On Becoming a Nana
My daughter is due on May 28th, which is still a few weeks away but she is smallish in stature and her belly looks huge. As she sat on the sofa this evening watching TV with me, I thought about how unprepared we all seem to be about having a baby living with us. I had hoped for a better situation for her, certainly. I don’t think either of us expected that she would have to move back home or that she would be a single mom. I felt sad for her when I attended the last two birthing sessions with her a few weeks ago. I saw couples who appeared to be supporting each other in this life change but My Lovey Bird had to shuffle around various birthing partners - each dropping out in turn - until I realized she had no stable birthing coach and I stepped in. I had always envisioned her in a nurturing, stable, and contented relationship but she has made some unfortunate choices in the past couple of years and now we are here.
At least she can depend on me. I can’t really say “us” as My Hairy Beloved has been beating his chest and marking his territory since she moved in last October. He has made it abundantly clear that he is not going to be available or willing to babysit. Gee, thanks for your love and support. No matter. I know he will become putty once the baby arrives. He behaved the same way when I asked to keep the foundling kitten he is now so very gaga about. It is fully “his” cat in all sense of the word and I’d feel slighted if I weren’t so smug.
But the Nana thing is very foreign to me still. It is a new reminder that time marches on even though my head still thinks I’m only about thirty. I already made it clear that I will not be called “grandma” but I will allow “nana” or whatever name the baby utters when referring to me. My daughter’s name for both her grandparents was “bakkah”. How that came about, I don’t have a clue but that’s the word she used to identify them for a while. I know that when my sibs and I were small, we called our great-grandma “mema”. So, I have no doubt there will be a specific name the child will utter when the time is right. I just hope it isn’t something weird like “pohpee” or some such undignified noise.
Oh, and as my first duty as Nana, I have already given the child his own pet name: “Teddy”. My daughter’s is “Chicken” and everyone in the SCA knows her by that. Teddy’s name came about because I was trying to convince My Lovey Bird that Theodore was a great name and gave her the example of Teddy Roosevelt, one of my favorite Presidents. She didn’t go for it but too late, I nabbed the name. The first thing I will say to him when I first hold him will be, “Well hello there, my Teddy Bear!” Maybe this Nana thing won't be so bad after all.