One of Poppyseed’s (our nickname for the baby) favorite pastimes while still residing in Wombsville was to get the hiccups. It was something that occurred most evenings, so when she first got the hiccups after coming into the Real World, Tracy didn’t think anything of it. I, on the other hand, was really thrown off. It’s interesting how well one gets to know another human being when it’s, you know, living inside of you.
This past Sunday, we decided to give the whole “going to church with a baby” thing a whirl. Fed? Check. Clean diaper? Check. Asleep on the ride there? Check. Open pew in the very back? Check. The biggest worry a new parent has when going to a place like a church is that the baby will cry loudly. (A loud bowel movement probably ranks as a close second, if I had to guess.) Poppyseed awoke a couple minutes into the service and was a little squirmy, but not too bad. Walking around in the back of the sanctuary appeased her, and it was good.
Fast forward to the sermon.
Hiccup.
Hiccup.
Hiccup.
Why yes, that is our baby’s hiccups, reverberating through the sanctuary with amazing clarity. We had no idea our church also doubled as an echo chamber, and that the back of the sanctuary was the location from which sound was able to most effectively reach the ears of every single person as if she was sitting right next to said person.
Walking out of church as the couple whose baby hiccups loudly? Check.