The baby is due on the first of July next year.
Such an interesting set of questions they ask at the surgery you when you announce that you think you are pregnant: Is this happy news? the GP asked my wife. Yoko answered, Yes! and I thought, Well, it’s complicated, as my second daughter tried to open a cabinet in the office and rummage through some medical supplies. I was thinking about how I was using the word ‘problematize’ (with a ‘z’: this is an American publication) in my article. Lange problematizes notions of public and private space online.
The GP asked about a Down’s Syndrome test, if we wanted it sooner or if we were willing to wait, and I said piously, It doesn’t make any difference to us, and suddenly felt guilty about saying it the way I had. Folic acid, midwife appointments, ultrasounds. The GP said the baby was due the first week in July, but as we left, I felt like I needed a date. Sorry, she said, the first of July. The first of July, I said. Put it in the diary. You would probably prefer the fourth, the GP said, as a joke. No, no, I said, the first is fine.
Eight and a half months: a marathon, not a sprint. Enjoy it: it is likely the last time you will do this. I’ll be 29 on July 1st.
The first of July 2011. Every two years for six years. Three postgraduate degrees, three children. Yes, I said, when she commented that we probably ‘knew the drill’ at this point: yes. Yes, we do.