Page 8 of That Baby (That Boy 3)
"That surprises me," he says, sliding his hand through my hair to calm me. "You usually want to keep stuff a secret."
"I think your parents will be excited." I stop and consider something I don't want to consider. "But if you're right about the miscarriage thing, I guess I feel two different ways. Part of me doesn't want to tell them until we know the baby is okay. The other part of me thinks if something bad happened, I'd need them to know."
Phillip gently kisses across my forehead. "I swear, everyone will take one look at you and know."
"How?"
"You're glowing."
"I am not. I was just puking."
He kisses me again. "It was just gagging and you don't look sick. You look beautiful. What if we tell them at the Super Bowl party? We could wear the shirts, see if anyone guesses."
"That sounds fun."
Before I go to work, I stop by Lori's house to see how the kitchen remodel is going.
I look around at the mostly empty shell. The room is in shambles. "Well, it's coming right along! You could come to work with me sometime, if you want to get out of here. Or go hang out at my house any time you want. You shouldn't be around all this dust."
She raises an eyebrow at me. "I'll make sure to ring the doorbell first."
"After the other night, that's probably wise," I laugh.
She pulls me away from the construction zone and into the den. "You know, if you want to get pregnant, what you were doing won't work."
"Having sex won't get me pregnant?"
She does a little cough. "Are you serious about wanting to be pregnant, Jade?"
"Uh, yes."
"Didn't you listen to all the stuff I told you the other day?"
"Of course I did."
"No, you didn't. Your eyes glazed over. Wait a minute. You were doing it on your couch! Don't you have your period?"
"Oh, uh, it was really light this month. The pill, you know."
She narrows her eyes at me.
She's going to kill me when I tell her on Sunday that I'm already pregnant. But this conversation is cracking me up, so I let her keep going. And who knows, maybe I'll need to know this for our next baby.
Oh my god. Did I really just think that?
I think back to the marriage test we took. How Phillip said he wanted four kids close together and I was thinking one sounded good. But I can so see us with a house full of kids.
Or maybe that's the pregnancy hormones talking.
I resist the urge to put my hand across my belly.
She's still going on about how I should put a pillow underneath me and not get up for at least ten minutes.
"How far along are you now?" I ask her, hoping to change the subject, even though she just told me a few days ago.
"Twenty eight weeks."
"You look great," I say, even though she's looking a bit disheveled.
She runs her hand through her hair. "I'm still tired and the workers are here at the crack of dawn. I'm not sure why we decided to do this now."
"Because you wanted it done before the baby comes."
"That's right. I need to keep reminding myself."
"Do you have to be here the whole time they're working?"
"Um, well, no."
"Why don't you go over to my house, take a long shower, take your time getting ready and then meet me for a late lunch. Then we could go look at nursery furniture. I know you've been wanting to do that."
And, honestly, I kind of want to go look myself. I'm dying to design our baby's nursery.
"Oh, that sounds fun. I can't believe you're offering to go shopping. Am I going to have to buy you drinks first?"
"No. I'm starting to like shopping more and more. I've been having a lot of fun choosing all the fixtures and furniture for the office building."
"Well, I'll take it. I have a list of four stores that are supposed to have the best stuff. We'll start with that. Are you sure you can take off the whole afternoon?"
"Yeah, I need to swing by the job site and meet the engineer this morning and then go to the office, but I'll meet you at one. Just text me where."
"That sounds good."
"Alright, I better get going."
She gives me a tight hug, her plump belly hitting my still flat one. "Thank you. You know Danny hates to shop."
I get tears in my eyes, thinking about how our stomachs just touched.
"What's with the tears?" she asks, her own eyes quickly filling up.
"I was just thinking how our kids will grow up to be best friends."
"Awww. Wouldn't that be amazing?"
On my drive to the job site, Danny calls me.
"Sounds like I owe you a thank you."
"Why's that?"
"Because you're going nursery shopping with my lovely bride. Not to mention the show the other night."
"I wondered when you were going to bring that up. You've been way too quiet about it."
"I think it's awesome. Enjoy it while you can."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Pregnancy changes things."
"And Lori hates change."
"Yes, she does because she can't control it."
"So your second pregnancy will go smoother."
"Let's just see if we can make it through the first one. I feel like I'm dancing in a minefield and I never know when I'm going to make a wrong step and blow up."
"I've heard pregnant women are emotional," I say, thinking about how my emotions are already everywhere.
Danny chuckles. "That's an understatement. You ready for the Super Bowl Party? My parents want to stay with you, since our house is a disaster zone."
"That's fine. Shit. I should be cleaning. But, instead, I'm shopping with your wife. Maybe since I'm doing that, you should go over to my house and dust."
"Maybe you should hire someone."
"You know how Phillip is with money and now that we're p--"
"Now that you're what?"
"Uh, preparing to have children."
"Preparing, huh? Looked more like doing something about it the other night."
"Shut up, Danny," I say, hanging up on him.
Dear Baby Mac,
I went nursery shopping with my friend, Lori, today. I've decided that going into a baby boutique the first time you are pregnant is similar to seeing a mythical creature. It's an amazing experience. Everything was so teeny, soft, and perfectly wonderful. I wanted to buy it all and bring it home for you. But if I would have done that, it wouldn't all match, so I started thinking up possible designs for your room.
There are lots of different decor options that are popular right now. And different rules of thought. Some believe a nursery should be bright and stimulating to the baby. Others believe it should be soft and calming. Others go the organic route. And others just want to be on trend. Some of the trends we saw were metallic gold, tribal, rustic, neutral colors, soft colors, bold graphics, vintage, and French inspired.
So basically, anything goes.
I'm also currently obsessing over a soft rose gold chandelier. Your father would die if he saw what it costs, but if they can get it in a smaller (and cheaper) size, I might have to have it.
I also saw a photo of a room that had teeny twinkle lights in the ceiling, similar to what they sometimes do in movie rooms. Considering your dad and I love to look at the stars, it seems perfect. Now I have to find the perfect everything to go with it. I'm leaning toward soft, calming colors.
Do you think you'd like that?
February 3rd
Constant worry.
"Phillip, we have so much to do. Go to the store. Clean the house. Get the food ready."
"Why don't you go to the store and I'll clean?" he suggests.
"Really? You're offering to clean?"
"Yeah, no problem. I'll take care of it."
"Phillip, your mom is coming. Her house is always spotless. I've been sick and we haven't cleaned since we moved in."
He kisses me. "You're not
sick; you're pregnant. And don't worry. I'll do the upstairs bathrooms and vacuum the guest bedrooms. It'll all be good."
