I haven’t been shy in expressing my thoughts and feelings in this column I write, and today will be no different. I’m leaving wind turbines, Chesapeake Bay clean-ups or flooding behind for today, but instead vent about the recent occurrences in my life that I’m sure most people have gone through or can relate to. It’s definitely new to me.
First of all, Christina (my fiancee) and I are expecting a baby girl around the middle of June. Yes, I’m going to be a father. I truly underestimated the craziness of having a newborn on the way – not in a negative way of course – but, I’ve found that I have developed a whole new appreciation for life knowing that myself and Christina have created life itself.
We have doctor appointments, breathing classes, registering for a baby shower, eating, eating again, learning about taking care of a baby, eating, picking out a name for the baby, and that constant thought in the back of our minds of if we are prepared to be parents.
And I don’t care what anybody says, the guy during the pregnancy goes through much of what the woman does – some of the pains of pregnancy, symptoms and weight gain. I’ve gained more weight than my fiancee. Yes, I don’t have to experience the labor part, but I will take the brunt of the agony. Who do you think she’s going to blame when that pain is hitting her?
For the past month and a half, maybe longer, we’ve been going through the process of buying a house. What fun that is. Yesterday, we officially closed on a house in the borough, which is unbelievably great, but now we have to get it “baby ready” – along with other needed upgrades that will probably take longer than we want them to.
Christina’s just beginning her eighth month of the pregnancy, which I call it the seventh month since our little girl won’t be born until June, but she insists that it’s eight months. So now we have a house that needs some work done to it, I have an “eight month” pregnant fiancee who shouldn’t be doing any kind of laboring work, and we both work full-time jobs at the same place. It’s not like we can both leave, it’s hard enough when one of us leaves work sometimes.
Am I complaining yet?
Two months to rejuvenate a house seems impossible to me right now, but I know it’ll get done. I’m so happy with everything that’s going on, but it is equally frustrating. I know she is frustrated too, and pregnant. Sometimes I wish I could just snap my finger and thumb, and presto! Everything’s completed.
What’s nice is having two wonderfully supportive families guiding Christina and I through this new beginning we are embarking on. We’re not alone in this, and I could never thank her mother and father enough, as well as mine, for everything they have done up to this point. Plus, our friends have been very helpful and eager through this life changing experience.
As crazy as everything is, I believe I am ready for it all, and I know she is too. I’ve been through a lot in my short life thus far, and so has Christina – I just never had to handle so many things going on at once in my life, let alone trying to find a news story to write about every day in Tyrone. Five years of college was a lot easier than this. And thank God for the wind farm proposal, because the topic keeps me busy work-wise.
Speaking of wind turbines, Spanish names are always so beautiful and intriguing, maybe Christina and I could go that route to name our little girl.
How does “Gamesa” sound?
