The Anticipation of a Little Stranger

In every classic novel that features the addition of a baby, it seems there is a different type of euphemism regarding the impending arrival. Anne Shirley Blythe, for example, is always "a dreamer of dreams," every mother-to-be in Jane Austen's novels is "expecting to be confined," and Meg March Brooke suddenly just has twins one day out of the blue without any indecent reference to the preparation thereof beforehand. (It took me until I was in my early teens to figure out that "an interesting condition" was pretty much a universal substitute for being pregnant, and did not refer to any and every random physical malaise.) The Toast summed it all up quite humorously.

There is a variety of reasons for this, of course - Victorian sensibilities in general prevented any kind of unmannerly reference to where babies come from, and though Emily Starr eventually figures out (....by the time she is 24...) that babies do not arrive in Dr. Burnley's black bag, the assumption in many books written for girls is that the author must draw a veil over any mysterious addition to the family.

But since this is 2020, and though I may enjoy writing in the long-winded style of the Victorians, I'm not really intending to puzzle you by vague and nebulous references to knitting wee bootees over the next six months. In short, Mr. Ferrars (ha) and I are expecting our first little stranger in the autumn of this year, and the Baby Sewing has already begun.

Yes, we are very excited. Yes, I made the tiny dress in the photo. Yes, if all goes well and the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we intend to bring Baby along to reenacting events, continuing the family tradition. No, we do not know the gender yet. Yes, Baby will be clothed in long dresses at living history events as per the customs of the 1860s (little boys did not change to trousers until full potty training had taken effect, often not until age 4 or thereabouts). No, we are not taking name suggestions or unsolicited pregnancy/parenting advice, but thank you very much just the same.

And yes, of course, Baby will be brought up to be a voracious reader with an appreciation of the past, and (let's be real) will probably enjoy a first exposure to Sense and Sensibility and the like while in utero. ;)

Did you really expect anything else?