Saturday 19 March 2011

That's how I know

Round 30: July 2032 (Winter)
Rob Ashton is 31 and Patience is 30.
(Cara is 43, Josie is 30, Jude is 2 weeks old)

Narrated by Rob Ashton

After losing my job a couple of years ago, it's been a struggle to build up my reputation again.

I'm currently a paralegal and I'm confident that I'll be able to start practising again soon.

I'm making contacts, so I think things may finally be progressing for me. It's been such a long road though. At the moment though, I spend most of my time doing research and writing legal documents. I'm better acquainted with the clerks and interns than I am with the lawyers.

It's a bit emasculating that Patience earns three times as much as I do but I've been trying not to let it get to me too much. Other than that, things are going pretty well.

It's been about a year and a half since our wedding and married life is treating us nicely. We were already living together, so it doesn't feel very different but it's nice to be husband and wife.

Eventually, we'd like to buy a house but for now we'll probably stay put. We don't need the extra space just yet and this is such a central location. We're close to everything you could possibly need.

Proximity to Josie is always going to be a factor for Patience. I think she'd been home from the hospital for approximately 10 minutes before Patience dragged me over to visit. I felt like we'd be intruding but Josie seemed happy enough to have us over.

Troy works Sundays though, which meant I was feeling a little out of place. I've known Josie for years now but when those two get together, there's a lot of in-jokes and history and it's hard to keep up.

I usually just end up drinking a lot of coffee and leaving them to it.

Patience has been so excited about Josie's baby and I think she would have exploded if she'd had to wait any longer to meet him.

It was nice to finally meet Jude though. I probably wouldn't have cared much at all a year or so ago but I've been picturing Patience and myself with our own kids lately.

Suddenly babies are a little more interesting than they have been before.

Patience and I didn't start trying for a baby right after we got married but a few months ago, we talked about and decided to go for it. It seemed like a good time for us.

After four months of trying, Patience got a positive on a home pregnancy test! I don't think either of us have ever been so excited about anything in our lives.

Every day since then, we've hardly talked about anything not related to the baby.

We've talked about moving versus just converting our office to a nursery. We've talked names. We've discussed when to start telling people.

Our happiness didn't last long. Early one morning, I woke up and heard Patience crying in the bathroom.

I rushed downstairs to find out what was wrong and she told me she thought she was miscarrying. My heart sank but I tried not to freak out.

I'd heard of pregnant women having bleeding early on and everything turned out okay, so I guess I was holding onto that. I tried to calm Patience down but she was so sure we'd lost the baby. She just knew.

We went to the hospital anyway, and saw the first doctor available. That ended up being Dr. Moretti, who confirmed what Patience had already assumed.

Dr. Moretti was really wonderful and sympathetic. She told us early miscarriages are more common than most people realise and that it doesn't mean Patience will never carry a baby to term. Small comfort at the moment but I appreciated it anyway.

We asked her when it would be safe for us to try again. Some doctors recommend waiting up to three months but Dr. Moretti told us she didn't believe there was any reason we can't start trying again whenever we're ready.

We've talked about it though and we think it's a better idea to wait a couple of months anyway. Patience thinks she needs some time to grieve this baby before she can move on.

We're definitely on the same page with that. I'm nervous about trying again, as is Patience, but at the same time, we don't want to wait too long either. I just hope we get a happier ending next time.

Notes:
  • Title is from That's How I Know by Darren Hanlon. I couldn't find a link, which is a shame because it's a really lovely song.
  • Cara had an early miscarriage herself, a couple of years before she and Caleb got married, so she would be particularly sympathetic to patients in the same situation, which is why I picked her over David (Josie is on maternity leave).
  • Patience's miscarriage was not in any way planned by me. After all these years of playing this game, I apparently still suck at taking care of pregnant Sims. It probably would have helped if I'd remembered to pause before tabbing out to check my Gmail. I was away from the game for less than 30 seconds but it was enough for tragedy to strike, unfortunately. I was so sad about it!
  • I haven't decided yet if I'll let Rob and Patience wait until next round to try or if I'll duck in a couple of times before then and let them try. I'm leaning towards the latter but we'll see.

