November 1

Well, we can make it official now.

We've told our families, so now we can tell you.

We're having a baby!

How 'bout them apples?

Michelle already is in her 15h week, in her second trimester. The due date is Nov. 1. Her belly is a beautifully shaped little orb. She's been to the obstetrician/gynecologist twice, and all is well so far – although we really don't know much at this point.

About a month ago, on our first visit to the doctor, we heard our baby's heart beat. It was a rapid pitter-patter. The rapidity our baby's little, thumping heart reminded me of the sound you make when you swivel those two-sided drums with the attached ball and string. Dum, dum, dum, dum...

The doctor had to move the listening instrument (was it a sonogram or is that something else?) around a little before she picked up our baby's heartbeat. On Michelle's visit last week, she said the doctor picked up the heartbeat in a flash.

That means our baby is getting bigger. And stronger. And, we hope, healthier.

Health is really all I care about. What I mean is that our baby is healthy and will continue to be so. Everything after that is gravy. It would be highly presumptuous of me to ask for more than that.

Nature is such a powerful thing. I mean, think about it. Most animals' reproduction happen outside the body. Just about all fish lay eggs, which are fertilized in the water. Birds lay eggs. Reptiles lay eggs. Bacteria and other primitive cellular organisms generally reproduce by dividing cells that yield identical "children" cells. We all know mammals – well, nearly all of them – are fertilized internally and the young develop internally, within the mother's womb. They are born live, and generally are cared for, because they are unable to fend for themselves.

But think a little more about the difference between the mammals that are us and other – well, just about all – other mammals. Human babies sit in the womb, growing, maturing, preparing for nine months. Nine months. What an astonishing amount of time it takes for a human baby to fully develop, to get that fully operable, curious, self-aware mind, the fully developed fingers that can exert extraordinary pressure and yet delicate enough to grasp an eggshell without crushing it, the ears that are acoustical masterpieces, the eyes that can see three-dimensional and with astonishing depth, the nose that can etch a smell permanently into our memory vault and so on and on. No wonder it takes nine months for such an extraordinary biological machine to be assembled.

I can't wait to see ours.