{"id":3144,"date":"2014-08-01T21:12:16","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T04:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/?p=3144"},"modified":"2025-05-23T17:31:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T22:31:23","slug":"dont-try-friday-august-1st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/dont-try-friday-august-1st\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Try &#8211; Friday August 1st"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/poem1982-06-11-the_old_big_time.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3145\" alt=\"poem1982-06-11-the_old_big_time\" src=\"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/poem1982-06-11-the_old_big_time-226x300.jpg\" width=\"226\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/poem1982-06-11-the_old_big_time-226x300.jpg 226w, http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/poem1982-06-11-the_old_big_time.jpg 547w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 226px) 85vw, 226px\" \/><\/a>In anticipation of getting pregnant, many women take prenatal vitamins, get their body in shape, and do other shit I don&#8217;t know about. \u00a0I imagine there is a lot of sitting beside windows flooded with sunshine while holding their bellies and feeling serene. \u00a0They probably get professional photos taken of themselves and get pregnancy massages.<\/p>\n<p>I act out. \u00a0If my acting out was described as a mathematical equation using literary references instead of numbers it would be something like \u00a0&lt;&lt;Hunter S Thompson + Oscar Acosta (Dr Gonzo) raised to the power of Bukowski divided by Tim O&#8217;Brien = One scared white lady about to jump off a really high cliff&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>Obviously Oscar Acosta&#8217;s disappearance shouldn&#8217;t be ignored. \u00a0And I use Bukowski instead of Hemingway because I think his demise was both incrementally spectacular and more subtle than Hemingway.<\/p>\n<p>I am very grateful to be loved by a group of people who monitor my behavior without making me feel oppressed or weak. \u00a0I am already usually in a state of embarrassment and horror about the things I do. \u00a0The embarrassment isn&#8217;t just about the all apology notes I owe to people who were sucked into and then spat out of my acting out storm system. \u00a0It&#8217;s about the disparity between what people see in me and what is really there, underneath. \u00a0Close up &#8211; if I let them &#8211; a few people can see the sloppy stitches and the too many layers of White Out.<\/p>\n<p>If something goes wrong there&#8217;s no escape hatch this time. \u00a0Hazel is here, and she and Tom need me. \u00a0I can&#8217;t disappear, or have a nervous breakdown, or. \u00a0I kept my shit together last time because I wasn&#8217;t ready to throw in the towel after one tragedy. \u00a0I&#8217;ve got too much pride in my intellect and understanding of the human condition to really consider calling it quits after I lost my son. \u00a0I might have felt differently if I knew what was in store for me and my family in the years that followed.<\/p>\n<p>But this time, I do know. \u00a0I know I could lose another child, I know that if the pregnancy is successful it&#8217;ll be painful and scary and complicated, I know that Tom and I both work too much, I know that the things I do to help my children could be the things they think are the most annoying about me, I know the child could arrive in the proper time frame but still not be healthy, and worst of all slash I finally understand how little control I have over any of it.<\/p>\n<p>And so I keep letting the water flow through my gills. \u00a0I tap into\u00a0to a level of excitement and joy and love that a lot of people find overwhelming. \u00a0I let myself be as down and dirty depressed as I need to be, but only for a specific amount of time prearranged between me and my brain. \u00a0Unfortunately grown up life keeps happening at the same time, and sometimes it all gets a little sloppy.<\/p>\n<p>Soon the scales will tip and Tom and I will want a living sibling for Hazel more than we&#8217;re afraid of what we know. And then, like all the creatures on the planet capable and desirous of procreating, we&#8217;ll figure it out. \u00a0Even if the worst happens (my personal definition of &#8220;the worst&#8221; changes by the hour) I already know I&#8217;m sticking this out. \u00a0I won&#8217;t lose my shit. \u00a0I&#8217;ve lived through pain, I know it doesn&#8217;t kill a person&#8230;but I didn&#8217;t know that until I was pretty old. \u00a0Hazel needs me around at least until she has to find that out for herself, and there&#8217;s no way that I&#8217;m going to let my absence be the thing that teaches her about pain.<\/p>\n<p>That last sentence is staring me in the face. \u00a0It&#8217;s mocking me, it&#8217;s saying -&#8220;You know trying to have another baby introduces the real risk that you will not survive the gestation or birth. \u00a0It&#8217;s not a huge risk, but it&#8217;s real.&#8221; \u00a0It probably makes sense to apply some Joseph Heller to the aforementioned mathematical equation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In anticipation of getting pregnant, many women take prenatal vitamins, get their body in shape, and do other shit I don&#8217;t know about. \u00a0I imagine there is a lot of sitting beside windows flooded with sunshine while holding their bellies and feeling serene. \u00a0They probably get professional photos taken of themselves and get pregnancy massages. &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/dont-try-friday-august-1st\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Don&#8217;t Try &#8211; Friday August 1st&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3144"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3264,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144\/revisions\/3264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.poorluckyme.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}