23 comments:

  1. Oh no! That's so sad. It was hard when my Deidre miscarried a few hours before she was due to give birth, so I can relate. What bugs me the most is what the gender would have been.

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  2. LaurelCrossing, I know. :( I don't think any of my Sims since Cara have had a miscarriage (a few close calls though), so I guess I was due.

    Miscarrying a few hours before you would have given birth is worse though. How awful.

    Thanks for reading. :)

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  3. How sad. I was so happy for them when they found out she's pregnant but then I started getting a feeling that something bad would happen.

    I really hope their next pregnancy (whenever that will be) is going to be a happier one.

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  4. It's obviously a tragic loss for them, and with Rob and Patience being a favourite couple of mine, I hope they can have that baby eventually. And Rob can move up in his career too! ;)

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  5. Aw... I was trying to catch up the dizains of updates I had missed, and it ended up on this sad new. Poor Patience and Rob! Good luck for them!
    It's nice to see Josie with her baby! (I haven't commented all the pages I had missed, as they were too many)

    Stupid question, but I saw Rob had a calendar in his office, on the second picture... does it say July 2032? (I don't manage to use calendars, because those years question always makes my brain bugging! *giggle*)

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  6. Sari, it was so sad for me too. :( I'd written all the pregnancy updates into my (offline) play schedule and was picking out names.

    Next time, it will hopefully stick.

    Thanks for reading. :)

    Shake, Patience wants nine kids (not happening!), so I am definitely hoping for that as well.

    Rob has all the skills for a promotion, so that should be soon. He took the day off to be a devoted husband and take Patience to the hospital though, so he missed out this time.

    Thanks for reading. :)

    Sandy, hello, nice to see you here!

    What a sad update for you to catch up on! It is lovely to see Josie with her baby but that's probably going to also be a little bit sad for Patience from now one. Her sister is pregnant as well, so that will be hard too. :(

    Not a stupid question at all. No, Rob's calendar does not say July 2032. I won't download calendars if they have years printed on them. Rob's calendar actually says "September" in game. ;) I cropped out the month in this picture and just pretended he still had his calendar open to June (you can see the month has only 30 days, so it can't be July).

    Thanks for reading. :)

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  7. How sad that she lost the baby. I hope it's not long before they have another one the way. Do you force them to try, or are you waiting to see if they auto do it?

    I'm looking forward to these two having a little one, trying to figure their chance of a red haired baby. I'm guessing Patience is a blonde/black... I hope she gets a little red head, and a son, just cause you'd enjoy that immensely. :)

    The law pictures are great, I really liked all the coffee/books on the table. Very fun! I hope that he can make some headway with the promotions soon.

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  8. I feel for Patience. Hopefully this trend doesn't continue to repeat itself.

    They seem like a lovely couple and I hope things work out for them. I think they would be great parents and I think if they did have child, she/he would be quite the looker too.

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  9. Aww... poor Patience and Rob. What a hard thing to go through. That shot of her crying in the bathroom is so sad.

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  10. Maisie, when I played Patience and Rob, they were trying for a baby every time, so I'm guessing I won't need to force it. We'll see what happens though.

    I would definitely love to get a redheaded boy out of somebody but I'm getting girl vibes off Patience. As for genetics, Patience is actually blonde/blonde (if she was blonde/black, she'd have black hair). Ottilie had a blonde gene from her mother which she passed on to both Patience and Rose.

    I think next time I play them, Rob will probably be promoted. That will likely be before next round, because I'm leaning towards letting them try before then.

    Thanks for reading. :)

    Choco, I hope not either. None of my Sims have ever had multiple miscarriages, probably because I'm always extra careful with the Sims who've miscarried in the past.

    I am extremely curious to see what Patience/Rob spawn would look like but I guess I'll have to wait at least a little bit longer.

