The Weather and the Final Weeks of Third Trimester Pregnancy

The weather in New York in October and November has been splendid. I hear we're in for another gorgeous weekend. If it is anything like the last two weekends, we all may want November to last forever. But baby won't.  He/she is going to want to get out fairly soon. Trouble is, I am enjoying these brilliant blue-sky, white, fluffy-cloud, crisp autumn-leaf days. And I still have to carve some time out to get the last details in place and get my mind in baby mode and life altering change mode.  Maybe I am in denial. I go about my days as if this appendage is just a part of of my body that will be there forever.  Maybe I am supposed to act this way, as if I am going to be pregnant forever, as if this baby is going to stay in there forever, as if my life is la-dee-da-dee-da.  Let me take a pause to hit the upside of my head: "Mary Anne, do you know what's coming?" "No, I don't. I can't fathom what's coming. Don't talk to me about it. I just want to be outside in this amazing weather." Yes, the weather is to blame, then, for the fact that I have no car seat base for the infant car seat, that I don't have a breast pump, that the apartment is still cluttered, that all the baby toys are still down in the basement covered in dust, that I haven't thought about life after December 7th when the baby is due, that I don't even think about it now. And I could come up with another few dozen things that, now that I think about it, I haven't done or I don't do.  Last week I thought I was ready for the baby to come that afternoon, delusional I was in my joy in having the fitted crib sheets all freshly laundered and placed.  The chaos that is about to define my life is in a very far corner of my mind. And I am about to get the biggest wake up call I'll ever know. Yet, the bliss of fall weather is beckoning me right now.  Yes, I am either in a denial phase or an absorption phase. Either way, I want to milk (no pun intended!) the last few weeks for as much as I can. You know that saying, "I'll cross that bridge when it comes"? Well, it applies to me.  I don't think that health care providers, mother groups, relatives, society in general, etc, would appreciate hearing me say that.  You don't "wing it" with a baby. But that is what it seems I am doing. Baby thoughts aren't even on my mind. What's on my mind? Movies, pecan pie, trees, going to the beach in November, and baking scones.  When do you know you're ready for the baby? Will it just pop into my head on December 6th?  Just so you know, I don't get excited about trips, either, until I've landed. Please don't judge me for comparing a new human life to a five-day vacation. Unless the vacation is outside in beautiful weather!!