About

אמא, Ima, Imma, Imah is the Hebrew word for mom or mommy. Technically, the blog should be called Two Immahot, which is moms plural, but it doesn’t have the same ring.

Hello there and welcome to Two Immas, the tale of two Jewish ladies trying to make a baby!

My partner and I are both approaching 35 38, the scary age for women who want children. While we’re both in it to win it, I’ll be writing Two Immas from my perspective as the first Imma trying to conceive.  Leah*, my partner, wants to carry as well, but for now we’ve decided it’s in our best interest to have one sane, non-hormonal Imma and one trying to get knocked up.

Leah and I met in NYC and currently live in the PNW. Leah is from the south and I’m from the Midwest.

We’re both Jewish women-Leah is a non-practicing Reform Jew who loves to make kiddush on Friday and thinks Pesach is the best holiday on the Jewish calendar and Rachel* (that’s me!) is a “Re-conservadox” Jew who makes amazing gluten-free challah. We’re both committed to raising our children in a Jewish home filled with love.

Two Immas will serve as a sounding board for me, Imma R. In the interest of privacy there won’t be identifying pictures on this blog, only artsy shadows and landmarks of the city we love and stock photos. All names and any identifying characteristics in this blog are fictional, in order to keep everyone anonymous. While the names are made up our journey, and what happens is real.

I hope that you’ll stay awhile and if you’re a mama and have some helpful hints we’re all ears!

xo

*Leah and Rachel were wives and sisters. They married the same man, Jacob when their father deceived him. While tradition says that the two women were always at odds, they both suffered because of their father’s deception. Did Jacob love them both? Who knows really. Did Gd favor one over the other, perhaps? Does this matter for the purpose of this blog? No.

Many Jewish women bare the names Rachel or Leah and in the Jewish tradition, both are are matriarchs, they are considered strong women, and while their story of acquiring a husband is quite odd, I find them to be incredible women of inspiration.

When Jewish parents bless their girls at Shabbat they say:

מי ייתן ואלוהים יגרום לך כמו שרה, רבקה, רחל ולאה.

May God make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.

For the sake of protecting our identity through this private, yet public blog, I will be taking the pen name Rachel (the traditional Hebrew pronunciation is Rah-hel) and am giving my partner the name Leah (pronounced Lay-ah).