Rockabye

Fernando

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though we never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

Joe gained the right amount of weight for the pregnancy, but that didn't mean he wasn't paranoid that he'd gain too much. The average woman was meant to gain twenty-five to thirty pounds during their fifth month. Joe was right at the end of that, at the tail end of his second trimester. Men were more or less the same, give or take a few pounds.

Joe had just hit the thirty-pound mark when he began to have a little bit of an episode. He wasn't an unhealthy person. Sometimes he'd drink too much or he would eat unhealthy food. He loved burgers and coffee. Donuts were his favorite. God, he could be such a slut for a good Krispy Kreme donut. He didn't have it often but now that he was with child, he tried to cut back.

He still had his chocolate milk but not as often. The lactose pills helped to a degree but nothing could stop pure whole chocolate milk from ripping through his system. He was also on tons of different vitamins and was being watched to make sure he didn't become a pregnancy diabetic.

Everything around him was changing and Joe did everything he could to keep things going smoothly. He went to yoga with Lucy, hoping that the stretch of his body would keep him in shape. It helped to a degree but he just wasn't bendy enough for that. He downright refused to go to Lamaze. He went once and the looks he got from the other parents was too much for him to bare.

Joe wasn't afraid to be who he was. He was a single male carrier doing this basically on his own, he was proud of the challenges he was taking on. But even he couldn't handle the whispers and the stares. Not to mention that at this point he didn't even look pregnant.

His stomach was rounder, hanging low. Most women carried higher with girls but Joe was a special case. Boy or girl, he'd be low. His face was still slim and so was the rest of his body other than the gut he was currently carrying. It was firmer now, and every now and then he would feel the gentle glittering of the baby moving around and kicking.

No longer waking up to vomit, Joe would find himself being nudged awake by the baby moving about. It was a wonderful feeling. A small reminder that this was real. That she was real.

It was that little nudge that got Joe in the right direction. He wanted to healthier for his girl and make sure that he didn't put her a bad situation.

Jogging was really his only option. No fucking way he was gonna try running, the poor thing would get shaken baby syndrome before she was even out of the womb. Walking was fine, he walked around whenever he wanted to take a break from writing.

He would go out every other day and jog around the neighborhood or if the weather was nice, the park itself. Today he went through Central Park, taking a light jog as he enjoyed the weather. He was dressed casually. Sweat pants and a hoodie. It hides his body well enough.

Anybody who saw him would just see a guy trying to keep in shape and not a father to be doing everything he could to keep his baby in good health. He had his headphones on, listening to nothing but the classics.

He spent many nights sitting with a pair of headphones on his stomach so the baby could listen to classic rock. She already knew every U2 and Queen song available to the public. Joe was known to be somewhat of a dancer and he would dance around the living room, blasting the music as he rocked out with his baby girl.