Birth Story: Part 1

It started Wednesday morning. I called my friend "J" who was due the day before to see how things were progressing for her. She said after the doctor had stripped her membranes, she'd started having some mild, irregular contractions that had continued until that morning. We planned to meet up at the mall that afternoon to walk, hoping to get her contractions regular and send her into labor. We met and walked for close to 2 hours, stopping from time to time to look around a store or two. We waddled from Sears to Macy's and back again, trying to figure out if she was having contractions (this was her first pregnancy). Finally, Shepherd had enough of the walking while being confined to a stroller, so we wrapped up our walking, and said our goodbyes. As my friend walked away, I joked, "See you at the hospital tonight!!" (Really meaning that I hoped she'd go into labor... I had no intentions of going into labor that night).

On the drive home (around 4), I noticed some contractions, irregular, and strong. I sighed and chalked it up to false labor again. I'd already had several nights with episodes of regular strong contractions lasting several hours only to fizzle out, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. Shepherd and I got home, and started piddling around the house, playing with his toys, and getting supper ready. Around 5, I noticed that my contractions were pretty regular now, and if I guessed, I'd have to say they were about 5 minutes apart, not that I started timing them, because this? This was false labor, my friends. Forrest got home, and insisted we start timing the contractions. They were lasting a minute long, coming 3 1/2 to 4 minutes apart. Again, unconvinced that this was true labor, I waited for another hour. I checked again around 7, and they were still the same interval and length. I'd been timing the contractions for 2 hours, and with them not letting up, decided to call my friend "S" who has 4 children (all under the age of 6), and who also happens to be a nurse. She said for me to drink a ton of water, walk around the block for an hour, and then see if the contractions were still regular. My mom came over, and we walked. The walking only made the contractions come harder and last longer, so after 30 minutes, I was ready for a break. We sat in the living room, and timed them again, with them coming every 3 minutes and lasting a full minute. We timed them for 30 minutes, and then I realized I'd had regular contractions that I'd been timing for 3 hours now (non-timed, 4 hours). I called another friend who is a nurse at my OB, and told her what was happening. She suggested I go on in, as she knew that the Labor and Delivery at the hospital had been packed out lately, and beds were short in number. She said if I wanted an epidural (and boy, oh boy, was I going to want one), I needed to go on in. I hesitated. I still wasn't completely convinced that this was true labor, and even if it was, I probably would be more comfortable at home. But something in the back of my mind reminded me that I would most definitely want that epidural. I showered, packed my things, straightened up. Forrest packed the car, got ready, and we called my parents to comeback over to watch Shepherd.

Once we got in the car, I decided to call my friend "J" to let her know that I was on my way to the hospital, and to see how she was doing. Her husband answered the phone, and let me know that they had been at the hospital since 10 (it was 10:30) and that they'd see us in a little bit. I laughed, not believing the fact that I'd be laboring with my friend. Maybe, just maybe our children would be born on the same day after all!!

37 weeks

First off, a hearty congrats are in order for Reesh and Devinder (and of course little Lily) over at 2 Pink Lines on the birth of their second daughter, Nadia. I have to say, I'm awfully jealous of the name, since it was my number one pick for a girls name, but didn't sit right with Forrest. :) So congratulations to you all!

Second off, I'm finally full term. Which means my body has kicked into high gear with all sorts of contractions. In fact, yesterday, I had a day full of semi-regular contractions. They tapered off towards the afternoon, only to ramp up again last night. The PA at my doctor's office checked me at my appointment yesterday, and said the baby was low (between -2 and -1 station), my cervix is still thick, and I'm a "fingertip" dilated. So... there's some progress. Today I haven't had many contractions, but the few I've had were intense and put a lot of pressure on my pelvic girdle. So, we'll see when it all happens.

My mother-in-law and father-in-law are placing bets on when the baby will be born (not literally, yo, just for bragging rights) and I thought, why not include you guys in on the game?

Cathy has voted for August 28th.

