If You Like This, You Should Read the One About The Time My Bra Fell Out of My Ear at a Bat Mitzvah. That’s ‘My Ear,’ Not ‘My Rear

Mostly, I’m glad my antics didn’t break her water.

I have a friend in the neighborhood, you see, who is in her 28th week of pregnancy; part of her MO when pregnant is to have the baby early because she only has half a uterus (somehow, her uterus is bisected and, thus, has only half the capacity of a normal one; however, I’ll be danged if uterine tissue isn’t crazy-stretchy, kind of like those weird spiky hair balls you can hold in your hand or stretch over your head, and if the image of a spiky hairball as an internal organ isn’t the mental image of your day, then, pray tell, what possibly has topped it?).


Because it’s starting to get a bit tight inside Neighbor Big Bump–even with the stretchy spike ball that is her uterus–and because she has a history of going into labor early, no one takes it lightly when she has an afternoon of Braxton-Hicks contractions, as she did last week. Once she stopped cleaning the garage, though, and lay down for awhile, the contractions stopped, which was quite fortuitous since our baby shower for her was to be held two days later,

and nothing’s more of a downer at a baby shower than the appearance of the actual baby. Hell, PeeWee, at the neighborhood shower we all just wanted to eat scones and watch Neighbor Big Bump open gifts. We didn’t sign up for placental extraction as part of the gig—although I must admit that the spoon from the fruit salad could have done a bang-up job at curetting that half-a-uterus, after the baby landed in the taco dip and added vernix to the sour cream.


So it was cool those contractions stopped, and we could eat without fear of meconium in the muffins.

You may have noticed that I refer to Neighbor Big Bump’s pregnancies and how predictably they unfold as though I’m drawing upon a fair amount of evidence. I mean, it’s kind of unusual to have a labor MO.

For clarification, here is Neighbor Big Bump’s current family configuration:


What you don’t see in this photo are the two miscarriages, or the embryo conceived in a fertility clinic that ended up testing positive for a form of trisomy before implantation…not that this neighbor couple has trouble conceiving naturally, but you may have noticed that what they conceive are boys. And Neighbor Big Bump—perhaps due to her own father leaving her family when she was young and being raised by a single mother, perhaps due to having only brothers herself, perhaps due to getting through the toughest moments of her life encircled by fierce girlfriends—has always felt deeply in her soul that she is meant to have a daughter. After looking into adoption and feeling that its risks and costs weren’t for their family, Neighbor Big Bump had drawn upon an inheritance, as well as maxing out a credit card, and used a fertility clinic in an attempt at gender manipulation.

The embryo that was conceived there, the one that ended up with the trisomy issue?

Male.

(how they knew that, I have no idea)

At this point in their lives, this family is just happy they’re all healthy and smart and glad that the contractions last week stopped so that they weren’t suddenly dealing with the unimaginable result of a labor at 28 weeks. It was time to celebrate. The baby shower did just that.

I like to think that I upped the entertainment when the shower was drawing to a close. As I worked at cleaning up the community center during wind-down chat and goodbyes, I suddenly had a surreal moment, witnessed only by Neighbor Big Bump, who happened to glance away from her conversation at just the moment when I looked down at the ground in front of me and thought, ”Bwahh? What just fell out of the leg of my pants? It looks like…it is…my underwear…?”

Then, a nanosecond later, I thought, “But, strangely, it’s not the underwear I’m wearing today. I remember I put green lady lacies on today, so how can it be that a very distinct pair of my pink undies is now on the floor at my feet?”

At the moment I sussed out that the pink undies must have been lying in wait inside my jeans since the last time they went through the wash together, and that they had gradually been working their way out of my pants leg for the previous three hours, I also looked up and saw Neighbor Big Bump’s incredulous look.

“Is that a headband, and did it actually just fall out of your pants?” she called across the room.

“Er, no. It’s my underwear.” I have always veered towards headbandish underwear, and if that’s my only fault (“if” being the operative word here), then I’m doing okay, I thought defensively.

“YOUR UNDERWEAR?” she yelled, starting to laugh in a potentially-water-breaking manner.

Her laughter continued, especially as she had me recap for the entire crowd what had just happened—all while I stood there, holding my pink smalls. And I do love telling a story with props:


It was fitting that my rogue undies were pink,

a harbinger of things to come.

You see, this time, with her seventh pregnancy and eighth conception,

she’s having a girl.

