What does 33 weeks mean, exactly?
Last night we put the air conditioner in the window, cooled it down to a comfortable 78 degrees, and sat in bed eating watermelon while watching the movie "Fool’s Gold". We were on the hunt for a “brainless” movie, but what we got was so much more; a collection of reductive and imbecilic stereotypes barely worth the energy it took to put down my watermelon and click it off midstream.
You have to understand that Erin’s stomach is currently taut to the point of bursting and it seems every new day brings with it new challenges and joys. The joy of not being able to see one’s own feet. The joy of being helplessly pinned to the floor by gravity. The joy of knowing that little Sava has her eyes wide open when she rotates her upper body and hips and thrusts the kicking leg out directly to into the surrounding viscera and bone. The joy of having a child still in the womb who can already program her own photo categories on smugmug (http://jamba.smugmug.com/Sava). The challenge of getting enough sleep.
Erin typically drops off the map of the living anywhere between 9-10:30 pm and awakens anywhere from 5-6: 30 am. Several days ago I awoke to find her doing taxes in the guest bedroom. It was only 7am, but it was obvious she had been awake for hours as countless stacks of paperwork hemmed her in. When she noticed me standing in the doorway she swiftly inquired into various W-2 and W-9 forms she noticed missing and then returned quite busily to the task of sorting and filing.
Last night I agreed to go to sleep early in order to help Mama get some needed rest. Every so often we receive meat and surveillance cam catalogs addressed to the former owner of our PO Box. Following the movie, I read to Erin from the “Allen Brothers: Great Steakhouse Steaks®” catalog to help put her in the sleepy zone. Roe Conn, whoever that is, is quoted as saying of the Allen Brothers catalog, "No question, they have the best tasting...Heat&Serve items available anywhere!” What could be a more perfect endorsement? After informing Erin that August is considered “steak hamburger” month, I read her a little of the soothing prose:
16 steak burgers 6 oz. ea.
Baby Back Ribs uncooked
10 half slabs 12-13 lbs.
USDA PRIME Filet Mignons close-trim 4 filets 8 oz. ea.
USDA PRIME Boneless Sirloin Strip Steaks 4 steaks 12 oz. ea.
USDA PRIME Porterhouse Steaks 4 steaks 16 oz. ea.
Chicken Breasts 8 breasts 5-7 oz. ea.
Veal Rib Chops 4 chops 12 oz. ea.
Domestic Lamb Rib Chops 8 chops 6 oz. ea.
USDA PRIME Bone-In Ribeye Steaks
I barely got to "22 Steak Dogs & Sausage Sampler" when I noticed Erin was fast asleep. Gently I turned off my light and rolled over, but my fingertip grazed Erin’s belly and that was it. Next instant she was wide awake and very upset about my having touched her and the noise of my rolling, the sound I was making with my noisy pillow, etc. She sat up and began reading our latest collection of baby articles while exhaling forcefully and turning the pages noisily, irritably. Only after several “talks” about her need for sleep did she finally forgive me.
If any of you don’t know about pregnancy, it is the best of times and the worst of times and requires you to keep your humor or risk losing your sanity. Case in point. On my way into Boulder today I stopped for gas and started thinking about the future, the 8 short weeks before we are to become parents and everything that that means. Next thing I knew I was sitting in my car in the Shell car wash reading Nietzsche with The Velvet Underground's “Who Loves the Sun” blasting away at an almost uncomfortable decibel.
Extreme elation, trepidation or anxiety can hit you anytime, anywhere--though mostly it is elation.
Today’s anxiety is about diaper service (how do we get it, can we afford it, can we ask for help?) and the continuing saga of my employment search. At 33 weeks it’s anyone’s guess what will happen from moment to moment. Perhaps the rest of the day will be bliss as we wander around in the warm air of Boulder, perhaps Erin will send me heat-soaked emails about having the lugubrious body of a whale, or perhaps we’ll find ourselves in our basement, hurriedly rigging earthquake supports for Sava’s crib with only moments left in which to complete the world. Or maybe we’ll go to sleep early and wake up tomorrow refreshed and ready to face the start of week 34 and all that that means.
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