1.16 No, no troubles at all

The tension grew with every month that passed. Anna still had no signs of being pregnant again, instead both she and Jo grew older. Of course, Birdy did, too. Very soon she would be a school child already, and Anna desperately wanted a playmate for her.  In addition, she needed the feeling of having a newborn baby in her arms again. 

Those days, Anna spent a lot of free time alone in the garden again, since this was something she hadn’t done very often. She didn’t work there because it helped her job performance – she no longer really cared about that –, but because it helped organizing her thoughts. Besides, it was an amazing feeling to see something grow that she had planted and tendered herself for weeks.

Jo didn’t approve of his wife being busy all the time. There were periods where they barely talked to each other, leaving both of them alone. He wondered whether she thought it was his fault that they were failing to have another baby. After all, he was old, while she was still able to conceive children. Guilt was in the air all the time. 

The only one who was enjoying her life was Birdy. Somebody was always there to teach her, or to cuddle with her. Although she sometimes noticed that Mommy and Daddy weren’t talking much, they always made her feel like she was really important. 

They also bought lots of stuffed animals – ducks, unicorns, teddy bears – for her to play with, so that she wouldn’t be lonely at any time. Soon, the yellow duck with the big black eyes was her best friend. She named her Ducky. Her parents kept calling her different names, though, which annoyed her. Tweety and Bobby were the most common names they used. Bobby? Please. Ducky was a girl!

She also spent a lot of time with a special-looking doll, singing to her. By the way Birdy often made up new songs or deliberately changing the melody to something that made sense, too, everybody could tell that one day she was going to be a real virtuoso, just like her parents. Maybe it ran in the family.

Although one of them always was with Birdy, they were barely together as a family. Jo had taken up guitar playing again, because a promotion was getting closer and he practiced a lot. His biggest fan was Kokette, not Anna. Anna was watching from the inside as Jo played for hours, already surrounded by paparazzi who were destroying the lawn with their clumsy feet.

Then, one day, the sweet feeling of relief. Anna was pregnant again. They were going to have another baby, and everything was going to be fine.

The pregnancy didn’t slow Anna down, quite the contrary: all of a sudden, she was full with energy. No challenge was too big for her.

Even potty training was something she did with a smile. Although it smelled really horrible and was a very laborious business. Birdy wasn’t too interested in activities like these, she preferred playing. Sometimes she was found at the xylophone, but most of the time she was actually busy playing doctor with her animals and doll. One day, one of the duck’s webbed feet was bandaged, the other day the teddy bear had to bounce on one leg, because Birdy had accidentally sat on the other. She was a busy bee, always exploring the possibilities of helping people and animals. It stood to reason that banalities like potty training had no place in her life.

There was always time for books, though. Birdy loved hearing stories told by her mother, and looking at the pictures. Whenever she wanted to draw something, it didn’t look quite as good as the paintings in the book, but very slowly she was getting better. One day, Anna even recognized a duck as a duck, and not shouted out how wonderful she had drawn that boat.

The days still had twenty-four hours. A pregnancy couldn’t change that, of course. Yet, Anna got so much more done now that she was pregnant. During the last year, she had spent her days with Birdy and a little gardening, now there was not one moment of laziness. Baby, horses, house and garden – everything had her attention. Well, almost everything. Jo barely was home, and when he was, he needed to nap. 

Then it was time. In the middle of a lovely spring day, Anna’s water broke and she and Jo rushed to the hospital. Despite having slept throughout the morning, he had been wide awake as soon as Anna started screaming.

They were in for a long night.