Jim, for September 1.

Bear in mind, my due date is September 7, that Shepherd was born right on time, and that there's a full moon on the 28th. That is all information they are privy too, so you now have all the information needed to make an educated guess as to the birth date.

Hey, I may even throw in a nice little surprise... a gift card to somewhere or something like that. So, happy guessing!! And here's hoping I don't have to wait 3 more weeks in this heat to see this baby. :)

Hot and Hott

So last week, while hanging out with some friends at Starbucks, I was suddenly struck by the urge to, well... you know, potty. I get up, and there in the seat is the most beautiful ass-print of sweat. I'm totally rocking the ass-sweat look these days, it's HOTT!

I bring this up because it's a relatively new thing to me, this butt sweat thing. I've poured over my archives with my first pregnancy, and nowhere do I mention the massive amounts of sweat that pour out of my body. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that my 9th month being pregnant was in January, and this time around, it's smack dab in the middle of August. Not only so, but it is HOT outside. This week temperatures are supposed to soar into the upper 90's (Wednesday, 98 degrees... heat index 104) (I'm sweating right now just thinking about it).

It's so hot, that I'm only taking cold showers now, and even those I'm dreading because I have to blow dry my hair. Yes, I have to. Otherwise, it'd be days before my hair would dry, and even then, it develops this funky smell and feel to it. So on the days that I do shower (which isn't often enough) (I know, you were just DYING to know that) my internal thermostat gets so out of whack that I can't seem to get cool. Just last week, I almost passed out at church from the heat... even though everyone else said it was rather cold in the building. The doctor checked me out Monday and said he thought it was a combination of heat, the baby not dropping and sitting in my ribcage, and sitting down that did it, so no more Sunday morning showers for me.
In other news, the baby seems to have dropped. We'll find out Friday if any progress is being made, but I've had some pretty rough Braxton Hicks contractions, accompanied by some wonderful pelvic pain from the baby engaging. I keep hoping that I'll be a little early, but then I realize that these last few weeks are the last weeks that Shepherd will have my full attention... so I'm trying to give him 100% attention and do as much as I can with him, which is getting harder and harder to do, being 9 months pregnant and all.

Well, I'm going to go curl up in front of the fan on our bed and take a quick nap while the little man is down for his. I'd better enjoy the rest while I can!!

Expanding

Exhibit A: 22 weeks pregnant



Exhibit B: 27 weeks pregnant



Exhibit C: 35 weeks pregnant

Open Letter to the Psycho in the Pacifica

Dear Crazy Lady,

You do realize that there are such things are rear view mirrors, right? And you realize that if those malfunction, you can glance over your shoulders to check behind you, right? I ask this, because it would seem you have no earthly idea how to drive. I was carrying my 16 month old toddler into Target (and 7 month belly), when you decided to grand prix out of your parking spot while I walked directly behind your car. I don't know how you missed seeing me, as I'm the size of a cow right now, on top of the fact that I was hauling my toddler. But nonetheless, you continued to back out, despite my screaming, "HEY! HEY!" to you. I nearly fell backwards trying to get out of the way. I finally got out of your way, as you continued to back up, unaware that you'd almost killed me, my son, and my unborn child. I looked, and you were busy chatting on your cell phone, completely oblivious to your rearview mirrors and all. Then, you pulled back into your spot.

Crazy lady... you weren't even LEAVING! You were just straightening up your car, which honestly, didn't need to be straightened anyway. I looked around as I clutched my toddler in a death grip, and saw 10 witnesses, with mouths agape, so I know it wasn't my fault. Maybe next time, slow down if you're backing up and for the love of God, please use those rearview mirrors!!!

