{"id":1287,"date":"2011-04-04T22:47:25","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T05:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.streamdoubletrouble.com\/?p=1287"},"modified":"2013-10-17T12:14:32","modified_gmt":"2013-10-17T19:14:32","slug":"magic-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/magic-number\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic Number"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six weeks ago one of my college girlfriends called me. She was 22 weeks pregnant and had just been placed on emergency bedrest. She was terrified. Yesterday, she happily announced she had hit 28 weeks. The third trimester – it does exist! (I\u2019m going to laugh when she ends up getting induced at 41 weeks. \u201cOh no, Mom. You successfully put the fear of the world in me. I\u2019m staying put. No plastic incubator box for me, no sir!\u201d)<\/p>\n

I smiled when I realized the date. I was in the midst of planning a baby shower for my friend who is 32 weeks pregnant. She and her baby boy are doing well despite several pre-term stints in the L&D unit thanks to a klutzy step off a curb and a rather unfortunate bout with a food-borne illness (and the resulting intimate encounter with the United Airlines barf bag).<\/p>\n

Another girlfriend, who I\u2019ve known since I was 12, is pregnant with her second little one. (There must be something in the water.) She emailed me yesterday morning (the very same \u201cHappy Third Trimester to my college girlfriend\u201d morning). She is 27w5 days today. If she were in my shoes, her little pumpkin would already be a day old.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s been almost a year since this roller coaster screamed its way down the first drop. Last year at this time, I was spending my days at a relatively new job trying not to arf on my boss. Today, I spent my day at my brand new job, trying to make sure I didn\u2019t have baby arf on my shirt. I guess it\u2019s not that different year-over-year…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But it seems a world away from 27w4d baby boys. Destroy had a bad day today. He woke up at 7 a.m. and decided his regular morning nap was unnecessary. And his afternoon nap – nah. Mary Poppins (nee Holly) even took the muppets for an hour long stroll beneath the springtime sunshine; Search snoozed, Destroy stared at his surroundings. I took them on another evening walk, hoping the steady rhythm would lull Destroy into dreamland. After two miles I peeked around the stroller – Search was contentedly curled up; Destroy stared expectantly back at me with his big brown eyes. \u201cThe wrong muppet fell asleep,\u201d I informed the universe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Search\u2019s been sleeping much more because he\u2019s been off exploring the world. Not content with merely crawling, Search has figured out how to pull himself up to a standing position. He can crawl up the step in our living room (yippee) and the standing trick is possible via the chair, his music table, the couch or the dog. Destroy is content to roll around the living room.<\/p>\n

Despite being awake 12 hours straight, Destroy still did not want to sleep come bedtime. Search had rested up on plenty \"\"<\/a>of beauty sleep so he didn\u2019t want to end his day either. While Destroy screamed, Search babbled away to himself while pulling himself up to stand in his crib. I picked him up to lay him back down. He giggled and sat right back up. As I tried to soothe his exhausted brother, Search began to amuse himself by giving a play-by-play of how he was disassembling the wires of his video monitor. Sensing nothing good was going to come of this particular endeavor, I plunked him down in his brother\u2019s crib and duct-taped that cord to the wall. It\u2019s never coming off – the muppets will be packing for college and the monitor will be watching.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Finally, after an additional eight ounces of milk, Destroy passed out. I began to rock Search. He looked up at me, his blinks becoming longer with each passing iteration. He was fighting sleep, smiling and snuggling up against me.<\/p>\n

As the Disney lullaby, \u201cFeed the Birds\u201d (Walt Disney\u2019s favorite) calmed my little muppets and the quintessential springtime scent of jasmine filtered in through the open windows, both my boys slept soundly – subtle smirks brightening their faces as they no doubt dreamed about the mischief planned as tomorrow\u2019s adventures.<\/p>\n

Thinking back to the fear and trauma of the unknown, with the overwhelming emotions of seeing your miracles for the first time, I am happy that my friends\u2019 little ones are safe and sound (or stomping on their mommy’s innards). Surprisingly, what I feel most of all – is relief.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six weeks ago one of my college girlfriends called me. She was 22 weeks pregnant and had just been placed on emergency bedrest. She was terrified. Yesterday, she happily announced she had hit 28 weeks. The third trimester – it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[20],"tags":[127,147],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Sbzi-kL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3252,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/counting-down-the-moments-to-39-weeks\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":0},"title":"Counting Down the Moments to 39 Weeks","date":"April 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I thought getting pregnant was going to be the hard part. Turns out that bright idea merely prompted the universe to remind me that children are life\u2019s way of reminding us that we have no control. Bitch. What were supposed to be the blissfully ignorant glowing months before motherhood were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Milestones"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2305,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/confessions-of-a-guilty-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":1},"title":"Confessions of a Guilty Mother","date":"March 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cHe always smiles like he\u2019s got a secret,\u201d Search\u2019s teacher informed me. Nobody knows it but you've got a secret smile And you use it only for me And with his wry little half-smirk, I have no doubt that he does. You see, Search and Destroy know the secret of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hospital"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1875,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/report-cards-part-ii-%e2%80%93-grade-premature\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":2},"title":"Report Cards Part II \u2013 Grade Premature","date":"November 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As I mentioned yesterday, my state seems to be struggling slightly when it comes to the whole reading and math concepts. (Clearly their parents never read them Harold and the Purple Crayon\u2026) But there was another report card that just came out too: The March of Dimes 2011 Premature Birth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Prematurity"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/hello-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":3},"title":"You Want a Family? You\u2019re Going to Have a Family!","date":"February 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Announcing the Stream twins: Discovering their existence and sharing the news","rel":"","context":"In "Pre-natal"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/streamdoubletrouble.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/03\/jonathan2.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":90,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/release-to-general-population\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":4},"title":"Release to General Population","date":"April 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I am normal! After what seemed like eons since our last visual visit with our little ones, Jon and I returned to the doctor\u2019s today to see how the twins are faring. It has been four whole weeks since our last ultrasound. And wow \u2013 are they growing fast! You\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pre-natal"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/streamdoubletrouble.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/04\/babyb-21weeks.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3534,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/until-we-meet-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":1287,"position":5},"title":"Until We Meet Again","date":"August 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes life takes a turn and you are left with no words with which to express your emotion. When you are a writer, this can pose a problem. I first \u201cmet\u201d Diana from Hormonal Imbalances on Twitter. She had just been admitted to the hospital; her water had broken at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Angels"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Until-We-Meet-Again-300x224.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}