Happy Birth-Month: Like a Baby In The Night

Well, we have officially entered December, month nine, and the countdown to the birth of the baby is at 24 days. We are both increasingly excited, and at this point are anxious for her arrival. We want to meet this amazing person living in Emily’s womb! But then again, we have no control over when she comes, we only have a guess, and while that guess (Dec 25) is our best guess (it is after all called the “due date”), it is no more than a guess. Approximately 2% of all babies are actually born on their due dates. So we have to keep watch and be ready, holding onto our guess, and yet at some level being completely clueless to when she plans to take the leap.

I keep thinking about the passages in the Gospel’s where Jesus talks about the importance of watching and being ready (Matt 24:36-44). Or maybe the passage in Thessalonians more fitting, since Paul makes a poignant illustration:

1Th. 5:1-5 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, “There is peace and security,??? then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.

When I think of these passages, I think to myself, “like a baby in the night,” because that’s how I am seeing it right now. I’ve got my cell phone on at all times, we’ve got our bags packed, we’ve visited the hospital and planned our routes (and backup routes) for getting there. There has also been a lot of preparative work being done around the house for the baby’s arrival.

For instance, this past week I installed the car-seat:

When I was putting it in, I read every line of the manual from the manufacturer, then I read everything I could from our car’s manual as well, just to make sure I had everything down. I spent more than an hour working on the project (yes, for me it was a project). Finally, when I actually put the seat in, I buckled that thing down with all my might. I kept thinking, “I don’t want this thing to budge, not even a centimeter!”

So we’ve got the seat ready, we picked up a co-sleeper the other night, we’ve ordered our diapers (Boo Bear Buns),we’ve got loads of clothes, we have a variety of slings and even a moby wrap, now we just need the baby. And so the waiting, watching, and being ready at a moment’s notice is how we will spend the next four weeks (or so). And for once these mystical passages about a “thief in the night” take on a new meaning, “like a baby in the night.”