Andrea’s Weblog

We had our second childbirth class last night. The men, or rather,
coaches got to model the sympathy belly. It’s a 30 pound jacket
complete with belly and boobs, tight straps to constrict breathing and
some moving balls to simulate kicks. I could barely pick up this thing
off the table, but Frank was a good sport and tried it on. The
instructor had the men walk around a bit and then sit in a chair and
try to get out of it.

A sympathy belly squishing a beer gut beneath it is not a pretty sight.
The scale of the belly was definitely not in proportion to the size of
some of the coaches. Can you picture a football player pregnant with a
volleyball? Some women, who really wanted their husbands to suffer,
dropped things and made them squat and pick them up, again, not a
pretty sight.

I guess I didn’t feel that I needed any additional sympathy from Frank,
I was just happy that he could get an idea of what being pregnant is
like. I’m not saying I won’t remind him of this experience the next
time we’re on a walk and he pauses for me to catch up to him . . . or
the next time he laughs at me trying to roll over in bed . . .

I also learned that I should remove my wedding ring. I noticed that it
had gotten almost impossible to take off, but I guess I was thinking
that the swelling wouldn’t get any worse, or it would only be temporary
(ha!). After tugging it off this morning, I’m glad I did because there
is a still a big dent where it used to be. Now I don’t have to worry
about getting my ring cut off if my fingers swell any more.