Dear Baby Helland:

Some soon to be mommies write a pregnancy journal, but I think it would be fun to write directly to you so here goes.....
So far, you've been pretty easy to take care of! Yes you make mommy pee all the time (even though daddy thinks it's in my head) but that's nothing like some people have to put up with. I have been having food aversions lately. Mushrooms have not been friendly with us and some sauces have thrown us off. You could eat pizza every meal for every day. You'll fit in just fine in this family!
I'm excited for when you get ears! (It should be around 22 weeks and did you know they started in your neck?!?) I really like to read, especially children's books, so I'm going to read to you. And I'm sure daddy is going to have you listen to jazz music. He's hoping that you'll be a drummer. That would complete our family band. Regardless of what you end up playing, you will take piano lessons. It's just part of being in this family. If Prudence had longer fingers, she'd take lessons too.
We're also going to refer to you as Baby Helland until you're born. We don't want to find out if you're a boy or girl. Daddy said that if I knew, I'd buy too much stuff for you, and he's probably right. So this will be a surprise. I'm a little curious considering the Helland side is dominated by boys, and the Schuft side is dominated by girls. We'll just wait until June to see who wins! And when people ask if we have names picked out, we're going to tell them you'll be named Fuloola or Boseefuss. Don't worry, that isn't what we'll really name you. We've got some awesome names picked out! We just aren't going to tell people because Mommy is a little too sensitive to criticism. So we'll just keep that our little secret.
You might hear Daddy say that you're a boy. He just says that to be funny. If you're a girl, don't worry he'll love you just as much.
And if you would, Baby Helland, please be kind to mommy during labor. I'm horrible with pain, doctors and have a fear of the unknown. Maybe I'll grow up tremendously in nine months. And don't be offended when I get drugs during your birth. If I didn't, I would probably say a lot of things that I probably didn't mean, would be crying hysterically and inevitably screaming. I'd like you to see a mommy that looks fairly calm, and has tears of joy instead of tremendous pain when we first meet!
As for now, I think that's all we really need to discuss. We'll talk soon!