The great wait

Well, as you can tell by the title he hasn’t arrived yet, and at this point I should be talking about the arrival of our little boy, but instead, we find ourselves in the middle of …
… The Great Wait of 2014.
I know, dramatic isn’t it?
England had the Great Fire of London in 1666 and America had the Great Depression of the ’20s and I, Darren Stephen O’Sullivan have this, the Great Wait. (Although comparatively I guess my ‘great’ event isn’t a scratch on the other two, this is merely for comic effect).
Drama aside the ‘Great Wait’ has been quite the event that I hadn’t planned for, and I feel naive for thinking it would have been different.
When we found out we were having a baby and the shocked had subsided; (being replaced with euphoria and terror in equal measure) the countdown began, and since then, as all couples do we plodded and planned, painted and purchased in preparation for his arrival. With all the work striving towards a set date, a target, a goal. The naïve bit is I thought he really was coming on the date we were told.
However, since his due date has been and gone I have done a little research, and it turns out only 5 percent of women have their children on their due dates. Further research told me the average term for a first time mother is nine days past the due date.
Nine days! God made the world in seven, and that included a day off!
The wait is hard, and guys, it may happen to you, just remember to breathe. It seems to do the trick with me. But, it’s so much harder for my other half. She has carried the weight for so long, and she’s had to prepare for the labor. The longer we have to wait now, the more daunting labor seems. She told me today she feels “like a ticking time bomb with no idea when I’ll go off.” She cannot sleep properly and is now in a constant state of discomfort, I wish I could carry the load, even for a day. Just to feel a little less useless in looking after her.
If you’re having your first people, be prepared to play the ‘Waiting Game!’
Sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m really not. Despite this extra anxiety caused by waiting, we are lucky things are all OK. Don’t get me wrong, our pregnancy hasn’t run smoothly, we have been consultant led for a lot of it with several extra scans and appointments. We’ve had a few emergency midwife sessions due to lack of movements, and my superhumanly strong other half even had a bleed—but with all this we are blessed enough to have a healthy little boy inside, and I guess as long as it stays that way we could wait forever.
And thinking about it, I completely get why he’s running late. It’s November, which means it’s cold, and here in England it’s dreary—but not for our little boy. Right now he’s in a climate that’s 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit, in an all-inclusive resort serving his favorite food, and to top it all he has his own pool! It’s like right now as I wait in the boring November weather, he’s loving life in Bora Bora.
Who would want to leave? I know I wouldn’t, so I guess we continue to wait, take our deep breaths and try to stay calm until he comes.
I just hope he decides to come sooner rather than later.