One of the most important moments in a woman’s life is when she finds out that she’s having a child and the actual day of the birth. This year at Watertown High School, there have been two faculty members who have experienced the wonderful gift of childbirth and two who are still expecting. Those amongst the expecting mommies are Ms. Nykeil and Ms. Piscatelli.

Ms. Nykeil divulged to me some of her thoughts and hopes about her child. She has yet to choose a name for the baby and wants it to be something original. “I don’t want to name my kid a name that I hear everyday at school,” she said. But she wants the middle name to be something really meaningful and probably a name that has been in her family. She’s going to keep the gender of the baby a surprise until the day of birth; however, she is constantly flip-flopping between wanting a girl or a boy. “Some days I’ll see the girls in my classes and feel like I want a girl, but the same thing happens on other days when I see some of the boys in my classes behaving and doing the right thing and I want a boy,” she said. Overall what is really important to Ms. Nykeil is that her baby be a healthy, good hearted, caring person. Ms. Nykeil and her husband have been spending a lot more time at home lately, but other than that her life has not changed too much due to pregnancy.  Ms. Nykeil and her husband remain optimistic and excited. When Ms. Nykeil’s young nephew first learned about the baby and was told that it was inside Ms. Nykeil’s stomach, he proceeded to ask “Auntie, why did you eat the baby?” in a way that only an innocent and inquisitive child could, but nonetheless a legitimate question I would say.

On the other hand, Ms. Piscatelli, who is a seasoned child bearer, is expecting her third child in April. She feels as though she is more prepared for this child compared to her first, simply because of prior experience. Her oldest, 6-year-old Julianne, is very excited for her baby sister to arrive, while her youngest (as of right now), 4-year-old Ryan, is more on the fence about it. “He’s still in the mindset of ‘She’s MY mommy’ and doesn’t really know how he feels about having a baby sister.” Overall, the family seems excited, as is Ms. Piscatelli. “I’m looking forward to having my little lovie to cuddle up to and nap with, and I’m excited to be able to spend time with my other kids once I’m on [maternity] leave, and when you have a brand new baby around you’re filled with this unconditional love, so I’m looking forward to that,” she says.  Ms. Piscatelli feel as though she should have the final say in what the name of the baby will be. Her husband, Donny, and her both have very different tastes in names.  “He [Donny] likes names to be very straightforward; he doesn’t like funky spellings of names or super-creative, hard-to-pronounce names. The kids nowadays will overhear us talking about names and want to put their two cents in. Ryan [son] wants to name her after all of his friends (eye roll).” To Ms. P, naming isn’t as much stressful as it is difficult. “It’s one of those things that everybody has their own opinions about.”

Aside from all of the chaos that follows having children, both Ms. Piscatelli and Ms. Nykeil are excited, nervous, and above all hopeful. Pretty much any woman going through this marvelous and mysterious process that is both challenging and rewarding knows that what is meant to be will be and that everything eventually falls into place.