Alright, I have been a very good girl and kept my lips zipped for quite a while now. Custom calls for keeping things mum until 12 weeks into the pregnancy.

That’s right. Yonah is going to be a big brother!We actually found out two days before we left for Israel, which made for an interesting twist, and as hard as it was, we didn’t tell anyone until recently.

Shuie and I went to our first doctor’s appointment yesterday (a blessed miracle after the hoops we had to jump through to get the right insurance), where Dr. Rachmani told us that we were almost 12 weeks along. The due date is Shabbat, April 24th. I practically jumped onto the table when he asked us if we wanted to see the heartbeat.

I am not new to ultrasounds –I did it a bunch of times when I was pregnant with Yonah — but that didn’t stop me from gasping out loud when I saw the little Bean on the screen. It’s one thing to know you’re pregnant and even feel all the symptoms — that insidious morning sickness, exhaustion you could never explain to another person — but it’s another thing entirely to see the baby in front of you, especially its little heart, beating away. I was so happy, and so sad, I started crying. I was in awe of this little creature growing inside of me, but not being able to share it with my mother is so painful. “Don’t worry; she sees everything now,” Shuie said. That could very well be true, but it’s not the same as being able to pick up the phone and tell her all about it. Please: if my mother was still alive she would have packed up and moved over here the minute she found out I was expecting.

After our appointment Shuie and I had a celebratory stop at the local bakery (well, he did — I treated myself with overpriced tofu from the health food store) and then headed home, where our friend Seth was babysitting Yonah. After the excitement of that appointment, I proceeded to spend the rest of the day parked in the apartment like a lazy bag of bones. Considering how much we’ve been up to these past few days, I figured I was entitled to a little R & R.

I have decided to take my desire to bring more Jewish Woman power into my life by having my own women’s kumzitz tonight. I’ve got at least 6-8 people coming so far, so back I go to the kitchen to bake and play hostess. I am so excited to be hosting something like this in my house; I’m a big believer in taking action when I see a need for something, otherwise I could wind up waiting around forever. I’m also planning on starting a Rosh Chodesh (beginning of the month) women’s circle here, a tradition I hope to take with me back to the States. So, off we go…