First Fall-Like Day
I don’t know why this strikes me as so strange—but it occurred to me when I hit 37 weeks that I have a real baby in my uterus. “Real” as in “more or less complete.” If the baby were born today, she’d be a viable, real baby with lungs developed enough to breathe on her own—and that viable, real baby is what I’m currently carrying around. This may not make much sense; and she's been a real baby for a while now. But it’s just strange to think that it’s an actual, full baby in there, one who could, at her whim, make a grand entrance tonight if she wanted to.
Let’s hope she doesn’t want to. We have almost exactly three weeks worth of preparations to do. However, today is a rare fall-like day—gloomy sky, cool temperature—and, if I were our baby, I would definitely want my arrival day to be one of true fall, not an 80-plus-degree fake-fall day. I would want to arrive on a day when a pumpkin might conceivably decorate our porch in the atmosphere in which pumpkins were meant to live. (Although pumpkins clearly love California—we saw endless patches of bright pumpkins as we drove to SF this weekend.) I would want to arrive on a day when I would have to be swaddled in a warm blanket for my trip home from the hospital, on a day when my new, tender eyes wouldn’t have to squint in the hot sun. I would want to be greeted in my new home by gourds and Indian corn. Seriously, if I were our baby, I’d get the show on the road right about…now.
Let’s hope the baby doesn’t get any ideas. I don’t know what I would do with a surprise early labor. I really don’t. I had an appointment with our midwife today, who informed me that I am 1.5cm dilated and 50% effaced; the baby is at -2 engagement. She’s definitely getting ready. So, too, are we.
Let’s hope she doesn’t want to. We have almost exactly three weeks worth of preparations to do. However, today is a rare fall-like day—gloomy sky, cool temperature—and, if I were our baby, I would definitely want my arrival day to be one of true fall, not an 80-plus-degree fake-fall day. I would want to arrive on a day when a pumpkin might conceivably decorate our porch in the atmosphere in which pumpkins were meant to live. (Although pumpkins clearly love California—we saw endless patches of bright pumpkins as we drove to SF this weekend.) I would want to arrive on a day when I would have to be swaddled in a warm blanket for my trip home from the hospital, on a day when my new, tender eyes wouldn’t have to squint in the hot sun. I would want to be greeted in my new home by gourds and Indian corn. Seriously, if I were our baby, I’d get the show on the road right about…now.
Let’s hope the baby doesn’t get any ideas. I don’t know what I would do with a surprise early labor. I really don’t. I had an appointment with our midwife today, who informed me that I am 1.5cm dilated and 50% effaced; the baby is at -2 engagement. She’s definitely getting ready. So, too, are we.
Comments