On the Eve of My Child's Birth

To my as-yet-unnamed baby boy:

First we called you The Embryo, then we affectionately referred to you as The Fetus.  Now here we are, the night before you are scheduled to be born.  We are nervous, scared, excited.  I can't sleep even though I know I should be sleeping.

I can't wait for the next stage, but I know I will miss you as you are now.  You've been such a lovely little guy in utero.  I'll always have pleasant memories of this pregnancy because it brought me you.  

I feel like I know you, but there is so much I am looking forward to learning about you.  I know we will take great joy in watching your personality unfold before us.  Right now?  I know you are a fan of chewing because you flip around without fail every time my jaw starts moving.  You are a very punctual mover, and as we progressed through the last few months I've used my doppler less and less because you are so reliable.  Over the last couple of weeks, you've become capable of inflicting pain with your shifting and kicking.  You still seem to have quite a few options for positioning in there, and you switch frequently.  You don't really appreciate being pushed on from the outside, but as you've begun to run out of room you've started to push back a bit in irritation. You've been quite a stoic and reassuring little fetus.

We know you have hair because we've seen it on ultrasound.  I hope you look like your big brother and sister.  I hope you are born fat and healthy and screaming.  Your daddy, your big sister and I are waiting for you.   See you in the morning, Baby Boy.  We can't wait to officially meet you.