For some reason, 3 weeks sounds a lot shorter than 4 weeks. I’ve taken 3 week vacations that have zoomed by in the blink of an eye. So there’s not much more of a wait before Zachary arrives. At least we are finally done with everything. On Sunday, we finished up the last of the stuff we needed to do in preparation of Zachary’s arrival. We have all of the stuff we need. We have our bag to the hospital packed. We met with our lawyer to get wills and a trust set up. We met with our financial adviser and adjusted our life insurance. We’ve got the nursery setup, we’ve got the pack-n-play setup. We’ve got two weeks worth of diapers on hand.
And we are ready.
At 36 weeks, if Zachary were to arrive today, he would be delivered, rather than sent back to cook for a little longer. I think we’d prefer him to stay put for one more week (babies lungs are fully developed at 37 weeks). On the other hand, Kelly has reached the point where she is getting increasingly uncomfortable and I think she’d be happy if he arrived any time now. Thursday is her last day in the office. She will then be tele-working (from home) until the baby arrives, at which point she will be on “vacation” for 3-4 months.
We have been trying to squeeze in last-minute activities. We’ve gone to the movies the last two weekends in a row. On Saturday evening, we had dinner in Shirlington with new friends. On Friday I will attend what is likely my last “happy hour” for some time. This weekend, we are going to scope out some local neighborhoods in which we are thinking about buying a house. And we are marking off time by various milestones between now and Zach’s arrival: Memorial Day weekend (a long weekend, which means a short week following); a couple of birthdays between now and Zach’s arrival. 3 more doctor appointments. And so on.
I am still eager to see the baby, but I am still finding it extremely difficult to imagine what things will be like once he’s arrived. Even just holding him is hard to imagine, although I am very excited about it all. Our informal survey of friends and family who have recently had babies tells us that we should expect an average of 3 hours of sleep every 24 hours for the first couple of weeks. Then it gradually gets better, moving up to 4 or 5 hours after the first month or so. We are trying to set our expectations appropriately. We will have some help. Kelly’s parents will be in town for a week or so when the baby is first born. My parents will be in town the last week in June. And we are looking at getting a cleaning service in twice a month or so, to help keep the house in shape so that we can focus on taking care of the baby.
There are a few other things I’d like to get done before he arrives. I’d like to make some revisions on a story and get it sent out to ASIMOV’S. And I’d really like to get a decent way through the next story. I haven’t done any writing at all in the last several weeks, and I’d like to squeeze some in before Zach arrives. My reading list also requires updating, and I’d like to get that updated before his arrival. Finally, I’m still about 5 issues behind in the science magazines (although I’m making progress). Maybe I can get caught up there too (so that when I fall behind again, it won’t be quite as far behind).
I am looking forward to seeing Zach again at our doctor’s appointment on Friday. We got some good pictures last time.
See you in a week!
Originally published at From the Desk of Jamie Todd Rubin. You can comment here or there.
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