Post #4: It's a Boy

March 25, 2016

We were in Telluride, Colorado, and I was just about to go to bed when I saw an incoming email on my Ipad from Stacy. I hurried to read it and found it to indeed be another email I had been awaiting for quite some time.

Although everything had been going well with Stacy's pregnancy and check-ups, except for typical side effects of morning sickness and weariness, we were anxious to know the results of a blood test for genetic concerns. When Stacy had her first OB exam in Brisbane, Australia, in mid-January, blood was drawn for this exam although it was technically early to do so. Considering Stacy would only be in Brisbane infrequently, there was an attempt to test her at that time. As we, especially Jesse, anxiously awaited those results, to hopefully rule out potential disorders, Stacy was informed after several weeks that no results could be obtained from the January blood tests due to the early attempt. So Stacy would need to repeat the blood test on her next trip to Brisbane, but that would not be until March. Once again, we were eagerly awaiting the findings, as we wanted to unreservedly announce the viability of our developing grandchild, and confirm plans for the auspicious August event.

Monday, March 25, about 9 pm Mountain Time

Email subject: Blood test results

Hi Mom and Dad,

Have finished up at the hospital. All of the tests (genetic and morphology scans) were normal.

We're having a boy! He was squirming around quite a lot in there.

Feel free to share the news!

Love, Stacy

Wow, was I ever excited to read that email. Tears came to my eyes as the eventuality of becoming a grandmother just became much more tangible than ever. And with the great news of the negative genetic testing results also came the surprise identification of our grandchild's gender. Having been so excited to finally become a grandmother and rightly concerned that all was proceeding well health-wise, given Stacy's late age at first conception, I had been much less preoccupied about the baby’s sex. And that's what I told anyone who happened to ask. Initially Stacy was not sure whether she wanted to have advance knowledge of her baby's gender. However, in due time, she decided it would be optimal to be informed when blood test results were available.

Despite having told myself and anyone else who inquired that I did not care whether Stacy was carrying a boy or girl, I have to admit that, on initial reading of the email, I felt slightly disappointed that Stacy and Jason's baby would be a boy. I didn't even know where that emotion came from, or why I had been suppressing this preference. Upon a bit of personal reflection, I concluded that I was probably envisioning a delightful granddaughter in Stacy's likeness. But honestly, this was only a fleeting sense of disappointment. And as I further rationalized to myself, hopefully Jesse and I would be involved in many enjoyable experiences of our grandson's development (in contrast to the inexplicably difficult ones and bad ending associated with our son Ben).

Having been tired and ready to bed down just before this email arrived, I subsequently became wide awake and fully ecstatic to share Stacy's news with dear friends and family with whom I had been hesitatingly excited to announce her pregnancy two months earlier. The first person with whom I wanted to share the news was already sleeping soundly next to me. But I kept listening to each of Jesse's sleep rumbles to determine whether he might be temporarily awakening as he commonly does all night long.

Meanwhile, I began sharing Stacy's happiest of news to many family and close friends in a forwarded email entitled "News we've been waiting for." And before too long the sleepy head beside me roused enough for me to verbally share the latest excitement. Even before I closed my Ipad cover for the night, a dozen congratulatory replies had already posted. The next morning I was even more enthusiastic to check my inbox, finding two dozen more of the same, everyone thrilled for Stacy and Jason, and especially me and Jesse, with all our eggs in Stacy's basket.

The baby blue-footed booby onesie, purchased in the Galapagos where Beryl received Stacy's first ultrasound fetus photo, will be perfect for Beryl's grandson-to-be

I reminded myself that the blue baby booby onesie that I had purchased in the Galapagos would be ideal for a baby boy. While in Telluride, I had been doing a bit of eyeball shopping, noticing where baby gifts were being sold but had held back buying anything. The baby boy news gave me license to purchase a gender specific gift. In a souvenir apparel store, I bought a bright yellow Telluride onesie with a drawing of a sweet bear cub captioned "Unbearably Cute." Certainly, that would apply to my grandson.

On March 31, I was surprised to get an email with the subject line of “Baby toys.”

"Hi Mom,

I was wondering if you could bring a few of my old stuffed animals as baby toys when you come to Fiji. I don't remember what is there, so you pick. Also, if there are any books − would be nice to start building up a collection.

Love, Stacy"

That made me feel good about the two books that I had recently purchased at Dr. Seuss Land at Universal Islands of Adventure, of which I happened to come across on my way to Universal’s Harry Potter Land, while on a trip accompanying Jesse to an orthopaedic meeting in Orlando in March. I always loved the books of Dr. Seuss to which I was introduced elementary school, and re-introduced to my own children in their youth.

I noticed some cute baby gifts in the Telluride Naturals store conveniently located in the building of our lodge. I bought three Jelly Bean toys: a touch-me baby book about penguins, a small stuffed penguin to hang from a carrier and a furry puppy dog rattle. First grandchild, I was allowed to splurge, right? That reminded me of the first baby toy my mother bought during my first pregnancy. My parents were visiting Jesse and pregnant me where we lived in the “wild west” of 1975 Arizona when my mother bought for her first grandchild-to-be a hobby horse, which was a horse’s head on a riding stick.

I began to think about our toys and books at home. I knew we had plenty of old stuffed animals, which I loved and have kept for years, and would sort through when I returned home. But the books we had were likely for somewhat older children, not babies, and I was not sure when I would have time to shop during our short time between arriving home from Telluride and leaving soon again for Hawaii on the way to Fiji. Remembering popular infant books, I turned to Amazon and ordered instantaneously and fairly inexpensively "Pat the Bunny," and baby board books of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "Goodnight Moon," and a Sandra Boynton dog book. Thanks to Amazon Prime, all four books arrived at our Weston home two days later.

At home, I located an assortment of adorable stuffed animals of various sizes, but reasonably appropriate for a baby. The ones in Stacy's room had been sitting practically untouched on shelves for almost 20 years and definitely were in need of some dust removal. My sister Carol smartly suggested tumbling in the dryer which was generally helpful. But some predominantly white animals still looked rather gray and did not seem clean enough for a newborn. It was a question of toss them or wash them. One small Gund polar bear tested in the delicate wash cycle most definitely emerged as a whiter cleaner bear, and the low dryer cycle fluffed the fur back into practically new condition. So a few other predominantly white animals (another polar bear, penguin, dogs) got the delicate wash and fluff dry treatment. Only one old dog sadly disintegrated in the process. But I felt much better about bringing dusted and cleaned toys to Fiji, which also included a koala bear, kangaroo, tiger and black bear. I could not be more happy to bring these sweet animals to a new home (as well as move some out of my all-too-crowded house full of collectibles).

But the next task would be packing up all the baby toys and gifts to bring to Fiji. Admittedly, I am a “schlepper,” and typically like to pack lots of my own stuff when traveling, to be prepared for most contingencies. But in this situation, we would be flying from Hawaii to Fiji on Fiji Airways in economy class. And I was unfortunately familiar with Fiji Airways' restrictive and zealously enforced baggage policy. I would have liked to bring an entirely extra piece of luggage for our grandson-to-be, but that was not a free option. So packing my belongings more sparingly than usual, I was able to make room for the books, music box and onesies in my luggage, and packed a bag of stuffed animals in the gramps-to-be's luggage. In this case, Jesse was pretty understanding of my extra schlepping.