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I want to take a moment and THANK all the wonderful people that visit this site and send out the much needed support to all the participants. Through my pregnancy this board was all I had unless I wanted to call my doctor all the time. All of you helped me deal with the good and the bad over my 41 1/2 weeks of pregnancy prior to the arrival of my wonderful son JAROD. He joined us on April 18, 2000 at 4:16 am and all of you waited anxiously with me as he took his time to finish his arrival which ended quite rapidly with a labor of 1 1/2 hours in the hospital NATURALLY. We are both doing great and owe alot of it to this site which I will pass on to everyone I know that is trying to have a little one. GOOD LUCK to everyone!

LOVE,
Diksea & Jarod

Diksea_Gal (Peggie) <
Germantown, MD USA -

I am the mother of a beautiful, intelligent 2yo girl. She is the center of my universe. I love her more than life itself. I will soon be trying to conceive again. I hope that God will bless me with another angel to love and teach and grow with! May God bless you with an angel, too!
Missy Miller <
Woodstock, GA USA -

Hi, I'm new here
Lila <>
elk grove, il USA -

I read this in my expectancy journal and it makes me cry everytime I see it. It so wonderfully sums up all the emotions I have in relation to our adoption!

"I did not give you the gift of life. Life gave me the gift of you."

Astrid, expectant a-mom
Astrid
USA -

On March 29th I was hanging out on the BB till 11pm with DH thinking I was becoming catatonic, I read with joy all the supportive suggestions & good thoughts from everyone. I went to sleep - well sort of- and couldn't stop thinking about this morning when I'd test. Well I woke up this morning, 19 dpo, before my alarm and did temps - 98.5!! I ran to the bathroom ripped open the last HPT I had and nearly wetted myself doing it. Well in a matter of a couple of minutes I saw 2 very dark red lines. I couldn't believe it - I was shaking! I ran over to DH to wake him up and the rest is history. FOR ANYONE'S WHO'S INTERESTED....AT 19 DPO, I HAVE NO SYMPTOMS OTHER THAN SORE "FIRM" BBS AND A MISSED AF. HOPE THAT'S ENCOURAGING!! L.C. Picker <>

Phila, PA USA -

I love this site! I am so glad to see so many other women who love motherhood as much as I do! I cried when I read the "baby about to be born". I am the proud mother of an eighteen month old boy, and am eagerly TTC. I loved being pregnant, and have loved every step of raising our sweet, little boy. Kids just change and grow up way too fast! Good luck to all of you. Hopefully I can add to the sonagram pictures soon!
Beth <
Olathe, Ks USA -

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER
by Erma Bombeck

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love yous".. more "I'm sorrys"... but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it... live it...and never give it back.

--In memory of Erma Bombeck who lost her fight with cancer.

Michele <>
Ft. Wayne, IN USA -

ULTRASOUND POEMS

I. 7 Weeks, 5 Days
We spied on you today,
found you burrowed in your
secret place,
pulsating fiercely
focused so completely
on the business of being alive.
You seemed to hang there,
blurry and suspended in mid-air,
the only thing moving
the constant, insistent flutter
of your tiny heart.

II. 19 Weeks 5 Days
Half the time we saw you moving
I couldn't even
feel your motions.
You live a secret life inside of me,
stretching, arching, turning,
cells dividing, muscles forming,
bones hardening, neurons firing...
You are already your own person,
completely unbeknownst to me.
Andi <>
Philadelphia, PA USA -

I have millons of websites about Breastfeeding, birth, and parentingThis one is great for the dh to read,
and has a lot of info for you also>
,http://members.xoom.com/fobb/
To see my children and to see a picture of me go >
http://www.sunyit.edu/~schirot/momsmilk.html
This link has pix of me and my loop friends >
http://members.aol.com/katerimama

Em Schiros <>
Richfield Springs, NY USA -

"A mother's love perceives no impossibilities."
- Paddock

Michele <>
Ft. Wayne, IN USA -

Oftentimes when we hear our children talk, we realize we should have been more careful of what they heard us say.

The best inheritance a parent can give his children is---a few minutes of his time each day.

Bring up a child in the way he should go, and go that way yourself.

Don't let your parents down---remember, they brought you up.

Parents can tell but never teach, until they practice what they preach.

Too many parents are not on speaking terms with their children.

One of the greatest gifts a man can give his children is to love their mother.

A mother's heart is a child's classroom.

Michele <>
Ft. Wayne, IN USA -

Christmas is for love. It is for joy, for giving and sharing, for laughter, for reuniting with family and friends, for tinsel and brightly decorated packages. But mostly, Christmas is for love.

