American Woman: Book 3

Chapter 17

Laura seemed very happy to hear my pregnancy news. She said things like that sometimes help people dealing with grief to have a renewed sense of purpose for life. However, she did warn me that if I don't seem to be progressing with therapy alone that she will recommend I take antidepressants even while pregnant bc even though they may carry a small risk of harm to a fetus, a severely depressed mother during and after pregnancy could be more damaging. When I relayed that message to Prince he seemed to agree with her and said we would play it by ear but that he was hopeful it won't come to that bc just in the short time we have known about the baby he has seen the life come back into my eyes.
While I was in my therapy session, Prince said he called and told his mom about me being pregnant. "Oh yeah? What did she say? Is she excited?" I ask curiously.
"She said she already knew...."
"What?! How?! Oh no someone hasn't leaked it to the press already, have they?!"
"That's exactly what I asked, but no thankfully. She said she knew since seeing you at dad's funeral and mentioning your glow. She thought we were just not telling anyone yet." He explained.
"Oh geez add her to the list of people who think we are morons." I say, rolling my eyes.
"Well we just won't tell anyone else that we didn't know, but yes she seemed really happy. This isn't her first rodeo though. She has a lot of other grandchildren. But she said to call her if you need anything. I personally advise against that..."
"Babe!" I say, slightly giggling. "That's awful..."
"It was nice of her to offer, but I would rather you go to Diane or Maria for advice or help. Hell even Amy, who doesn't have a motherly bone in her body, would be better." Prince says, pulling me in for a tight hug.
"I'm hungry baby. What do you want me to fix for lunch?"
"Nothing. I don't want you overdoing anything. I'll have Maria make us something and then prepare some stuff for dinner tonight too..."
"No honey. I'm not useless. There is no reason I can't cook most of the time still. I'm not as tired anymore. I feel great actually. And cooking is therapeutic for me. You know how much I enjoy it." I plead with him.
"Ok baby. But when you don't feel like cooking tell Maria. I mean it. I want you to take it easy. Your job for the next few months is to take care of our baby...and that's all. No more charity stuff for awhile. I'll give Amy your duties..."
"Please sweetheart. Don't take away my tasks. Do you think I'm not capable anymore? Do you think my mind can't handle it?" I ask, tears forming in my eyes.
"No momma. It's not that at all. You've been great at it, well except for..."
"Don't!"
"Baby you are excellent at it and I think you still will be, I just don't want to overwhelm you. You don't need any added stress, and I don't want anything interfering with doctor's appointments or anything for the baby."
"It won't. I enjoy doing it. After the baby comes, I almost definitely will want someone else to take over for awhile. But I'm good right now. When I'm ready to hand it over, I'll let you know. Ok?"
"I like that plan momma. How about you prepare an easy lunch and we can invite Maria, Diana, and Amy to eat with us and we will tell them about the baby."
"Ok!" I smile excitedly. "How about Mark or any of the guys?"
"Momma guys don't really care. I mean I do...bc it's my baby...but men in general don't get real excited about someone being pregnant. Most men try to avoid hearing that most of their lives." He jokes.
"I guess you're right. Ok what should I fix?"
"I don't know babe. What sounds good? Pickles? Funyuns? Ice cream? Peppers?"
"Hey I did not like the ice cream with the peppers. That was you!"
"I didn't like it. I just didn't find it as disgusting as you did."
"Maybe you're the one who is pregnant." I tease, rubbing his belly.
"Well then we have missed all those signs too bc I don't feel it. Now take off your shoes and get in the kitchen, woman."
"What?!" I exclaim.
"I got you pregnant, so now I just need you to get barefoot and get in the kitchen. You know the phrase 'barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen'?" He asks.
"Yeah I know it's extremely sexist. You get barefoot in the kitchen..."
"Momma when do you ever see me walking around barefoot?!"
"Good point." I chuckle. "Thought you would rather see me in heels in the kitchen though."
"Well I do like that, but I don't need you falling." He responds, kissing my forehead.

