Tuesday, May 30, 2006

I am a Big, Grumpy Mama

I am so sick of doing all the dishes every night and all the laundry every day. I keep reminding myself that I'm doing this because I need to live in a clean house with clean clothes and towels. It keeps me sane. But often it feels as if ALL I do is take care of the house. And of course the kid, but lately I feel like I'm taking care of the house better/more often than I'm taking care of her, and I worry about what things are going to look like around here when the baby comes and I suddenly stop doing dishes and laundry every day. Whee...

Anyway - it's late and I'm a grump so I'll just finish this with a couple of stupid, unthinking, annoying things my dad has said to me in the last week, the week before my due date:

"You are huge - how big is that baby going to be? Maybe you'll break the record - what is it now, fourteen pounds?" (I think that is the record. I explained to him that it's not all baby in there - there is a lot of fluid as well, and other things...)

"You really are so huge - I hope you don't explode." (This one didn't sound so much like a joke - I think he might truly believe it's possible for a pregnant woman to explode.)

The other day while talking with him on the phone he worried at me out loud, saying things like, "I just hope everything goes okay..." with a meaningful pause afterward. I know that he thinks I'm nuts to do a homebirth, and knowing that, what he said says comes across to me something like, "Gee, I hope you don't die in childbirth - especially since your mother and I won't be home."

Today he left a phone message (I didn't answer because I was just about to walk Sweet Pea to the bedroom for her nap) and sounded all anxious and said, "I hope everything's okay over there." Sounds benign, I know, but he's such a worrier and he's passing his neurosis through the phone lines. I know that he's extra worried now because I'm due Friday and I'm JUST SO HUGE!

Gah. Yes, obviously I am putting this stuff through my own filter before it gets to my brain, I'm just annoyed by the unthinking way he says all this stuff - not considering that RIGHT NOW I really don't want to hear it and he should keep his trap shut. After the baby is safely and happily born at home, he can tell me all about how worried he was, if he really needs to. But you don't lay that stuff on a pregnant woman a week before she's due.

4 comments:

Christina said...

Geez, he needs to lay off! Unthinking is right - he's just a wee bit tactless, yes? There's no need to throw that kind of worry and negativity on a pregnant woman!

And for the record, you are not that large. I've seen bellies far larger than that. Oh, and the record for largest baby is somewhere over 20 pounds.

Violet the Verbose said...

OVER TWENTY POUNDS? What was that mother eating? How old was the baby before it was born? ha ha! Imagine - a newborn in a front-facing car seat. hee hee.

Yeah, Dad's just a wee bit tactless. Yeesh. I'll be talking with him soon enough, and will tell him to lay off with the worry and negativity, or at least to direct it somewhere else other than at me.

Unknown said...

Oh boy. My Dad still says crap that annoys me to no end...like...

"...he whines because he still sleep in your bed..."

or

..."BUy a crib!"

Anonymous said...

I know it gets annoying doing those daily/weekly things to take care of the house. I hate it myself but I hate feeling like I'm living in a dump more. On those hard days, I do give myself a break and tell myself it's not like we have a visitor the next day who'll see it. Then I take care of it the next day.

Anyway.. is it possible for Slipshod to take over just ONE of your most annoying activities? I know he has a lot of hours he puts in at work, but it is sooooo helpful to me that Garret helps out here and there for me. One thing he does that I never tend to is laundry. He washes/dries everything. Okay, he only puts HIS clothes away, but that's good enough for me. At least I get clean clothes for me and the kids. Sometimes he doesn't tend to it as quickly as I would like and I have to wait a few days or more for a favorite outfit, but I don't mind. So have a talk with him.. maybe he can take over one chore like laundry, or dishes, or whatever for you.