Toads in the Hole

EthelRed

Have you been at cocktail parties lately and felt left out of a richly innuendoed conversation about Joel and Aimee? Perhaps the banter might have contained phrases like “Not even a twinkle in his eye when you saw him last …” or “Wow! Look at her devour those canapés like she’s eating for two!”

Well, dear reader, you need not wait any longer for clarification: We’re thrilled to announce that we’re having a baby!

Yup, that’s right! Instead of trying our hand at Shakespeare or traveling abroad, we’ve decided that our sophomore school year project will be pregnancy, labor, delivery, and welcoming a new person into our lives.

We’ve bestowed the carefully-clever antepartum name EthelRed on our unborn son or daughter for the duration of their uterine stay in remembrance of Ethelred II of Britian (978-1016) who was nicknamed Ethelred the Unready when he succeeded the throne at the tender age of ten. Our EthelRed is so dubbed simply because he or she is EthelRed the Not-Yet-Ready (a subtle, but important distinction). Of course, when EthelRed is ready, our baby will shed it's in-utero name in favor of a new, more traditional birth name.

With the overgrown, haunted woods of the first trimester behind us, we’re presently enjoying the relative sunshine (and Vitamin D) of the second trimester. Aimee is feeling happy and healthy as her body shifts and adjusts daily in new and dramatic ways. Joel is prone to sudden grins and wriggles and often finds himself hugging people with slight provocation.

Ah, yes! Popular questions? Here are some responses …

EthelRed is due in mid-March (right around Spring Break, the Ides of March, and St. Patrick’s Day).

We’re planning to deliver EthelRed at the hospital in Vermillion … Why? The hospital is less than two miles from home, and there are Jacuzzis in the Birthing Suite, of course.

Yes!

We will most likely find out EthelRed’s sex (if possible) by ultrasound around the end of November.

Never!

Although we keep telling Nine about the baby, she adamantly believes that we’re bluffing and that nothing about her life will change in March.

Hmmm … We’ll have to think about that one.

We’re working with our professors to formulate a plan for both Joel and Aimee to complete their academic requirements for this year, have a baby, and take some time off to recover and care for said EthelRed. We’re still in negotiations, so we cannot divulge much more than that at this time.

Posted by Us at September 28, 2005 08:27 AM