Today is my due date. Back in late February, I announced my pregnancy to my team at work. I emailed one of my reports who was on paternity leave himself, stating the following:

“Based on my last 3, here’s what we’re expecting: Baby is due Aug 10, so it’ll arrive July 23. And we will wait to find out the sex, so he’ll be a boy.”

Fast forward to my uterus’ standard time of evicting its resident: 37 weeks & 2 days — July 22.

I went into the hospital to be monitored as I had some tenderness around my previous c-section incision. While on-site, I went into “spontaneous labor” anyway & managed a successful VBAC. Our son, C, was born shortly after midnight — July 23rd. 37 weeks & 3 days, splitting the difference between J & O (37w2d) & A (37w4d).

We have therefore had 2.5 weeks of “bonus time” with C and are so enjoying it. C is a fantastic eater, solid sleeper, and apparently impervious to the cacophony of his older brothers (a critical feature to family harmony — well done, evolution).

With a little bit of time to reflect, here are my observations on things that are the same, and things that are different with this, our 4th go-round:

THINGS THAT ARE THE SAME

1. How massive a toddler looks next to a newborn. Diapering 2 year old A in size 6 after outfitting C in size N constantly has me thinking things like, “jeez, Scooch, shouldn’t you be out getting a job or something already?”
   
2. I can’t imagine a more vigilant driver than that of a mom with an infant in her back seat. At any given moment while driving with him, I am on high alert and have mentally played out an absurd number of scenarios in which I might need to summon superhuman reaction times or strength to protect him (mind you: I have no doubt I would, in fact, summon these without issue if C was actually in danger). In no particular order of likelihood, I am ready for: a deer to race across the road, another car to run the upcoming 4-way stop sign, a need to retrieve our window hammer from the glove box and break out of our vehicle, a tornado to appear on an otherwise sunny day and force us to find cover, or a meteorite to crash into the highway just in front of our vehicle.
   
3. Even when it’s the middle of the night and I’ve had grossly inadequate stretches of sleep for the past many days, to hear those little noises he makes, to hold him close as he squirms his weight against my chest, to share in the excitement and enthusiasm and support of a community of family and friends that welcomes a tiny life into our world… truly, this is a sweet time in life.
   

THINGS THAT ARE DIFFERENT

1. I am always humbled and thankful for the new baby gifts sent our way (especially as many people have now celebrated generously 4x with us!), but this time our friends & family showed a definite bias towards food-related gifts. I have to commend the instincts here as A) we have no shortage of clothes and gear for baby boys in-house already, clearly, and B) the amount of dinners and desserts provided have saved us approximately 12 hours in the past 2.5 weeks alone and, in case it’s not obvious, time back is truly the most valuable gift of all. (Ideas for anyone looking: DoorDash or Uber Eats gift cards, Spoonful of Comfort dinners, a neighborhood Meal Train, Mrs. Prindables sweets, Milk Bar cookies gifted to the older boys from their neighborhood buddies, and more — yum).
   
2. People seem to assume I know what I’m doing now. The hospital stay was by far the most zen we’ve had — despite this being our only delivery during a pandemic. The nurses’ advice on our departure was perfunctory, couched by “you know this even better than us at this point, but let’s go through the paperwork anyway.” Even C’s pediatrician check-ups were incredibly easy — just a touch of jaundice (per our usual) but otherwise the doctor let us forgo his 2 week check because his weight re-gain was going so well that he had far exceeded birth weight by the 1 week mark already. “Just give us a call if anything appears off — you know what to look for” they told me as we departed.
   
3. And they appear to be correct (?!). I am torn between wanting to take credit after many years learning hard lessons, and not wanting to come anywhere near suggesting I’m somehow responsible for this healthy, easy baby making a pretty seamless transition into our world. Instead, I’ll just say this: through some combination of good luck, years of practice, and pretty fantastic teamwork between me and C, we have cashed in on a successful first few weeks by heading up north to enjoy time at the lake all together as a family — something we thought we might not be able to do at all this summer depending on the delivery and transition time.

Finally, special shout outs to:

— My mom, who has been phenomenally helpful these past several weeks, spending nights, mornings, and many days on-site with us as the only person who keeps track of small but evidently important details like whether *I* have also eaten.

— Dave, who has invested in many ways to occupy and entertain all 3 older brothers at once now, including a bike trailer + seat combo that both delights the boys and makes his bike work outs at least 3x as challenging.

— The big brothers, who not only really, really love “Baby C,” but seem unfazed by my divided attention… O, in fact, assuring me just this morning that I am “the best mom in the uterus.”