Dave's Anxiety

Okay so I totally misunderestimated (new word, you heard it here first) just how long Kristen would be pregnant. Now I know that the typical human pregnancy is nine months, and I know that we have only been pregnant for approximately 8 ½ months; however for me it has seemed like the first 7 months flew by really fast, but the last month and a half have taken twice that. I keep anticipating “The Call”, and I think that may be the reason for the long last 6 weeks.

The anticipation for “The Call” all stems from 7 little words: “The baby could come any day now”. In my mind there is nothing worse than being in Salt Lake City, 30-40 minutes away from a wife that is pregnant, and asks every day before I leave for work, “Do you have your Cell Phone?” Each and every time that Kristen’s Ring Tone starts to play, my heart beats really fast (kind of ironic that her ring tone sings the words “You have stolen, my heart”) anyway…whenever it rings I think to myself...here it is, “The Call”. However to this point whenever I answer the call it’s only a question about shopping trips, bills, gas mileage or another usual everyday question. I then take a big deep breath and calm myself down.

I think all of my anxiety comes from having a wife with an incredible pain threshold. As a nurse, Kristen ignores her own pain, and only goes into the doctor when things are really bad. When Kristen was pregnant with Luke, we were about a week late, and finally going into labor. We had an appointment the next morning to go in for an induction, and Kristen was willing to wait until then. I didn’t think we would make it that long, and was barely able to talk her into going in that night. When we arrived at the hospital, Kristen was already dilated to an 8. All the nursing staff told us to come much earlier next time or we would be having our next baby in the car. So my job with Jack is to get Kristen to the hospital much earlier so that doesn’t happen.

Sure this may seem like a simple task, yet I have more to deal with this time. Luke needs to go to a babysitter’s house or the grandparents (depending on the time of day), we are going to a hospital that is further away, and once again I work 40 minutes away from home. From the time the call comes in, to the time we get to the hospital, it is possible that it could be near 2 hours later. Is that going to be enough time? I just don’t know, and it is driving me crazy.

Despite my anxiety, I am very excited for what the near future holds, and can’t wait to welcome our little Jack into the world. Once Jack does come I will be sure to add some pictures and get some of Kristen’s thoughts out there for everyone to enjoy. I know that Kristen is also excited for the arrival of Jack, and I can’t wait to watch her hold him for the first time.