Now, we wait

I think I mentioned...or maybe I didn't...that our friends Jaclyn and Bruce helped us clear out more of the office last weekend and move the crib over from William's room. And just to be clear, people who are willing to help you disassemble and reassemble a crib all in one day? They're real friends.















William has picked out a few things and put them in the crib for his brother. I didn't realize that he'd done that, so I moved the little stuffed giraffe lovey back to his room, where it came from, only to find it in there again a few hours later. He explained that he was giving it to Baby Brother. He also carefully selected a baby blanket with frogs on it from the stash of his old blankets in the crib drawer and tossed it into the crib, too. Like I said, he's nesting.

So even if we have nothing else done, we have the crib set up and ready to go. And Shab and Santi, bless them, brought over their bassinette for us to use, too, so we even have a place for Baby Brother to sleep until we're ready to move him into his own room. Whenever that will be. The rest of the nursery can wait 'til we all have more energy.

Several friends have generously volunteered to take William for a night or two when I do go into labor, and for that, I am deeply, profoundly grateful. We've talked about how he's going to go have a sleepover with one of Mommy and Daddy's friends while we're at the hospital and tried to assuage his anxiety over that. I've notified his preschool that there may be someone else picking him up and dropping him off in the near future. And I've packed his bag, so he should be ready to go. My bag, of course, has been ready for the hospital, so I decided to go ahead and pack a bag for David, too (he said I packed him an awful lot of underpants, but what can I say, I'm used to packing for myself and a three-year-old, and that's the sort of thing you can never really have enough of. Underwear and socks.). The camera is ready, with the battery charged.

So right now, Baby Brother is in the proverbial driver's seat. All the decisions are up to him now. Now we wait. William keeps asking things like, "Is the baby going to come today?" and we keep having to say, "Well...we don't know." Not exactly the most satisfying answer, I know. Since I'm a big believer in Murphy's Law, I fully expect there to be a long wait now because we are, at last, somewhat reasonably prepared. My OB and her nurse aren't so convinced, given that I was still 4 cm dilated at yesterday's appointment but also 80 percent effaced. As the nurse said, that's about as close to being in labor as you can get without actually being in labor. Yikes.