In honor of my son’s birthday today, I’m posting a re-run. I used to tell him this story, or parts of it, every year on his birthday. Now that he’s a daddy, maybe he’ll carry on the tradition when his little boy turns one next month…
So tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting for…
…that baby to be born already!
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| Halloween. Not too much longer… |
October rolled around and the little strawberry and I went to a Halloween parade in San Francisco. Just a few more weeks to go! Spirits were high, preparations were made. Just waiting….
But, alas, my November 25th due date came and went. Sure, I’d heard the part about a two-week plus-or-minus, but I didn’t really want to believe it. A due date is all I heard. And it slipped by with no baby on the scene.
Thanksgiving came on November 27th in 1980. Instead of squeezing my nine-months-and-two- days pregnant body into the car and going to a relative’s house to sit around a table and answer a lot of baby-related questions that could all be answered with “Obviously, not yet,” we decided to stay home and have a quiet dinner instead.
It was a lovely day, actually. Warm and sunny, late November in California. A perfect day for a ready to pop pregnant woman to wield an electric hedge clipper so she could take out her impatience on something other than her family. Those hedges got the trimming of their lives, trust me. We had a turkey dinner without a lot of fanfare. Put the kid to bed early and kicked back. Despite being overdue and restless, I think of that peaceful scaled-down Thanksgiving fondly. I do now, anyway.
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| Hedges trimmed. Anyone need a haircut? |
But the days wore on.
December 1
December 2
December 3
December 4. Tick, tick tick…
Finally, finally, the next member of the family decided the time was right to make an entrance.
We alerted the neighbors who promised to keep our almost three-year old daughter overnight. We packed her off and drove the fifteen minutes to the hospital. At least we lived closer this time.
We’d asked a friend to take pictures of the birth, but she arrived moments too late. It’s just as well, probably. Instead, we have pictures of us cradling a small bundle of baby, who was born in the early hours of December 5th, and pronounced “Perfect” by the pediatrician.
I finally got to see who loved to dance all night. Welcome, Myles!
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| Ten days old, at his big sister’s third birthday party. |
What a sweet post. Well, except for the poor hedges that bore the brunt of your overdue-mama frustrations.
Happy birthday to your Myles!
Thanks, Lisa!
Great post! I find it very interesting that back when we became Moms doctors were not nearly as eager to induce on a due date like they do now! My daughter was “due” on July 7th and arrived on August 2nd. I remember it well — hot summer in southern California and I was HUGE! 30 years later that same daughter was 2 days past her due date — and they induced her! Things have changed…. Great post!
Thanks! Yes, things have changed. Both my kids who are parents now had a birth plan in place. My birth plan: 1. Go to hospital. 2. Have baby. 3. Go home.