Warm Wishes for the New Baby

After I typed the subject line just now, I kind of stared at it awkwardly, let my fingers hover over the keyboard for a minute... but now I'll continue...

"New baby".

Somehow,things still don't seem real.

Yesterday Charlie and I had WIC (an organization for Women, infants, and children, that provides nutrition for growing babies, from when they're in the womb up until age 5. Basically, they give free food for us poor folk) appointments at the downtown office. It was his 12 month screening (dangit, no more free baby food, hes a big boy now), and my first prenatal screening for this pregnancy. The entire way there, I was sure I was going to throw up all over myself. I had taken 8 Tums before I left the house (no, yeah, I know), and by the time I hit the north side of town, I was in trouble. My heartburn has just been so bad lately, I was begging for relief before my appointment. My plan backfired (I took 2, didn't help, took 2 more, didn't help, and so on and so forth...), and by the time I got to the actual appointment I was like the walking dead. My face was green, and I had lost all sense of balance. I was able to focus in on and pinpoint where every trash can in the room was, though.

A half an hour later, as I was sitting in the screening room consoling a crying baby who had just had his finger poked for his iron levels (they are in no way gentle with those needle guns, my finger is bruised for life), looking through the pile of baby brochures that they gave me, as if I was a first time mother and this was all new to me, it kind of started to tickle me. That feeling of "you're going to have another baby". There was one picture in particular, of a woman holding her newborn in her hospital gown, that brought back a rush of memories from all of my adventures in premature labor with Charlie, and my brain cleared just long enough to announce to the rest of my body "this isn't a joke".

Later that night (the Tums settled about 6 hours later, by the way), I got a package in the mail. The package wasn't really for me though, it was for the new baby.

Oh.

Oh wow.

The new baby.

Inside, was a onesie, made just for the bean, by my geek chic friend nontrendy. Not a onesie that will have been passed down from the Bean's big sister Elie, or big brother Charlie, but a onesie all of its very own. At that moment, my eyes started stinging, and as I was holding it up in the air, thinking "what a cute little nerd our baby Bean will be", I asked Christopher to bring me the bag of bringing-home-baby style brochures, to try and help it all sink in. Of course I knew everything that I was reading, and 99% of it ended up in the recycling bin anyways, but, going over it gave me a sense of preparation.

How thoughtful of her, to send us a "congratulations" gift. Really. About 2 weeks ago, I had also received a lovely handmade card from my friend over at Joyfully Gray, congratulating us as well. It still surprises me how caring people can be, especially when they've never met me in person. I'm not shy about the fact that I rely on my network of online friends to get me through the day sometimes, they're often more supportive than my real life friends, yet it still catches me off guard when I open the mailbox and pull out a "just because" handmade card or gift.



Thank you, ladies. You've brought very much joy to the burn of my Tums filled heart.