Big News

Big News to share on Nate's Blog! Claire is pregnant (and looking more and more pregnant with each passing day, as you can easily tell by the photo)! The due date ("date d'accouchement" en français) is June 23rd and we are now within the 3rd trimester. In fact, we are now in the 29th week, which is fortunately well past the mark recently set for the world's most premature baby in Florida (an astounding 21 weeks--crazy!) No Guiness Book of World Records for this baby. 2 arms, 2 legs, a normal amount of digits...we don't ask for much.

To address the obvious questions: We don't know if it's a petite fille or a petit garçon yet, and we're going to hold out 'til the end for a surprise. However, I'm feeling pretty strongly that's it's going to be a girl; this is based on a dream I had fairly early on in the pregnancy as well as the fact that this year I've hung out mostly with women (my lab is about 80% female). Not very scientific of me, I know, but call it a feeling. Interestingly, in French you often refer to the baby as a "he" since the word "le bébé" is masculine--a little strange, perhaps, but I think it's preferable to the English practice of referring to the baby as "it". Anyways, we're going to have the baby here in Paris at the nearby Clinique Jeanne d'Arc. We're scheduled to be back in the U.S. by the second week of August, as I am scheduled to start my fellowship in Boston on August 15th. Adventure awaits!

Miscellaneous French Pregnancy-Associated Vocab:
-pregnancy = "la grossesse"
-cravings = "les envies" (interestingly, the classic food iteam for pregnant French women to crave are strawberries, not pickles).
-morning sickness = "la nausée du matin" (and I'm happy to report that Claire has not experienced this).
-to induce labor = "declencher"