pregnancy

Sunday, October 9, 2011

"When the Switch Goes On"

Dear Soybean,

Tomorrow is your due date!  :-)  I thought labor might have been starting last night.  Since I had a $3 for $25 Restaurant.com coupon for Crush Wine Lounge at The Woodlands Waterway, we decided to give it a try.  The coupon excludes alcohol and since I'm obviously not drinking anyway, it was perfect.  The walking there to the restaurant from where we had to park was probably the longest I've walked at any one single time in a good while so when we got there, I had some lower back ache and some tummy tightness.  But it went away.  The food was horrible (gag!) and way over-priced for the quality and quantity; however, the view from our table on the terrace of The Waterway was its redeeming feature.  We could see families milling about, the lights in the fountains changed colors, the moon was shining, and the weather was absolutely perfect temperature.  We then went and saw the movie Real Steel, which your father loved and I tolerated as half-way decent.  Your dad treated me to some ice cream at the theater as we waited for our movie to start (since Crush didn't offer any tantalizing desserts); I was a bit perturbed that the vendor charged 50 cents for each condiment.  So 50 cents for the sprinkles, 50 cents for the chocolate syrup, and 50 cents for the whipped cream.  I would have told your father not to worry about it at those prices but I didn't know until it was too late.  The walk back to the truck produced some more of the same interesting effects as before, but again they slowly subsided.  We were peckish by the time we got close to home so we stopped by Whataburger for a midnight snack.  Your daddy and I both talked about how this was probably our last outing for awhile with our focus being all on you and pinching pennies pretty soon.  It had been awhile since we'd gone to dinner and a movie though--it used to be all we did. 

With your delivery story yet to be written, I thought you might be interested in finding out the story of how I was born so I asked your Grandma Joy to write it down.  She did and this is what she wrote:

     "Your dad and I went to the theater to watch a Rocky movie, maybe Rocky 2.  While we were standing in the long line outside waiting to get our tickets, it seemed that something heavy was weighing down on my pelvic floor.
     I ate a lot while watching the movie.  I had a soda, something chocolate like Milk Duds, some hot candy like Hot Tamales or Red Hots, and some nachos with cheese and jalapenos. 
     After we got home and went to bed, I was unable to fall asleep because of constant pain in my lower back.  I had had back pain before during my pregnancy but it had never kept me from sleeping. 
     By daylight the following morning the pain had shifted from my back to my abdomen, and the pain was no longer constant but intermittent and was occurring at somewhat regular intervals.  "
She told me that she had never indulged with junk that much before during the pregnancy.  As far as the movie being a Rocky movie, it doesn't really check out date-wise, but I had hoped it did.  I am such a Sylvester Stallone fan.  I joked with your daddy today that he would know when I was in labor.  He asked, "How?"  In reply, I took off my ballcap and put in backwards. Your dad got the reference to "the switch" in the Stallone movie Over the Top right away and chuckled.

Today started out to be a great day.  The rain which we badly needed came down steady.  We grabbed a bite from Sonic and made it home in time for the Texans game and they had a good start.  During halftime your daddy and I made some no-bake cookies.  Ahh, but then, situations always change, don't they, baby girl?  The Texans lost momentum in the second half (it's getting to be a pretty ingrained pattern for them by now) and gave up the game in dramatic fashion at the last moment.  Your dad lost it (he apologized later).  And the cookies absolutely refused to firm up (your daddy is trashing them as I type).  Your Grandpa Nall was harassing your dad on the phone looking for Mike. Your Grandpa had already called your dad earlier today wanting him to do some errands for him when it's not even your dad's week to help (it's your Uncle Bobby's week to help but your Grandpa would rather just inconvenience your dad instead since Bobby was just there a day or two ago).  And we find out that your 15-year old cousin is home alone with his 16-yr old girlfriend.  I was thinking wryly to myself that my teenage nephew and I could both be having kids pretty close in age here pretty soon.  Breaks my heart.  But what can one say without coming off as appearing judgmental and interfering when the parent is okay with it and everyone knows that you yourself are far from perfect?  Family.  You gotta love them, and I do with all my heart.  I wouldn't care nearly so much if I didn't.  So, a little of bit of everything started weighing my heart down when I thought to myself, "At least the weather's still nice--still raining."  I caught myself.  I should have said, "At least God is still in charge."  I know my attitude should never depend on circumstances, much less the ever-changing weather.  I'm still trying to learn, pumpkin. 

Friday was my last day of work.  It was a powering feeling knowing as I left work that evening that the next time I returned, my world will have been changed forever--for the better.  I will be different.  I will be a mama.  A new person will have made her appearance in the world.  It was a little emotional so I made my good-byes to everyone really quick.  I met up with your "Aunt" Kristi at Starbucks for my favorite white mocha cappuccino (decaf of course).  I got teary-eyed a little telling her about the baby bundle (which I have yet to do here) and telling her I will miss her a lot.  She may be moving to Seattle since her hubby has a job opportunity there.  When I had told Chris about the possibility of her moving away, he smiled compassionately and gave me a big hug as he exclaimed, "Our baby won't have her Aunt Kristi; what are you going to do?"  I'm happy for her if it works out though, and I've always wanted to visit Seattle, so seeing her would be my perfect reason to go.

The rain has slacked off and your dad's NASCAR race is over, so we're going to go to the college grounds and do some walking to see if we can't jump start this labor thing  :-) 

1 comment:

  1. Hope all goes well April. I will keep you in my prayers. It's really true that you forget all about the pain when you see that precious baby. Treasure every minute because they grow WAY TOO FAST!! Ashlynn will be 2 in January. Time has gone by so quickly. Take lots of pics. They will be a treasure for a lifetime. Oh and I know of a place that can make a book of them real cheap. We had one made and ended up having the grandmoms one made. Just email me. Post some of those pics!!

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