Waiting for a baby to come...

when i moved to portland, i got lucky.
i found a house with amazing people living in it. i didn't know them before i came here. i didn't know anyone who knew them. but they welcomed me with pancakes and maple syrup.
I don't think i realized that Marissa was 5 months pregnant until she told me a few days after i arrived. Since then, her belly's gotten bigger and bigger, and riding a bike around town, with her 4 1/2 year old daughter, Innana, hasn't been an option for a couple months.
3 days ago, I went to my friends' house to spend the night...she could feel the baby was on its way. She is having a home birth, so she wanted some privacy, just Ian (the papa), the midwives, and one or two other close friends. The next morning, I got a call from Ian: "no baby yet, you can come home if you want". So i came home to delicious breakfast tacos. After I devoured those tacos, Marissa said her water broke. Okay, now the baby's really coming. So I went back to my friends' house to spend the night, knowing tonight was the night. I went to work the next day, anticipating a call any minute saying the baby had arrived. After work, I rode by the house, just to see if anyone was outside. Ian was on the roof, sitting in the sun. "Ian?" I asked, expectantly. "Still no baby yet".
But Marissa went to get acupuncture that morning, which is a known effective method of inducing labor. So a few hours later, the contractions were getting closer together, so I got out of the house, to spend the night at a different friend's house. Again, I knew, this would be the night. She had a dream about a month ago that the baby was going to come on the 24th in the nighttime, and it was going to be a boy. So last night was the 24th. And I'm still waiting for a phone call, wondering,
did the baby come?
is it a boy?
how tiny is he really?
what is his name?
what does his voice sound like?

and for the first time, really understanding what a blessing it is going to be to be so close to one so new, and watch him grow.

so i wait and wait and wait for a phone call.
so i can go meet my new roommate.