The Center of the Universe

LawyerMama recently allowed me to do a guest post on her blog while she was on vacation. I liked it so much that I've decided to see if I can fill my own spot every day or so. That doesn't mean I'm foolish enough to skip an opportunity to cross-post so - if you didn't catch me at Lawyer Mama - here's the story of how the Pumpkin came to be all over again.

Just in case you missed the bulletin the world now revolves around a young Virginian named Caleb. (Hereinafter the Pumpkin.) I am 45 years old. The Pumpkin’s brothers, R and T, are 21 and 18 YEARS old. The Pumpkin is two. He is the terrible, incorrigible, adorable, fabulous, funny, willful center of my world. I got pregnant (all three times actually) the old fashioned way: unexpectedly and unintentionally. Yes, I do know where they come from but according to my doctor no more babies should have come from me. He (Cute Dr. J) sent me for an ultrasound to see why I wasn’t having periods. He wasn’t particularly concerned and it took me a few months to get around to having it (hard to schedule at the Navy hospital, new job, missed the first one when my car was left too long in the valet lot and the keys went away with the attendant – you know I was BUSY). I eventually presented myself at the hospital and was chatting with the ultrasound technician about how I’d never seen an ultrasound without a baby in it when she squirted the gel, placed the thingamabob on my stomach and Oops – I still haven’t seen an ultrasound without a baby in it. Sixteen weeks along, all his fingers and toes clearly visible, the Pumpkin.

My equally busy husband, Prince Charming, was stationed on a ship the year the Pumpkin was conceived and was deployed when I found out. Not a long deployment just gone Monday through Friday most weeks to PREPARE to deploy for six months. I told him on a friend’s cell phone (Prince Charming NEVER hears his phone ring) as they were leaving Connecticut. Prince Charming had apparently spent the weekend in various bars with his friends extolling the virtues of being at the “finish line” – said friends all had young kids and we were nearly through raising ours. T was in high school and we could see the childless light at the end of our tunnel. He also had a dream about a fish (apparently a sure sign that a baby is on the way – who knew).

Stunned disbelief followed in short order by fear, amniocentesis, and finally overwhelming relief that the baby was a healthy boy. (I know, I only wanted a healthy baby but I REALLY didn’t want to have to face a 17 year old girl when I was 60.)
Prince Charming’s ship deployed, as scheduled, one week before the Pumpkin was born (nope, they don’t make special allowances for that in the Navy, and nope, the Navy physicians do not induce labor prior to 38 weeks just to allow Dad to meet the baby before he leaves). This was followed by ten days of exhaustion in the hospital while the Pumpkin had pneumonia, four months of exhaustion and loneliness while home alone with all three boys, and two months of exhaustion and exhilaration when I started work at a new job (which I still love). Then finally, the ship came home, Prince Charming met his Pumpkin, and we gradually settled into our present life.

That life, and all its side topics, will be the starting point of this blog. Who knows where it will lead....