Thursday, August 13, 2009

Slice of Lime for Jocelyn-Great with Child

My life is kind of consumed with trying to get this quilt done for Diana before she goes to college in a couple of weeks. Free time from that is generally spent schlepping her about to procure items she is certain she cannot live without while off in the wilds of a college dorm. Jocelyn made the comment that she had difficulty picturing me carrying a 9.5 lb baby. Well, since I am bereft of other inspiration for this week's entry, I am going to share the "great with child" pictures. We'll work up to it slowly...

Above we have a picture of me about a week before I delivered Diana. This was during the home invasion baby shower some friends gave me due to my 5 week confinement to bed rest. They descended upon my living room one evening and came bearing decorations, cake, and gifts. They barged in, set up, threw a party, cleaned up, and left. It was fairly impressively orchestrated and executed. In any event, since I had spent 5 weeks as the immovable mass on the couch I had given up on dressing to impress, hence the grody sweats at my own shower. Oh, and that string around the belly...that was a game called "guess the girth." I was providing the correct measurement for all the other lengths of string everyone else had cut in estimation of my proportions. This was my first pregnancy so it was the "cutest." The belly just popped straight out the front. From behind me you wouldn't guess I was preggers. In fact, just before I was ordered to bed by my doc I had been walking downtown when I heard someone come up behind me and catcall whistle before making a comment that let me know it was directed at me. Not that this was a regular occurrence mind you, but my normal response would have been to ignore it. However, I was pretty sure whoever was whistling didn't realize it was at a pregnant woman so I swung my belly around and patted it as I winked at him and said, "Thanks!" The look of horror on his face was priceless.




Here we have baby bump #2 about a month and half before delivery. It was the end of dry season in Trinidad when Calypso was born. The combination of that heat and being pregnant combined to make me a fairly immovable mass again even though this time around I had no medical complications. Mr. Lime described my daily schedule thusly, "She gets up, gives Diana breakfast, then sits down. She gets up to give us all lunch, puts Diana down for a nap, then sits. After the sun goes down she gets up and cooks dinner, cleans it up, then goes to bed." Well, add in doing laundry (this included cloth diapers which necessitated boiling the needed water on the stove since we had no hot water heater), and grocery shopping, and house cleaning too but yeah...I did sit a lot. When I sat I fantasized about standing in a cold shower for about an hour to cool off. Did I mention it was the end of dry season and we only had enough water to take sponge baths? Yeah, fun times. This picture was before we realized the water tank was almost empty or we wouldn't have filled up the kiddie pool. (Most folks have water tanks which fill up during the few hours a day the city pumps water to your neighborhood. That way when the city isn't pumping water you still have running water in the house coming out of the giant tank. As dry season goes on the city pumps less and less frequently so you could go days or even a couple of weeks without your tank being replenished.)

Ok, ok, so here's the picture just a few days before Calypso was born. I sewed that dress. It was just about the only thing that fit me at the end. Really, wasn't that huge, wildly bright flower print just the right choice for making me look svelte? Those sandals were the only things I could get on my feet. I told you, the heat and I did not get along during the pregnancy.



Finally, we come to the shot of me about a week before Isaac was born. I am pretty sure in addition to developing a 9.5 lb fetus I had also developed my own gravitational pull. I was avoiding cameras at that point. I only tolerated this one being taken because we were christening the deck on the back of the house Mr. Lime had just finished. It's such a becoming picture with me in my ugliest glasses, squinting into the sun, sweating to death in the early September heat. Yeah, that was the summer of '95. Ninety-five was also the number of days in a row the thermometer cracked 95 degrees and 95 % humidity and when I carried a 9.5 lb infant. We had no A/C. It was horrid but at least I could stand in my shower whenever I wanted to and I only had to endure 3 months of summer instead of a full 9 months of it.

Unfortunately, I was also horrid. One male friend made the mistake of trying to nicely inquire as to my well-being one day. I snarled, "You strap a 30 lb basketball to your gut and swell your ankles to twice their normal size and tell me how you'd be doing!" As soon as the words left my mouth I was overwhelmed by guilt and turned around in tears to apologize. The poor guy never knew what hit him. To his credit we have remained friends. Just before delivery my doctor estimated I had "a nice 7 lb baby in there." I laughed in his face as I reminded him my other 2 were bigger than that and I could tell by my inability to breathe, the need to remain within close proximity to a bathroom, and by the way this kid was crushing a nerve in my legs that he was going to dwarf his sisters. When I saw his cantaloupe cranium and linebacker shoulders I have to admit to thanking God for c-sections.

