Page 28 of The Baby
“Not really. But babe, it’s possible the baby is moving. It would be about the time you would start tofeelthat.”
Dr. Jenkins had said most women described the feeling of the baby moving for the first time like a butterfly’s wing flapping. This was NOT that. This was like a bird flappingitswing.
“See we riled it up,” I told Jake, even though there wasn’t any real pain associated with what I was feeling. No cramping or anything that might bescary.
“Maybe the baby was excited to meet me,” he said, pressing his cheekagainstmine.
“Eww, gross. I don’t want to think about the baby being introduced to you viayourdick.”
“You’ve always said I had a nice-lookingpenis.”
I knew he was teasing, so in retaliation I elbowed him in the gut hard enough for him to make a woofsound.
We didn’t move. Not for a long time. Instead we lay there together, content in the knowledge that we had crossed some weird bridge where before we had been standing on oppositesides.
Now we were together again.Oneunit.
Plus the flapping bird in myuterus.
Then the flapping seemed to fade, and so did I as I dozed off in myhusband’sarms.
8
Ellie
ThanksgivingDay
So that’show things pretty much went after as I liked to call it, The Great Fight of October. We kept talking. My belly got bigger. We definitely kept boinking. All without any ramifications on the baby. Turned out the baby liked to move in the morning regardless if we had sex or not. After two weeks Jake could finally feel what I was feeling, and it was prettyawesome.
Suddenly we weren’t us any longer. The baby—we still decided not to learn the sex early, not because I was weird about it, but because we did want to be surprised—was now a member of #TeamJakeandEllie. We talked to it, we messed with it. Jake read something that said we could shine a flashlight over my belly and it would turn toward thelight.
Totallyworked.
It was still months away from the main event, but we felt like three people now instead of two. A family, instead of acouple.
To celebrate my new attitude, we had decided to have a bunch of people over for Thanksgiving diner. This would be my first official time hosting theholiday.
Our closest neighbors, the Pettys, of course. Thankfully Mrs. Petty was offering to bring most of the side dishes. All I would be responsible for was basically the bird, the stuffing, and the mashed potatoes. No small task, but still manageable Ithought.
We invited Cody and Rich, Howard and Mirry. Bella from the Hair Stop and Frank and Bernie, who only closed the diner two days a year, Thanksgiving andChristmas.
Chrissy was doing a fifth year of college abroad. Mostly, I think because Chrissy really liked college and was doing everything she could to prolong it. Denny was traveling with a new boyfriend, who apparently was not just a cowboy, but a rich hawt cowboy, according to Denny. And MaryAnne had taken a job on the east coast and couldn’t make it back. Still, it would be a lot of friends and family, which was important when making a bigannouncement.
That’s right. I was ready to tell everyone I waspregnant.
Given that it currently looked like I was wearing a bowling bowl under every shirt I owned, Jake found this comical. Still it was a big step for me to make itofficial.
After weeks of planning, the day wasfinallyhere.
Jake found me putting the turkey back in the oven after I had basted it and nearly losthisshit.
“Ellie! I told you. Nothing thatheavy!”
“It’s only eighteen pounds,” I said even as he took the pan from me. “Shit, do you think that’s enough? I went with the whole one and half pounds per person, but you’ve seen how Mr. Petty can put awayturkey.”
Jake grunted as he pushed the pan into the oven. “I’m serious. You go to baste this thing again and youcallme.”
“Yes, sir,” Igrumbled.
