Looking back

Now that we're nearing the end, inching closer every day, I thought it might be fun to look at some 'highlights' of the last 8 1/2 months.

First Trimester
The beginning of Ame's pregnancy coincided wonderfully with the culmination of her senior show, the great "Farewell!" to her studio art degree. So, it was understandable when she chalked her sudden wave of exhaustion up to a few sleepless -- or, at the very least, late -- nights. Understandable, that is, until she took the pregnancy test and found the two little lines, which inspired a great "Aha!" moment. And, truth be told, I had noticed that she seemed to be getting a little bit bigger all around, but not enough for me to really care about, or at least not enough for me to actually say anything. I value my life.

The aforementioned pregnancy test leads us to the second highlight: the breaking of the news to the husband. As I recall, I was informed of this pregnancy somewhere around 5:00 a.m., which isn't too terribly early until you consider the fact that I had only gone to bed about 2 hours earlier. So, understandably I hope, my reaction was not quite up to par for the Misses. It was, if I remember correctly, something along the lines of (and certainly not much more than) "That's nice, dear." It's not easy being enthusiastic when you feel like you're half zombie (Ame wasn't the only one putting the finishing touches on her degree: I had been working hard on my senior thesis as well).

Second Trimester
Ame read all but three books ever written about natural birth, including one by a group of hippies that, I think, lived in a school bus. What about the three she didn't read? They were written in Greek.

The second trimester also marked the expansion of Ame's stomach, in more ways than one. For a stretch of a few weeks, it was not uncommon for her to put away more food in a sitting than I did. Witnessing this, I began to seriously wonder if she was pregant or just getting fat; each seemed like a perfectly viable option.

Third Trimester
This one is also commonly known as the "Finally Trimester" and the "What have we gotten ourselves into? Trimester." The words of Jesus ring ever true now: "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do." All kidding aside, though, this was (and is) the time of utmost anticipation. Currently, it seems as though every contraction elicits thoughts of This could be it, combined with thoughts of But if not, that's okay. It's "Hurry up and get here" combined with "Take your time." Or, as it is more commonly known as, bipolarism.

This is also the time that, I'm assuming, Ame wishes she had a portable toilet, so she would never be out of arm's reach of relief. Continually growing baby combined with on-the-bladder postioning leads to a lot of bathroom trips. In fact, I think the bathroom floor may actually be a foot or two lower than the rest of the apartment due to the ridiculous amount of time that she's spent in there. It is now that hardly a conversation goes by which does not include the words "I have to pee."


As we get nearer to our own personal D-Day, it's intersting to look back and realize how much things have changed over the past 9 months. Heck, 8 months ago we didn't even realize we were pregnant, and now we're on the verge of having to actually ensure the survival of another human being. It's been a fun trip, but a trip whos end we're both looking forward to. I think it's time for Addie to play Hide-and-Seek with Mommy and Daddy: "Ready or not, here I come..."