The Most Enjoyable Inconvenience
By: Debi Smith
Tags: Writing, Motherhood, Memoir, Journal, Pregnancy

Chapter 2

August 19, 1990, 2:00 PM

Almost three months since I last sat down to write in this journal. Taylor has farted, woken, eaten, pooped, vomited, played, smiled, slept, farted, woken . . . hundreds of times since that night.

What a joy he is, but I’ve kept track of all that in another journal.

December 16, 2020: And I hope I find that other journal! I believe I kept it on my computer at work. I'm sure I made a backup, but on what medium? Pretty sure it would have been on a floppy disc. A floppy disc!! This is one of my main frustrations as the family archivist: not knowing where everything is. It's easy with my bin full of actual journals, my other containers full of actual photos, and my safes full of actual film negatives and videos. But when everything turned digital? Not so easy. Panic rises thick, not knowing where it all is. I often wonder if other mothers and fathers share this same agony.

Now, to see if I can remember and record the happenings before Taylor was born, beginning with where I left off in January.

It was a pretty average month, except for me getting bigger and bigger of course! New Year’s Eve, three years from our first date, Bruce and I went to Bridge’s for dinner, and mostly talked about becoming parents! Wish I could have had a drink, but not for a while, and all for a very good cause. Then we went home and fell asleep on the couch. Woohoo, Happy New Year!

I went to the doctor on the 2nd, and everything was looking great. I went back on the 19th for the glucose test. I didn’t pass. They said it wasn’t real bad, but not very good, either. I went back for another test on the 30th. With the results on that one, they told me they weren’t going to do anything further because it would affect my insurance. They told me to just really watch my sugar intake. Probably the best thing for me. Up until that point, I was baking something sweet or eating ice cream nearly every day.

On the 27th, the whole family came back to our house after Pat’s wedding reception in Oakville. Chuck was so excited to become a grandfather and could talk about nothing but “the baby,” which made me feel bad because Jodi and David had been trying for a while to get pregnant. None of us knew at the time that they actually were pregnant, and Taylor’s first cousin is due to be born next month!

Chuck kept at it and asked what was new with the baby and me. I answered on impulse: “Bruce had to trim my pubic hairs this morning because they are too long and I can’t reach them anymore.”

Everybody laughed, and Chuck quit obsessing about the baby. Mission accomplished!

That night they all wrote their guess for birthdate and sex of the baby on the calendar. As it turned out, David guessed it right on.

On Sunday, Bruce had to work, as per usual, but we were all planning on being at Chuck and Janice’s for his birthday dinner and cake. I had made a cake from scratch and was so excited to share it. I went into town early to watch the Superbowl and wait for Bruce to join us there. He called and said he’d be later, and then called again and said it’d be even later, and then he finally called and said he couldn’t make it. We felt bad, and then proceeded to the cake without him.

The cake turned out so weird, though. I couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong until I came home and looked at the stove and realized I had broiled it.