Waiting for Baby #3

Even though we've already gone through the whole childbirth process twice with our son and daughter, it still is a strange time as we await our third child to make her grand entrance.

In terms of having our apartment prepared for her arrival, we feel that we're almost ready. My wife still has to pack her suitcase for the hospital, but she has already picked out and washed the clothes that the baby will need. As I blog, she is at the store Auchan buying some final things for our newest daughter. She has this tradition of wanting to having one piece of new clothing for the baby to wear right away.

In terms of our family being ready for a third child, this is a mystery to us. Both my wife and I come from families of only 2 children, so we're entering waters we've never navigated before. For us, trying for a third child was a step of faith and obedience to what we felt God had said we should do. We have grown quite comfortable with 2 children. Financially, God seems to be providing through some increased support.

Yesterday my wife said out loud to the child that she's carrying that she could arrive anytime now. When taking the course Torrents d'Espoir (Torrents of Hope), we were reminded that even in the womb, babies hear our words and feel our emotions, especially the mother's. It will be fun to see how she initially relates to her brother and sister and vice versa.

Our firstborn daughter, who is 2 years 4 months, seems to sense that something different is going on. She's wanted to be held a lot and I fell back asleep in the rocking chair with her in my arms between 3-6 this morning. Fortunately, our son has developed into a very sound sleeper, so he hasn't been awoken by her stirrings.

We expect to be heading to the maternity ward this week. But our baby daughter has been such a mystery to us so far, that only God knows when she'll actually arrive.