All of the kids are kind of past the "oh my gosh, I can't WAIT for the new baby to come!" stage. All except Bocker (Niklaus).
Bocker has always been the one child in the family to ask "Are you okay?" if you sneezed, coughed, made a noise of pain, etc.. I didn't really notice that fact for a long time. He seems to be ultra empathetic, which is a rare thing for children. He asks me questions about the baby all of the time and is the only one patient enough to really feel the baby when she's moving around. He loves it when she wiggles and his eyes get HUGE and he says "WHOA, that was a GOOD one!" then he laughs with pure joy.
I wonder why? I didn't treat him any different than any of the other kids. I didn't overly coddle him, or overly punish him. I think it's just really, truly his nature! It's so funny how he walks past me and puts his hand on my belly, then walks away as if nothing's happened. He's the ONLY one who will ask, "How are you doing, Mom?" in the middle of the day, out of the blue. He's the only one who LOVES being snuggled and holding on to another person. If he could be physically attached to someone all day (a la' conjoined twins), he'd probably be a happy camper!
He loves those medical shows and baby story shows and never even says "EWWWW" on the gross parts. During those survivor shows the family likes to watch, he'll say, "Don't worry, Mom, I'll tell you when the yucky parts come and you can cover your eyes!". He watches them, and doesn't even really cringe. If someone is bleeding or in any kind of pain, he IMMEDIATELY asks if you need anything and won't hesitate to get it for you. He's like our own personal triage nurse.
He's an unusual duck, but I sure like him. Oh, and I think I might want him in the delivery room with me. If it's not too dramatic (i.e. I've had an early epidural that works perfectly), I think he'd really get a kick out of the whole thing. He's really more suited to that than any of the other kids. The bigger girls were at the last delivery and they did really well. My sistahs did a good job of ushering them out of the room during sensitive times and keeping them in a "can see the baby coming out" only position in the room. It worked out nicely so I really can't see a problem for Bocker being there when this little girl is born.
He will probably be right next to me in the bed saying, "It's okay, Mom, there's just a little blood, it's going to be okay. WHOA, did you SEE that? That was COOL! Do you need another pillow?" the whole time. Am I messing him up for life? Or, will he end up being a really good OB/GYN some day?
