Waiting for Abby

Our wait was worth it. We’d broken up the 16-hour drive into two days, arriving two days before the due date. Our only worry then was the baby arriving before we did. But it didn’t. And it didn’t arrive on the due date. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. Was this baby ever going to come? Now our worry was our missing the birth altogether. But we weren’t going to do that, so we extended our stay for another four days, two days after the induction of birth. And continued to wait. On the day of the birth, we took our first grandchild to the zoo, biding time, keeping her entertained, checking our phones regularly for a call that never came. But in the early evening the call came – a girl, 7 lbs. 5 oz., 19.75”, no name yet. Our granddaughter Ellie had a little sister. We dressed Ellie in her welcoming clothes (“Big Sister” shirt), and were at the hospital an hour later, four hours after the birth of our new granddaughter, now with a name, Abigail Rose:

We stayed almost two hours that first night, introducing ourselves. We left early the next morning, but not before stopping by the hospital and spending another hour’s visit. Again, the wait was worth it. Well worth it.

Waiting For Baby

Babies can’t be rushed from the womb. Apparently. We’ve been in a Maryland suburb of D.C. to help out and we hoped be here for the birth of our second grandchild for five days now. The due date was three days ago, and there doesn’t look to be any signs that the new grandbaby is going to pop out any time soon. So we wait, we bide time, we entertain – and are entertained by – our first granddaughter. We leave in three days, so of course we’re hoping for an imminent birth. But we’re also preparing for the disappointment of missing the arrival. Disappointing for missing the arrival, but there won’t be any disappointment whenever it comes about, even with us not here. (The induction – if needed – will be two days after we leave and are back home.) A spent satellite fell from the heavens sometime around midnight last night. The predictions of when and where it would drop ranged over 14 hours, give or take, and thousands of miles. Even this morning, when they knew the satellite had fallen to earth, they weren’t sure when exactly it had fallen or where it possibly could have fallen. And so we wait too for the falling of our baby. There is just so very little in life that can be predicted.