Place in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for about oh... 9 months

I thought the nephew was going to make an early appearance this morning when my sister called and told me her water had broken. She sounded more than a little panicked, so I put on my usual outfit of "brave and calm" and tried to calm her down. Her husband had left for work, and it would be at least 2 hours before he would be able to meet her at the hospital. I offered to drive the 45 mins to pick her up so she wouldn't have to drive alone, but somehow the 45 minute drive would've been much longer and more treacherous due to the recent 2 feet of snow that had just fallen. She drove down by herself and met up with friends who drove her the rest of the way to the hospital where I had been waiting.



All she kept babbling about was how it was too early. But not necessarily too early for the baby-- but too early for HER. She had work to do and was completely unprepared for his arrival. She had housework to do, baby necessities to buy, hospital bags to pack.... Poor thing was so frazzled when she left that she grabbed 3 outfits for the baby: a onesie that was fine, a pajama outfit that was sized 3-6 months, and a fuzzy blue number that was for a 0-3 month, but had random spaceships and aliens sewn all over it. Not exactly the pictures I'd be proud to show my child and tell him about the first day we'd brought him home from the hospital... but maybe that's just me.



The nurse hooked her up to all the equipment, asked all the normal questions, and left to find the doctor. The Red Sox victory must've meant the cosmos were all out of whack, because it seemed that every woman due within 2 months was there giving birth. Packed waiting room, full board of patient's names and their room numbers... Craziness. Eventually the doctor arrived and did the usual tests to determine if her water had, in fact, broken. The conclusion? No. Now, I don't want to allow my mind to dwell too much on what could've possibly made my sister think her water had broken, when it hadn't--that's probably something I never want to know, even when the time comes for me to be pregnant.



My job in the family is always to be supportive and stable, but I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we found out he still had some baking to do. I would love nothing more than to share my birthday month with my nephew. But I'd much rather have him hurry up and grow and come at the right time... Whenever that may be. Afterwards, the doctor was gracious enough to do an extra-long sonogram so that us family could stand there and ooh and ahh at the kid. "He's so cute!" "Look at his eyes!" "He's sucking his thumb!"



So strange to think I'll be holding this little alien in a few weeks' time.





Isn't he so photogenic?? The kid in July...