There really have been some Frequently Asked Questions these last few weeks, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to address them here.
1. Are you nervous?
I’m not. At least, not yet. Everyone tells me that instinct will take over and I trust that will be the case. So I have no reason to be nervous until instinct doesn’t take over. I’ll worry about it then. I had a dream last night that the baby was born and I held him for the first time. He was bigger than I thought he would be. He also pooped on me. What really upset me, however, was that I didn’t remember his birth, and Kelly told me that I was sleeping and she didn’t want to wake me up, so she let me sleep through it. I wasn’t too happy about that.
2. How is Kelly doing?
She is doing great. She has been great throughout the pregnancy, and a real trooper, too, considering how uncomfortable it must be to grow a baby inside you. I think she is ready for the baby to arrive. Over the last few days, I have occasionally heard her tossing and turning at night, so I imagine things are still pretty uncomfortable when trying to sleep. But she is still active (we went for a walk in the rain last night). And even if she’s physically uncomfortable, she’s as cheerful as ever.
3. Do you know what you are having?
Yes. We are having a baby. (Duh!) Oh, you mean the sex of the baby? Yes, we are having a baby boy. (As a side note, this question is often framed as: “Do you know what you are having, or are you going to be surprised?” As I’ve said before, finding out the sex of the baby could be considered a surprise, whether you wait until he or she is born, or you find out early. But the more I think about it, the only real surprise in the whole thing is if you found out you were having something other than a boy or girl.)
4. When is he due?
His official due date is June 19, 2009. However, Kelly is having a scheduled c-section on Friday, June 12, which is just two days from now.
5. Are you excited?
It’s been building up gradually, but I found that when I woke up this morning, I’d passed some critical point at which the excitement is feeding on itself and growing, in much the way a star is fuel through nuclear reactions. I imagine by tomorrow I’ll be coming out of my skin. I’m going to be a dad–me, the guy who can still clearly remember days back to when he was two years old himself. I haven’t yet been able to wrap my head around it.
Originally published at From the Desk of Jamie Todd Rubin. You can comment here or there.