Here’s What I Like to See in My 32nd Week of Pregnancy

Woman gives birth to 14 lb preemie!

“I was always tall for my age,” said Brandy, who is 5-foot-9. “I just think she’s going to be a big girl.”

Uh, GOING TO BE?

I want more info! Is there gestational diabetes involved? Could she not afford regular prenatal visits? How does a 14 lb not-full-term baby SNEAK UP ON YOU? (sounds like the run-up to a bad joke) Did her feet hurt? Because my feet hurt and I’m 5’10 and have gained half the amount of weight she has.

Ah, it’s all about me after all.

In other news: yesterday in prenatal class we talked about doulas. We each get a doula assigned to us – some came in person yesterday and others couldn’t make it. Mine just got married a week ago so was indisposed. The doula coordinator is an energetic, hilarious woman who, based on a very short questionaire and a slightly longer telephone conversation acts as matchmaker between doula and expectant couple. (Have I mentioned? How much? I love? My prenatal program?)

We all watched a video about doulas. As I watched this one doula in the video talk to some clients, she began to look very familiar. Turns out she is – we were close pals in grade 10 and 11. In 11th grade she got pregnant and went back to a different school after her baby was born. I saw her once or twice after that but we lost touch.

She had an older boyfriend who drove a bitchin’ camaro and had a mustache. She loved him a lot but I had no idea why. He drove around and listened to loud classic rock and smoked cigarettes and was very jealous if she talked to guys at school. But because she was kind of wild and had a smokin’ rack, she got lots of attention from guys at school. She also had a delightfully foul mouth and was really smart, plus she wore 2 kinds of eyeliner at once – black along the rims of her eyes and blue above it to set off her brilliant, clear blue eyes. She had eyes like a husky.

She and I went to a friend’s 16th birthday party and she helped me do my hair. For a couple of years in high school I was desperate to achieve the perpendicular bang action but could never do it. She showed me how much hairspray I needed to use: about 7 or 8 times as much as I had been using. She teased and sprayed, teased and sprayed until I looked like this. She helped me with my makeup too – I got black rims and green liner above them to highlight my green eyes. Then she rinsed out the hairspray bottle she’d emptied on my head and filled it with whisky.

We went to the birthday party thusly armed and while the other party attendees played an impromptu game of volleyball in the park, she and I sat on the slide in the nearby playground and took swigs out of the hairspray bottle, stashing it back in her huge purse when anyone looked over to see what we were doing.

We were sitting in class the next year – science, I think – and she passed me a note that said, “I think I’m going to get pregnant.” Her mother had had my friend’s older sister at 16 and my friend at 18. My friend thought it would be cool to have a baby. She knew she loved her boyfriend and would always be with him.

I think I tried talking her out of it, but she was pretty adamant. She could do it – she’d seen it done – and she wanted to. There was no downside. So she went ahead and had a baby.

I’m really glad she’s out there and doing something so wonderful with her life. Even if I had known about doulas in high school, I would never have expected her to end up working as one. But from where I’m sitting now, it makes perfect sense.

Her daughter would be about 16 now. I wonder what she’s like.