A New Heart

Yesterday was probably the happiest day of my life so far.

I heard the heartbeat of my baby.

I am 6 weeks and 1 day pregnant now and not only did I see the little heart flickering, I heard it beating-- and my baby has got one strong heart. The average heartbeat per minute for a fetus at 6 weeks pregnancy is 140-170 and mine's got a 160.

The technology these days is amazing. It is the size of a lentil right now and I was still able to see and hear it.

I pray so hard to G-d everyday that my baby should be healthy and continue to grow with a strong heart. I can't get too cocky. You never know what can happen, and dare I ever take anything for granted.

I appreciate every minute that I am pregnant and my baby is safe inside of me.

We are so lucky.

p.s.
my official due date is November 22, 2007 (a Sagitarious just like its daddy)
WOOHOO!

MAMA ME

I AM PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 weeks 6 days.

Thank you G-d.

Faye

I finally got to meet Faye. She is this woman who sent in her diaries to us so Yad Vashem would keep them for eternity in their archives.

She is 87 years old, a Holocaust survivor and legally deaf. Her husband passed away 10 years ago and she never had any children.

After reading her diaries I had felt such a strong connection to her. I think it's because I miss my own grandmother so much, I am constantly searching for surrogates.

So David and I visited her in Florida last week and I will truly never forget it. She was SO happy to have us there. The joy on her face was priceless and I felt so good inside. She fed us cookies and juice and even gave us some of her things -- a ceramic shoe from Uruguay, a silver plate from Gibraltar. She brought out photo albums and showed us photos of her family. I had to write everything down to communicate with her which was a bit frustrating, but I can't complain. She told us that no one visits her-- her nieces and nephews don't care about their roots and that just boggles my mind. I wanted her to save her diaries for them, so they would remember where they came from- and she told me they have no interest. So sad.

I realized all she really wants is to be heard. I think what she loved about us being there the most is that we let her speak and we listened. And that was just fine with me.

We visited with her twice during our four day trip and I'm going to send her a framed photo of the three of us that I took. When we visited with her the second time she gave me a four page letter she had written to us expressing how much pleasure she had gotten from our visit. Hearing someone tell you something is better than any compliment imaginable. The nurse told me that we had made her year. Imagine making someone's year? It feels amazing.

I think she and I will make great pen pals and I hope to keep in touch with her for as long as possible. At least she will have my letter to look forward to during the last chapter of her life-- as it seems like she doesn't really have much else.