Now, if you want to see a truly adorable pregnant woman skip on over to Kat's place and send some prayers and good vibes for a healthy delivery for her sooner rather than later so her hubby can be home with her when the lil punkin arrives.

26 comments:

G-Man said...

You look so studious in your glasses.
Like a HOT Librarian!!!

snowelf said...

Bless you Lime, you are a trooper!! The limelettes are lucky to have you :).

My daughter was a 6 pound 9 ounce beautiful tiny petite little angel.
My son was a 8 pound 15 ounce lug of a thing (may as well been 9 pounds) that was as sturdy as the day is long. It was a big difference.

--snow

~Dragonfly~* said...

Reading your story brought back so many memories of birthing my own babies... thanks!!! I mean that in a good way! :) I also dealt with sweltering heat and no air conditioning... my boys were also rather large... 8-13, 10 ans 10-6! 12, 12 and 15 days late!!! Talk about being "great" with child!!!

Sending lots of good thoughts out to all those bellies swelled with hope and anticipation!!!

DF

Jazz said...

Whoa!

Oh, and that dress? Trust me darling no print in the world could've made you look svelte.

Bijoux said...

I can relate....mine were all between 8.5 and 9 pounds and I was the size of a whale, miserable every minute.

secret agent woman said...

You look great. My first child wasn't as big, at 8 1/2 pounds, but comical on my small frame, here.

(word verification is butdings. I kid you not.)

Desmond Jones said...

Great photos, Lime! You wuz such a cute mama! (And heck, I bet you're pretty darned good even without child. . .)

The wolf-whistle bit was hilarious!

All of Molly's babies were between 6.5 and 8 lb, except 4M, who was about 9.5. So, when Molly had 'complications' after his birth, which was all of 3 days after his due date, our doc decided that he wasn't gonna let her go over anymore. . .

Somewhere, we've got a photo of Molly, from just before 1F was born. If I can dig it out, I'll see if I can post it. . .

Kat said...

Nine and a half pounds!!!!! EGAD! You are giving me nightmares! Cripes!!!! I won't be complaining anymore. ;)

Thanks for the compliment. You are really too kind. :)

for a different kind of girl said...

I carried nearly 9 pounds of first born during the heat of an Iowa summer, far into the depths of August and far past the day doctors assured me he was going to be born. I nearly delivered him at the state fair, panting next to the pigs who were farrowing in the barn display, but nope, he decided to remain inside me for another three days, where I assume it must be cool. There's a pretty defined reason why our second child was born in the thick of a cold January!

Anonymous said...

I love preggie stories, loved being pregnant [even when confined to bedrest at four months] skip over giving birth...only gas and air in them there days, but loved the babies and all, everything about being a mum.

Do all your babies inherit you fab hair? I'm obsessed.

lime said...

gman, LOL!

snowelf, i agree, what's an ounce when they are that big?

dragonfly, good gravy! i don't even want to imagine carrying a baby that exceeds 10 lbs!

jazz, true, very true.

secret agent, that's a beautiful shot of your baby belly :) "butdings" too freaking funny!

desmond, thank you kindly. i was 2 weeks overdue with Calypso. I thought i'd be pregnant forever.

kat, sorry. didn't mean to scare you!

fadkog, i have to say having diana in mid december made for far greater comfort. mr. lime also noted that for once my feet weren't cold.

moannie, truth be told, i did enjoy being pregnant, i felt pretty strong and healthy most of the time. as for hair, actually all three of them were born with just enough peach fuzz to tell what color hair they had. it took my girls until they were 4 to have enough hair to look like girls but now they have lovely hair. my son's came in a bit sooner. his is so thick it can stall the clippers when i cut his hair.

Jocelyn said...

Isaac turned you from a human being who looked like a straight line into a human being who looked like a square.

In each pregnancy, though, you were amazingly girlish and cute, despite the water retention, random bouts of tears, angry lashings out, and, er, retro glasses frames.

Jocelyn said...

Oh, yea, and I, of course, know how you felt: my Paco was 10 lbs, 2 oz. I carried him four full weeks longer than his sister, and he weighed 50% more than she had at birth.

He has a lot of making up to do.

