Leftovers from Pregnancy

There's this restaurant on Green Street in Old Town Pasadena called "La Luna Negra" which serves tapas and sangria (think alcoholic grape juice soda with bits of fruit in it) and has entertainment like flamenco and bands playing all the time. It's quite a sight to see when you drive by, very festive looking and really grabs at your attention and the food is quite good but it is a bit pricey and if you're tall like my 6'4 lil brother, the height of the chairs and table are quite uncomfortable.

When I learned I was pregnant and the dark line on my belly button that runs from the top of the belly down to the bottom of the belly, is in fact called the linea negra, I could never get the two straight. I often called it the luna negra on my stomach. Yes, a restaurant was on my belly. Apparently, the mark is caused by the hormones in your body (as everything is whilst pregnant) and fades after you give birth some months later.

Understandably so, I did not freak out when the line did not disappear on my stomach immediately after giving birth. In fact, I was so calm about the natural line on my belly, that I failed to realize the rim of dirt that was forming around my belly button.

Recently, on our road trip back from Arizona, I sat in the backseat with Jordan and for some strange reason, got bored and began to look at my belly button, wondering when the luna negra would disappear. This was my first encounter with the rim around my belly button that I immediately thought was just part of the luna negra. But remember I said it's a line? My line was still there but significantly lighter than the circly part of the luna negra that in contrast to the fading line, looked quite distinct and huge. Ugh, I thought. Pregnancy in all its glory and beauty can also be quite disgusting sometimes. Ugh. Ugh again. And then.... I wondered. No... It couldn't be, but..... but what if?

So I started to rub at the rim around my belly button. Shocked and a bit disgusted by myself, I realized it was starting to rub off. I grabbed for a wipe (pretty convenient to have Jordan around at times like these), and began scrubbing the circumference of my belly button with the wipe. Remember picking the Elmer's dried glue off your fingers when you were a kid? This was ten times as fun and yet, part of me cringed at how long I had let my belly button deteriorate to its current state of grimy leftovers.

I don't remember what Andy was doing at this point. He might have been on the phone (I think this is the only time he calls most of his friends... while on a road trip!) or singing to the music playing from Pandora on our bluetooth system (yes, it's quite sweet), but afraid to admit what I was doing that exact moment, I might have started up conversation to distract him. In fact, I 'm quite sure I did exactly that. I did however recall the events for him later but did not have any evidence to show for it (this I did purposely, nobody should ever know exactly how much dirt was on my belly button).

So for all my pregnant friends or soon to be pregnant friends, please beware - the luna negra/linea negra - whatever you want to call it... it is a hormonal stamp of pregnancy in the shape of a line and a line only. There should not be a circle involved. Don't be like me and wait for the line to fade away before you realize the circle of leftovers.