Know You Better Now

Chapter 23

Twenty Two Weeks Pregnant. Late May.

With just two more weeks of shows then CMA Fest, my growing belly and I were spending our days off either flying home to Nashville or in that city’s hotel room, relaxing, not doing much but napping, writing, and shopping in nearby stores and antique shops for the perfect nursery. A week ago, when we were home for a doctor’s visit and ultrasound, we could have found out whether we were having a girl or a boy. After much deliberation, a small fight, and a very long list of pros and cons, we decided to wait until we met our baby. 

I was getting stretch marks, which was making me feel disgusting and fat - even though the rational part of my head was telling me that I wasn’t fat and that I was supposed to be looking like this but to me, the stretch marks on my hips, thighs, belly, and breasts all screamed to the irrational part of my head that I was getting fat. On a day like today, when we were in Texas for the next few shows and were going to be playing Dallas Cowboys Stadium tomorrow, I just felt fat. Ed had left the hotel room to go get us lunch, I wasn’t really in the mood to leave. When he returned, I was sitting on my bed in little shorts and a sports bra, rubbing lotion on every inch of my skin, trying to get rid of stretch marks. I heard a soft chuckle as the door closed behind him, he set the food down on the table by the window and sat down next to me.

"Taylor, I’d have done that for you, love." I looked at him, not returning his smile and snatched the bottle out of his hand.

"I don’t want you too." I scoffed back, and got up and went to the bathroom. Another thing about this whole pregnancy thing was having to pee literally every half an hour. I took a tee shirt out of his suitcase and put it on. He was still staring at me but taking the Japanese food out of the containers and setting it onto plates.

"Let me take you on a date tonight, love," I said as I sat down across from him. 

"Where?" I wasn’t really in the mood, I’d rather spend the evening just watching CSI reruns and online shopping.

"Let’s go see a movie - just go and get the one that’s about to start. We can get big sodas and popcorn?" He smiled, he was really trying to make an effort. I thought about it as I chewed and looked out the hotel room window. 

"Sure, let’s go." I smiled, looking down, then looked at him, "WIll you take me out to dinner before and try to feel me up in the car on the way home, too?"

"I’d do anything for you, love." He smiled and grabbed my hand and squeezed. I got up just then and walked around the table to him. I bent down and kissed him gently. We left a few hours later and got pizza at a place near the closest movie theater and then saw the first movie, some comedy thriller trying to be a scary movie but was really just a comedy. We laughed a lot and I screamed a few times. At the end of the night, we walked back to our waiting car hand in hand and shared small, sweet kisses in the backseat before arriving back at the hotel.

As he opened the hotel room door, my smile was big. I looked at him as I leaned against the wall outside of the door. “Thanks for getting me out of this room and making me smile and forgetting that I felt fat this afternoon.”

He smiled and opened the door letting me in, “Like I said, anything for you, love.”

Twenty-Five Weeks Pregnant. Early June.

The CMA Fest was here, the 5 song set that I’d perform was my last scheduled show before I left the music world to have this baby, and any other babies that Ed and I would have. I was also doing a meet and greet, nowhere near as long as the 13 hour one I did several years ago, but a meet and greet, for as many hours as I could standing - and then as many as I could sitting. Ed and my mother weren’t very fond of the idea - worrying I’d get sick or it’d be too much stress for the baby, but I wanted to do it and nothing was going to stop me.