I had to have a bit of a conniption last night. The situation was approaching intolerable, and I had to have a small showdown.
Dim and I were at Sophie’s for dinner. Sophie’s friend Andrea was there, too. We were all sitting around the table after dinner, blabbing about babies (yea!) and my anxiety with needles (boo!) and Sophie started talking about all of the a) horrible things that happened to her while she delivered and b) horrible things that could happen to me if I were to deliver, you know, in the Twilight Zone. She was clearly trying to freak me out.
The conversation went something like this:
J: Sophie, stop.S: And the cord was wrapped around her neck so tightly that her heart stopped with each contraction. I thought she was going to die –
J: Sophie, you're starting to freak me out. Stop.
S: But you never know, I heard of a woman who [I don’t remember details. I’m making this part up] died in childbirth because she didn’t have her IV in properly.
J: Stop!
S: So you had better get over your needle thing, because if you don’t have the needle in correctly and on time, the baby could [again, making it up, but not by much] sprout spontaneous boils and die of-
At this point, I had had my fill of her trying to scare me and ignoring my requests to STFU.
J: (slamming my palm down on the table) SOPHIE, STOP TALKING RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE WHAT I’M ABOUT TO SAY IS VERY IMPORTANT! Your job is NOT to frighten me, and your job is NOT to inform me of every possible dramatic complication. That’s my doctor’s job, and she’s doing a fine enough job SOLO. Don’t do this ANY MORE, because it’s NOT WELCOME.
(Awkward silence punctured only by my flaring my nostrils and her rolling her eyes)
I was surprised at myself. I’ve never really yelled at her before. I’ve laid the snark on pretty thick, but I’ve never yelled, and I’ve certainly never struck furniture. I think I shocked her, too, because she was almost (almost) speechless. She muttered something about “You need to know stuff like this” and somebody changed the topic to something else.
She didn’t try to scare me for the rest of the night.
Let’s hope it sticks.
Posted by Jen at February 20, 2006 2:01 PM