Sincerely,
The Big, Ol' Pregnant lady you almost hit

Requiem for Sleep

The past several nights have been tough. It seems as though our little girl really likes to boogy at night, and not only so, but prefers to lie sideways. Each night, I've tossed and turned as I tried to get comfortable, switching places with Forrest several times. He's been more than understanding, and has done his best to help. I know I'm entering the third trimester, I just didn't think I'd be this uncomfortable this soon. Now, I know that this is my body's way of getting me ready for midnight and early morning feedings, but honestly, it's not the sleep that I miss so much... it's the comfort of being able to lie down, stretch out, and feel good. Oh well, soon enough, soon enough. Only 12 more weeks left.

Friday I had my Glucose Tolerence Test. I sat next to a woman who was taking the 3 hour test. She was huge... and by huge I mean pregnant huge. (I always hate it when people point this out, so pardon my hypocrisy). I asked her how far along she was, and she said she was 32 weeks. Only 4 weeks ahead of me. And suddenly it struck me. I'm not even at the height of my girth, yet I feel enormous. With the two hottest months of the summer left, I may find myself bathing in tubs of ice and eating gallons of ice cream in single sittings. But somehow, I know I'll manage. If I could just get some goood sleep....

27 weeks

I still can't believe how fast time is flying by. I realized today that I'm in my 27th week of this pregnancy. In just a few short days, I'll be in my 28th week. Crazy. The baby is kicking up a storm. Last night, I watched as she did summersaults in my belly, making everything move. Forrest watched in amazement too, as she shifted from side to side. She's quite an active little booger, very much like her big brother was during my pregnancy with him. And much like her brother, she hates being balled up, and stretches out as much as possible, leaving my ribs already bruised only 27 weeks into this pregnancy. Despite the similarities, there are a few differences. I'm carrying lower this time, and my belly is alot more "pointy". With Shepherd, I had a very round and even belly, but with our little girl, I'm noticing odd angles, and bulges at random areas. Either you truly do carry different with girls than boys, or I weigh less this time, and can see more of the baby than last time. It's hard to believe that I only have a few months left before she's born. It seems like only yesterday I found out I was pregnant, and her I am, starting to waddle and moan about back pain. Before you know it, she'll be here!!

25 weeks

This morning, as I was showering, I realized that I only have 15 weeks left in this pregnancy. Only 15 weeks?! Where has the time gone? I'm definately feeling more and more pregnant, as my belly has popped out. It's harder to bend over and pick up Shepherd, and near impossible to get comfortable sitting or sleeping. The little lady is kicking up a storm, and her patterns are pretty predictable. She almost always gets to going around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, with a flurry of activity right before I go to bed. Earlier this week, I started having some pretty intense Braxton Hicks contractions, enough to where I called the after-hours nurse, who told me to call back if they continued after another hour, or if I experienced more than 4 contractions in one hour. Of course, I'd already had 5 that previous hour, and told her that. We scheduled and appointment the following morning just to double check everything and make sure nothing was progressing. I met another doctor from this new practice and liked him a whole lot. He was so wonderfully nice, and reassuring. Everything checked out, and the baby is doing great. He said since I had early contractions with Shepherd, that I'd probably have even more with this one... especially since everything has already stretched out once before. The babie's heartbeat was super strong, and my weight gain is wonderful (so far only 8 lbs, but I'd lost 6 pounds the first trimester, putting me only 2 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight).

I'm getting more and more excited about this pregnancy. It's not that I haven't been excited, it's just so hard to focus on being pregnant when chasing after a 15 month old. It's much easier now to focus on being pregnant when my belly is in the way of chasing and running after Shepherd, making it a challenge to keep up with him anymore. I'm having to find more creative ways of corraling him so I don't have to run after him. Thankfully, our mall has a wonderful play area for toddlers that's completely closed in. They also have free wireless, allowing me to type this entry while Shepherd runs screaming around the play area climbing everything he can. Another bonus? No one seems to know that the play area opens early in the morning, so no one is here. So here I type, on free internet, and not having to chase my son around, only glance up from time to time to check on where he is. Whoop, gotta go!!! He's on top of the slide!!

As Promised...