I had not believed this until a small elf-like student with wide-eyed innocence and soft rosy cheeks gave me a wondrous gift one Christmas.

Mark was an 11 year-old orphan who lived with his aunt, a bitter middle-aged woman greatly annoyed with the burden of caring for her dead sister's son. She never failed to remind young Mark, if it hadn't been for her generosity, he would be a vagrant homeless waif. Still, with all this scolding and chilliness at home, he was a sweet and gentle child.
I had not noticed Mark particularly until he began staying after class each day (at the risk of arousing his aunt's anger, I later found) to help me straighten up the classroom. We did this quietly and comfortably, not speaking much, but enjoying the solitude of that hour of the day. When we did talk, Mark spoke mostly of his mother. Though he was quite small when she died, he remembered a kind, gentle, loving woman, who always spent much time with him.

As Christmas drew nearer, however, Mark failed to stay after school each day. I looked forward to his coming and when, as the days passed, and he continued to scamper hurriedly from the room after class, I stopped him one afternoon and asked why he no longer helped me in the room. I told him how I had missed him, and his large gray eyes lit up eagerly as he replied, "Did you really miss me?" I explained how he had been my best helper. "I was making you a surprise," he whispered confidentially. "It's for Christmas." With that, he became embarrassed and dashed from the room. He didn't stay after school anymore after that.

Finally came the last school day before Christmas. Mark crept slowly into the room late that afternoon with his hands concealing something behind his back. "l have your present," he said timidly when I looked up. "I hope you like it." He held out his hands, and there lying in his small palms was a tiny wooden box.

"It's beautiful, Mark. Is there something in it?" I asked, opening the top to look inside. "Oh you can't see what's in it," he replied, "and you can't touch it or taste it, or feel it. But Mother always said it makes you feel good all the time, warm on cold nights, and safe 'when you're all alone."

I gazed into the empty box. "What is it, Mark," I asked gently, "that will make me feel so good?" "It's love," he whispered softly, "and Mother always said it's best when
you give it away." And he turned quietly and left the room.

So now I keep a small box made of wood on the piano in my living room and only smile as inquiring friends raise quizzical eyebrows when I explain to them that there is love in it.

Yes, Christmas is for gaiety, mirth and song, for good and wondrous gifts. But mostly, Christmas is for love.

Give the gift of love this year.

Michele <>
Ft. Wayne, IN USA -

"Babies are bits of star-dust
blown from the hand of God.
Lucky the woman who knows the pangs of birth,
for she has held a star."
- Larry Barretto, The Indiscreet Years

Michele <>
Ft. Wayne, IN USA -

We often learn the most from our children.

Some time ago, a friend of mine punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."

He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found that the box was empty. He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside of it?"

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy it's not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy." The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her forgiveness. My friend told me that he kept that gold box by his bed for years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as parents has been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.
Michele <>
Fort Wayne, IN USA -

A little humor...

Preparation for parenthood is not just a matter of reading books and
decorating the nursery. Here are 12 simple tests for expectant parents
to take to prepare themselves for the real life experience of being a
mother or father.

1.Women: To prepare for maternity, put on a dressing gown and stick a
beanbag chair down the front. Leave it there for nine months. After nine
months, remove 10% of the beans.

Men: To prepare for paternity, go the local drug store, tip the contents
of your wallet on the counter, and tell the pharmacist to help himself.
Next, go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary paid directly
to its head office. Go home. Pick up the paper and read it for the last
time.

2.Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who are
already parents and berate them about their methods of discipline, lack
of patience, appallingly low tolerance levels, and how they have allowed
their children to run wild. Suggest ways in which they might improve
their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners, and
overall behavior. Enjoy it -- it's the last time in your life that you
will have all the answers.

3.To discover how the nights feel, walk around the living room from 5
p.m. until 10 p.m. carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12
pounds. At 10 p.m. put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight, and go
to sleep. Get up at 12 a.m. and walk around the living room again with
the bag until 1 a.m. Put the alarm on for 3 a.m. Since you can't go back
to sleep, get up at 2 a.m. and make a pot of tea. Go to bed at 2:45 a.m.
Get up again at 3 a.m. when the alarm goes off, sing songs in the dark
until 4 a.m. Put the alarm on for 5 a.m. Get up. Make breakfast. Keep
this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

4.Can you stand the mess children make? To find out, smear peanut butter
onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains. Hide a fish stick behind the
stereo and leave it there all summer. Stick your fingers in the flower
beds then rub them on the clean walls. Cover the stains with crayons.
How does that look?

