Seldom does a grandfather-to-be has the mindset or energy to sit down and write to the grandchild to-be-born a series of letters telling him/her what impressions he was having while the pregnancy was evolving. Many feel that this is more the area of experience of the father-to-be when he is waiting for the arrival of his first son. Yet, the experience of becoming a grandfather is sufficiently different that it merits to capture the feelings and emotions that
I would experience before my grandchild was to arrive. The writing exercise revived some of the feelings and emotions that I experienced when my first-born child was in my wife’s womb. Yet, there was a difference. The life experience acquired from more than thirty years since my first son was born has given me a more mature perspective on life that I thought it would be appropriate to share it with my grandchild to be born. That life experience has impregnated my vision with a richer frame of reference because there are many lessons learned that I judged I should include in this reflection of becoming a grandfather. Since I was living outside the US, I was forced to follow the pregnancy from a distance, thus limiting the time I could dedicate to writing a diary of the impressions I experienced of those pregnancy months. Because of this, my impressions and number of letters were reduced, so I judged to be befitting that I prolonged the dairy to cover the first two years of development of the grandchild. This would give me a longer period of follow-up time as well as giving my wife and I several opportunities to be with the grandchild and experience firsthand the impressions of his/her growth process. This growth phase is marvelous in every child as he/she begins to develop the basic abilities of survival. It is a wonderful process of learning that never ceases to be a magical moment of their existence. Capturing it will be my testament that I can give my grandchild as an anticipation of what to expect when he/she becomes a grandparent. May this diary contribute to enhance, enrich, and support the
experience of all those that might have the golden opportunity of becoming grandparents.
Dear grandson or granddaughter, Today, Leo, your Dad gave us the most wonderful surprise. Your grandmother just received the most beautiful birthday present: the announcement that your Mother was pregnant with you! What great news for us, your grandparents! Your Dad married your Mom five years ago, but both had decided they would wait until they felt they were both ready to become parents. This year Leo mentioned to us that he felt he was ready to become a daddy. Your Mom was also ready because she had frequent thoughts as to how that moment would be.
But now, it is a fact.! Your Mom is expecting you. She showed us the eco-sonogram of your 7 weeks of existence inside her womb, the most perfect and wonderful home that you will ever have. Everything you need to grow and mature to become a full-term baby is inside of her and you are the king (queen) of that home. There, you will
receive the nourishment you require to grow day by day, week by week until you finally are ready to step out into this huge world of ours and become another member of this incredible human race.
Your Grandmother is ecstatic with the news. She was so pleased to hear the announcement made by your Mom to us in Spanish (our mother tongue) precisely as a birthday present for your Grandma. It is the best birthday present she has received in a long time, thanks to your now undeniable presence. I was speechless with emotion; could barely talk to your Dad to congratulate him on their new and most exciting moment of his life. He had been preparing for this moment with so much diligence and dedication that I know the next seven months of your development
are going to be for him some of the most memorable months of his life. He is going to keep track of every moment of the pregnancy as I did with his birth. He might do it through this same medium of letter writing to you as he experiences all these magnificent emotions and feelings in becoming a Dad. If he does not decide to write you any letters, I will take advantage of this opportunity because it is my first time in becoming a Grandfather. My emotions and feelings run high and intensive. If I do not capture them as I live the moment, I will probably lose track of how happy the news made me. On the one hand, the pride and happiness your Dad is experiencing at this moment is similar to the happiness experienced when I heard that your Grandmother was expecting Leo, your Dad. On the other hand, becoming a Grandad is another extraordinary moment in our lives. It is remembering and
reliving the exceptional emotion of becoming conscious that in a very close, intimate manner that we, as grandparents, are contributing to the possibility of another life appearing on Earth as the promise of a
great person you will become one day. It is not a small contribution to our evolution to have facilitated
your appearance into Existence. We are so proud, excited, and happy that we have contributed to this possibility by having your father born, thirty-two years ago. Feel, beautiful granddaughter or grandson, that you are most
welcome to our mist; to be part of our family. We shall contribute all that is in our power that the best we have to offer will one day make you into a giant of the Spirit as your Dad is. Welcome to our arms, grandson-granddaughter; welcome because you have been awaited silently for many years and now you are slowly, but surely, becoming that beautiful reality of being our granddaughter-grandson and making us one of the proudest and happiest Grandparents in the world. Your Grandad who loves you already.
Dear grandson (granddaughter), It is now eight weeks of growth since we heard the incredible news that your Mom was pregnant with you. What a delightful surprise! We have had to adjust to this unexpected news because your
parents had decided they were going to wait at least two more years before deciding whether they wanted to bring a baby into their world. Because of this prolonged delay, our friends made fun calling us “infertile grandparents”. Although the term had its comical side, it reminded us that we were not grandparents yet, and that we probably
had to wait a while before it would happen. Confirmation of your existence is beyond doubt. You have started
the amazing process of becoming a new human being with the potentiality of one day developing into the person that will leave a deep footprint in history, much the same way your Dad is already doing. Yet, the price of becoming such a new being is high. Your Mom is the one enduring the impact you are having on her. She is now in the morning sickness phase which has not been easy. Your growth produces in her such an upheaval of internal changes that are strongly felt in her morning discomforts. Hopefully the phase will not last too long until her organism finally accepts your presence and allows her to resume some of her regular activities, but surely at a slower pace. Her last medical checkup showed that everything was just fine. Your development is steady, strong, and on time. It won’t be long
before your Mom and Dad will be able to hear your heartbeat. They are going to be thrilled when it happens. It is a one-time experience that is sublime. Keep growing strong, dear grandson-granddaughter, so that one day we can do many things together. Your granddad that loves you.
Dear granddaughter-grandson, It has been a few days since I last wrote you a letter. It happened because I went through a recuperation phase from my open-heart surgery, especially the adjustment to the pills I was given. One or
two of them kept me from having a restful night because they were diuretics, which obliged me to get up as much as eight times during the night to pee. It is almost impossible to rest at night when you only have one to two sleeping hours. Finally, last night one of the pills was stopped and I could have a five-hour stretch of sleep, which did wonders for my overall status. I got up today feeling finally rested and with a high energy level that stimulated my desire to talk to you. I just spoke to your Mom, and she gave me a full up-date on your status. Her worst morning sickness seems to have diminished. You have grown to that of a good size avocado (a bit gross as a comparison, but effective enough to get an image of how big you are). Your Mom’s last check-up showed progress and an overall strong
and healthy development. So, these are good, comforting news. You are healthy and strong; that is what counts in your growth process. As long as you are developing well and healthy, all else is less important. Your Mom has begun to notice that when she has eaten something you dislike; you express a reaction that she feels as a tug of the
umbilical cord. The sensation she gets is that of butterflies in her womb. A clear sign for her that you are real, that you are alive inside of her, that you are now an inseparable part of her being. She has been busy investigating where to have the delivery. She would like it to be as natural as possible. She would prefer the bathtub option with the presence of a midwife and has found two places. One is not near a hospital, a disadvantage in case something goes wrong. The other is inside a hospital but it loses the intimacy of the first option. She will have to weigh the advantages of each and decide. I know it will be a wise one, because she has taken it very seriously to
choose what will be the best option for your optimal arrival. Guess these is the news on your progress. Keep growing healthy my grandchild. We are as excited as your Mom and Dad are about your coming. May we get to hold you in December when you are supposed to be born. We will be there to give you a full welcome as you deserve.
Lovingly, Your Grandfather.