Cute little mouth:


Cute little mouth (with notes):


Precious Face:


Precious Face (with notes):


Little Arms:


Little Arms (with notes):

We Decided!

Thanks to all of you who chimmed in with your experiences. It was really fascinating to see how other families have done different things. Last night, Forrest and I talked a long time about it, and we finally came to the conclusion that we'd find out. Mostly, I was having a hard time feeling at "peace" with not knowing (I'm so very impatient) and that Forrest could get excited about finding out. So today we had our ultrasound.

We went in, and as the ultrasound tech started looking, she asked if we wanted to find out. We said yes, and she went on looking. She first checked major organs and such, and in the process kept refering to the baby as "he". I asked her, are you using "he" in the general sense. She said, yes, that she was sorry, but she did that with all babies. Our lil' "bump" refused to open it's legs, and it wasn't until the very end of the session that the bump spread it's legs wide open to reveal that.........


















It's a girl!!! (pictures to come tonight)

To know or not to know...

That is the question. Forrest and are are currently trying to decide whether or not to find out the sex of this baby. We found out with Shepherd, and it made it a lot easier to pick out a name. Not only that, but once we did have a name, I could refer to the "bump" I had by that name. However... there are so few surprises in life, so wanting to experience the joy of knowing when it happens is another consideration. Right now, I'm leaning more towards finding out, since I'm a person who likes to have answers. I couldn't stand for my doctors (or at least the Ultrasound tech) to know the sex, and for me not to know.

What are your experiences with this? Did you find out? Did you not? If you didn't... how did you bear those last 4 months not knowing??? And did you have a "hunch" that was right on?

Inquiring minds want to know

Almost 20 weeks...

Over the weekend, we attended my cousin's wedding, which involved a long drive in the car, and a sleepless baby refusing to sleep a wink that first night we were there. I woke up Saturday morning, the day of the wedding, feeling awful and grumpy. We ate breakfast and as I got ready, I caught a reflection of myself in the mirror. Imagine my surprise as I gawked into the mirror at my belly that had suddenly sprung out of hiding, announcing to the world that I was most definately pregnant.

All day at the wedding, people congratulated me and touched the bump, patting it ever so gently while commenting on how busy I'm going to be. Granted, I don't normally mind the touching (or at least I didn't with Shepherd), but what irks me is the constant reminding (from strangers) of "just how tired you'll be with two". I'm well aware that I'll be tired. I'm well aware of how hard it will be with two this close in age. It's almost as if these strangers are clicking their tongues at me, saying "tsk tsk, what a foolish woman for getting pregnant so soon". I'm constantly reminding them and myself, that this was a planned event. Forrest and I wanted children close in age... because we both had siblings who were close in age. I don't mind the advice from my mother or my mother-in-law, because they've been there. And... they support us. They know what it's like to want children close in age. They made that decision for themselves. I never feel as though they are looking at us as though we are foolish, as other people do. Oh well...

The wedding went wonderfully. Shepherd had a blast dancing on the dance floor to the music, and flirting with everyone who'd look his way. He is such a ham!! Every time the crowd would clap, he'd clap and yell out "YAYYYYYY!". Too cute! After a long day at the wedding, he finally crashed and fell asleep in my arms (something that hasn't happened in a very long time). It's amazing how much you miss those little moments, and looking back, I could kick myself for wishing he'd sleep in his own crib instead of my arms. How quickly things change. I'm hoping with this second one, I'll pause to appreciate those moments more.

Cravings?

Our little mechanic

Good news, folks! I'm actually eating again... and not getting sick! I finally sucked it up and asked the doctor for some mild medication for the nausea. I only take it once a day (it's recommended for up to 4 times a day) and that seems to have helped a LOT so far. In fact, last night, I started with the cravings. Actually, they started Sunday at our friends Super Bowl party. One of the guys brought this heavenly french onion dip. I must have eaten half of the dip and chips. That, and they had some cans of coke. I had a coke and it immediately settled my stomach. I'd been avoiding them because of the caffeine, but my doctor suggested that I try one every now and then for my stomach. She seemed to think it might help. Which... it does, but now I'm craving coke, Ruffles, and french onion dip all the time!!!

