Baby! Baby! Baby! I am just about 19 weeks now. Here are some very special images of the little one in my belly!

Slowly, I am growing this baby......I am not about to rush to the end. I am taking this beautiful process one-day-at-a-time...
There is simply no need to rush to the finish........

I am very happy to let you all know that we have found our Doula! Her name is Kirsten, and she is a very sweet and lovely person. Having a doula has been one of my goals in preparing for labor. I wasn't too sure if Matt would be skeptical about my wanting to have a Doula. After our meeting Kirsten last week we both left knowing we had made a good decision. Kirsten has been a Doula for many years in Western Mass attending over 100 births, she is in training to become a midwife as well. Here is a link to Kirsten's website. Kirsten's Website: Graceful Birth

Photos for the begining of the week no. 18:

Finally our internet at home works, though there is no comfy place to sit and use it right now! Anyways, here are photos from a week and a half ago......(late week 15).

So here I am at week 16. We did take photos last week, however our web access at home is not working right now...so ya'll will have to wait till next week. =)
I am hoping to take self portraits, and some of Matt and I this weekend at the Studio. Hopefully the weather will be nice and lots of sun will come into the studio.
I am deffintately growing in the belly! Its pretty fun to see the changes in my belly now...I am taking it all in everyday, I don't want to rush the process. I know that it will go by fast when I look back on these days. I am not one to rush things...and this is deffinately not something to rush through. This monday we have another Midwife appointment, and then on wednesday we are having a meeting with our tentative Doula. I am very adamant about having a doula, I want to be as supported mentally and psyically during labor, as I know that I will need it. I want to have the extra emotional support for myself and for Matt....

You may be saying: What is a doula?
A birth doula is a trained labor support person who provides emotional and physical support to a laboring woman and her partner. While she is not a medical professional, she can offer a wide range of comfort measures during labor - from massage to aromatherapy to continuous reassurance and coping techniques.

Women supported by a doula during labor have been shown to have:

50% reduction of cesarean rate
25% shorter labor
60% reduction in epidural requests
30% reduction in analgesia use
40% reduction in forceps delivery

YES this is for me!