Greetings from my first back-to-back days off in months -- not NBC's fault; I just apparently have a lot to do! I never want to say “no” to a weekday shoot, and I never want to say “no” to a weekend shoot, and I never want to say “no” to traveling and I never want to ... you get it.
On top of that, I'm not sure what I'd do with two days off. (I have a hard enough time with one!) I've found that I'm far more productive when I'm busy than when I have the whole day ahead of me.
ME ON BUSY DAYS: OK, I can squeeze in a workout now and then write my script, meet with my producer to game plan our next shoot, join the morning TODAY meeting, do our interview at 11, grab a quick lunch with Lindsay, shoot our second interview at 3, hop into an edit session, meet Steph for dinner and I'm home by 8.
ME ON DAYS OFF: What? There's a 10-hour “Law & Order” marathon on today?! Awesome!
That being said, I stopped off in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for a day and a half to visit an elementary school friend, Saskia, on my way to two shoots in Atlanta this week. She has a quiet little house near the beach with a pool and a darling husband. I take advantage of two out of three of those. Unlike my crazy life, hers is calm and somewhat routine. (That’s always a little jarring to my system when I first get down here.)
SASKIA: It's almost 9. I'm heading into the office. Enjoy the day and I'll see you at 5 when I get home.
ME: Wait, you're working 9-5?
SASKIA: Um, yeah, every day.
ME: That's genius!
So here I am, relaxing (although I had to look that word up) by the pool and unwinding (looked that up, too) with a long walk on the beach while racking my brain (didn't need to look that one up) about life after the baby gets here – for one, what in the heck is this little baby going to call her two moms?
Mom/Mommy?
Momma/Mother?
Jenna/Steph?
I thought it would be nice if one of us is “Mom” and the other is the French word for “mom,” since I grew up in Haiti speaking French. But the French word for “mom” is “Maman,” and when you say it aloud, it sounds like there's a piece of cheese stuck in your throat and so Steph put the kibosh on that real fast. Needless to say, navigating the delicate task of parental name-calling is an on-going conversation. Open to suggestions.
Other things I'm thinking about: the situation in Syria, global warming, my maternity leave, and how some women can honestly say they've never felt better than when they were pregnant.
Who are these superwomen and how do I get some of their mojo?! Let me explain.
My pre-pregnancy ailments: NONE.
My mid-pregnancy ailments: Morning sickness, heartburn, lower back pain, broken wrist, tweaked knee, shoulder tendinitis, tight jaw, fatigue, insomnia. lack of balance and the always popular pregnancy brain. And I'm just pulling into month six!
To all the amazing women who have had children before me, I applaud, commend, praise, admire and standingly ovate you. To all the women who will have children after me ... haha, good luck.
I haven't given up, though. I still drag myself to see my trainer a couple times a week. (But I'm no longer doing my crazy plyometric, eye-candied workouts where I'd spin for an hour followed by handstand push-ups on a big ball with anvils tied to my wrists and interns tied to my ankles.) So twice a week, my friend Jarred and I visit our trainer Joel Harper, one of those athletically gifted and spiritual people who genuinely care about you. (Crazy, right?)
JOEL: How's your body feeling today?
ME: How much time do you have?
JOEL: Where's your head?
ME: My head is right here, right now, in front of you. (Pause, look down.) Crap, I forgot a sports bra.
Pregnancy brain aside, I do what I can do during the workout. And while it drives me crazy that my workout partner is jumping rope and banging out hundreds of push-ups and perfecting his abs while I'm across from him doing stretches to the tune of elevator music, at least I show up. And when it comes to working out, something is always better than nothing. (Note: This does not apply to morning sickness.)
So, clearly, there's a lot pressing on the old cerebrum these days. With about 18 weeks to go in this pregnancy, I still have some time to sort it all out (or, more realistically, to let it sort itself out). And here's what I've learned: Try as we might, we cannot possibly control everything. We can plan and organize and arrange and prepare and assume -- but only when we fully embrace life's UNPREDICTABILITY does it get a whole lot easier.