Thirty-eight weeks.
It is almost a given that a family sitcom will reach its peak by Season 5 or 6, where in attempt to bring back ratings, someone has a baby. (Examples include Full House, Growing Pains, Family Ties, Step By Step, and even though it’s not a family show, The Office). There is often a way too familiar seen where the soon-to-be new mother’s water breaks during an inconvenient situation or random location and the soon-to-be new father clumsily rushes her to the hospital, only to continue being more dramatic than his laboring wife. And for added effect, he passes out from exhaustion while his wife happily holds their new baby.
actual footage
Will that bumbling husband be me? I sure hope not. Tomorrow morning we will do the final packing for D-Day: clothes, toiletries, snacks, Italian champagne, bottled water, gum, camera, cell phone charger, our birth plan, and the birthing ball. We’ll pack our bags into the car (I installed the car seat in it a few weeks ago) that we will drive to the hospital. We will be all set. It’s weird to pack for the birth of a child, yet it seems kinda like we’re going on a road trip to a state 8 hours away instead.
Since most of my expectations are based on laugh track infused sitcoms that first aired during the 1980′s or clips of worst case scenarios played out on birthing shows on networks that I only watch because my wife watches them, I’m sure the way I am playing out D-Day in my head is pretty far from reality. I have a feeling it will be in between the two extremes. I know it will be surreal. Soon, I will experience the event that neither words nor snapshots will be able to describe.
All pictures with the “JHP” logo were taken by Joe Hendricks Photography:
Blog- www.photojoeblog.com
Website- www.joehendricks.com
