Okay, I'm quick on the draft. Just got an urgency to send it at the beginning of next week.
It's pretty different from the first draft I had. I kept one of NM's revisions, but mostly I recreated the whole thing from scratch. Here it is:
Hi WH,
Our baby is going to arrive anytime in the next few weeks. I didn’t think I would be, but I actually am very excited for her to be out and about! I know that she’s going to be a happy, playful baby.
I wanted to talk with you directly about things and not go through your family anymore. Messages sometimes get distorted; nobody’s fault, just the nature of talking through people. What’s your opinion on talking to each other directly about the baby?
Assuming that’s okay with you, I’m going to ask more questions. Did you want me to call you when I’m in labor? Or call you after the baby’s born? When would you like to see her after the birth? If you’d like to come to the hospital or my apartment to see her, that’s fine. The baby needs to be with me every two hours, but I will probably leave the apartment when/if you come over because your family will be here. You can contact me by phone to set up a time because I probably won’t have much email access for the first week or so.
The last thing I wanted to talk about was her name. I know we had discussed X back in January, and I do really like that name. But I just don’t know how appropriate it is anymore. Instead, I decided to combine the “X” sound with my grandma's name to create Girl. (Gurl? Gerl?) (And I figured I could tell my mom that the “rl” part comes from her name, ha ha, even though I just thought of that today.) Her full name would be Girl X Maidenname. I’m not 100% sure on the name, but I am practicing calling her by her nickname- Gur.
I am not sure about how I want to spell the name. I just want the spelling to help people pronounce it right, since they’ll no doubt butcher her last name. If you have any thoughts about it, I’d appreciate your input.
Hope all is well.
Gatsby
--------------------- Now some explanation-- we both have traditionally been wary of babies and we both were nervous about becoming parents. I decided to include that in the first par (especially about how I am now excited) to help him.
My concern in the 3rd paragraph is that I'm being too accommodating. I could say "Is it all right if I call you after the baby is born?" And just let him tell me if he wants to know during labor.
Ha ha, I'll probably call her Girl here because I don't like D. (Too similar to divorce for my comfort!) But believe me, Girl is NOT the real name.
