Great Expectations

I have a friend I've known since college who taught me a great lesson about expectation. He told me he wouldn't get his girlfriend a gift just because she expected it. He should only get her something because he wanted to, and he didn't want to with all the mounting expectation for Valentine's Day. So, nothing is what she got. Ouch!

Through the continuing trepidation from yesterday, something clicked for me today. I realized that the only reason we are struggling with the latest round of news from T is that we had built up expectations about how this would go. (See previous post about "what to expect". Seems I'm not a fast learner.) Sure, we had talked with her and had agreed on what she said she wanted. But we told her then, and every day since then, that however she wanted this to go is the way it would end up going, with no objections from us. So, who are we to back out on that now? She deserves the right to change her mind as reality sets in and emotions are high. We signed up for the ride and promised each other we'd hang on.

The last couple of days have been really hard. T is withdrawing from communications directly with us and the explanation is that we likely represent her reality, which isn't all that happy right now. Still, she's making plans for us to be at the hospital. If we could just put aside all that we had come to expect about how this would go, I think we'd be happy with the path we're on. Compared to the level of communication we had before though, this is much scarier. So, we looked for something else to do today besides wait for the phone to ring.

We went to the hospital to get the "lay of the land". We met with the social worker there who will handle the case when she goes into labor and delivery. It was a great meeting and we're all bracing for a lot of unknowns. Still, the support was welcome and refreshing. We know where to go and who to look for. We just don't know when T will be there, or when she will ask us to show up. We also learned that the hospital would likely wait 7 days past her due date before inducing her. So, for all of you wondering if there's a baby yet...hang on for 8 more days. Something should happen by then, right?

We spent the evening occupying each second with something mindless. Our surroundings provided plenty of distraction. We were even grateful that we forgot where we parked because, well, walking further took up another 10 minutes that we weren't waiting for a call. Here are some highlights from our trip to the last Farmers Market of the season around here.

The hospital where we hope to spend a few days real, real soon.

Huh?

A shout out to Mama P!

Unlikely footwear of the runners in a fundraiser race for cancer that we watched.

Pose with, but don't touch, the old truck at the car show.

Speaks for itself.

The start of an exciting full moon weekend, hopefully!

Again, huh? Not sure what is being sold here.

Tiffany's new, super cute farmer's market-y t-shirt.

 

No, we haven't opened it yet. However, this "Daddy/Daughter Duck" is ready for a swig.
(I love the packed baby bag in the background of this shot. Don't judge!)

All that, plus a soak in the hot tub, took us a good five hours out of the room. We know we're all over the place. We're doing the best we can. Thanks for trying to keep up.