Grandma in Waiting!

It’s nail-biting stuff! I’m a 26 week grandma-to-be and I’m discovering it’s really a lot like being pregnant all over again! Well, not really – I’m spared the nausea, indigestion, exhaustion, sleep disturbances, internal football practice in the small hours and all those other delights that go towards making that first pregnancy so fascinating. But the waiting is the same and the sense of expectation. The same period of adjustment is provided for grandparents as for parents-to-be, thankfully, so I can just daydream these nine months away, imagining how it will be, who it will be and how my role will turn out in the whole proceedings.

So I’m waiting – and knitting! Yes, that time-honoured tradition of the authentic grandma role must be observed and there are tiny items of clothing being lovingly fashioned, stitch by stitch, so that this very special (most special ever?) baby will have the best start in life, warm and cosy and clothed from head to foot in garments ‘made with love’.

Each week on the pregnancy calendar there are new events to record. Telephone calls to our daughter are longer than ever, with each new detail to discuss and digest. Furniture removals are going on in order to transform their home into a suitable ‘nest’ and the nursery is taking shape. The nesting instinct is strong. Items of nursery equipment are being researched and the hitherto neat and tidy apartment is going to be inundated with a barrage of necessary clutter.

Next week there will be a visit to us from mum-to-be (whilst the airlines will still take her on board!) and we shall go shopping, of course. We can drool over all the latest baby fashions together, agonise over options for prams and car seats and help choose maternity wear – now much needed with all the expansion that has been going on. Yes, I’m a grandma in waiting! And enjoying every minute of it! I’ve been transformed into one of those stereotypical, sentimental first grandchild expectees (is that a real word?) and I find myself exhibiting all those nauseating, over-emotional traits that all the others exhibit. If I’m like this now how will I be during the birth? Oh, I have all that to come! Bring it on – I can stay up all night in sympathy - and don’t forget all my grandma congratulations cards afterwards… I’m going to be a star!