Evolving

Aunt/Periods

As previously mentioned, my sister became pregnant when I was thirteen-fourteen years old. She was five years older than me at the time, so she was about eighteen. It was a really confusing time for all of us. My dad had recently left, I was growing accustomed to taking care of myself and now my mother, who was still a wreck from the separation, and around this time I had just gotten my first period, so I definitely had my hands full balancing my own plate of responsibilities. I didn't know how I was going to put a baby on that list. I didn't know what that even meant at that point.
I remember working on my homework. I was in seventh grade at the time. I was lying on my mom's bed in her room, because her bed was bigger than mine and she had a fan in her room which I liked to turn on while I did my work. It was this day I remember, because on this particular day I had gotten my first period. Awkward, I know. Well, I was at school, class had just ended, and I went to my next class as usual. I get called out of class by my previous class' teacher, and she takes me to the nurse. She explains a period to me, and says I managed to bleed onto the chair, which was noticed by a student in the next class and is how she knew it was me, and she walked me to the nurse and explained the entire thing so I'd be less embarrassed. Of course, that didn't work. I was so embarrassed and mortified. This day has gone down in history on my list of "top embarrassing moments that Chelsea will never forget". There are plenty of things on that list.
Anyways, I got my first period, and I was home that evening. My sister came home and my mom was on the couch with a box of pads (because she said I was too young for anything else and should learn the basics, of course) and my sister was curious as to why my mom had so many extra. My mom explained to her that they were for me, and my sister came into my mom's room and interrupted me doing my work to start rubbing her fingers together, claiming she was "playing the world's tiniest violin for the death of my childhood". I was so embarrassed that night at home too, because I knew my sister would make fun of me, and she didn't disappoint; she milked it for all it was worth.
It wasn't long after that night that I was again working on homework in the evening, lying on my mom's bed, when I heard crying. I came out into the front room. There's always things that happen where you're in the moment and you think to yourself, "I'm going to remember this forever." You might not remember the entire event. You might remember bits and pieces. You might remember the weather, or what you ate, or how your hair looked.
I remembered that my sister was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands, crying. She was wearing a white jacket that her friends and her had spray painted and colored on to represent their senior class colors. I remember it so clearly, the jacket she was wearing to celebrate her last year of high school, and her sitting with my mom talking about her pregnancy. It wasn't actually explained to me at that point; I got sat down later, a few months down the line, but I do remember this: I walked up to my sister and hugged her, and she cried harder into my shoulder. I rubbed her back and told her that it would be okay, whatever was wrong wouldn't last forever, and that she'd be okay. I remember other small details, like the fact that the living room light was on, and so was the computer room light. I remember sitting on the floor in front of the couch. I remember so many things that seem unimportant now.. But I'll get to that later.
My sister being pregnant, at first, seemed like the worst thing in the world. Not just to me, either. My parents were both livid, because the father of the baby was my sister's longtime boyfriend, a boy named Harley, a boy who had a knack for getting on the wrong side of the law and who treated Katie, my sister, like shit. I wasn't happy about the pregnancy either, but for different reasons. Usually when someone gets pregnant, they are old enough that they have their own home and can take care of their baby on their own or with their significant other. Teenage pregnancies are becoming increasingly prominent, and my sister and I as kids had always enjoyed watching the show Teen Mom, so it wasn't like I had no idea what was going to happen. Katie would live at home, since she had just graduated high school when she found out she was pregnant. Everyone's focus would be on her, and I would be ignored. I would cease to have my 24/7 alone time, because she would always be home, and soon enough she'd have a crying, screaming baby in tow. It seemed like my own version of Hell.
The pregnancy was rough to say the least. My family and the father's family fought constantly. Katie and Harley broke up and made up constantly. And above all, probably the most horrific to me at the time, Katie ate all of my sugary snacks constantly. I'm not joking, either.
Eventually, the baby was due, and I was forced to come along. My dad had driven up (without his girlfriend) and his brother, my uncle Tim, came with him from a few towns over. Since I was quite bored after sitting in the maternity ward for what felt like days, as any teenage kid would be, my dad rescued me and took me and my uncle out to my favorite place in the city: the Chinese buffet. That sounds dorky, I know, but I really did enjoy it. It was special to me because it wasn't somewhere I went often, and when I did go, it was for a special occasion, like a birthday lunch or if I was spending the day with my aunt shopping, whatever. So I was excited when we went. We got a call sometime during our meal about my sister being in labour, and my mom screamed about how we needed to get back ASAP, but my dad argued that we were staying out, because the entire reason we were out was because of me: my dad knew I needed to get out of there, and that I had no reason to be in a maternity ward in the first place. I was grateful to him for the escape.
After a few hours of my sister in labour, we knew that her baby wasn't coming out for a while, and I was taken home. My parents asked my friend at the time, Shaina, if I could stay the night at her house, because they were staying all night at the hospital with my sister and no one would be home with me overnight. I was fine with staying home alone, but I didn't often get to do sleepovers, so I immediately agreed to go to Shaina's. We had fun at her house, and fell asleep after hours of playing games and eating pizza. I woke up the next morning to a text at about seven or eight A.M. (I don't remember the exact time, but it was early in the morning) with an attached picture of my new baby nephew, Karter. To this day, babies creep me the heck out, but I couldn't think of any word to describe him other than "beautiful". I was already in love and I hadn't even met him yet.
Later that day I got picked up and got to meet him, and as I held him in my arms, I think I met the most amazing boy I've ever come to know.