As I mentioned on Friday we heard our baby’s heartbeat for the first time last week. Since then, the reality of this baby has been setting in more and more for Alex and I. When we had our first (and only) ultrasound I sort of felt like I was watching someone else’s baby, because the monitor was all the way across the large room rather than right next to me. There is something about hearing the heartbeat though….to hear a heart beating below my belly button, nowhere near my own heart, was insane. The confirmation that there is a life already thriving inside my body was just so powerful. It seemed to have the same effect on my husband who has been feeling more and more excited/emotional about the whole process.

I’m pretty lucky to have a husband who is so involved. Pregnancy can be a very isolating/lonely experience, even when your husband is sitting right next to you. It’s the first time I’ve ever really looked at him and thought/said “you have NO idea what this (being a woman) is all about.” Not that he knew what I was going through when I was curled up in fetal position on account of agonizing menstrual cramps back in the day, but this…..this really clears things up as far as how different the male and female experience are….like woah.

I totally digress though…I am lucky because as different as my experience of life is from my husband’s right now, there is something incredibly bonding about the fact that he has put up with my hormonal insanity and the hot mess that was my first trimester. He finds a way every day to be “involved” somehow, whether it’s massaging my aching back, feeling my belly, asking me to update him on this week’s fetal development milestones, or (his new obsession) reading to the baby so it will recognize his voice and bond more quickly with him when its born.

It really hit me this week: this is the beginning of our family.