Having Jack - some more thoughts

Margaret had her stroke 11 months before Jack was born. I had helped her for a few days when she came home, installing various devices to help make it possible for her to live by herself. I specifically remember drilling a hole in her cutting board and hammering in a spike, so she could impale vegetables that she wanted to chop. Still, I worried about her and was reluctant to give her any shocking news.
So, a few weeks later, when I knew I was pregnant, I was afraid to tell her. We were chatting on the phone. I decided to get cute and asked her how she felt about being a grandmother. She let out a horrible shriek. I said, “Margaret? Margaret? Are you all right?” I was afraid I had killed her. It seemed like hours before she answered me. I almost hung up to call the rescue squad to check on her. When she was finally able to speak, she assured me that she was happy. Still, I decided to never give her any more surprising news over the phone!

                Sometime during the period when all I did was throw up and hurt, I started having nightmares about the baby. Repeatedly,  I dreamed that I wasn’t having a human child, I had an Alien fetus growing inside me, eating my innards and getting ready to tear its way out of my abdominal cavity, leaking my guts and goo, on its way to a pillaging frenzy and finally, to take over the planet for all Alien-kind. I was relieved when they did an ultrasound and I didn’t see a tail. I wasn’t sure about the safety of the world until Jack was finally born and he looked human. Still, you never know.