Baby Coming Soon

So tonight I had "the talk" with my host family, Javier and Raquel. Usually "the talk" refers to a conversation that starts off with the line "son, you might have noticed that your body and mind are going through important changes...." or the innocent question "where do babies come from?" The version "the talk" I had tonight was a little more advanced than that. It was more along the lines of "regardless of what happened nine months ago, this baby is COMING!"

Side note: For those of you who might be newcomers to Pensamientos Peruanos, Raquel and Javier are a married couple who form my host family in Peru (I would call them my host "parents," but that'd be kind of weird, because they're only about 12 years older than I). Raquel is pregnant (Javier is the father -- just to clarify) and the baby is due to arrive any time between May 15 - 31.

Raquel is planning on working all the way through May 8 (that seems like a long time to me, but I'm not exactly one to judge -- and let's be honest, I know absolutely nothing about being a pregnant mother, aside from the fact that it can't be THAT tough, because three years ago when I was running varsity cross country in college, my now-35 year old coach beat me by 30 seconds in a 5K road race while she was 6 months pregnant.) So given that the hour is fast approaching, tonight was as good a time as any to go through what exactly is the plan when she goes into labor.

Raquel's doctor that will deliver the baby works at a hospital that is about a 20 minute taxi ride from the house. We went over what would happen should Raquel go into labor while I'm at home with her and Javier is working (Javier is not planning on taking off work, and I'm home during the day 3 days during the work week) . It's up to me to find a fast, secure ride for her to get to the hospital. I have the numbers of four people with automobiles in my cell phone (which brings up another important part of the plan -- always have the cell phone charged and with sufficient credit to make calls.) If none of them answer or if none of them are in the area, I have to go out to the street to hail a taxi. This is sometimes difficult, because there are times when not many taxis are around our street. Javier's brother Roberto, who lives downstairs in our house has a car (but he doesn't drive) that he rents to a friend that uses it as a taxi. When his friend isn't working, the car stays downstairs in the "garage." It's an automatic transmission (which means I can drive it, theoretically) and for awhile Javier joked about what I would do if none of the taxistas answered their cell phones and the driver of Roberto's car wasn't working that day. The problem is, a lot of times I can't tell when Javier's joking.... (Also -- I never did ask if there's some sort of emergency/ambulance number I can call as a last resort -- I should probably do that.)

Another key part of the plan is for me to have my video camera always charged -- Javier wants to videotape the birth (I guess maybe I should have mentioned that the second person I call after the taxi will be Javier so he can leave work and be there to see -- and record -- the birth of his son).

Basically, all of this is extremely exciting and horrifying all at the same time. I feel so blessed to be able to share in such an important chapter in the lives of Javier and Raquel. Hearing Javier talk about how excited he is for the birth of his son (who will be named Rodrigo Alejando Fernandez Vega -- they assured me that they are NOT naming him "Alejandro"after me!) was indescribable. Javier is really, really happy. He also told me that the main reason he wants to lose weight (I go running with him for half an hour 4 mornings every week) is so he will be in good enough shape when he's older to play with his children. At the same time as feeling excited and blessed and thankful to have this experience, even though I'm a (supposedly) mature adult, I'm also thinking to myself "wow, it is going to be a LOOOOONG TIME before I'm ready to be a father!" My last two months in Peru are definitely going to be much, much different than the first 9.