The waiting game...

This is just a stock image!

We are currently awaiting the arrival of our second child, and I must say it's a bit of an odd time. We are two days past our due date and there's no sign of anything about to happen.

The problem with pregnancy is that, unless your wife happens to be a high-risk case, nobody really knows when the little bundle of joy is going to make an appearance. In spite of modern medical techniques, it's really down to mother nature to make that decision (in my case I believe it's God who chooses, but there you go).

I'm fortunate that, currently, work has quietened down. I've completed the main, pressing tasks and am working on less priority stuff. This means I can easily drop everything the moment things start to happen.

Wifey's dad has returned from Australia (he's retired and spends half the year there) to take care of JKY when we need to head to hospital. We've kitted out the baby room. All the urgent house repairs have been done. I've even managed to get my accounts up-to-date.

Actually, no I haven't done the last one. I would never be that organised!

So, all we can do is ... wait.

All this waiting means you have a bit more time to think (and write blog posts!). I can't help but think about when my folks were my age. They didn't have the fancy scans and methods for induction that we do nowadays (methods, which, have their downsides). I imagine C-sections were very rare. You just waited for the baby to come.

I guess the frustration with waiting is a symptom of the modern world where you can order most things – books, pizzas, films, furniture – via the internet, and get them almost instantly or next day. Yes, sometime you do have to wait, but you usually know when it will arrive.

There's no tracking ID for a baby. Well, at least not yet.

I'm sure one day in the future, when my sons decide to have children, there will be some technique that will either predict delivery with pinpoint accuracy or make labour happen at a time that suits the parents. Which is kind of sad, because I think it's nice to live a little bit of uncertainty every now and again. Life can be, after all, full of surprises and the more we're prepared for them the better we'll cope.

So, we just have to wait and accept that he (for it is a he) will come when he's ready.

And in the meantime, maybe I can finish off those pesky accounts!