This probably won’t come as a surprise to some of you who have picked up clues placed randomly all over this blog but, yes, Erin and I are pregnant. So, here are the first pictures of SmallBow, a baby girl (95% certain), officially expected on October 29 (note, though, that only 5% of mothers give birth on their expected due date).
Yes, we do have some ideas for names (Vivian, possibly), but we’re not referring to SmallBow by those names until she’s born. Erin has a superstition about it, and I’m willing to respect that. We’re nervous and excited and eager and, frankly, terrified. Oh, and the midwives we have assigned to our case have been absolutely great.
So far, the pregnancy has been absolutely textbook. SmallBow is precisely the right size for her apparent age, and the ultrasound confirmed the initial due date estimate. Erin has not enjoyed the morning sickness (who does?) and it has frustratingly lingered well into her second trimester, but she’s at least fared far better than her maternal grandmother, who was sick through all nine months of all nine of her pregnancies (Yowch!).
In other news, Erin starts her job as Writer for the Engineering Department of the University of Waterloo two weeks from Monday. Her employers are aware that she is expecting and have been most supportive. Erin will be writing the department’s press releases and publications and generally translating Engineering into English and back again. Her degree in Physics as well as her abilities as a poet should serve her well, here.
She will not have worked long enough to quality for maternity leave payments, so the plan is to have Erin take a short leave of absense. Once my current assignment ends, I’ll be staying home to look after the Baby and pursue my freelancing career.
At least that’s the plan. I realize that these things have a tendency to not work to plan, so I won’t jinx it. It’s a scary and exciting time for us, as you can well imagine. The well wishes and prayers we’ve received are most appreciated.