Whoa Baby

Chapter 31- The Cravings

Whoa Baby

Chapter 31- The Cravings

"There are far, far things better ahead than any we leave behind."- C.S. Lewis

When a knock on the door came early one mid-day morning I was a little shocked. Thinking wow, is JC really knocking now? But it wasn't that Ace looking for entrance, it was Carrie. Light grin on her lips, tattered jeans with paint stains, a wrinkly black tee shirt, and uncontrollable curly hair tied in a ponytail; her usual look. Though it shouldn't come to a surprise for me for her to just drop by, it did. I appreciated it though.

"Hi Carrie." I greet when I open the door for her. She greets me with a smile and stares down shockingly at my stomach. My bump has surely grown since I last saw her over the summer.

"Wow, look at you. You're tiny. You must be what now, like, twenty-three weeks?" She mentions as I wave her into the house.

"Twenty- five actually." I correct. I walk to the kitchen rubbing my stomach. I need food and I mean mountains of it. I am starving and I just ate not even two hours ago.

"Wow, your small. Is that a good thing? No problems, right?" She asks, following me into the kitchen.

"My doctor says everything is normal." I shrug not really having an answer to my small stomach. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager and well, I'm small in general. "Do you want a sandwich? I'm about to make myself one now." I tell her grabbing everything from the fridge.

"Oh no I'm OK. Thank you though." She says sitting at the table. "So how are things going?" She asks folding her hands on the table. "I hope you don't mind me just dropping by like this. I was thinking about you and the baby. I just wanted to see how you guys were doing."

"Nonsense, no problem at all." I tell her with a wave of my hand, "We're doing great. I'm eating a lot and I take that as normal. I'll wake up at two in the morning craving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." I tell her toasting two slices of bread. "I crave sour things too. Like last night I wanted Sour Patch Kids so bad." I ramble to her. "And then there's my bladder problems. I have the constant need to pee every ten minutes. I helped my mom the other day grocery shopping and I probably used their bathroom five times." I shake my head grabbing the toast and spreading mayo.

"Well that all seems very normal." Carrie agrees. "When I was pregnant with JC I'd make a bowl of cereal and then sit on the toilet because I needed both at once." She chuckles, sharing her story. I noted that this was also the first time I ever heard some form of laughter from Carrie. Ever. I don't think it was even heard of before.

"I was peeing the other day and I asked my mom to bring me chocolate chip cookies as I was sitting on the toilet. She found it quite hilarious." I told, cutting my sandwich in half. I started the coffee maker hoping the Carrie would enjoy a cup of coffee.

"It's quite the experience to be pregnant." Carrie agrees. "I actually came here to show you something." She remembered looking through her purse. "I was putting some stuff away and I came across this." She takes a photo out of her purse and puts it on the table. I bring my sandwich and a mug filled with coffee. She thanks me taking the mug into her hands and taking a sip. "I believe that was JC at thirty weeks in the womb." Carrie points out with a smile.

I take a bite of my sandwich and look at the picture. Hm, that's odd. I get up from my chair and walk to the fridge, taking down my most recent ultra-sound photo. I put them together side by side, examining both photographs. They almost looked identical. "You sure this isn't mine?" I asked Carrie.