Comments

comments

Comments

20 responses to “If You Like This, You Should Read the One About The Time My Bra Fell Out of My Ear at a Bat Mitzvah. That’s ‘My Ear,’ Not ‘My Rear”

  1. AmyTree Avatar
    AmyTree

    Oh that's wonderful!!!!! (The news of a girl, as opposed to the idea that you carry spare undies in your pants legs, though that is pretty darn clever too!!)
    I'm half-asleep and a bit hungover and it got me right…there. 🙂

    x

  2. geewits Avatar
    geewits

    Panties in your jeans? That's funny. I usually "drop" dryer sheets from my clothes, not other clothes. Congrats to your neighbor I guess. I don't get the whole concept of all that effort for a daughter. And that poor girl is going to have four big brothers if I counted right. But I wish them all the best.

  3. Bob Avatar
    Bob

    I'm missing two pair of boxers. would you check your pants, please?

  4. furiousBall Avatar
    furiousBall

    Did you know that Public Enemy was a skosh away from naming their 1990 release Fear of Meconium in the Muffins, they instead opted for the racially inflammatory, Fear of a Black Planet.

    True story. If it's not true, may my ex-wife get a job and start paying me alimony.

  5. J and J Acres Avatar
    J and J Acres

    There's 8 in my family- the first six are girls! When the doctor delivered my oldest brother, he said "Congratulations! It's a boy."

    And my dad said:

    "You gotta be shittin' me!"

    hee hee.

    Mom knew it was gonna be a boy, but she didn't tell dad!

  6. Fannie Avatar
    Fannie

    Ah yes, rouge underpants, I know them well.

  7. Jazz Avatar
    Jazz

    I choose to believe it's a girl because your unmentionables were pink.

  8. kmkat Avatar
    kmkat

    You wash your pretty pink undies with your jeans? My mother is turning over in her grave. I only wash my dark blue and purple and black undies with my jeans — I was raised right.

    Congrats to Neighbor BB! That baby girl is gonna grow up tough, with four brothers.

  9. Becky Cazares Avatar
    Becky Cazares

    It's a girl! Awww! That happy ending made snorting coffee while reading green words very nearly excusable! You really need to FOCUS a bit better when dressing for big neighborhood events, ya know!

  10. ArtSparker Avatar
    ArtSparker

    How very oracular of you.

  11. Casdok Avatar
    Casdok

    A girl! Yay!

    And you tell your story with props so well! Excellent!! 🙂

  12. Chantal Avatar
    Chantal

    LOL too funny.

  13. heartinsanfrancisco Avatar
    heartinsanfrancisco

    Oh, yayyyy! I'm so happy for her. Can you say "spoiled," children? I knew you could. A little girl after all those boys is truly something to celebrate.

    I've never heard of a half-uterus before. Apparently it works just fine, though, and the rest of us have all that surplus tissue just hanging around. (So to speak.)

    I have a friend whose first and middle names are Jacqueline Last — She has 7 older sisters and her father declared before her birth, "I don't care what it is, it's going to be called 'Jack' and it's the last one."

    It seems your pink undies were a nice harbinger – I'm sure that's why they hitched a ride to the party with their friends, the jeans.

  14. Pam Avatar
    Pam

    I confess. I stuffed a sock or two down my bra at the Junior High dance. I disposed of them in the restroom when the frantic antics of the "arms up and down like a monkey climbing a tree" dance meant it wouldn't be coconuts sliding to the the floor,but my scruched up cotton attempt at breast enhancement…and I have actually seen a woman step out of her fallen knickers on the dance floor, just kicking them away with wild abandon- what else can you do -furtively scurry??

  15. flutter Avatar
    flutter

    I mean, did you know that your panties are the oracle?

  16. chelle Avatar
    chelle

    HAHAHAHAHAHA
    That is awesome!

  17. Fragrant Liar Avatar
    Fragrant Liar

    It was an omen! Or you secretly wishing you could pop out a girl yourself. Am I right? Isn't there something I should win right now?

  18. Pearl Avatar
    Pearl

    Oh, it's been a long time since I"ve been to a party where the people end up with underwear on their heads…

    Apparently all the wild parties are happening in Duluth!

    Pearl

  19. monica Avatar
    monica

    :o) LOL ! so apparently they missed out on the fact that
    " every 4th child born is chinese" – their 4 toddlers look pretty american to me… :o) wow, imagine the life that little girl will have! 4 elder brothers! she won't be dating until she's 34…

  20. Diana Avatar
    Diana

    When this happens, I always feel it's the result of a deep-seated love, in this case between your pink unmentionables and your jeans.

    Sadly, like so many of these deep passions, they are fleeting and both parties seem to slide apart as life intervenes.

    Still, it was apparently a fierce attraction while it lasted.

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