In addition to fixing up our house and yard -- and the usual whirl of visits, etc. -- we were very busy getting ready for the new baby who's coming to live with us! The approaching due date didn't keep us from driving down to Nana & Blabla's house for that annual Hart family tradition: Bag Day at the Cancer Society Thrift Sale. After all, it was nine whole days before the baby's due date, and Mama really likes a good sale!

After lots of reading, researching and talking to the supercool midwives at Birth & Beyond in Madison, CT, Mama and Daddy decided to plan on having this baby at home. Even though they liked the staff at Yale-New Haven Hospital very much, the statistics show how much safer it is to have a planned home-birth, so that's what we got ready for.

On the morning of June 22, Daddy called Nana to ask that she and Blabla come on up to take care of me. They both left work and joined us in Cheshire, and Daddy called Midwife Vicki at Birth & Beyond to keep her apprised of the situation. Things progressed, albeit slowly, from there.

Early in the morning of the 23rd, Daddy called Vicki back to say that things were moving along a bit more. Vickie came to our house a few hours later and concurred that we'd probably have a new baby before the day was over, but not right away. Vicki went to the office to get some other work done, returning here around 1pm.

From that point on, Daddy and Vicki helped Mama while Nana, Blabla and I baked birthday cakes and worked on my special song, which I wanted to sing to welcome the baby. Around 6:30pm, Mama was ready to start pushing, and two hours later, Daddy called for Nana and I to come upstairs right away. After two leisurely days, the baby was suddenly in a big hurry to arrive!