I’m
almost full term now. There are just 4 weeks left but I've decided I hate being
pregnant. I’m hot all the time. I don’t care that fall has arrived and the
temperature is rarely above 50 degrees. I've started wearing deodorant under my
breasts because I sweat so much. I can’t get comfortable in any position and
barely manage to get sleep. Not on my side, or my back and forget my stomach. My stomach is so big I feel like I need my own zip code.
As I
heft myself from the bed for my fourth pee of the night, I hear the ding of my
computer, announcing that I have a new email. After finishing my business, I
lower myself with a groan back into bed, pulling the laptop towards me and
booting up my email.
Hello Friends and Family of 7/3
As we discussed in the homecoming brief at last night’s
meeting, our soldiers have been extended for a period of 30-60 days. The flight
schedules and arrival times will be updated as the dates draw closer. Please do
not share this information, especially on social networking sites. Remember OPSEC at all times...
I stop
reading after that. I didn't go to last night’s meeting. Half the time, the
meetings devolved into shameless gossip and children running around screaming
while their mothers looked on, drinking simsmapolitans. I haven’t bothered
attending in months.
I’m
pissed. Ben has been insistent, since he left, that he would make it home in
time for our child’s birth. A 30 to 60 day extension automatically puts him
past the 4 week window I have left. I know I should be more understanding. I
know I shouldn't be mad at him. It’s a promise he never had any control over
but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that I will be having a baby, our
first baby, alone.
I close
the laptop, sinking back into the pillows and hope that sleep will find me. As
heaviness overtakes me, my computer bleeps angrily and rouses me from my
semi-conscious state. Speak of the devil. I flip the laptop up and click the
answer button but say nothing as Ben’s face fills the screen.
“I take
it you heard?” Again, I say nothing and just glare at him, jaw clenched. I want
him to know I’m angry. I’m also afraid that if I stop being angry, I’ll fall
back into despair and spend the last weeks of my pregnancy crying over what can’t
be. “Han, please don’t look at me like that. I have no say in this. You know I’d
be there if I could.”
Deployment Interlude: Part 2 Chapter 7.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes:
*This should be the last deployment interlude before we get back to regular (if not regularly scheduled) updates.
*OPSEC - Operational Security. Basically keeping information that could be deemed useful (mission information, deployment locations/timing, personnel transactions/problems, and security information or procedures, etc) out of the hands of potential adversaries by carefully monitoring your communications. Especially important in this day and age because of social media.
*OPSEC - Operational Security. Basically keeping information that could be deemed useful (mission information, deployment locations/timing, personnel transactions/problems, and security information or procedures, etc) out of the hands of potential adversaries by carefully monitoring your communications. Especially important in this day and age because of social media.
