Babies everywhere!

Two of my good friends recently had their babies: Jen at The Bass Kids and Nutrition Momma. Congratulations to both of you!

I first met Jen while we were graduate students at the University of Iowa. I was waiting outside for the first day of a Maternal & Child Health class in the public health department, and I saw this woman bringing her tiny newborn to class. Imagine my surprise when I learned that she had had that baby, her second, at home with a midwife! Her first was born in a birth center, and her last two were unassisted births with a midwife friend hired to take pictures. I visited Jen in their new home in Arizona when Zari was close to a year old. She also came to my Birth & Babies Bed & Breakfast get-together in November 2007. Jen and her husband have been a great source of encouragement and strength for me during both of my pregnancies.

Nutrition Momma and I spent five months together as roommates when we were studying abroad in Jerusalem. We made bets on who would get married first--we were both seriously dating our now-husbands--and I lost (won?) and got to cook them a fancy dinner as a prize. She's had lots of adventures since our time together in Jerusalem 11 years ago, including working for the Peace Corps in Mongolia for 2 years with her husband, living in a felt tent called a "yurt," and adopting a 5-year-old boy. She gave birth just a few days ago to a daughter in a "nataloc," or unofficial birth center, called BellaNatal Birthing Suites.