That s why, come the end of a pregnancy when all a woman feels like she s doing is waddling around and peeing, people would much rather see her sit down. Don t get up, they beg, fearing that any motion will trigger labor right there in their presence, as if the force of her water breaking would somehow surge from her womb with the force of a fire hose and pin them against a wall and cause permanent, disfiguring damage. Worse yet, would be to have her water break while she s at someone else s house and ruin their leather furniture. Just don t move, people shout in their heads. In my father s defense, he had good reason to be worried about me going into premature labor.
Women carrying twins statistically go into labor about a month or so early.
I was put on a moderate form of bedrest a month after getting home from the Cape. However during the time I was on the Cape, I wasn t having any contractions. I wasn t dilated or effaced. I wasn t exhibiting any signs of premature labor. But my dad was so paralyzed by the mere possibility of it that for the remainder of the week I was thrust into a veritable jail as he sat in bed awake each night with his fingers crossed and his lips moving in silent prayer.