In other news, I was getting ready for bed last night, and finally, around 11 (I know, it was way too late to be up), I just HAD it with my kitchen. So I got down on my knees and scrubbed the floors. I scrubbed because there was junk encrusted on our floor that I don't even KNOW what it was. Once I scrubbed the floors, I scrubbed the stove... then the counters... then cleaned all the junk off of our table! So today, I woke up to a nice, clean, kitchen. Do you have any idea what that feels like? That, and the laundry is done (thanks to the local laundromat where I did 5 loads of laundry in the time it takes to do one load at home). The only thing I need to do is clean the bathrooms and vacumn the entire house. Any volunteers??

I will say, I've been in a much better mood these past few days. I knew that this day would come, it just felt like it took forever. I actually have energy to play with Shepherd, I have a little energy left at the end of the day to attempt to cook dinner. It's amazing what a difference a single pill can make. :)

The only downside is that Shepherd is now cutting his bottom molars. So the poor guy is miserable. I finally got my fingers back in his mouth and felt the bulging of the molars. Poor guy! Makes me so sad. Last night, he cried and fussed for an hour solid before Forrest got home. Nothing I did helped. It wasn't until Forrest got home, and we started signing for "bath" that he got excited and quit fussing. So, while Forrest gave him a bath and put him to bed, I took a much needed break and made a run to the grocery store. It's amazing how frayed your nerves can get with an hour of your child crying. I hadn't been to the store in a while (other than for basic necessities) as I hadn't felt well enough to eat anything. But last night, it was all I could do to not buy the entire store out. I did purchase some french onion dip. I balanced my junk food purchase with a bunch of bananas. Shepherd would eat bananas all the live long day if I let him, so we go through them pretty fast.

Anyways... after shopping, I came home, where Forrest and I sat down and watched a few of my Friends DVDs. I'd forgotten how nice it is to just sit and watch Friends without commercials, and to just enjoy cuddling on the couch with my hubby (I haven't been much of a cuddler with the sick tummy). I'm so glad things are starting to turn around... hopefully, Shepherd will start feeling better, and all will be wonderful!!! :)

Looking up

Yay! Mommy feels okay enough to play!!!

Today things are better. I realized that my last several posts have been "poor, poor me" posts, and realize that there are many worse things that could be going on right now than morning sickness. For that I am thankful.

This morning was wonderful... Forrest brought me breakfast in bed (am I lucky or WHAT?!) A wonderful breakfast of bacon and Eggo waffles. I can't help but wonder if it wasn't that very thing that has helped me today. I was able to eat breakfast before getting out of bed, and I actually haven't been sick at all today. I've actually cleaned up a little, and straightened up the house, which feels great. I can't tell you how bad it makes you feel to see your house go to shambles when you have no energy to do anything about it.

I've been able to play with Shepherd today, which he seems to really enjoy. In fact, he's been worn out from all the walking, and the dancing we've been doing. Yes... dancing. It's so adorable. When I put some music on, he'll walk up and down the hall shaking his hands in the air and shaking his head back and forth. Either that, or he'll find something to hold on to, and bounce up and down while shaking his head. It's great... the better the music, the more he gets into it.

He's really learning SO much and so FAST! He's been signing for "food" for a while, and last week, Forrest introduced the sign for "bath" since Shepherd really, really loves his bathtime. Right after he finishes dinner and we're cleaning up his tray, he starts patting his chest and rubbing it up and down, which is the sign for bath. It's amazing that he knows that bathtime comes right after dinner. :) So smart!!!

Other than the morning sickness... I'm definately feeling more and more pregnant. I've got that heavy feeling in my lower abdomen letting me know that my uterus is growing in size... it's so exciting to think that there's a little person inside of me, growing daily, and that in a few short months, we'll get to meet this little person. Craziness.

