 44th and france has been absolutely awesome, and i’m not sure where we would be without them. we’ve taken our childbirth classes there, paige has been doing prenatal yoga there as many as 2-3 times a week, and we learned about and hired our doula through them. paige and i shy away from giving advice related to birth because it’s such a charged topic and i never tell people they “should” do something, but man, if you’re in the area and you’re having a kid, blooma is worth a look.

jenny’s light is a minneapolis-based foundation for postpartum illnesses. the story is heartbreaking, but the ferocity with which this relatively new (7 months) organization is tackling the issue and raising awareness is pretty inspiring. definitely something every new parent needs to know about.

we got most of our necessities second-hand from other expats in uganda before we came back to MN in june. car seat, crib, pack and play, some toys/mobiles etc. and we have a car seat here and other newborn stuff. we’re going to give cloth diapers a try and just got our first box on ebay today. fuzzi bunz. they’re pretty sweet. i’m going to see how big they make ‘em because i could see myself just living in them. mmm, soft fleece. i’m sure it’s easy to start with the best intentions but break down and just start using regular diapers once sleep deprivation kicks in, but i hope we can stick with it because i sure like the upside to the environment and the baby.

since our separation from the cats in uganda, paige has regained her position as my favorite photographic subject. i just took some studio portraits of her that are up at philsgoodphoto.blogspot.com. if you click the preggers label, you can see all the paige pics since she started getting a tummy.

ps. sorry for the lack of posts. -phil