Where's That Glow?

I was miserable. Work sucked. The smells really got to me. Especially on liver and onions days. I don't like liver anyway, but the smell of it now just drove me over the edge. I was also feeling my age, and finally decided to take a leave of absence. I just couldn't handle it any more.

Being off work didn't make me happy either. I enjoy working, so sitting around the house was not my idea of fun. We were having a really hot summer. The bigger I got, the more miserable I became. And then there was Ebony. I don't know what had come over her lately. Apparently someone told her I was pregnant and she saw this as a threat or something. She made a hole in the screen in our bedroom so she could go in and out whenever she liked. The cat was smart, she would pick around the corner until she pulled it out from the frame, never actually hurting the screen.

Ebony never liked to move, but for some reason she took to this house immediately. She started hunting, something she hadn't done since SD. She hunted and brought things into the house. Birds, moles, chipmunks, mice, frogs, and even baby rabbits and squirrels; all of them alive. It got so I was afraid to come home because I didn't know what would be in my house. One day, this huge frog just hopped right into our bedroom, I just shut the door so Leap could get it when he got home. I reached down to pick up what I thought was a dead chipmunk and it took off running. I went in the bathroom to pee, and there is a bird in the bathtub. On any given day you would find Leap running through the house chasing something with a pan in his underwear.

Normally, I'm not afraid of wildlife. This pregnancy has me afraid of frogs for Pete's sake. Johnny came over to cut the grass for Leap. He loved to pay Johnny to do things that he didn't want to do. Johnny moved Rascal's dog house and there was a huge frog under it. He comes in the house freaking out over the frog, and I tell him, you are a man, you can move the frog. He refused, but then I remember this is the same kid that was afraid of leaves when he was a baby. We left the frog for Leap. By the time Leap got home, the frog had relocated. That was the first and last time I let Johnny drive while he had his permit. I was sure I would have a stroke on the way home while he was driving. I was too pregnant for driving lessons as well.

I'm trying to be a good step-mother to the kids. I think things are going well. I love them, each and every one. We were getting them every other weekend. The girls wanted me to do their hair because we were going somewhere. I tried and tried but couldn't get either one of them to look presentable. I drove them clear across town to have Sue do their hair. On the way home I decided that it would be best for everyone involved if I had a boy. I would never get the hang of doing hair. I started praying for a boy.

I had a girl's name picked out just in case, Amber Joanne. Joanne was my mom's name and Amber was from one of my favorite books, Forever Amber. Remember that I said that Brian and George shared the same last name, but weren't related. George's middle name was William. My boy's name that I had picked out was Brian William, only because William Brian didn't sound right. Anyway, that's what the boy would be named after my two M's.

It was the hottest summer that I could remember. Our neighbors had a baby blow up pool and brought it over and filled it up for me. I couldn't actually sit in the pool because, well, I would have looked stupid. But I could sit beside it in a chair and put my feet in it. I remember Jeremy squirting me with the hose a couple of times. Rascal was kind of enjoying it as well.

I didn't like one single thing about being pregnant. I hated that I had to plan every single place I went around convenient bathroom stops. I hated the stupid ass dreams that I was having. I hated not being able to shave my legs, and let me tell you, guys don't really know what the hell their doing when it comes to shaving a leg. I hated that every time I opened the refrigerator I hit myself in the stomach with the door. I hated sleeping on my back.

I lived on Dairy Queen cakes, hot fudge/raspberry sundaes, and Dairyman's lemonade. When I started to have to go for weekly check-ups, I hated that I would have to come back after I went and got something to eat. I wasn't gaining enough weight at the end. My total weight gain was 15 pounds. Other than the sore throats, I was healthy as a horse.

Grandma Hatfield insisted I was having a boy. I prayed that she was right. I went to pick up Jeremy one Sunday, we stopped at Grandma Hatfield's on the way home. She wanted to know what we were up to, and I told her that we were going to the Italian Festival for the parade. Leap's half-sister was going to be in the parade. Grandma says, yes she knows that her granddaughter is in the parade. She said that I shouldn't go to the parade. I asked her why, and she said you are going to have that boy today and you should just go home. I had to go home anyway, because Leap and the other kids were waiting for me.

When Jeremy and I got home, we were all just hanging in the living room playing with Rascal and goofing around. I thought I had to go to the bathroom and walked into the bathroom, and shut the door. Before I could turn around, water just gushed out of me. I yelled to Leap that I think my water broke and he yells back it did not. I say, well, then what's this on the floor? He comes in and says, oh my God, it did and it stinks. This is about the time it would be nice to have a mom around, or a best girl friend.