Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Beginning and End (04/16/09)
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TITLE: A 98% True Story | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tracy Baird
04/23/09 -
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Unbeknownst to me, the waiter was approaching the table. At the same moment he said, “May I take your order?” I slammed my hand on the table and said forcefully, “I will never get my tubes tied!” I was the one who wanted four children. Nathan only wanted two. I thought we had compromised by agreeing on three, but he had second thoughts. I had been praying.
The waiter glanced at me, then at Nathan, and said, “I think I’ll give you a few minutes to decide.”
I didn’t want Nathan to take back what he had said about having a third child, but I wouldn’t do something so drastic when I still wanted more children. Nathan made his second offer. “Okay, but if we do have a third child, I don’t want you to ever mention having a fourth child. “ I knew had been pestering him for months about having a third.
Nathan’s my best friend and I needed to share my thoughts with him. As much as I wanted the third, I didn’t think I could agree to never even mentioning a fourth child. “How about if I can say I want a fourth child, but I won’t ever actually ask you to have one?”
“So you’re never going to ask me for a fourth child, right?”
“Yes,” I replied. I wasn’t sure if I was lying. I prayed God would forgive me if I was.
Six weeks later was my birthday, and I was three days late. I took a pregnancy test in the darkness of the early morning. Sitting on the bathroom floor I watched the second hand of my watch click around five full rotations. Negative. I threw the test in the trash.
After breakfast I poked around in the trash and found the test again. A faint line! What did that mean? Later that morning at playgroup my friend Angie said that she had a faint line once, and she was indeed pregnant. In her opinion, any line at all indicated pregnancy. When I got home I decided to call the 800 number on the box.
“Push ‘1’ for product information, push ‘2’ for contact information, push ‘3’ for hours of operation, push ‘9’ to repeat these options,” said a mechanical voice. Did I want product information? I wasn’t sure. I pushed ‘0’ and prayed I would get a live person.
“How can I help you?” said a real, human voice. When I asked her my question she told me that if the line appeared within 20 minutes, I was pregnant, and otherwise the line was not meaningful. Hanging up, I felt dissatisfied. I wanted to run out and get another test, but it was time to get ready for my birthday dinner.
The next morning I vomited, and I was filled with joy!
On my due date, nothing had happened, except I had grown to enormous proportions. The next morning my water broke, but I wasn’t having contractions. I called the midwife at 5 am.
“If you are still not contracting regularly at 9:30, head into the hospital,” Dixie said. I woke Nathan. “Is it time?” he said. I told him he would have his third child that day. He smiled, and we both got up to pack.
At 9:30, I was having terrible pains, but irregularly. I was glad Nathan stayed home from work so he could drive me to the hospital. Soon Dixie told me I was dilated 6 centimeters. “I’m going to head out for a bite to eat so I’ll be able to help you later.” That sounded like a good plan.
Thirty minutes later Nathan was rubbing my back when I yelled, “I think the baby is coming now!” Running out to the hall, he looked around and didn’t see anyone. He yelled, “My wife is having the baby!” No one came. He pulled on some gloves he found in a box that was mounted on the wall.
“Are you ready?” Nathan asked me. I was. One big push and he and I had delivered our daughter, Rebecca. A wonderful ending to what had started about ten months past at Dominick’s.
Together we thanked God for Rebecca, a new beginning for our family.
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