Today

This is the day.

As much as anyone can ever be “ready,” we are.  This is the day we are to meet our newest baby.

This is the day that, for me, I am so, so glad that I never wavered in the face of, “are you sure you don’t want to know whether it’s a boy or a girl?” Because the anticipation, the moment that’s coming, that very second when everything is going to stand still and my husband is going to whisper in my ear for the sixth time, “We have a …” It’s worth it. Every time.

This is the day.

This is the day when I watch my husband hold our newborn baby with an ease I never imagined he’d have. This is the day when he looks at me, then at our child, then back at me with such a mix of emotion that it almost brings me to tears to recall it. This is the day when he is in his element, when he outshines every expectation that the nurses–so used to men who defer the whole experience to their wives and claim no portion of the day, no piece of the miracle as their own– have, and then some.

This is the day.

This is the day when I meet my new son or daughter. This is the day when the kicks and rolls I have grown to love cease, but my arms are finally full with the little person I will memorize in our quiet, just-us cocoon for the next few days. This is the day I will remember as so-and-so’s birth day, forever.

This is the day.