Something that scares the crap out of me is fetal abduction. I'm talking about the stories where the mother-to-be is lured to a location under false pretenses and another person will kill the mother-to-be to get her baby.
I know this is an irrational fear. In the scheme of things, the percentage of people this happens to is extremely low. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
At this moment I'm extremely paranoid to the point where I practically need a code word to send to my husband so I can know that we're both safe.
Hear me out...
So I'm pregnant with a healthy baby, and not that it should matter but for some reason it does, white boy. I heard once that on the black market a white newborn boy would go for a lot of money to a desperate couple wanting a child. I have no idea if those statistics are true and I don't want the NSA to code me as a child stealer if I google it. You go right ahead and comment if you know more accurate stats.
I've had a few instances in the recent past where I've been paranoid at the fact that I've let strangers into my house so that they can provide a service to us.
Case #1: Creepy Window Guy
I don't remember getting too into this on a blog, but I definitely had a moment with this guy where I was worried. I was 20ish weeks and barely showing but definitely showing none the less. Keep in mind, this guy asked me no questions about my pregnancy, I volunteered them - so realistically he's not interested in murdering me for my baby.But here goes. He comes and does a spiel about windows and he totally sells me on their product. He's the first guy I called but the price tag left me a little shocked... it's about $5,700 for 5 windows. I call my mom and she says, "you need to get a 2nd quote!". So I do, I call a different window guy and he's able to offer windows for half that price. His product seems to be quality and I see a lot of people using their services (by way of lawn signs) and I feel confident that he's the way to go.
Meanwhile, in crazy other window guy world:
Brian and I are loading up the car to go to his dad's for the weekend. It's Friday around 5:30 and we're hauling ass to try to make it on the road that minute. This pricey window guy comes to our freaking house and 5:30PM on a freaking Friday and wants to talk windows. We're OBVIOUSLY busy. We're loading up the car. And in true weak form, I don't tell him that we've already committed to another window service provider. Yes, I get that if I just told him this he would have backed off. But I'm not good with confrontation and I didn't want to have to answer questions about why we went with them vs him because like I said he sold me on their windows. We part ways and I put a note in my brain to call him or email him that we're going another direction... but I forget.
The following Monday, window guy comes to the house AGAIN. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, MONDAY he's back. Once again it's after work and Brian and I were watching a movie with Nolan in the basement. I go upstairs quietly thinking it's probably this guy again and sure enough I recognize his car in my driveway. IN MY DRIVEWAY. He knocks, waits about 3 minutes, knocks again, then waits again... then goes to his car and calls my cell phone and leaves a voicemail.
Yes, I have a strong case of the wuss. I could have answered and been like "sorry, Charlie" and be done with it. I put a note in my brain to call/email this guy later. Once again I forget.
Finally, and this is where shit gets weird, It's Wednesday and I'm on my lunch break. I don't advertise that I go home for lunch because sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, but this day I decided since I forgot to bring a lunch I'd go home and grab some leftovers in the fridge. I pull into my garage and close the door.
Low and behold, freaking creepy window guy KNOCKS ON MY DOOR while I'm on my lunch break alone in my house when he'd have no discernible reason to believe I'm home he's there.
I felt like I was being watched. I felt so vulnerable that once again I didn't answer the door (I'm home alone, no one really KNOWS I'm at home for lunch so I could potentially be kidnapped, driven 4 hours away and no one would really notice except work who probably would think I'm in a meeting or something and not really think on it too hard until I didn't show up at all the rest of the afternoon).
This is where my paranoia felt justified in a way. I felt so vulnerable that I called the corporate office of said creepy window guy and basically explain that I don't want him to call me anymore. Long story short (followed by a 2nd call to corporate) that finally did the trick.
End of story.
Case #2: The Flakey Handyman
So more recently, by that I mean today, I've been dealing with a flakey handyman. I found a guy on craigslist who could help me fix a leaky sink which was resulting in mold growing on the drain. Guy does a great job, can see me right away thankfully since the leak progressed from the sink to falling on the floor and filling a solo cup a day with it's drips.I was pleased with his work and his quick response time to help us with the sink so I told him about a few other projects that I would like his help on including fixing a ceiling fan so it doesn't rock back and forth and our garage door button re-wiring. Something a handyman could definitely do.
This was about 7-8 weeks ago.
After fixing my sink we talked about him coming to do my other projects and it became one of those things where we'd make plans to come on Thursday and he'd confirm it and Thursday would come and work was busy, but what about Monday? How about Wednesday? I can definitely make it on Friday. Is Tuesday good for you? I need to do it before Sunday because I'm going to be gone for 2 months starting Monday.
What.
Monday he texts me, does tomorrow work for you? How about Friday?
Keep in mind every time he requests a date, I confirm it. So I've made a dozen or so appointments over the last 7-8 weeks that he failed to keep.
Paranoia sets in. What if he keeps kicking the can further down the road so that I'm further along in my pregnancy so he can kill me for my baby?
I decided to go with my gut on this one, albeit a little late, but I still basically told him that we no longer needed his services and that I wanted to pay him for the leaky faucet he fixed (he wanted to bill us all at once). I wrote him a check and per his instructions left it in my mailbox and he never came around to pick it up. I taped the check to the front door on Friday and it's Wednesday today and as of this morning he was going to pick it up around 7.
I left around 7:15 and saw someone in a truck with the lights on waiting at the end of my driveway. I thought it was him, I don't know if it was, it could have been my neighbor. Ultimately I think it was just my neighbor...
I texted Brian shortly after who I thought was the handyman came to pick up the check. I texted him a question that wouldn't seem obvious as a question that asked "are you OK" but something only he could answer... When Brian didn't answer right away with the answer that was correct, in fact he wrote something suspiciously like someone that wanted to kill me for my baby would write I called him and basically told him that I'm being super paranoid.
Brian's fine by the way. But my mental image of what was about to go down was nothing short of a hostage situation. I was going to get a call from handyman where the lives of my husband and son would be threatened unless I come home. I know, it's freaking stupid. I need to stop watching Law and Order SVU.
As far as I know the check is still taped to my door. If it's not picked up by the time I get home I'm getting this dude's mailing address and sending it and making that the end of this.
To be continued... I guess?
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I do understand that my paranoia is definitely out there. But I also understand that it's probably OK for me to feel this paranoia and go with my gut on some things that scare me. Going with my gut instincts might make me seem a little jittery but I'm going to err on the side of caution. I won't go to places by myself and I won't let any strangers in my house (political canvassers, JWs, and all service people be damned). It's OK to not answer the door if you don't know the person regardless of if you're home alone or feeling vulnerable.
This paranoia isn't making me so worried that I'm losing my ability to go outside or make me change my every day life. But really it just makes me think about how I can be safer as an obviously pregnant woman in this day and age.
Reasons for my paranoia:
http://swordandscale.com/sword-and-scale-episode-44/
http://www.allenbwest.com/2015/03/no-murder-charges-for-woman-who-cut-baby-out-of-womb/
http://nypost.com/2015/11/20/woman-kills-expectant-mom-cuts-fetus-out-of-her-body/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_abduction
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