A prayer for Vivi

Vivi will be joining us within the week! My doctor scheduled an induction on Wednesday morning, so either she will come on her own before then, or we’ll be meeting her by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. So I realized it was time to write my prayer for Vivi. I did this for Wally Ben before he was born, so I will borrow some from that one (and a snippet from Tina Fey that just can’t be topped and must be included).

Dear Lord,

Thank you for blessing our family with another little one. We love her so much already, and we’re very excited to meet her. I especially love her, since she gave me such an easy pregnancy with no sickness, swelling, or discomfort. And she gave me time to get everything done I needed to get done. I’m so organized right now that I make myself-3-weeks-from-now want to punch myself-now in the throat out of jealousy. Vivi is already so considerate and content—keep her that way!

Speaking of content, Lord, give her the gift of sleep and un-colickyness. Wally IV and I did the colic thing. Give someone else a chance at it this time! Plus, it didn’t seem very fun for WV to cry for 3 months straight. So yes, bless she and I both with sleep, blissful sleep. And if you can’t do that, grant me some delicious strong coffee every morning, and make her personality as spirited, firey, and hilarious as WV’s has become—some of which I attribute to his rough start.

Please make her healthy, beautiful, smart, silly, spunky, strong, brave, and fun. But if you can only make her one of these things, make her healthy, because we will still love her ugly, dim, boring, wimpy little self, and we just want her to be okay, and have a good chance at life.

Grant her an awkward stretch of years in middle school that is both unbearable in the moment and tolerable when given a few years of perspective. Let her be awkward, gangly, and give her an embarrassing pimple or two. Because those one or two girls who are adorable and gorgeous in middle school end up mean or pregnant or worse—uninteresting for the rest of their lives and I want her to have some grit and character.

Lord, I didn’t want a girl at first, because I didn’t want a teenage girl. (Cute crocheted hats with flowers and summer rompers have since helped me to come around.) So from Tina Fey, “When she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into the car in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.”

Help her to find her best partner in crime in her brother. He will be a great big brother—help her to lean on him her whole life for protection and friendship. And help her to be a daddy’s girl, since we already have a mama’s boy and her dad will be not only the best dad, but her go-to resource in the house if she wants any chance at being stylish.

Thank you again, Lord, for the little miracle that is Vivi. Help her entry into the world to be easy and stress-free and epidurally beautiful. We can’t wait for the moment her floppy little wailing body takes its first breath and for a moment is the newest life in this world!

Amen