5.Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems: first buy an
octopus and a string bag. Attempt to put the octopus into the string bag
so that none of the arms hang out. Time allowed for this--all morning.

6.Get an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a can of paint, turn
it into an alligator. Now get a toilet paper tube. Using only scotch
tape and a piece of foil, turn it into a Christmas tree. Last, take a
milk container, a ping pong ball, and an empty packet of CoCo Puffs and
make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower. Congratulations, you have
just qualified for a place on the play group committee.

7.Forget the Miata and buy the mini-van. And don't think you can leave
it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like
that. Buy a chocolate ice cream bar and put it in the glove compartment.
Leave it there. Get a quarter. Stick it in the cassette player. Take a
family-size bag of chocolate cookies. Mash them down the back seats. Run
a garden rake along both sides of the car. There! Perfect!

8.Get ready to go out. Wait outside the toilet for half an hour. Go out
the front door. Come in again. Go out. Come back in. Go out again. Walk
down the front path. Walk back up it again. Walk down it again. Walk
very slowly down the road for 5 minutes. Stop to inspect minutely every
cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect
along the way. Retrace your steps. Scream that you've had as much as you
can stand until all the neighbors come out and stare at you. Give up and
go back in the house. You're now just about ready to try taking a small
child for a walk.

9.Always repeat everything you say at least five times.

10.Go to your local supermarket. Take the nearest thing you can find to
a pre-school child with you. A fully grown goat is excellent. If you
intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat. Buy your
week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for
everything the goats eat or destroy. Until you can easily accomplish
this DO NOT even contemplate having children.

11.Hollow out a melon. Make a small hole in the side. Suspend it from
the ceiling and swing it from the ceiling and swing it from side to
side. Now get a bowl of soggy Fruit Loops and attempt to spoon it into
the hole of the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane. Continue
until half of the Fruit Loops are gone. Tip the rest into your lap,
making sure that a lot of it falls on the floor. You are now ready to
feed a 12-month old child.

12.Learn the names of every character from 'Barney and Friends', 'Sesame
Street', and 'Power Rangers'. When you find yourself singing, "I love
you, you love me" at work, you finally qualify as a parent.

Michele <>
Ft. Wayne, IN USA -

Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. So one day he asked
God:

They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow but how am I going to
live there being so small and helpless?

Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting for you
and will take care of you.

But tell me, here in Heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and
smile, that's enough for me to be happy.

Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. And
you will feel your angel's love and be happy.

And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me, if I
don't know the language that men talk?

Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will
ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you
how to speak.

And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?

Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to
pray.

I've heard that on earth there are bad men. Who will protect me?

Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life.

But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.

Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way
for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you.

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth
could already be heard, and the child in a hurry asked softly

Oh God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's name

Your angel's name is of no importance, you will call your angel: Mommy
Michele <>
Fort Wayne, IN USA -

If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again

If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
I'd see the oak tree in the acorn more often.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd model less about the love of power, And more about the power of love.

If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Creation of Mothers

While the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was well into his sixth day of overtime. Then an angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one!"

And the Lord said, "Have you read the specifications of this order? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic...Have 180 movable parts, all replaceable...Run on black coffee and leftovers...have a lap that disappears when she stands up...and a kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair. Plus she has to have six pairs of hands!"

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands!!?? Not possible!"

"Oh, its not the hands that are causing Me the problem," said the Lord. "It's the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have."

"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. "One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'What are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows...Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't, but what she has to know...And of course, the ones here in front that can look at a child and reflect, 'I understand, and I love you' without so much as saying a word."

"Lord," said the angel touching His sleeve gently, "Get some rest. Finish this tomorrow."

"I can't," answered the Lord. "I'm so close to creating something so close to Myself. Already I have one that heals herself when she's sick...can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger...and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower."

The angel circled the model of the mother very slowly and sighed, "But it's too soft!"

"And yet she's tough!" said the Lord excitedly. "You cannot imagine what the mother can handle or do!"

"Can it think?" asked the angel.

"Not only think, but it can reason and compromise!" answered the Creator.

Finally the angel bent over and ran her fingers across the mother's cheek. "There's a leak!" she pronounced. "I told You, You were trying to put too much in this model! You can't ignore the stress factor."

The Lord moved in closer for a look and gently lifted the drop of moisture to His finger where it glistened and sparkled in the light. "It's not a leak," He said. "It's a tear."

"A tear?" asked the angel. "What's it for?"

"It's for Joy, Sadness, Disappointment, Compassion, Pain, Loneliness, and Pride."

And the angel exclaimed, "You're a genius!"

The Lord looked somber and replied, "I didn't put it there."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

MichelleK
USA -

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