Welcome, New Baby Friend

One of my dear friends and college roommates had her baby today, twelve days after her due date and after apparently 24 hours of labor. We have been anxiously awaiting his arrival, as we do the arrival of all friends' little angels. This one I awaited with especially baited breath because I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS. Well, that's not true. I did know that it was human, obviously. But I didn't know the gender. He's a boy.

Which brought me to the subject of "finding out." It always drove me nuts when people would ask me while I was pregnant if I was going to find out if my baby was a boy or a girl. What a silly question. I mean really, what mother is walking around with her adult child thinking "Is it a boy? I really just can't tell." We all find out. And guess what? Unless you're psychic, it's also always a surprise. Sometimes the surprise happens, oh joy! In the doctor's office. Sometimes it happens, oh my! In the delivery room. But who really knows ahead of time? God. God knows. And not you.

Another funny thing I noticed was my dear friend's husband's surprise at HOW LONG IT TAKES TO HAVE A BABY. He said, "You know, I thought it would take five or six hours, but it actually took more like 24." I've heard stories about those women who have a little gut-gurgle and ten minutes later are giving birth in a New York taxi, but I tend to mentally lump them with teenagers who "didn't know they were pregnant" until they went into labor at the prom. If you are that out of touch with your innards, you have issues much larger than pregnancy to deal with.

However, I will stop my ongoing rant against Strangers Who Ask Stupid Personal Questions to say Huzzah for the new baby! Hooray for Libertyville! Thank you, God, that everything came out okay in the end! Another miracle happened today.