July 4 (Cont’d)…
There was also a young Russian Mom who had been bed ridden since about her third month because of the threat of miscarriage. She couldn’t leave her room so I dropped in once a day to cheer her on… just can’t help myself …I was Head Cheerleader for three years in High School. I was lucky to have a variety of great Mom’s that from every country and continent and I not only liked them, I admired their strength and saw how alike we all were in our fight to have a full term healthy baby.
The hospital was in an Italian part of the city so I met up with many of them as well … but my favorite was the Italian Mom with Wedding Pictures. It was extremely important that we would all know, just a year ago when she married the love of her life, she was a normal weight. Pregnancy had reeked havoc she wailed – just look at her, as round as she was tall. She had to admit, she had contributed, routinely making her hubby go out in the middle of the night to get her Double Bacon Whoppers with a side of Large Onion Rings (sometimes it was fries) and a chocolate milkshake. Oh, and she couldn’t count the gallons of ice cream she had unwittingly downed. Of course it was not her fault – who would have thought a teeny tiny baby could cause such cravings, she asked to any one who would listen. As her audience of Mom’s In Waiting commiserated, trotting out horror stories of their own cravings, I mean spiritly thought, if you eat like a piggie, good chance you’ll end up looking like a piggie.
Now me, I’ve always had a sweet tooth. Strangely enough after you came on Board that changed – now I liked salty snacks like chips and crickly cracks (cheetos) as your Grampsey (a name you chose for him) would say. But midnight cravings? Nah! Only one time and it wasn’t a craving, more like a big old rat gnawing at my stomach lining. It was the night we had moved, back in December when I had packed and unpacked, ran up and down the stairs, then down the stairs and up the stairs, not pausing to eat, catch my breath or even give thought to such basic needs to keep my body going.
I had fallen to bed in a stupor to wake up to the gnawing – that’s what I forgot to do… eat… I thought. I went downstairs, all the while hearing Dr. D.’s warnings in my ears, “When you are pregnant weight is easy to gain, hard to loose”. I opened the fridge that resembled Mother Hubbard’s cupboard so I settled for two slices of toast with a slice of processed cheese. In no time the rat was fed and left the same way he came.
So I guess, we been blessed with avoiding all those cravings but some skeptical part of me doesn’t want to blame the hormones as much as the weakness of the other Moms In Waiting. Being born a critical Virgo is such a drag for those around me.