Boy or girl?

I went to my friend M.'s birthday lunch last Saturday. It was meant to be a 'surprise' lunch - which of course meant that R., M.'s husband, had more or less told her who was going to be there and where it was going to be well in advance of the day. M. arrived in a radiant tangerine sari (I think it was, I always get this confused) and looked very cheerful to see all of us.

We gave her a gazillion presents and sat down to eat at the very long table (made up of lots of small tables). I overheard R. saying something about moving in August.
"What's happening in August?" I asked, referring to the 'move' that I had just overheard. R. looked at me, grinned, then did an impression of a baby crying. I think I could have dislocated my jaw, I was so shocked.
"Are you serious? Omigod!" I screamed and grabbed M. who had just come over to our side. M. smiled.
"Oh wow. Oh wow. Congratulations!" I hugged M. as hard as I could.

OK, I know that most of the time married couples have this tendency to have children. But this is M.! My friend! She is going to be a first time mother. It's the sheer novelty of having a pregnant friend, I think, that is making me so hyper about it. T. already has her little girl (and she is already 22 months old) I know, but this is something different. M. is going to be such a great mother. Apparently M. and R. have already seen their future kid - and it's 1 cm long with a heartbeat.

M. spent the next couple of hours (or so it seemed) talking with another pregnant friend of hers and a mother of a three month old baby. The mother was breastfeeding the baby in the ladies' loo when I found her and M.
"Once you have the baby's head out, you know, the stitching doesn't really hurt," the mother was saying. Ouch!
"OK. Too much information for someone who's not preggers," I said, but I sat down anyway.
"I was so happy to have A. that I told the nurse that I wanted to have another one all over again, as soon as possible," the mother said. "The nurse looked at me as if I was crazy!"
Is it possible to feel that level of dopey happiness after so much pain?

I got to hold the baby for a while. The kiddo and I had a huge rapport - you could tell because she happily drooled all over my right shoulder and sucked my hair (no one told me about the hair until it was too late). As usual (yes, this is a brag) the mother asked me if I was available for babysitting.

I love young children because usually they have the same level of concentration (6 seconds) and (retarded) intelligence as I do. But the reminder of the post-birth stitching definitely jerks me back to reality.....Hmm. I'm going to give it quite a while before I try out that one....