Hot Tub Mama

This morning I went to water aerobics at the gym. I like water aerobics a lot but this morning's workout was particularly good. There's a new teacher there who apologized that her class is a little more hard core than the other teacher's, but in all honesty it was a super good cardio workout and probably more worth the time. I didn't get bored in the middle of class and check the clock because she kept us on our toes, and she even played hip hop music.

Water aerobics...not just for old people.

Afterward, I always taking a soak in the hot tub and usually a shower...soaking up as much of my alloted childcare time as I can. Does that sound horrible?

In the hot tub I met a very nice pregnant girl who was just soaking her legs. You know, since hot tubbing while pregnant is not advised or whatever.

It was nice to talk to her. It was her first pregnancy and she was only 12 weeks along and seemed a little clueless about what pregnancy would be like. She opened up quite a bit more than I expected, once I told her I had some rugrats of my own.

She talked about cravings and aversions. She shared that she was a little scared of breastfeeding, and that she wanted to try for a natural labor if she could. She wondered when she would actually look pregnant and stop feeling sick.

She really didn't know anything about what to expect.

It felt strange and foreign to me not just because babies are an old hat in my life, but because everyone I'm around is having babies as well. I'm surrounded by babies, toddlers, preschoolers and big kids on all sides. I've changed so many diapers, seen so many women nursing, heard so many stories about labor pains and mucus plugs.

I couldn't help but think (did that sound very Sex and the City right there?) that it wasn't all that long ago that I was her. In fact, it's all right her documented on this blog if you have the time to dig. This blog was started in 2006 when I was pregnant with Tessa and I knew about as much as Hot Tub Mama.

Our conversation was nice. I offered her some of my sage advice, but also just listened and nodded a bit too. I wondered how many baby-making female friends she had.

I regretted later not attempting to trade contacts with her.

I don't think I know much more about making babies than any other women in my stage of life. I'm just exposed to it a lot. And the people a little bit older than me probably feel the same way when they see my posts on FB about Kindergarten or homework or lost teeth. They nod and smile and remember. And my grandmother probably feels the same way watching her own daughter with a gaggle of grandchildren around. She knows. She remembers. And she can't tell us anything we won't eventually find out for ourselves. Just like I can't tell Hot Tub Mama whether she'll be able to breastfeed or not.

She'll find out for herself. We all will. The great continuous onward march of mothers.