Craver Vii said...

Loved them pics! I remember how my own wife was more concerned with her appearance than I was. Truthfully, the whole experience was awe-inspiring. She didn't let me take any pictures, and I didn't try, because I knew that if I did, that click would be quickly followed by a painful thud.

S said...

Well I have to say thank god for c sections and 3 pound babies! Man, I got off easy.

Cute pics, miss!

Desmond Jones said...

A couple more quick thoughts, if I may. . .

All our kids were born in the spring, except 4M and 5M (something about early fall just brings out the romantic in me, I guess. . .), who were born solidly in the summertime. When Molly got to June with 4M, and knew she still had two-plus months to go, she grabbed me by the lapels and fairly demanded, "GET ME AIR CONDITIONING!!" And so it came to pass that I procured a large window unit that sufficed to cool the entire floor of our house. . .

I can remember my own mother being pregnant twice, with my two youngest brothers. My second-youngest bro was over 11 lb. When she was pregnant with youngest bro, I was concerned that something was wrong, 'cuz she was noticeably MUCH smaller; he was 'only' 8.5 lb. . .

As an adoptee, Molly's first few pregnancies/deliveries were just occasions of wonder for me; seeing my DNA expressed in another person's life just blew me away. . .

Michelle H. said...

Very nice photos! I think you look just fine in flower prints for the one photo. Of course, I've never been pregnant, so I can't much relate to how it must have felt dealing with the heat.

crazy4coens said...

thank you so much for the walk down your pregnancy lane :-) It brought back such wonderful memories for me. while pregnancy and birth is not easy, i'll wager most look back on it fondly! again thank you so much!

BTExpress said...

I'm so glad I never had to go through that. You gals have to go through a lot more crap than men. I tip my hat to you all.

lime said...

jocelyn, hhmm, perhaps it explains the love isaac and i share for spongebob squarepants. and holy moly, it's a good thing paco is cute and smart, isn't it?

craver, honestly, i didn't so much avoid pictures as i AM the family photographer so it was rarely turned upon me.

s, well the scare factor of a preemie certainly is a lot bigger than what i went through.

desmond, my pregnancies all coincided with celebrating something specific rather than a seasonal fixation. i shall have to tell you the AC story related to my pregnancy sometime. and yes, experiencing pregnancy as an adoptee was really a very uniquely amazing thing for me too.

michelle, you are very kind. perhaps i could have used the flower print as camoflage.

crazyfcoens, it's true, not easy but a special time, for sure.

btexpress, thanks. and admittedly it's one reason we don't always have a lot of sympathy when men complain about prostate exams. lol

Suldog said...

Great with child!

*snicker*

Thanks!

DianeCA said...

I think you were very adorable for all your pregnancies..but my goodness you were young the first time! Well me too...my son just had his 21 birthday, and I was 21 when he was born...guess we all know how old that makes me. (pretend you can't do math). Being Pregnant in the summer is a tough one, I bet it was tons of fun in Trinidad!

Commander Zaius said...

One male friend made the mistake of trying to nicely inquire as to my well-being one day. I snarled, ...

You just snarled? You are a saint. Just about every pregnant woman I have been around throws things and thank God in Heaven I sold all my weapons before my wife was pregnant.

lime said...

suldog, when i was great with child i preferred hershey bars to snickers :P

diane, yes, i was 22 when diana was born so another young mom

beach bum, yes, i only snarled...and then quickly began to cry tears of remorse. i don't recall throwing things but my sarcasm and forthrightness went OFF the chart.

Malicious Intent said...

awe, you were so adorable preggers. I stopped after two. One reason was cause of offspring #1, I only wanted to try one more time...and what I got is what I got. That and I had baby gorilla's also. Last one was 9.2. He had no neck when he was born. Now he is a stick. Go figure. But I was stuck in bed last three months. He took a liking to sitting his fat head on a nerve in my left hip/leg and I could not walk. Then he would not move! Bugger!

Yes, God bless c-sections and big babies. My husband is most pleased with the end results. :)

I don't know how you did those pregnancies in that heat. Brave woman!

How do we go from babies to college so fast?

Fireblossom said...

Laffin @ g-man. Do you ever behave?

I've spent a fair amount of time being jealous of women who can do what i can't, but after reading this, I am seeing the upside! I hate hot weather anyway, I can't imagine adding no water and being very pregnant to the mix.