The Final Countdown

3 weeks 1 day until we are ‘due’.

Of course, it could be five weeks, but it’s so hard not to count down. There are so many people we know who have had babies of their own the past few weeks – friends from our childbirth education class, friends from work – and even more new parents who fill up our social media feeds from over the last six months or so. We’re always so excited to be able to see these other families and their little ones, and to know we’re finally having our own is just an incredible feeling.

It does induce a little anxiety – no lies. Reading a Dr. Sears book the other day, I think it finally hit me; I suddenly felt so protective over my child it made me nauseous, and the thought of any harm coming to my child made my heart race. I’ve been waiting for the reality of the fact that we are about to have this baby to hit me, and I think it did. The first thing I thought of after the fact was how grateful I am that Robyn and I will be doing this together, and that we have one another to rely on during early morning ‘am I doing this right’ experiences and ‘oh geeze, why’ situations.

On another note, I’m pretty sure the only things we have left to do are install the car seat and pack an emergency hospital bag in case we’re transferred to the hospital. I like to envision the hospital bag sitting neglected in the corner of our nursery until I ask Robyn a week or so after the baby is born, ‘where is that one pair of pajama’s I like to wear?’ and I remember they were the ones we packed for the hospital. In other words, I really hope we don’t need it at all. Robyn’s pregnancy has been quite healthy; she has remained active, gained the appropriate amount of weight (spot on!), and she’s been mostly stress free. Our midwives have been happy at every visit and haven’t mentioned anything to be concerned about – plus, the baby has been head down since we’ve been able to tell the position. So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I think it’s safe to say that we will have a normal, natural birth at home (and that emergency bag can sit in the corner!).

So, I’m off to wait for a few more weeks …