It's What Mothers Do

7

You stare at all the cute clothes hanging in your closet, tears in your eyes. None of them fit you anymore. You swear, it's as if one day you could wear them and the next you were struggling to get a pair of jeans buttoned up. Being nearly seven months pregnant now, you're starting to feel super uncomfortable with the changes your body is making.

And it doesn't help that the baby wants to kick your ribs every five minutes. When you felt the first kick, you felt so excited. You squealed, causing your mom to rush into your room thinking something was wrong, but when she saw you sitting there with your hands on your belly and a huge face eating smile, she rushed over and placed her hand over yours.

"Is the baby kicking?" she asked you, and you quickly nodded your head, moving your hand away so she could get a better feel. Moments later, you felt another kick. "Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!"

It really was a beautiful moment, but now you wish that the baby would chill out for just a couple minutes at least. You wipe at your eyes, sniffling as you throw pieces of clothing onto the floor, releasing a whine in frustration.

"Wow, what the hell happened in here?" your aunt Maddie asks, amusement in her voice. It isn't until you turn to face her with near bloodshot eyes that the smile leaves her face. "Hey, Y/N what's the matter?"

"N-nothing fits me anymore, I'm too f-fat" you sob, collapsing into tears as you slump down onto the floor, your aunt nervously meeting your side.

"You are not fat Y/N are you kidding me? You're growing another human inside of you!" she replies, rubbing a hand on your back to try to calm you down but it's no use.

"Yes I am!" you yell out, clutching at your hair. "I hate everything about this, I don't feel like myself anymore."

"What is all the noise in here?" your mom's voice appears from the hallway, and you hear your aunt Maddie ushering her older sister in. "Baby, why are you crying?"

You're too upset to even form words. You know you're being dramatic and it isn't the end of the world, but seeing so much change happen to your body at only seventeen years old, it's scary.

"She says she's fat, I tried to tell her that she isn't but she won't listen to me" your aunt explains, and you roll your eyes.

"I've got it from here Mads, thank you" your mom replies, her voice soft. You listen as your bedroom door closes and your mother's footsteps draw closer. Soon, she sitting by your side.

"Now I want you to listen to me carefully baby girl, okay?" she states, and the only thing you can muster is a head nod. "You are going through one of the most beautiful things in life Y/N. You're bringing another human into this world and I don't want to hear you saying things like you're fat-"

"But everyone online thinks so too, you saw the hate I got online after that announcement. I'm just a failure mom!" you argue as a new wave of tears make themselves known.

"Hey, stop it. You are far from a failure and you know that the media like to say whatever shit gets them more hits online. Don't even for a second entertain that crap Y/N, I'm serious." The tone in your mom's voice causes you to look up at her. This is the first time since announcing your pregnancy to her where her voice held some sort of anger. "Promise me that you'll stop looking at that stuff?"

"I promise" you reply, your voice hoarse.

"Good, now why don't we see about some maternity clothes? I know you don't think they're cool or stylish but I promise you there's actually some cute stuff out there. I may even have some of my maternity clothes hidden away somewhere?" your mom offers, her hand coming up to tuck fallen strands of hair behind your ear.

"Yeah, I guess that would be good" you reply, forcing a smile. You still don't feel any better about your body, but maybe with some better fitting clothes it'll at least help.

"And don't try to hide your thoughts from me baby girl, I know you more than you may think. A mom always knows."

-

"Are you sure you don't want to know the sex of the baby?" your dad asks while applying the last bit of paint to the nursery. You decided to go for more neutral colours since you want the gender to be a surprise.

"Yeah dad, I'm sure" you respond while fixing the blankets in the baby's crib. You can't believe that in less than two months you'll have a baby in here. It feels like yesterday that you found out your were pregnant. Time isn't on your side it seems.

"Have you thought of any names yet?"

"A couple" you smile, going through this list in your head. "I really like Ariella or River for a girl, and maybe Parker or Noah if it's a boy."

"I love those mija, what does your mom think?"

"What do I think of what?" your mom asks while entering the nursery, two cups of green tea in hand.

"Baby names, the ones I told you about yesterday."

"Oh, I really liked Noah! But I think you're gonna have a girl" she states with a confident smile.

"And what makes you so sure of that?" you ask, sitting down on the nursing chair before your mom passes you your mug.

"Call it mother's intuition" she replies, "but if you want to have some fun then we should do the necklace test."

"The what?" you and your dad say at the same time, causing your mom to giggle.

"The necklace test" she repeats before unclasping her own necklace before placing it in her hands. "You take a necklace with a pendant on it and hold it up so the pendant is facing towards your belly, and you watch to see if it swings back and forth, or goes around in a circle."

"And this is supposed to mean what exactly?" you query as your mom holds the necklace to your protruding stomach.

"If it goes around in a circle then it means you're having a girl, and if it swings back and forth then it's a boy."

You all watch as the necklace slowly starts to swing back and forth. With every passing second, the swing gets slightly bigger and soon enough, it changes to a circle.

"See, it's a girl. Told you a mom knows best" your mom says smugly, causing you to shake your head.

"Sure mom, lets just wait and see if that's true or not" you reply, secretly hoping that she's right. The thought of a little version of yourself running around fills you with so much joy. Of course, as long as your baby is healthy then you'll be happy, but you can't deny that you'd love if it were a girl.

Only two months to go and you'll find out.