Well, I think I'm going to go sprawl out on the couch, to take advantage of Shepherd's naptime and catch a few winks of sleep myself. Hope you all are having a wonderful day!!

7 week list

Things to do:

-Eat small meals often.... check
-Purchase and take Vitamin B6 supplements... check
-Purchase and wear Sea-bands... check
-Drink Gingerale... check
-Eat Saltine crackers...check
-Stick with Bland Foods...check

Things that don't work:

-Eat small meals often
-Purchase and take Vitamin B6 supplements
-Purchase and wear Sea-bands
-Drink Gingerale
-Eat Saltine crackers
-Stick with Bland Foods

Things I've done today:

-Phoned Ralph on the big white phone
-Gone shopping
-Attempted to eat something
-Spent time hugging Johnny
-Attempted to drink something
-Practiced some more of the lateral cookie toss
-Slept
-Sat here wondering if I should try some more food...

A Heartfelt Thanks

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! It's so good to be able to talk about the pregnancy now, after waiting a week and a half. We didn't want to tell anyone because my brother-in-law's wedding was this past weekend, so we didn't want to take away from their special thing. :) I've been struggling to blog lately because all I can think about is the pregnancy... that, and I've been incredibly tired and trying to keep up with an almost walking kiddo.

Speaking of the kiddo, poor thing not only has strep, but now has a viral rash that's broken out all over his body. And to make matters worse, this morning, he was trying to walk, but fell and hit his nose. Normally, this would be okay, except this time, he hit it pretty hard, and there was a nice trickle of blood coming out of his nose. Nothing so far has made me hurt worse than seeing that little, tiny amount of blood trickle out. He's fine now, and he's back on his antibiotics (after a scare that the rash might be an allergic reaction), so hopefully, the whole thing will clear up soon. Poor kid is pretty miserable.

As to how I'm feeling... I'm actually feeling surprisingly okay. I'll have a sudden hunger pang here and there, and I've been sick once, but otherwise, knock on wood, I haven't had any morning sickness. The only thing I've had is an increase in fatigue and of course, I'm a bit "bustier" than usual. We figure the baby is due around September 12. We're so excited we can hardly stand it... I guess the thing I'm most excited about is seeing Shepherd as an older brother. He's already so sweet with other kids, I can't wait to see him with his brother/sister.

Maybe some of you out there with multiple children can help me out here... I think the hardest thing about this pregnancy is the guilt. I feel guilty for not being quite AS excited as I was with Shepherd, since he was our first. I know that this child won't get nearly the amount of attention, or at least he'll have to share that attention. I'm worried that I won't get as many pictures (actually, I'm positive I won't)... how do you guys handle it? Is it something that just happens, and I should just go with it? I'm also very much aware that Shepherd won't be getting the same amount of attention, so it will level off with him, too, and they will both share in our attention.

Again, thank you so much for all your congratulations... Your joy makes our joy complete, and we are SO excited to see how the next 9 months go. :)

Our New Year's Eve conversation

In the bathroom:

"Am I imagining things, or are there two pink lines there?" I asked.

Forrest looked intently at the thing in my hand. "You're not imagining things." he said.

Y'all want a picture?!?!

Belly Shot
Originally uploaded by meandscreech.

Well, here ya go! Here's me, being brave, and posting a picture of my fat @$$! :) just kidding... this picture actually turned out okay! :)
I have some more new pictures over at our flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/twopinklines) I'll be posting some pictures of our new apartment, which I cleaned just for the internet! Just so you can see that I'm not a lazy bum, and I do stuff during the day! :) Anyways.... enjoy the belly shot!

The dog ate my post...

Hello All. I tried posting something last week, but the computer ate
it. I tried to get to Panera or at least the public library to post
something this week, but I had too much to do. And then of course,
the blog ate my blog entry.

