Time is Flying

View of the Washington Monument from the Jefferson Memorial.

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post - and 16 days till he's due! On Wednesday I flew to DC (National Harbor, Maryland, to be exact) for a veterinary trade show. After a full day of travel, I spent Thursday setting up our booth and then trekking miles around Mount Vernon (George Washington's estate), Arlington National Cemetery and the National Mall (White House, monuments, etc.) I was bummed the Reflection Pool is drained for repairs right now, but everything else was beautiful. The White House is much smaller than I expected.

In short, my legs were exhausted before the trade show had even begun, but it was well worth it. I hope to get back into DC on Monday to see a few museums before my late flight back to Idaho.

I spoke with the infant coordinator Thursday and mom and baby are doing well. No news is good news for the next couple of weeks! I don't think there's anything else I need to do at home to prepare, so I think I'll focus on work until then.

The Countdown

11 - Number of days I have left in the office
3 - Number of days until I leave for a work trip to DC
1 - Number of childless weekends I have left in Boise
0 - Number of diapers I've bought so far
Infinity - The amount I'll spend to fly back from DC if she goes into labor early

I have a short list of things to do before the "big day", including the addition of a bassinet and rocker to my  bedroom. I got everything arranged last night and it's starting to sink in!

Over the weekend I opened the bassinet, gave it a bit of Febreeze and let it sun-dry on the porch all day. There's a layer of tinfoil across the mattress to keep the cats off, but they've already learned to jump on it when they want my attention.

Of course, in the back of my mind I'm always thinking "She could change her mind..." even though I'm feeling good about the match. So I'm doing the bare minimum to get ready and really trying to stay sane.

Wooden Ducks

I was living in Los Angeles when my sister-in-law went into labor with my niece five years ago. I was excited and anxious, and I had a long evening to occupy myself while I awaited news. First I hit the gym for a workout, totally looking the Cali part having my cell phone propped up on the treadmill so I wouldn't miss a precious call.

Still no news after sweating it out, so I decided to stop at Target for something baby-related. I was anxously wading through the aisles looking for the perfect outfit and a cute greeting card. That's when I saw it. An end cap full of decorative wooden ducks by Smith & Hawken. All I could think was, "WHO HAS TIME FOR WOODEN DUCKS? THERE'S A BABY COMING!" It seemed incomprehensible that anyone's priority would be to stand at that end cap, consider the various poses, textures and colors of the ducks, and select one or two for their yard.  

Looking back, that always seemed like a silly way to feel. But now that we're less than a month away from baby making his appearance, I feel myself once again losing patience for wooden ducks!

Making the Cut

I recently sorted and washed a few newborn clearance finds and hand-me-downs, then realized I had nowhere to put them. Project time!

I'm pretty good about going through my stuff every season and donating or giving away what I no longer use. People have been happy to take all sorts of radnom things of my hands - piles of broken 70s tile, empty cat litter buckets, you get the idea. But making room for a baby raises the bar even higher. Suddenly almost nothing seems important enough to keep. Do I really need this bed? Really, let's think this through. How often do I use it? Does it take up more space than it's worth?

Okay, the bed can stay. But I was still able to stuff two giant garbage bags full of clothes, bags, and books I won't miss. I have a couple of semi-formal dresses to sell on Craigslist, and a handful of cute brand name items I'll run by the consignment store. And I finally parted with - yes, threw away - about 20 singleton socks. Why do we think their matches will ever reappear?

The end result is a whole 2 empty drawers for kid stuff, and a closet I can safely open and shuffle through without risking a concussion. 

Will Hike for Milk

After three years of solid reliability, my 2005 Jetta decided not to start and was towed to the VW shop yesterday. It wasn't too much of an inconvenience, but there was one errand that had to be run asap.

Over the weekend I connected with a saintly woman I'll call S, who was the surrogate mother of a baby she delivered last week. We met through a group called Human Milk 4 Human Babies, and she has generously offered to pump breast milk for the baby boy. All she needed was a pump and some bags, and by chance, she had a previous appointment in my neighborhood today.

So on Sunday I scoured Craigslist for the best deal, and yesterday, Jayda and I hoofed it half a mile through the rain to hand-deliver a breast pump to a complete stranger in the Chuck E Cheese parking lot. Yep, this is my life!

I have a close family member who is also pumping for us, but it's a tall order considering a baby can easily drink 4,500 ounces in his first 6 months. The generosity of these women really brings tears to my eyes...it's so amazing to be able to offer this instead of formula. I can't wait to have my very own sweet-smelling chunky monkey.

One month?

In complete contrast to my last post, I'm going to skip ahead for a moment. If the doctors decide on a c-section during the birth mom's 39th week, apparently it will be on Monday, May 14th. One month from today! So exciting.

I feel like I'm getting closer to justifying sorting/washing Hayden's hand-me-downs and bringing in the bassinet to teach the pets it isn't, unfortunately, a kitty bunk bed.

I've also connected with a milk donor in Mountain Home, so with any luck I can stockpile at least a couple weeks' worth ahead of time. Let the countdown begin!

It's All About Today

Making my nephew laugh on Easter.

When I returned from Mexico in 2003, quite a few of my friends remarked that I wasn’t as “wound up” as I was before I’d lived there. I think they were right, and here’s an example: My new job was making me miserable. The people were shallow and the pay was lousy, so I decided to quit. Before Mexico I would have saved my money, found a new job and given a proper two week’s notice. But that wasn’t the post-Mexico me. I didn’t have another job lined up, I didn’t give notice…just walked out one day for lunch and never went back. It was the first and last time I ever did anything like that, and it felt great. I found another job, paid rent on time and life went on.

Mexicans are really good about living in the moment. Living for today. They make decisions based on what is true today, not what might happen tomorrow. If you offer someone 10 pesos for a taco today or promise to come back tomorrow and pay 1,000 pesos for the same taco, they’ll take the 10 today, thank you very much. 

They even have a special verb tense (the subjunctive, used frequently) that recognizes things might not go our way. It might sound a little morbid to those of us in the US, but it’s really meant to be deferential to fate and any god who might be determining our path.

I’ve been through plenty of transitional times in my life, and this “live for today” mentality has been a great tool. This is one of those times. I don’t know for sure where I’ll be mid- to late-May. I don’t know what my living room will look like in 2 months, and I don’t know how I’ll spend my next birthday or Halloween. I can imagine and try to plan, but that wouldn’t be very subjunctive of me.

So today, I’m focusing on what I know right now. I’ve been chosen by a birth mom. I have an intended son who weighs as much as a cantaloupe. The white blooming trees outside are so fragrant they almost stink, I had a perfectly beautiful Easter with my family yesterday, and I just picked all the red jelly beans out of a basket at work. Yay me.