My mother came to see Julian. It’s a long story but she originally planned to come on the 6th because he was due on the 11th. We discussed the expectation that a mother is there for all the rather personal, painful and slightly gross aspects of birth and decided that while she was welcome to be in the room if she happened to be around, this was not a need and that Jo was going to be there no matter what, so I was covered. We also agreed that I needed her most after his birth and we did not want her to be here for weeks before and have to leave when he arrived. I had read that most first babies were born on or after their expected due date, so we decided for her to come on the 10th and purchased her ticket. Believe it or not, the very next day I went to the doctors and found out that I was already having contractions and dialation and the projections that he would come early began. I felt terrible.
This all worked out pretty well because it gave Jo and I a couple days with Julian to see what it really is like and made us more appreciative of the help. In other words, we were able to balance the benefit of getting to see our folks, having help with feeding, changing, etc. and get some sleep with the reality that we had guests for 24 days straight in our rather small apartment.
My mom, who claims to have a strong preference for toddlers and children over newborns, fell in love with Julian. She tried to buy him something everytime we left the house and I caught her talking to him and staring at him numerous times. This was pretty entertaining. Here are some pictures of Linda meeting Julian and instructing him on the facts of life.
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