We had a rough night sleep last night. After the video I went up to bed. Jean was still awake. She didn't want to be awakened by me or the dogs, and so she had sat up in bed making a list of all the things going on in December.
The list is pretty big. Two years ago we committed to getting all four Baxter kids together this Christmas. We're long overdue for a Christmas with Ginger, and Carol and the Chamberlain clan are coming all the way from New Mexico. As it turns out, though, Janet can't make it because of some Christmas commitments that could not have been anticipated. Still, the nineties have been a rough decade for the Baxter family, and it would be nice to have as many of us together as possible this year.
Beyond Christmas itself, we each have office Christmas parties. In addition, Carol is going to stay with us in Richmond just before Christmas so she can have some one-on-one time with Jean. Stacy will also visit later in the month while she attends a party for one of her authors who lives in Richmond.
With just that to do, we'd be pretty busy. But that doesn't include any of the baby things coming up in December. We've got a baby class on the tenth, and a house to reconfigure. We're going to make the final payment on the baby room furniture on December first, and will take delivery of the crib in the next week or two. We've got a whole baby room to make.
Jean and I talked about all this for some time last night, and we're both committing ourselves to keeping things as simple as possible. We want to do all of the things I've mentioned (and more), but we're going to have to work efficiently to get it all done well.
Today was the baby shower. Colette and Joanna did a great job putting things together. Everyone was there right around eleven o'clock, and there were bagels and sandwiches and juice and (most importantly) coffee. We received all sorts of things, and I am now typing this entry in a car stuffed to its capacity.
In addition to my family, Father Pat and Martha (a longtime family friend) were there. Uncle Kevin (who mysteriously vanished during our Thanksgiving celebration) had called on Friday to say he couldn't make it to the party. Oh well.
After presents and brunch (Jean especially enjoyed a chicken sandwich wrap, while I stuck with poppy seed bagels) Shane gave me a tour of both Molly's and Sabrina's room. I brought my video camera and recorded each room so Jean and I could discuss the details later on.
As the party wrapped, no one could decide whether or not to go sailing on Shane's boat. I came downstairs after drawing with Sabrina on her easel to a throng of baby-shower guests waiting for me to make the decision. The choice was either rush to go sailing before sunset or head on back to mom and dad's to spend the afternoon talking. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to go sailing either, but when the question was phrased "go sailing or go home" I chose sailing.
Mom and dad were going to a big wedding late in the afternoon, so they couldn't go. So Joanna was staying home with the girls. Jean gets sea-sick and will never go sailing (plus she needed a nap). So those going were Stacy and Stuart, Shawn and Colette, Shane, Brendan, and I. Stuart, it turns out, had never gone sailing before; Stacy hadn't been on Shane's new boat.
It's a J-34, which doesn't mean much to me, except that J has something to do with the name of the company and 34 is the length of the boat (in feet). It's a pretty ship: white and green, with a teak interior. The boat sleeps six and has a mini-kitchen. Shane has the boat docked on the Delaware river not too far from the U. S. Naval yard.
We sailed for more than an hour, and it was a pleasant way to end our time together. It was warm and sunny and the light breeze allowed us to take a pleasant course. After we returned to the dock, the New York contingent headed back home, while Shane drove Brendan and me back to the house in Blue Bell.
Jean and I debated staying tonight, but decided to head back to Richmond. Mom and dad were off to the wedding, and we were anxious to beat the traffic on I-95 (Sunday after Thanksgiving is the worst traffic day). We said goodbye to Shane, loaded up the car, said goodbye to Brendan, and left Philadelphia for the last time as DINKs.
On the way home we had no traffic problems. Coming home Saturday night was the right thing to do. Unfortunately tonight was the first time Jean has ever felt contractions. Shortly after we entered Maryland she complained of indigestion. After describing them to me, we decided that what she was really feeling were contractions. The pain recurred at odd intervals, so we knew these were Braxton-Hicks (a.k.a. fake) contractions, but we also knew that they could lead to real contractions if we couldn't find a way to take care of them.
We stopped at the Dale city rest stop for a break. It was chilly, but Jean walked for a bit. All our pregnancy books state that B/H contractions will go away if you change your routine. After three and a half hours in the car, walking seemed the best alternative to sitting. While we were at the rest stop, a security guard walked by several times. He was quite official at first, but on his third and fourth passes, he warmed up to Pasta and Neon (who were following my orders to the letter). We got back in the car, and Jean only had one or two contractions the rest of the way to Richmond.
We're concerned now that travel may not be a good idea anymore. We'd planned to make a few more one- or two-hour trips before February, but tonight was scary. We were driving through Maryland wondering how we would even find a hospital if we needed one.
© 1998 Kevin J.T. Creamer