Maybe Baby

OK – so I re-read my last blog posts and I realize that I have been sounding awfully negative. I don’t like that – I am really not a negative person. I love my life and I wake up everyday happy. Ok, so I am kind of grouchy when I first wake up, but after a cup of coffee I am all “Carpe Diem!” So I promised myself that tonight I would blog about something positive. And what could be more positive than the topic of little babies?!?! Sweet-smelling, soft-skinned, tiny-toed little infants. Who doesn’t love an adorable baby? Hold on now – all you family members reading this, don’t start lunging for the phone, and mom please don’t start squealing. I’m not preggo – not yet anyway. And for the many, and I mean MANY, people that are always asking us – we are working on it, ok? So no dramatic revelations here tonight – and a quick request that someone slap me if I do become that person that announces their pregnancy online! No, the interesting thing I want to talk about is what I like to call “The Baby Phenomenon.”

“The Baby Phenomenon” appears to me to be this parallel universe that women, and some men, seem to fall into once they reach that point in their life when they realize they are ready to have a child. It is odd. You don’t really see it coming. You are walking along one day, maybe running errands, or maybe going to visit a friend, and then it happens. You see a mother, or a father, and they are holding the cuddliest little bundle of pink or blue, and BAM! It hits you….”I want one of those!”

I know – all my single friends out there are thinking I am crazy. But seriously, it happens. I had never imagined this feeling either, until it happened to me personally. Right up until last year, I only had that feeling of want for stuff like new clothes, pocketbooks, and puppies. And of course, my husband. Doll that he is! As soon as I saw him, I knew I had to have him. But he was already grown and trained (well, sort-of). Totally not the same thing as a baby! It’s not like I had never been around children. I have tons of nieces and nephews in my life that I love to death. But to be honest, I was always able to get my fill from one or two days of visiting. “Yea we had a great time! Uh huh, now back to Mom and Dad!”

But I am telling you people, out of nowhere, wham! The Baby Phenomenon. I’ve slipped through the matrix, and here I am, a full-fledged member of Clock Tickers Anonymous. It scared me how suddenly it actually happened. I mean, people always say, “When you are ready, it will just hit you.” I thought that was just an expression! It literally felt like my uterus did a back flip. And no one told me that the feeling grows stronger as you go along! What the…? I was totally unprepared for this!

Some people may say, “Alyson, what you are referring to, everyone has always called Baby Fever.” But I must disagree here, because “The Baby Phenomenon” is so much more than just wanting a baby. It is more like an all-consuming mindset/state of being. For example, now EVERYWHERE I look there are new babies or pregnant women. Seriously, it is like when you really want a specific model car, and then that is all you see on the road. I swear I never saw this many new babies and pregnancies at once before! At first I asked myself, is there a boom going on because of the recession or something? Nope, I think they were always there, but I never saw them before because I wasn’t in this hormonal, maternal, alternate universe. But I am now. I wonder if it's a side affect of those prenatal pills? Like, a way to make you really commit to having a baby? Giving you Baby Brain, so that is all you can see, hear, or think about.

Well no matter how I got to this stage, I must say I do find it exciting. Lately, nothing makes me happier than imagining a little person that is part me and part Ken (dear God, if you could give the baby Ken's eyes I would really appreciate it!). So now I guess all we do is wait and see. Just struggle through The Baby Phenomenon stage and hope for the….wait…I totally just realized the next stage will involve me gaining weight, getting moody, and experiencing unbearable pain! Is there a way to fast forward right to that last stage? You know where we just get to enjoy the baby? Yeah, yeah, I know, I know….Hmmm…maybe I will enjoy The Baby Phenomenon a little longer, you know, before it gets too real!