So the girlfriend has officially decided to evict Ellie from her womb, and the end of the pregnancy is nigh. The era of hyper-ventilation, mapping of hospital routes, and other logistical emergencies has begun.

The small matter of JP has also to be considered. Always a ticklish subject, this older child with new sibling thing, but in a shared custody family such as mine, it’s rather more complex, I think.

Let’s say JP is with me and my girlfriend goes into labor in the middle of the night. I’ve arranged to bring him to his mother, at whatever point, and she will watch him while I’m at the hospital. Her actions in this regard might reasonably be considered a favor.

Do I need to sketch out how I feel about accepting favors from my ex-wife? For those of you who follow this blog on a regular basis, I do not. For the rest: I DO NOT LIKE ACCEPTING FAVORS FROM MY EX-WIFE.

As to those of you who say I should be putting the interests of my soon-to-be and my first son, well, first, I say–no shit. Which is why I will accept said favor, gratefully–and I mean that–with a smile, a sigh of relief, perhaps even a mass market thank you card with a pithy, jokey slogan printed on it, and a minimal amount of handwritten remarks provided by me.

This I will do. But I won’t enjoy it.