Olive Garden and babies

This afternoon, my cousin R called me and said, "Let's go to lunch at the Olive Garden." How could I say no to that? I didn't. I said Yes, and we lunched on bread sticks, salad, and endless bowls of soup. And we sat in the same room, only one table away from where we sat the last time we were at Olive Garden together for lunch nearly 10 months ago.

That time we were both hugely pregnant with the babies who would soon be known as K and Zachy. We were both full term and wondering when the little fellows would choose to make an appearance. The last weeks of pregnancy are hard and so we decided to give ourselves a little something to look forward to one weekend at the end of January. We decided that if neither one of us had had a baby, we would go and get pedicures and then go out to lunch. Well, that Saturday arrived and I was definitely still pregnant and huge and so was R. That morning she called me and said, "I'm not sure, but I think my water broke. It's not a lot, more of a trickle, really, and I'm not having any contractions or anything. I think we should still do our plan." I agreed because I was excited, too, and it wasn't as though this was our first rodeo. It was the 4th baby for both of us and we knew that no contractions meant no deal. We also knew that it was pretty standard that a baby should be delivered within 24 hours of water breaking and pedicures and lunch would only take 2 hours tops! Besides, new babies are a lot of work and who knew when we'd have this chance to have a kid free girl outing together again? Answer: As we learned today, obviously not for 10 more months on November 24. Ha!

So she came and we went to the salon for our pedicures. We sat in the big massage chairs and chatted with each other and another pregnant woman who had come with her mother and the same idea to make the waiting a little more bearable by doing something fun. After pedicures, on our way to the car, R said, "It's more. Still no contractions. I think we should still go to Olive Garden. If the contractions start there we can just leave." "Yeah," I said, "Or you could just have your baby at Olive Garden. That would be exciting. Also, I bet if you have a baby at Olive Garden, it means you get to eat there for free for the rest of your life."

So it was on to Olive Garden. After we ordered, we sat chatting and R suddenly got a worried look on her face. "Does it hurt?" I asked. "No, but there was a gush." "A gush?" "Yes. What if I get water all over? Good thing I have my coat, it will hide anything." "Do you want me to go see if they have any pads in the bathroom?" "Yes." So I got up and went to look. Nope. Then I asked a waitress and she said they didn't have any. Side note: they should have these things. Come on Olive Garden! After that, we ate quickly and then went back to my house so R could "take care of things" and call the hospital to see if she should come in. Answer: Yes. As she left my house I told her, "Lucky. You get a pedicure, lunch at Olive Garden, and a baby. All in one day." And that night K was born. I had to wait for one more week before I got baby Zachy :)