The End Is In Sight

The baby is due in 23 days. What this means is that, in less than a month, there will be another human being living here. Breathing here. Eating here. Bathing here. Pooping here. Being pregnant is kind of like being in college. You start in August and May just seems so far away. Yet, before you know it you've got a huge pile of work to crawl out from under and a whole bunch of finals to study for. You can see the summer...the promised land...calling from just beyond your last test. It's like that now. The summer is calling but, uh, there's going to be some turmoil first. A little bit of stress. Three weeks ago my play was finished. It was almost Father's Day. That doesn't seem so long ago. And so, in the waiting I start to panic. What if I can't figure out how to give it a bath? It doesn't matter that I've bathed bunches of babies before...I've never tried to clean my own. What if I can't figure out how to feed it. It doesn't matter that I've fed bunches of babies before because I've never fed them in quite the same manner. What if it won't shut up? I can't just...give it back. Here God, this one cries alot. Can you give me the quiet version? He'll laugh and mutter something about paybacks I'm sure.
Okay, I'm not really that scared. To be honest. Childbirth has actually become something that I just want to get over with...not something I am dreading with every fiber of my being. And as far as feeding and bathing, I remind myself that dilinquent teenagers somehow manage to take care of their young, so certainly a college educated quasi-adult such as myself should be able to figure it all out. (Especially since I've been baby sitting since I was somewhere in the neighborhood of ten years old). It's just that...finally...the countdown is really on. As in, they won't stop my labor should it start.
In any case, the baby weighs approximately 5 pounds 10 ounces now...if sonograms are even slightly accurate. My bag is mostly packed--just in case I defy familial odds and the baby strikes early. The nursery is finished...except for one, small detail. And I'm ready for that detail. At least, as ready as can be anticipated.