FIVE AND ONE HALF - Chapter 19

We had discussed a name for a boy and a name for a girl. I was going to have a little more influence if it was a boy. Since it was a girl Lesley had her way and named her Charlotte Rose and said, “I will call her Lottie.” So Lottie it was and she came with a problem we had to deal with.

The problem was four visiting and doting grand parents. They spent more time with Lottie than I did. My dad the hard boiled stevedore was under Lottie’s spell from her first yawn. This big tough and sometimes mean man was completely captivated by this little piece of humanity.

The rest of the grand parents were just as bad. Lesley had to protect her from them wanting to handle her too much.

Finally they all cleared out and just the three of us remained. Lesley was able to get around but the doctor told her to take it easy for a few days. We hired a nanny to come during the day to help Lesley care for Lottie. The woman has had several children of her and taking care of Lottie is just old hat to her.

There is something that I’m having some difficulty with and that is changing her diapers.

I can get by the smell okay but the cleaning her up bothers me a bit. It’s the cleansing of the cracks and spreading the folds to make sure she is clean that seems somewhat intrusive and embarrasses me.

When it really gets to me I have found myself thinking, “Why couldn’t have been a boy and I would have no trouble doing this.” Then after finishing this chore and she was all powered up I would think, “What a magnificent specimen of womanhood you’re going to be when you grow up.”

Lesley was still showing a little bit of extra tummy and I thought of the image I had of her in my mind. A shapely, perfect, example of a woman as she should be but Lottie has made a few changes in mom.

Outside of seeing her breasts when she nursed Lottie I didn’t get to see Lesley undressed.  She told me that in three months she would be almost the same as she was before.

I tried to convince her it didn’t make any difference but she said it made a difference to her.

During those three months Lottie was changing everyday. And she seemed to recognize different people. Maybe it was their voices, I don’t know but she responded differently to members of the family.

Then one Saturday Lesley said, “Let’s go swimming and take Lottie with us.”

There was a private pool at the club we had been enrolled in by the company and I said, “Fine with me.”

We loaded up Lottie’s stuff which was a chore and headed to the club. Lesley said I’ll see you in a few as she and Lottie went into the ladies dressing room.

I put on my suit and waited for the grand entrance of my slimmed down wife. I don’t know how she did it but she looked as she always did since I first met her.

I told her I couldn’t believe my eyes the last time I had seen her was when she went into labor and now she was a completely different woman.

She saw I was pleased and she asked, “How do you like me?”

I said, “Same as always only maybe a little bit more. You know I’m completely in love with you and whatever shape you’re in my love for you are unchanging.

She said, “Lottie has made a couple of changes in me; one is I have some stretch marks that look like they are going to stay and my breasts have sagged a little with all this breast feeding.”

We had a nice time swimming and dipped Lottie in just to let her feel the water. We were the only in this large pool except for the exercise class for the older members.

Our suits had dried out so we wore them home and showered and changed there.  

She was right about a few stretch marks though they were faint and her breasts were not quite as perky as before, but were beautiful from an artist point of view… who am I kidding, from her husband’s point of view.

The grandparents had been asking me when we were going to have a boy now that we have a girl. I said it isn’t up to me for I don’t have to go through nine months of discomfort and the delivery.

I decided to put the question to Lesley if she had thought about having another baby, maybe a boy.

She said, “I have maybe fifteen more years where I could get pregnant so I’m in no hurry. I’m going to enjoy Lottie as she grows up at least for a few years. We were very close for nine months and we are going to continue to be as close as we can be for the next few years.”

I guess that answered that question.

To be Continued