No, I'm not referring to the usual backseat kiddie commentary, or what I usually hear when the kids are sharing an armchair. No, that whiny complaint up there is what I find myself thinking as I rouse from sleep each morning. Have I mentioned that we badly need a new mattress?
We bought our current sad specimen when I was pregnant with my daughter 8 years ago. In preparation for a big move out of state and into our first house, we bought a new king sized bed set. I still remember going to the mattress store and trying out all the mattresses, big as a whale at 7 months pregnant and helpless as a turtle on its back. Little did I know that within three weeks of convenient home delivery, I would be sleeping soundly upon it when my water broke, leading to an entirely different sort of delivery.
Of course, it was 6 weeks prior to my due date, so while I had dutifully purchased the waterproof mattress pad, I hadn't actually gotten around to putting it on! Luckily, I woke immediately and hopped right out of bed, and from that point on I never gave the new mattress another thought. At first, I was puzzled that I wet myself while sleeping, and then the panic set in once I realized my water had broken too early. In the blur of waking my husband and calling my doctor and driving to the hospital while sitting on a pile of towels and freaking the hell out, the state of the mattress didn't matter.
The next 12 hours were scary and confusing, and when I arrived home two days later with my brand new 5 lb. 8 oz daughter, I was still in a state of shock. Happy shock, but still - what were those people at the hospital thinking? I could not believe we'd been allowed to bring home this teeny tiny girl for whom we had no clothing or diapers small enough to fit. But she'd done incredibly well from the start, and they had other babies being delivered whom they needed the NICU space for, and she was breathing just fine and eating just fine and still, I could not believe they let us just, you know - bring her home!
Back to the mattress. 8 years went by. I know what you are thinking: "What? No exposition? 8 years just 'go by?'"
What can I tell you? Life happens. You have another kid, you move another 3 times, and after a certain point you can't tell which of the 2 or 3 small stains on the thing is the tea that got spilled and which is the amniotic fluid. You realize your mattress is sagging. You buy some lumber, build a proper support system for your bed, and sleep away for another year or so. Then you realize one night as you are flopping around trying to get comfortable that not only in there now a hump in the middle of the bed, but you can actually feel individual springs poking into you as you flop around.
So, this has all been a long winded way of saying that we are going mattress shopping this week. I think we are going to have to bring the kids, which promises to be interesting. If you live on Cape Cod and were thinking of going mattress shopping and want to do it in peace? Here's fair warning that maybe you should stay home tomorrow. I'm just sayin'.
HRH was a month to the day early and 5 lbs 9 oz - and they let me take him home in two days - like I knew what I was doing!
We hated our mattress since we got it but were too cheap not to 'get our money's worth'. The day we came back from vacation, we bought our new mattress. When you rent a lousy house and the mattress there is still better than yours, you suck it up and spend the money.
Posted by: Manic Mommy | January 21, 2008 at 01:38 PM
Yeah, we got a decent mattress when we moved here. By that time, our previous mattress was 8 years old, and there were two person-shaped trenches on either side. A little horrifying, to be true.
We didn't go top-of-the-line when we moved here, and after two years I'm seeing some obvious wear-and-tear... not quite trenches yet, but a bit of a peak in the middle, between us.
Good luck shopping! When we went, I made both kids take their shoes off as soon as we entered the door, and the rule was that they could sit or lie anywhere they wanted, but anyone standing would be promptly removed to the car. It was chaotic, but no one was hurt in the purchasing of the mattress.
Posted by: Kate | January 21, 2008 at 03:40 PM
I don't live in Cape Cod but if I did I would probably go mattress shopping to watch the fun.
Posted by: Lynne's Somewhat Invented Life | January 21, 2008 at 11:15 PM