The move went wonderfully. We're here in Northern Virginia, and
quickly becoming aquainted with all things Northern Virginia. We're
unpacked with maybe 2 boxes left, the house is clean, food has been
cooked, casseroles have been frozen, and sightseeing has begun. Now,
we've both been to DC before, but that didn't stop us from going to
the Museum of American History on Monday. Seriously y'all? They have
the original Kermit the Frog! EXCITING!!! AND?!?! Sienfeld's Puffy
shirt! It is the most random collection of stuff that I have ever
seen, but it was SOOOO much fun to see all the random stuff! We also
went to the Museum of Natural History which, eh.... was okay. About
the only cool thing there was the freakin' huge Hope Diamond, which...
honestly, didn't appeal to me that much. Honestly, it looked like
costume jewelry. Saturday, we drove down to Prince William Forest and
had a nice picnic. It's actually a really nice place! They have a
nice campground, which hey, I can still go camping when I'm pregnant
right!? (as all of you laugh). Then Friday (I'm working backwards,
notice), we went to the zoo. That was totally unexpected. Forrest
got off work early for the holiday weekend, so I drove up to DC and we
went to the zoo! My favorite part of the zoo? The mexican wolves.
Sad things is, I didn't take my camera, so i don't have any pictures
of our trip. I need to take more pictures dangit!!!

On to the pregnancy update, which is what this blog is really about
eh?! I'm getting big. That is about my only symptom. My gigantic
condition that allows me NO sleep, and generally just makes me uncomfortable. That and the "pregnant nose" everyone talks about. My favorite smell right now? Chinese food. Especially Egg Rolls.....yummmm.. I guess one other "possible" symptom is the tiny little butterflies or gas bubbles I've had. Often, especially at night, I'll be sitting there, and suddenly, there's something in my belly, and I sit there thinking, was that gas? or the baby? I'm leaning more towards the baby, because I haven't been particularly gassy lately, and this one time, I was almost certain it was the baby. As soon as I get a really good whallop, I'll let you folks know. :) Well, I hate to cut this short, but seriously... Panera has the AC on like 50 degrees, and my fingers are frozeennnnnn. Brr.. :) Hope all is well with you folks!!!

Some People...!

Last weekend we went up to DC to look for apartments. It's about a five hour drive from where we live so we stopped in Fredicksburg (about an hour outside DC) for dinner. For some reason, Corinne was craving Cracker Barrel so we managed to find one right off the highway that wasn't too far out of the way.

As soon as we were seated, the waitress came to take our order and introduced herself as Wynona or something. To put it nicely, she was kinda...different. One country fried steak short of the Tuesday night special (if you know what I mean). Now let me jump in here and clarify something. Corinne is pregnant, yes. But she is BARELY showing. If you know she's pregnant, you might could kinda tell. But to the unaquainted passerby, she is NOT showing.

So the waitress walks up to the table and introduces herself. And she turns to Corinne and the first thing she says is, "Are you pregnant?" My mouth just sort of dropped open. Beg your pardon?!? I mean, she went straight to the point. No beating around the bush with her.

I remember when I was younger, someone gave me this advice: NEVER. EVER EVER EVER. Ask a woman if she's preganant. Unless you see a crying, wrinkled little baby coming out from between her legs, NEVER EVER ask her if she's pregnant. PERIOD. I remember my great uncle telling me that he made this mistake once. He was a furniture salesman and was trying to sell some lady furniture and asked her when the baby was due. Uh, yeah. Big mistake. Needless to say he never called on that store again.

Nonetheless, Corinne handled it like a pro. She was just like, "Why, yes. I am." They proceeded to chat casually about baby stuff. I, on the other hand, was trying not to slap this girl in the head for almost making a royal idiot out of herself. After that I couldn't remember what the heck I had planned on ordering. I felt like I had just watched one of those motocross guys go off a ramp and jump, like, 200 cars and (thanks-be-to-God-ABOVE!!) he didn't kill himself. *Whew* she is, indeed, pregnant.