The Adventures Of Claire

My name is Claire, I am currently a mother to be and am seven in a half months pregnant. It is the most wonderful feeling I have ever felt, knowing I am bringing a life into this hectic world, which also kind of scares me. I work as an elementary school teacher teaching the third grade. I love working with kids because it is awesome when you teach a kid something, and you can tell when a kid gets the question, because it is like a light bulb that pops up in their head. The child is thrilled for the rest of the day. It makes me happy to know that I am teaching younger kids important things they need for the future.

I didn’t find out I was pregnant till I was five months along. I didn’t feel any changes, and I still got my regular menstrual period. I was so delighted when I found out that I was pregnant, because I have always wanted a baby. When I told my fiancÐ"©e that we were expecting, the worse but common situation happened to me. My fiancÐ"©e’s name is Charlie; we have been seeing each other for four years now. We were the happiest people, did the craziest things together, and always talked about marriage. We never once talked about kids, but when I told him I was pregnant, he decided to up and leave me. He told me our wedding was off, and that he wasn’t ready for a baby. He was telling all of his friend’s nasty things about me that was embarrassing. Whenever I went somewhere, and I would happen to see one of his friends, they would start blurting out slut or hoe. Charlie decided that it would be nice to tell his friends the reason why we separated was because I got pregnant by some other guy. One day I was at the grocery store, and I happened to see my fiancÐ"©e’s mom, and she asked me “how can you do that to my son? He was always there for you and never cheated on you once, but you go and get pregnant by some other guy? She went on to say, “I never want to hear or see from you again and stay away from my son.” I was so speechless and ready to burst out in tears; it was the most embarrassing moment yet. What was I to do? I never slept around and was always home with Charlie if I wasn’t at the school. So, I don’t know where he got it in his mind that I was cheating on him and got pregnant by another guy.

If all doesn’t go wrong at the same time, my parents are currently going through a divorce, because it seems like they are going to cut each others throat open when they try to talk something out. They have been married for 20 years now, and they’re just going to let it go down the drain. My mother was a stay at home mom and took care of me and my 8 siblings. My dad was a railroad worker and worked all over. Needless to say, he was hardly home. I was the youngest of 9 children so I felt out of place. The closest sibling to my age was my sister Becky; she was 7 years older then me. I always wanted to go and play with them, but they always said I was too young and un-cool. I don’t know what to do between my mom and my dad. They both want us children to choose on whom they “like” the most. If I choose my dad, the only way he would talk to me is if I have nothing to do with my mom and vice versa. Nothing is going the way I planned, but all I am focused on is creating a healthy baby and making it easier for when he/she comes into this world. So I decided I am going to take a trip during the spring break, with just myself and my baby. I need the time to relax and get all the stress off of me, because all my stress can hurt my baby. I am planning a trip to Italy. I have always wanted to go to Italy and explore. So, I figured that I would go now, so I could relax my mind and share the experience with my baby in my tummy. I also won’t tell anyone where I am going, it is not like they will miss me much.

I booked the trip and I leave tomorrow. I can’t wait. The whole night I packed my luggage which consisted of two big duffle bags. I packed everything from t-shirts to jeans to shorts; also I packed jackets, shoes, underwear, swimsuit and anything else I could think of. I wasn’t too worried about not packing enough, because I have been saving up money for a long while now, and I will just use traveler checks when I need to buy something.

The morning I was supposed to leave, I called a cab to come and pick me up to bring me to the airport. I was locking up my house and making sure important things were put away for the just in case if anyone broke into my house. When I was grabbing my bags I heard beep-beep, and I looked out the window and saw the cab driver. I couldn’t believe this was really happening. I mean I am actually going to Italy. I got out to the car and put my bags in the trunk and got in the back of the cab. The driver said, “where to?” and I told him the airport. We were on our way. YAY. It probably took us twenty minutes to arrive at the airport, and on our way, I found myself debating on whether or not I should go. Then I thought to myself, why not. I have nothing holding me back, and I will experience a once in a lifetime opportunity. The cab driver said that it would be 30 dollars for the trip, so I gave him the money, and he helped me unload my bags. As I was walking in the big sliding doors, not knowing what to do, because did I mention I never flown before? I was observing what other people were doing, and the direction they were going. It got me thinking and getting depressed, because I saw many families who looked like they were the happiest families I had ever seen. But, I was still happy that I was able to share this experience with my baby to be. I was totally lost and had no clue on what to do. So, I saw someone who worked for the airline and asked if they could help me out. I asked them what exactly I was supposed to do. They told me I had to go to the front desk to either one of the four workers, and they would take my ticket and show me the rest. I had to wait forever to finally get up to the front of the line. A guy who looked like he was in his late 20’s or 30’s took my ticket and said, “ I hope you enjoy your trip and thanks for choosing our airline”. Then the gentlemen told me to go over to security and put my luggage on something or another, I forgot what he said the minute after