Monday, November 27, 2006

The lost art of waiting


In a culture with few suprises left, waiting for a baby to decide when it's ready to be born can be tough. But as anxious as we are to have this baby, I get the feeling others are more anxious.

We've encountered many people lately who just don't understand why anyone, in this day and age of scheduled deliveries, would actually choose to wait for labor to start naturally. It's as if we are inconveniencing them by choosing the natural approach. Some people have asked whether this will be a scheduled delivery or why we don't just go in for an induction or a C-section.

Here's why we won't do that:

Childbirth (and child rearing for that matter) is not something that can be neatly fit into over-scheduled lives. For the past three years, Jim and I have purposely under-scheduled our lives in anticipation of having children. I don't work full time, we don't have bad debt, we live very simply, Jim doesn't work super long hours at a demanding job, we aren't involved in a lot of activities. In fact, we moved to North Carolina to get away from the bustle and high cost of DC life. We felt that lifestyle would negatively impact the quality of our life with children.

So we wait. We nap, we laugh, we walk the dog, we watch movies and favorite TV shows uninterrupted, we go out for coffee, we clean and organize our home inside and out. And we enjoy these last few days or weeks together as a childless couple with a very unhurried, simple lifestyle.

1 comment:

Mary Ellen said...

Good for you. I was badgered incessantly on when my induction was scheduled...blah blah blah. Someone asked how far along I was and I said 37 weeks and they said wow! Aren't you overdue?? I did have an induction and I still regret it. You can read the story on my blog. Anyway, I'm very excited for you both.