botias | (no subject)

Reading Material:	Persuasion by Jane Austen
	+ asst. romance novels and children's books

Whee! High speed internet. It's kind of spooky. Alan was too cheap for it for the longest time, our dial-up is free, but something apparently pushed him over the edge and he snapped. Next thing I knew we had an installation appt. Alan and the cable guy seemed like they bonded pretty well. I thought he seemed nice enough too, but he did seem to be one of those guys that talks to women like they're from a foreign land. Very hearty and just a little loud, and assuming our interests can't have much in common. Partly it was just a bad time. It irritates me when people are looking me over and making comments like "Boy you're sure carrying that baby low/high/in the middle, it must be a boy/girl/bovine." "Wow, you look like you're just about to pop, and check out your ankles." "Did you swallow a basketball or are you just happy to see me?" Social Rule #2: Never observe the obvious. And frankly, there's very little that is more obvious than advanced pregnancy. He wasn't nearly that bad, he didn't actually make any specific observations, but he seemed to think that this could be all I was interested in talking about.

I am so pregnant. I'm really feeling it now. I didn't take any water with me yesterday on my errand-running and now my nose is stuffy and my throat is puffy. I remember this. I thought I was coming down with a cold the whole last month I was pregnant with Connor, but in retrospect I know it was just dehydration. My bladder's about the size of a shot glass too. My whole body is all soft and squishy; anything that's binding or presses on my skin leaves deep, long-lasting impressions. Probably something about that 40% greater blood volume. I really want a nap. Poor Alan, I feel bad being ever less help. I actually felt a bit out of breath going up the stairs, and can no longer make myself comfortable on the floor (or much of anywhere else) for long, or arise from it gracefully. Soon enough, I won't be pregnant any more though. I found, to my surprise, that most of the pregnancy changes were gone within a day or two of birth. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised that my body threw out the left-behind paraphernalia of its tenacious and demanding guest with great promptness and enthusiasm. "Ah, at last," it must be saying.