Next month our family is taking the next step in the journey of life and welcoming a new addition to our clan.
I've always ascertained that the decision to have a child is the one decision in life you can't take back. So many aspects of life are fleeting, but deciding to become a parent is permanent.
Babies are a polarizing issue for a lot of people in that you have some people in the staunchly “child-free” camp, while others try for years for the opportunity to share their lives with a little piece of themselves. No matter where along the continuum you fit in it's definitely a decision not to be taken lightly.
It's amazing to consider that the culmination of your family's entire history is continuing for another generation and that the child will see and experience a future long after you're gone.
While I'll admit I'm nervous about the process and everything that this will mean for my life and the lives of my family, it's a surreal nervous giddiness that can't be adequately described. Our lives will be changing in new and amazing ways.
As a person who comes from a relatively small immediate family, having an infant around is going to be an experience unlike anything I've been exposed to before. Infants are completely reliant on you for their every need. Pets have a certain degree of self-reliance, but a human infant needs to be provided for and their every need looked after. For a first-timer, it's a seemingly momentous undertaking, but I'm up for the challenge.
But when we meet the baby it won't feel like an insurmountable goal – it will be an engaging opportunity for us to grow, learn, and develop a whole new aspect of our personalities while we help our new little human discover theirs.
Human beings have been reproducing for thousands of years and with considerably fewer resources at their disposal than we have in Canada. Between the baby classes, the advice from others, the Internet, and the instincts I'll apparently develop magically once the baby is born, I'm sure we will be able to figure this whole thing out.
For now, I spend my idle hours imagining what it will be like when our little one arrives and excitedly preparing every miniscule detail for their arrival. But it is becoming clearer as the timer counts down that there is no “ready.” No one is ever really prepared.
We just have to take a deep breath, close our eyes, and jump right in.
Darlana Robertson is a twentysomething writer from Calgary and a former Central Alberta resident.
