What's my name?

Hi little sister,

That's the big question right now. That and when will your birthday be. We've been talking about it, but haven't quite made a formal decision. We know that you will be born by November 10th unless something happens to cause you to be born early. We know this because of what happened to your big brother, and that the doctor will want to deliever you at about 38½ weeks.

I began writing this about six weeks ago when I thought we had decided on your name. Since then, we've changed our minds. Now we seem decided on Shira Naomi. Shira means song or tune and Naomi has meaning in the remembrance of family that has passed ahead of you.

It seems that you will have a birthday of either November 9 or November 10. Either one will be ok with me. I wrote that six weeks ago. Now we know you will be born on the 9th.

This picture of you was taken one week ago(seven weeks now). Everything seems to be on track with your development. I know that I wrote more about our anticipation of your big sister when she wasn't yet born but then we didn't have anyone 'on the outside' with us. Right now your big sister is getting a lot of attention but when you burst on the scene that will change drastically. You've been moving and I can see your movements on your mom's tummy. You were at the time of this picture in a 'yoga baby' position. That's when your bum is down, your head is up, and your feet are up, too.

There's been some other developments since I wrote most of this. There is this illness covering the globe called 'swine flu' which is the common name for an illness caused by the H1N1 virus. A week ago your mom was pretty sick and concerned that she might have the virus. It's a significant concern because the illness is pretty hard on pregnant women. We decided to go to the hospital and get her checked out, and you. When your mom was pregnant with Sidra she often went in to have the baby monitored just to be reassured. We found that you were just fine, and mom got tested for the virus and also for Strep throat bacteria. She had neither and has slowly gotten better since. She's still not feeling great, and niether are Sidra or I, but we're better.

That's not the whole story. Because of the virus, the hospital has also banned children under 12 from coming to visit. That means that your sister won't be able to see you until you come home from the hospital. It also means that your mom and Sidra won't be able to see each other until your mom is able to come home from the hospital. It wouldn't have been a big deal when Sidra was born, because she didn't have older siblings that would have to stay home. This will be tough for all of us. We will get through it and will be a happy family when we are all home together.

More soon........

love, Aba