Battening the hatches

The calm before the storm. A cub has turned, he faces the right way though he's not yet engaged. He is big, Beloved has a basketball plus and given she doesn't have a large frame she's almost dwarved by the hugeness that precedes her.

His kicking's slowed a little and we suspect he's starting to run out of room.

It'll be an interesting week. We are stubbornly heading to the beach for Christmas and the weekend, which will put us over an hour's drive from the hospital. The ambulance fees are paid up but it's still unnerving. Then we lose our backups for several days as Bear's aunt and uncle attend an engagement in the country. Plans for what happens in that time remain a little sketchy and needless to say the prospect of me standing outside holding Bear's hand while her mum grunts and pushes out a baby on her own isn't one we relish.

How do others deal with this? Do most people have half their family in the same city? It's funny how parenting can bring out so many gaps in the system, things you'd just assume were somehow 'covered'.

We've got Raising Boys, and I'll go back and have another read of the 'happy healthy kids' books as I pore over the challenge of a son. And of a second child. And of keeping Bear the happy, confident girl she is.

The girl who slapped me on the leg the other day, in the park, and stated in her matter-of-fact way: "My Daddy".