Q: My mother lives many states from me, but wants to be involved in my pregnancy. How can I connect with her?

A: The lives of mothers and daughters tend to interweave, whether they live near one another or not. But you can purposefully connect with your mom who's miles away through intentions and actions, by performing the same activities in your separate cities during your pregnancy.

Try making your mom a CD of songs that inspire you. Tell her that your baby's hearing starts working at 16 weeks, so she needs to send you a CD back! Or, make sharing sounds therapeutic and fun: Use a specific relaxation CD four times a week as you each go to sleep in homes far from each other. You might find your dreams have similar motifs.

Other habits can bond you, like reading a chapter a week of a narrative book on birth (my suggestions: Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife, by Peggy Vincent) or finding gentle exercise classes to commit to- hers may be seniors' tai chi, while yours can be prenatal yoga. Take advantaage of the ritual of food preparation as a way to promote good health for your growing baby and for the grandma-to-be. Agree to bake and eat a sweet potato twice a week, get your daily greens through kale and cucumbers, or snack on cashews and herbal tea each afternoon to create a lovely synergy of connection.

Get your mom's ideas and map out a protocol of healthy habits that work for you both. It's a loving and memorable way to share space from a distance.