by Roz Romero

Created on: April 29, 2009   Last Updated: April 30, 2009

It was a blazing hot summer day when I decided to get out of the house to seek refuge in the nearby air-conditioned supermarket. I was 32 weeks pregnant and enormous. At 5'2, I resembled a pregnant toy Weeble People - with a sweat mustache.

My twin sons were only 18 months old, yet they were already living a robust life. If they weren't eating or sleeping, they were usually found running, jumping, climbing or leaping off of something, or some high place, from the moment they awoke in the morning until they plopped down for their naps at noon.

Though they were twins, they had minds of their own and they often "explored" independent of each other. This made for difficulty especially when they learned how to hide from me. As my belly grew, they figured out that it took me a while to get up and do anything about their mischief so they challenged me in every way possible. They were like ying and yang - or Cling and Clang, as my husband called them - one would run one direction while the other would go the opposite. It was always a delightful adventure to try and take them anywhere - especially with a watermelon belly and a shopping cart. I pushed the horrifying thoughts away and convinced myself that this shopping trip would go smoothly and without any problems.

Glancing at my watch, I realized I was pushing my luck by getting such a late start. It was getting a wee close to lunch and nap hour, but the notion of the icy cool breezes that awaited at the grocery store were worth the high risks I rationalized. Moreover, I found these little "dares" I made of myself kept me oddly stimulated. Motherhood of twins and pregnancy had turned me into a bit of a dough head so I devised little games to keep myself amused. For instance, I'd always try to predict which twin would dump his dinner on the floor. The night before, as I had predicted with my Mommy ESP, Thomas had won my silent contest. Ding. Score for me.

Following a ten minute strapping in of the twins and my giant over-bloated self, we finally arrived at the market, finding an unusually full parking lot for a late morning weekday. Unfazed, I circle the lot in hunt of a free parking spot, but find none. Given that the air conditioner in the van was running full tilt, and the twins were strapped quietly in their car seats, I didn't get tense when I had to take another circle around the lot. But the second circle turned into two more before anyone came out of the store to free up a spot for me and the giant van. I had

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