The Anxiety of When and Where

The countdown continues with one week and four days remaining until the estimated arrival date for little baby Marshall. The anticipation and excitement is not only building to new heights for Thom and me, but our surrounding family and friends are also beginning to feel the anticipation building. As time goes by, and we continue to move closer and closer to our estimated due date, I also find my anxiety level rising as I wonder when and where I will be when labor starts.

Will I be calmly sleeping in my own bed, will I be at work, will I be driving somewhere, or will I be sitting on my couch during a lazy weekend afternoon? What will happen first? Will contractions start or will my water break signaling the start of labor? These are questions that cannot be answered, but it sure would make things easier if they could. With heightened anticipation and excitement for the arrival of our baby already being felt, it sure would be nice to lower this added anxiety. If I could choose my ideal situation, I would begin labor while being at home where I could try and keep myself comfortable while Thom began timing the length of and the timing in between contractions. We then could proceed to the hospital calmly and together. What a great start that would be to the coming hours of labor that we would be embarking on.

However, knowing the way things typically go for Thom and it could never be as calm and as organized as the ideal situation mentioned above. We seem to always have to have more to a situation than that that ... we have to have a story. One that makes us laugh through tears of frustration and perseverance. Our relationship seems to have been based on stories that can always be laughed at after the fact. The when and where of me going into labor will surely make for another great story. That certainly doesn't help the anxiety level, but it does make me curious about the story that is about to be written forever into our lives. We will just have to wait and see. I'm sure baby Marshall is going to decide to begin his final journey into the world when and where I least expect it. After all, he too will now forever a part of Thom and my adventures that seem to make for the best stories out there.