Are You Ready?

Are you ready? This is the question that Chris and I are posed daily, if not hourly, by friends, family, store clerks, and anyone else who catches a glimpse of my imposing belly. And rightly so, as we are less than 72 hours away from doubling our family size. The question is expected and understandable. It is the answer that is a bit more complicated.

I can answer the more concrete aspects of this question with relative calm. Is the nursery ready? Why, yes, it is! The two cribs ready are to go with clean sheets waiting to welcome baby soft skin. The changing area is stocked with diapers, wipes, lotions, creams, etc. The dresser is crammed (and I mean crammed) full of the most adorable outfits that I just couldn’t pass up from carters.com. (Okay, I’ll admit it. I went a little crazy on newborn clothes. I know that they won’t wear them for long, but seriously, there is some evil genius out there designing baby clothes. The cute factor borders on ridiculous.)

Have I educated myself? I will go ahead and answer yes to this as well. For those of you who don’t know, I am a self-professed baby moron. I know nothing about these tiny humans or their habits and behaviors. I never was any good at the babysitting thing growing up and now I tend to hang around the pubescent crowd. Problems with girlfriends and college entrance exams, fine. Problems with colic and diapers, I’m lost. But, I have done my best to inform myself of the ways of the baby. My bookshelf is now stocked with Babywise, Happiest Baby on the Block, What to Expect the First Year, etc. While I have come to terms with the fact that I will never be a baby whisperer, I at least feel confident that I will put the diaper on the right end.

What about backup? After the “Are you ready?” question, the second question out of people’s mouths has been, “Do you have someone coming to help?” Happily, I have the best mother and mother-in-law in the world who will be braving the long trans-Pacific flight to endure sleepless nights and piles of diaper changes to come and help me out. They will be here to ensure that I do, in fact, put the diaper on the right end and to help me through the countless number of maternal freak-outs I will undoubtedly experience in the next few weeks. Not only that, but I also have an amazing baby-savvy husband who has been an incredible help over the past nine months and whom I am certain will continue to make himself invaluable in the coming months. So yes, I have called for backup.

But are we actually ready? I mean, are we ready to become parents? Now that, I have no idea. How do you make yourself ready for that? I’ve become quite accustomed to being responsible only for myself. How will I do when I have four tiny eyes staring up at me depending on me for their life and well-being? What will I do when they cry and I don’t know how to soothe them? What will I do when I realize that there are TWO of them and ONE of me? The only answer that I can come up with is this: I will cross that bridge when I get there. I’ve done what I know to do and now, I just wait. Ready or not…