Jury Duty: To Be Continued

People can be very kind to you when you're obviously pregnant.

I found a comfortable seat in the jury lounge (SD has the 3rd largest jury court system in the country behind LA and Chicago, which leads me to believe NYC has theirs split by borough) where I could put my feet up and read. I read for many hours, knocked off a Wodehouse, part of The Geographer's Library, and part of a first-year child development book. I had lunch at Wendy's and then had a cupcake and ice cold milk in a coffee shop where some Brits asked me about the weather. The milk was better than the cupcake, but the people in the coffee shop were sweet.

A lady sitting across from me took my ticket to get me a trolley/bus voucher when everyone was told to get up and get in line to get vouchers. Her name was Susan and she was quite kind.

I have a timeline somewhere that I'll dig out, but I wasn't picked until the last call of the day. Then they called my name. So off I trot with the masses, lots of people saying, "Well, you certainly have just cause to get out of this." I explain that I'm just at 36 weeks and I'm not taking disability. Since I can work, I can also do my civic duty. Any exertion makes me pink and it's swelteringly hot, so I must look like I'm about to give birth right there in the Hall of Justice.

Women wanted to talk to me about my baby and then about their babies and pregnancies and labors. I met a woman with seven kids who breastfed them all. She said breastfeeding hurts like hell for the first six weeks (take that, lactation consultant!). They told me about their labor pains and their pregnancy quirks. I think seeing me makes them nostalgic for their own pregnancies. It's quite an unusual time. A lot of the women just urged me to figure out childrearing for myself and trust my instincts, which I appreciated.

Anyway, I was not picked for the jury in the first round, but I was added to the second string of jurors after the lawyers dismissed more than half of the first string. I must return tomorrow to answer questions; stay tuned to find out if I'll actually be serving on the jury. If I am, they expect the case to be over Friday or Monday.

Now I must eat ice cream and pet my darling cats. I feel like I haven't seen them in forever, poor guys. And I want to put my swollen feet up.