An Unexpected Engagement

Chapter 73

Penelope's first bath was a chapter of its own, and we can summarize it in an event where I cried the whole time for fear of drowning her and Steve saying that if I didn't calm down he would throw me out of the bathroom.

And all this stops, after thinking the worst is over, she poops next on the changing table.

Steve looked like he was going to throw up and it was my turn to say that if he didn't calm down I was going to throw him out.

And I must say, that until I passed the first poop test with mastery. Why, it was just a nasty little booger. And after cleaning it
and put on the diaper...

“Hey Natasha, the diaper fell off! Steve yelled when he took Penelope after I changed her.

I looked at Steve with the baby in the air and the diaper on the floor.

"What a fucking diaper!"

Okay, it took a while for me to get the diaper right. And I must say that the fact that Penelope gets her dirty many times a day helped me a lot to train this part a lot.

"Is it normal for her to poop that much?" What's in my milk? Mexican food? I asked my mother when I called her.

“Honey, that's how it is, don't worry. And have you ever done the goddess dance for her? I'm sure it will calm her down and she will stop crying and...

“Okay, Mom, thanks! “I hung up before she started talking crazy.

And as Steve said, the days went by and everything really got easier. Or rather, I got used to that new reality and realized that there was no point in planning and thinking that everything was going to be perfect when it came to Penelope.

Every day was an adventure.

Sometimes I thought I was the luckiest person in the world, with my baby's warm little body next to mine, her peaceful resonating.

Her little fingers holding mine. The eyes locked on me, as if they knew me.

And others I thought maybe I should run away to Dubai and change my name. Like when I woke up in the middle of the night, tripping over everything to get to her, wondering, as Penelope grazed my nipples, if I was ever going to get a full night's sleep again. Or when the cramping season started, Steve and I would take turns switching her position and massaging her tummy until she calmed down.

In these delusions, I sometimes included Steve in my escape plans. And in others I really wanted him to disappear too.

When, for example, he came back to work and left me at home totally terrified of being alone with a three-week-old baby for the first time.

"You can't leave me alone!" “I had screamed.

— I need to work, Natasha, did you know it was temporary...

- I do not care! You are the father! You have to stay with me.

'And who's going to make money?'

"We can do scams over the internet!" Or we can turn Penelope into one of those babies in a TV commercial. Yes, she is beautiful and will be so successful! Have you ever imagined her in Hollywood movies? It will be great for her to start earning money and support this family, after all, she consumes a lot of diapers...

In the end, obviously Steve was not persuaded and returned to his precious job at DBS. And I was left alone with Penelope.

The first few days I was just trying to survive. With Steve at home to share everything, it was a lot easier. Now, I had to turn around. And of course not without some confusion. Like when I decided to clean and walked around the whole house taking Penelope's stroller to, at a certain point, when I took a peek to see if everything was okay, since she was very quiet, I realized that the cart was empty.

"Oh my God, they stole my daughter!"

I ran out and grabbed the phone, calling Steve, terrified and he couldn't understand anything I was saying amid my screams of terror.

“Natasha, calm down and speak slowly!

I took a deep breath and managed to get a few words right.

"They stole our daughter!"

— How did they steal?

"She was in the stroller and she's not, Steve, someone took Penelope!" - She cried desperately.

Then suddenly I looked at the kitchen counter and there was Penelope, sleeping peacefully.

'How did she get there?' I stammered.

- What's it? Did you find her? Steve yelled on the other end of the line.

"Yes, she's here..." I walked over and picked her up.

Mercy, I didn't even remember leaving it there...

“Natasha, what the hell is going on?

"Nothing, I mean, I think I'm going crazy...

“Crazy you always were.

— No, now it's serious! I put Penelope in the cart and went to dust the furniture, I mean, I thought she was in the cart, but I actually left her on the table. On the table, what kind of mother does that, Steve?

— Calm down, she's just tired, she hasn't been sleeping well, let's fix it.

And that's how Steve convinced me we needed help.

- I do not need help! - I refuted.

“Yes, you do, and that's out of the question. How about your mother come to spend a few days here?

“Did you freak out? My mom would drive me crazy with her incensand crazy dances for the goddess, no way.

- And my mother?

“I would be very nervous with your mother here. I don't want her to know I'm a total wreck. What a shame.

"You're not a disaster...

- I'm not? What will happen next? Will I find my daughter sleeping in the oven? Am I going to put her out with the trash?

“None of this will happen. Shall we hire a nanny then?

- Already? I know I'll have to hire someone when I get back to work, but...

— Yes, it is the best solution. So Penelope is getting used to someone else taking care of her...

"I don't know if I liked it...

- What?

"Someone else taking care of my daughter..."

“Natasha, you'll have to get used to it. Or will you never want to go back to work?

I confess that at that moment, with Penelope on my lap, I seriously thought about telling Steve that he would never leave the house again. She was going to stay like this forever, just being a mother.

Yes, I was going to be one of those model moms!

I was going to become a maternity specialist. In a short time he would be an authority on the subject. I'm sure they would ask me to go on TV shows to give advice to other poor desperate mothers and...

Would you never really work again?

Hmm, the doubt really weighed in at that time. I felt divided in a way I had never felt in my life.

In the end Steve said I still had time to think and we saved the babysitting idea for later as I still felt pretty jealous.