It seems like just yesterday I was receiving the early morning phone call from my sister and brother-in-law to tell me the great news about the soon-to-be new addition to our crazy family, and my future status as 'big gay uncle Josh.' Since the initial revelation, my sister and I have chatted about everything from conception, potential first names, middle names, nicknames, pregnancy cravings, bodily functions, and swollen appendages. It wasn't until we started to discuss vaginal dilation and placenta preparation (they eat the placenta in certain cultures -- it's fortified with nutrients), that it finally sunk in that I was going to be an uncle. Well, that and just how weird a relationship I truly have with my older sister. 
On Wednesday, February 4, (Thailand time), I received a text from my brother (Los Angeles time) that my sister went into labor on February 3, around 6:00pm (Chicago time). Given the number of different time zones I heard from over the course of 3 hours, I'm lucky I know that she was born on February 4th, at 6:19AM. Emma (no middle name as of yet), came bouncing in at 7lbs, 9 oz. and a whopping 22 inches long. And while I don't have a vagina, I have to imagine that was an uncomfortable 12 hours for my sister, and pain I can't even comprehend during the 5:30--6:30AM mark. 
I knew this day was coming, and even now that it's arrived, it still doesn't feel real. I see the pictures of my new niece, but it still hasn't set in. I don't feel like an uncle, and maybe that's because I haven't held little baby boo in my arms, or heard the weird funny noises, or changed her dirty diaper, or had her spit up on my Prada loafers. At any rate, I know that once all these things happen, I'm going to be instantly in love with her. Until then, I look forward to hearing all about the new-parent blues that will inevitably hit my sister and brother-in-law. But what I'm really waiting for -- the recap from my sister, as she recounts all the insanity that ensued before, during, and after the start of contractions.
