on tenterhooks
In a state of painful suspense, as in “We were on tenterhooks all through the game, hoping against hope that our team would win.” This expression alludes to hooks that formerly were used to hold newly woven cloth that was being stretched on a frame. Their name has long survived this method of manufacture. [Mid-1700s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

So I’m having a kid.

Technically, I already have one, but 1) she’s not my own flesh & blood, and 2) I came in late on the rearing process. When I married my lovely wife Tanya, Chloe (or “The Chloe”, as she liked to be called then) was 12. Now she’s 15 and a social force to be reckoned with. She manages to straddle the line between interesting and popular in a way I never dreamed was possible in a public High School.

But I get to be in on this new story from day one. Excellent.

We do know with a high degree of certainty that the unborn baby currently occupying Tanya’s womb is a girl, thanks to ultrasound. That information was hard-won because she really, really doesn’t seem to like the kinds of noises or feelings that the ultrasound process makes! She’s been very shy, enough so that even though we had half a room full of lovely pinkish clothes from loving family and friends, we also had a backup plan a month ago involving copious hours on eBay.

But a few weeks ago (Dec. 14, to be exact) we got a good, solid view at girl-dom. So we are almost certainly about to be the parents of Phoebe Jeanne Voorhees.

Phoebe’s official due date is January 21, but we are not going to last that long. She has maneuvered herself into a good position, and Tan’s mucus plug has fallen out. What’s more, we’ve scheduled labor to be induced tomorrow, Friday, January 12. So her birthday is either going to be 1/11 or 1/12, and either one will be easy to remember.