baby deluge

Baby showers. What can I mumble about baby showers? You go to someone's house or the church basement or the party room at the country club, and there is the mommy-to-be glowing and great with child. There are all the women -- her mom, her sister, her great-aunt Myrtle, and the cousin she hates. There are the two women she works with who feel uncomfortable because they don't know anyone else there. Inevitably, without a doubt, the conversation will turn to pregnancy, labor and delivery. The female version of fish stories. One horrific story after another. The pain, the suffering, the c-section. And you just sit there with a smile pasted to your face and nodding your head because you have absolutely nothing to contribute. You can't really relate to what they are sharing, and you know that your own horror stories of paperchasing would go right over their heads. So you keep smiling and nodding. Then, those wonderful games start. Fortunately, most of them can be played while continuing the discussion on swollen ankles and fainting husbands. We can also eat our cake and ice cream while playing games and comparing stretch mark remedies. Oh, and when it is time to open presents, then we can pause to just ooh and aaahh for awhile.

Can you tell that I am not a big fan of the traditional baby shower? Great in concept. Lousy in execution.

So, it was a nice change of pace this weekend when we went to my seester-in-law's house and had a wonderful time at their shower. M's seester and her hubby (the baby-daddy) are expecting their first child in September. This was a couples shower, so all the husbands were in attendance. This meant that at least half of the people there had never given birth! Wonderful! No stories of birthin' babies in the backseat of a car or of someone having their water break in public. We mingled and socialized from room to room, filled up on my father-in-law's chocolate chip cookies, and watched the soon-to-be parents open some great presents. (The only time I had to do the smile and nod routine was when they opened up a Michigan mobile with a dangling block M, little baby wolverines, and it plays the fight song. (Personally, I think this may give the wee one nightmares. I did attempt some in-utero counter programming that evening by saying "go buckeyes" into my seester-in-law's bulging belly.)

All in all, it was my kind of baby shower. My seester-in-law glowed, the baby-daddy took everything in stride, and a good time was had by all. Now we all just have to sit back and wait for the newest member of the family to arrive.