Dear Peapod

Hi baby! The first thing I want to say to you is that you are perhaps the most loved and wanted child there ever was. Right now you're smaller than a grain of rice (something I'm sure will be unbelievable when you're tall like your dad), but I have an entire heart full of love for you. I've been waiting so long for you to show up, and now that you're on your way, there's so much I can't wait to share with you.

I'll share some of the details of pregnancy with you, even though maybe you don't want to know! I hope someday you'll understand how much I care for you, and that even when you find me uncool and old-fashioned and hopeless, you'll know I love you fiercely and beyond all reason.

Let's start with how you announced your impending arrival! Your dad and I had been trying to have you for 14 months, which felt like a long, long time. I was starting to think you were NEVER going to show. But on Wednesday, July 11 2007, I woke up in the middle of the night four times to pee! I thought it was weird, and a little suspicion started to grow. On Thursday, I was expecting to find out that I wasn't pregnant, but I didn't. By Friday morning (yes, Friday the 13th -- my lucky day), I couldn't wait any more to find out. I bought a pregnancy test and then ran out of the room to distract myself! I didn't want to look at the test, especially if it was unclear or negative. But after a few minutes, I went back and looked, and it was positive! I cried and cried! I was so happy, and relieved, too. I was so excited, and I wanted to tell your dad right away, but I wanted to do it in person. He called me that afternoon and asked how my day was, and I said that it was fantastic. That piqued his curiosity, and he wanted me to tell him right away why my day was fantastic, but I wouldn't tell him until I picked him up from work. When I told him, he said "this is good. We'll have to start a college fund." He's the one who nicknamed you Peapod. He calls me Sweetpea, so it came from that.

I told your grandma and Boompah on Sunday the 15th. I gave Grandma a bib and booties with an airplane on them (do you know your Grandma likes airplanes?). When I handed her the package, she said "For me? I haven't done anything!" I said "It's for something you're going to do." She opened it and gasped, and I said "you're going to be a grandma!" Then we BOTH cried and hugged.

I don't want to go on too long, or try to say everything right now, but I will tell you that even though I'm only four weeks and five days along (making you 19 days old), I already think about you all the time. I always have tried to make good choices about eating, but now it seems to be even more important, since it's going to feed you. I'm trying to read everything I can about pregnancy and babies, and have already ordered two books. I'm dying to know what you're up to in there! Apparently right now, you're building a central nervous system. You'll have a heartbeat by the time I go to my first doctor's appointment on August 9th.

That's enough for now. I'm looking forward to meeting you, but I'm also enjoying every minute of this.

Love,
Mom