An hour later, the five of us are around the table enjoying tangy veggie wraps and chicken wraps. Thankfully Prince hadn't said anything to me, yet, about consuming meat. I do expect he might when I want to eat red meat or deli meat though. "I don't even know why y'all ever want me to do the cooking. I mean I enjoy it, but Jensen is a far superior cook..."
"No I'm not Maria..."
"Well you definitely are when it comes to variety of dishes. Y'all probably laugh at my same few recipes."
"No we don't. If we didn't enjoy your food Maria, we wouldn't ask you to cook for us." Prince smiles at her.
We spent the next fifteen minutes talking about Prince's upcoming album and various things about Maria and Diana's children and grandchildren. Finally Amy just blurts out "so how much longer are we going to beat around the bush? We all know Jensen is pregnant."
"Amy!" Maria and Diana exclaim in unison.
"Oh come on! We've been gossiping about it for weeks. Now they've invited us to eat lunch. It's a no brainer!" She defends herself.
"How did you know?!" I exclaim, bummed that it wasn't a surprise.
"Oh honey I'm sorry. We didn't know for sure, but we've been wondering." Maria states.
"So it's true?!" Diana says, clapping her hands.
"Yes." I say, dismissively. "What made y'all wonder?!"
"The naps. Sometimes you nodded off while we were talking." Amy said.
"The sudden consumption of lots of salty foods." Maria continued.
"The crying over the card I gave you a few weeks ago thanking you for the candle, which you were able to smell me burning from three rooms away." Diana added.
"And the glow!" They all said simultaneously.
"We figured you were waiting until after the first trimester to tell everyone. So how far along are you now?" Maria asked excitedly.
"Yeah we are in the second trimester now. We go to the doctor tomorrow..." Prince begins.
"We don't know how far along we are. We just found out yesterday!" I interjected.
"Jensen!" Prince yells, annoyed that I let the cat out of the bag.
"Found out what?! What you're having?! I think it's a boy. You haven't had much morning sickness. Am I right?!" Amy says.
"No. We just found out I was pregnant..." I begin.
"What?!!!" They all start laughing hysterically. Amy is pounding on the table she is giggling so hard. "Oh wait! It hurts!" Maria says grabbing her sides. Diana starts wiping tears that have fallen down her cheeks. "What did y'all think was going on?!" Diana exclaims.
"I don't know." I say solemnly. "I feel stupid. And a little robbed. Like I've missed out a little. I skipped the whole first trimester...."
"Oh you didn't skip it. It happened! You just didn't know it!" Amy chuckles.
"Honey you didn't miss a thing! Most women associate the first trimester with the worse part of the pregnancy. You are fine!" Maria tries to comfort me.
"Yeah. I wish I hadn't known, but I was too busy barfing twenty four/seven." Diana said. "We are so excited for y'all. This little baby is going to be so blessed. My youngest grandchild is six, so I'm itching to hold a newborn!"
"Me too!" Adds Maria. "Are you going to breastfeed? If you do, will you pump some too bc I really want to rock a baby and feed them a bottle. It's one of my favorite things to do."
"Ok. This conversation is getting weird. I've got work to do. Congratulations. I'll babysit when it's about ten, otherwise keep the whiney, poopy thing away from me." Amy says, carrying her plate to the kitchen. "Lunch was good. Thanks!"
"Gosh Maria. I don't know. I haven't thought about all that yet. There is so much I don't know." I say, suddenly getting very nervous about how clueless I was about pregnancy and babies.
"Oh darling you will be fine! You should have seen me with my first child, Joseph. I didn't know a thing. My mom had to teach my how to hold him, change a diaper, swaddle him, bathe him, burp him...everything. I would have been so lost." Maria said.
"Me too! My first one wouldn't have survived if my mom wasn't there the first couple of weeks." Diana added.
"Well you two should be a lot of help to Jensen then." Prince says, giving them a 'hello!' kind of look and shaking his head. "If she takes half as good of care of the baby as she does me, then it will be spoiled rotten."
"Absolutely!" Maria says. "You catch on real quick. Basically you just feed them and change them for first few weeks. It's not rocket science." Diana adds, aware of their mishap.
"Thanks ladies." I say. "I'm going to need all the help I can get. But we are so excited. I have lots of questions for the doctor tomorrow, but I don't want to bother her all the time, so I'll probably be asking y'all a millions things."
"You'll be fine Jensen. I can't think of anyone more deserving of this tiny blessing." Maria says, hugging me. "Alright come on Diana let's get back to work and let mommy and daddy have so alone time. They won't have near as much of that in a few months. Better soak it up!!!"