I Have a Birth Plan, Does She have an Exit Strategy?

Every pregnancy, I've known if it was a boy or a girl intuitively.  Sometimes I've had dreams which revealed the gender, but the most obvious indicator has been the behavioral changes in my attitude/energy level or capacity to handle things has indicated the persona within that is asserting his or herself.  In this respect, my body has become attuned to the child before they are born, illustrating a sneak preview of the coming attraction, a teaser if you will.

For example, with one pregnancy which resulted in an extremely artistic and sensitive girl, I found I would be moved to tears by commercials like that Maxwell coffee one with the kid returning home or the McDonald's one about a daughter and her mom.  I also wore pink (I hate pink) and found myself buying flowers just for the heck of it. Some of it I liked, but being easily moved to tears by schmaltz, ugh.  It got so bad I had to swear off visual media for the remainder of the nine months to avoid being in a permanent emotive state.  The proof of my theory is my daughter, a permanent romantic in temperament and interests.  (She wants a rainbow room with animals, sort of a snow white motif but with the more stylized illustrations found in Sleeping beauty).  We're going to the Renaissance festival this weekend, she may never recover from the realization that people actually dress this way in real life.

My high energy son was better than three red bulls and a chocolate bar.  While he gestated, I could organize anything and never got tired ever.   Regrettably for me, he remains in this permanent wired state that also desires order.   But he took that capacity to act and the conceptual skill of eliminating chaos from the environment with him when he left the womb.   

Lest you think that only two examples does not a maxim make, I know I was more mellow with my third, ate almost exclusively cheeseburgers with my first (his favorite meal of all times),  and followed baseball with an untold of before or since interest when my sixth was in utero.  I've been a jock who hit the gym religiously five days a week and once (with my second) a disciplined reader, and a laid back nothing gets to me persona over the years.  People watching me closely would ascribe multiple personality disorder to my behaviors if there hadn't been a pregnancy to explain things.

This latest one I think however, is a planner. 

Just this week, the upstairs got cleaned out of things that don't fit. I mailed three thank yous and two birthday cards ahead of time and I've been proactively taking on the schedule before we get to it so things don't become overwhelming.   The kids are thriving with her subtle takeover of her mother. They get planned meals with real vegetables and decent sides, they get to school on time and other activities as well.  At this point, I'm thinking Thanksgiving and Christmas should be a breeze but come January, when the child shows up....well, I hope she plans for that contingency when all this capacity to anticipate leaves me and everyone is left with just me.