Friday, April 21, 2006
Belly Gazing
It's my new favorite pass time and it has become quite time consuming. I just lay there gazing at my new enlarged tummy. I love watching it jump, ripple, and wriggle. It's hard to function every day with the distraction. At home laying on the couch I can just lift my shirt and watch Oliver exercise and get comfortable. It's getting harder and harder not to do that in public. I want to show everyone my belly. I want them to see my baby moving. I want them to share the same joy Kevin and I feel every time we see it.
Do I have a sign on my forehead that says, "This is my first pregnancy. Ask me about it!"? Strangers in line at the grocery store will ask when my baby is due and that question is almost always followed by, "Is this your first?" How do they know that? Is it the way I answer them placing my hands on my tummy with a huge silly grin saying that my due date is July 3rd and it's a boy and his name is Oliver? What will I do when it is my second pregnancy? Does it lose some of the magic the second time around? Will people be able to tell by my face and actions that this is old hat?
We can hardly wait for Oliver to arrive. But every day of pregnancy seems to bring something new to our lives. I feel so privileged to be able to do this. I almost don't want it to end.
It's my new favorite pass time and it has become quite time consuming. I just lay there gazing at my new enlarged tummy. I love watching it jump, ripple, and wriggle. It's hard to function every day with the distraction. At home laying on the couch I can just lift my shirt and watch Oliver exercise and get comfortable. It's getting harder and harder not to do that in public. I want to show everyone my belly. I want them to see my baby moving. I want them to share the same joy Kevin and I feel every time we see it.
Do I have a sign on my forehead that says, "This is my first pregnancy. Ask me about it!"? Strangers in line at the grocery store will ask when my baby is due and that question is almost always followed by, "Is this your first?" How do they know that? Is it the way I answer them placing my hands on my tummy with a huge silly grin saying that my due date is July 3rd and it's a boy and his name is Oliver? What will I do when it is my second pregnancy? Does it lose some of the magic the second time around? Will people be able to tell by my face and actions that this is old hat?
We can hardly wait for Oliver to arrive. But every day of pregnancy seems to bring something new to our lives. I feel so privileged to be able to do this. I almost don't want it to end.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Fair
When my brother and I were in high school we shared a car. When our cousin, Bing, was a freshman, we took him home from school. (I don't remember how he got to school, but I don't remember picking him up!) Bing has muscular dystrophy and we were given a handi-cap tag so that we could park right by the door for him. While it was nice for us to show up any ol' time in the morning and get the best spot in the lot, we didn't think much of it. And we never, ever used that handi-cap tag when we didn't have Bing. Not at the grocery store, not at Walmart, not even at the mall. Why? Because that's wrong. We were snotty teenagers and still we knew better.
I don't shop at Walmart anymore because it is destroying America. Whatever. But when I was in college, it was pretty much the only place in town. I remember one specific occasion when my roommate, D, and I were walking from our parking spot way out in the back and we saw a big, huge, black SUV swing into the parking space reserved for pregnant women. Yeah right, we said. I bet that person is sooo not pregnant. We were wrong. Not only was the woman very pregnant, but she had two toddlers. She deserves that spot close to the door, we said. That is the first time I ever noticed a spot reserved for pregnant women...and I never parked there...because that would be wrong.
Ok, about six months ago I parked in a space reserved for pregnant women. In my defense, I was the the Sprint campus (Sprint's world headquarters), I was running late, there were like 50 spots reserved for pregnant women, and I highly suspected that I was actually pregnant (which I was!). Even when I found out I was pregnant, I didn't park in these special spots for a long, long time even if they were free, which they usually are not. I wasn't all that pregnant and I figured someone more pregnant would better benefit from that coveted parking place.
Now, finally, things are starting to get a little uncomfortable for me. I know all you pregnancy veterans are saying, "You think this is bad? This is nothing! You still have 13 weeks to go!" Hush, I say. I'm uncomfortable and if that special parking place at Price Chopper is free with it's cute little white sign with a red stork, I'm damn well parking there. It's only fair. It's usually taken, though. I can't help but wonder if the person parked there is actually an expectant mother. But today it was free! Oh, happy day. As I was backing out of my super-close-to-the-door parking space, I noticed a car waiting. This car must have been waiting for a while because there were quite a few cars piled up behind it. Again I wondered if that person was actually pregnant. I cruised slowly down the next isle waiting to get a look at the driver. And you know what? It was a MAN!!
I'm telling you, I was MAD. If I hadn't had two boxes of ice cream bars I would have gone right after him and given him a piece of my mind. But alas. There's really no reason to ruin the ice cream. I paid good money for that ice cream. But the nerve! That pig! That absolute PIG!!
When my brother and I were in high school we shared a car. When our cousin, Bing, was a freshman, we took him home from school. (I don't remember how he got to school, but I don't remember picking him up!) Bing has muscular dystrophy and we were given a handi-cap tag so that we could park right by the door for him. While it was nice for us to show up any ol' time in the morning and get the best spot in the lot, we didn't think much of it. And we never, ever used that handi-cap tag when we didn't have Bing. Not at the grocery store, not at Walmart, not even at the mall. Why? Because that's wrong. We were snotty teenagers and still we knew better.
I don't shop at Walmart anymore because it is destroying America. Whatever. But when I was in college, it was pretty much the only place in town. I remember one specific occasion when my roommate, D, and I were walking from our parking spot way out in the back and we saw a big, huge, black SUV swing into the parking space reserved for pregnant women. Yeah right, we said. I bet that person is sooo not pregnant. We were wrong. Not only was the woman very pregnant, but she had two toddlers. She deserves that spot close to the door, we said. That is the first time I ever noticed a spot reserved for pregnant women...and I never parked there...because that would be wrong.
Ok, about six months ago I parked in a space reserved for pregnant women. In my defense, I was the the Sprint campus (Sprint's world headquarters), I was running late, there were like 50 spots reserved for pregnant women, and I highly suspected that I was actually pregnant (which I was!). Even when I found out I was pregnant, I didn't park in these special spots for a long, long time even if they were free, which they usually are not. I wasn't all that pregnant and I figured someone more pregnant would better benefit from that coveted parking place.
Now, finally, things are starting to get a little uncomfortable for me. I know all you pregnancy veterans are saying, "You think this is bad? This is nothing! You still have 13 weeks to go!" Hush, I say. I'm uncomfortable and if that special parking place at Price Chopper is free with it's cute little white sign with a red stork, I'm damn well parking there. It's only fair. It's usually taken, though. I can't help but wonder if the person parked there is actually an expectant mother. But today it was free! Oh, happy day. As I was backing out of my super-close-to-the-door parking space, I noticed a car waiting. This car must have been waiting for a while because there were quite a few cars piled up behind it. Again I wondered if that person was actually pregnant. I cruised slowly down the next isle waiting to get a look at the driver. And you know what? It was a MAN!!
I'm telling you, I was MAD. If I hadn't had two boxes of ice cream bars I would have gone right after him and given him a piece of my mind. But alas. There's really no reason to ruin the ice cream. I paid good money for that ice cream. But the nerve! That pig! That absolute PIG!!