    Thanks for reading. :)

    Lunar, I know. It was a pretty sad play session and update for me. I haven't seen Patience cry since her mother died. :(

    Thanks for reading. :)

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  11. I was really excited when I read they were going to have a baby! And then the bad news came :( so sad! I hope they have another one soon!

    I'm glad it going good in his job, and I'm hoping he gets a promotion soon!

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  12. Ooh I'm guessing a red head baby then! At least one of them! You know I never paid attention that none of my blond/red heads have black recessive. I have a ton of brunette with black recessive, and never thought about it much in terms of other colors.

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  13. Tanja, hopefully Patience and Rob will have some happier news to share in a few months time or so. Maybe baby news and promotion news, if they're lucky!

    Thanks for reading. :)

    Maisie, LOL, you know I wouldn't turn down a red-headed baby! The number of redheads I've had born in this hood is still in the single figures!

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  14. It was great seeing Rob and Patience again, everytime I'm tempted to get insimenator (sp?), then a simmer has a miscarriage and I can't bear to get it. It does bring some realism to the game, but I tend to play with cheats :)

    I would be interested to see if they move or stay, I have a couple in the same complex with newborn twins and another family with four boys-they added a small 2x4 bedroom off to the side of the larger bedroom for the cribs of the younger two-but since the second family is a non-playable-playable I don't mind the crampedness at the moment. I did make another version of the homes with 3+ bedrooms in each unit.

    I hope they have better news soon as well.

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  15. Apple Valley, heh, go ahead and get Insimenator. It's Inteenimater that adds the miscarriage. And even with that, you can add a "flavor pack" to remove the miscarriage option.

    Oh my gosh, I can't imagine six people in this unit, lol! But for large families, I generally like to have a lot of space (and a lot of bathrooms!). Rob and Patience will likely stay while they have one kid but will almost definitely move before they have a second. I think it fits better with Patience's personality that they'd "upgrade" once they can afford it. She's materialistic.

    Thanks for reading. :)

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  16. Oh no! That is terrible, especially with Josie just having a baby--it probably made Patience even more excited. I hope they are luckier next time. :(

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  17. Rachel, Josie's pregnancy was one reason Patience and Rob decided to try now. Patience was very excited about Jude. Seeing him might be quite hard for Patience at the moment.

    They haven't tried again yet but I just entered September in game. Maybe in October I'll duck in.

    Thanks for reading. :)

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  18. Awww, this one was so sad! :( How devastating for her, especially as much as we all know she was looking forward to starting a family. I hope she gets all the babies she wants some day!

    But on a lighter note, OMG her pajamas are SO cute! Do you remember where you found those? (OMG, I'm so insensitive, lol!)

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  19. Laura, so sad and really shocking for me. I just wasn't expecting it at all. :(

    LOL, I don't want her to get ALL the babies she wants though. She wants 9!

    And yes, I do remember where I got Patience's PJs! They're from All About Style: http://www.all-about-style.com/adult_fesle.html
    There are a lot of cutes one there. :)

    Thanks for reading. :)

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  20. Man how sad! :( Especially for her since she wants a huge family. I was really looking forward to a baby from these 2 soon. I think I'd wait a couple of months too if I was in their situation. I would be too scared :\. That would have been nice for her and Rose to be pregnant at the same time. It's going to be hard to be around her twins when they're born. But hopefully that'll make her want to keep trying.

    Wishing them luck on their next try and for Rob to get that promotion!

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  21. Danielle, this is incredibly hard for Patience, as she really was ready to get started with the babies. She and Rob are both worried about it happening again and it will probably always be a niggling worry for them.

    It will probably be hard for Patience once Rose's twins are born, just like it's hard for her with Jude now. But hopefully she'll soon have a baby of her own, which will make things a bit easier for her.

    Thanks for reading. :)

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  22. oh how sad...I'd forgotten that can happen, and they were so happy. I can't see them waiting too much longer to try again, but you're right, it will always be in the back of their minds.

    Patience is so cute, I love her hairstyle and those earrings really suit her. I adore the shot of Josie feeding Jude sitting in the living room, and the shot of Rob in the conference room or law library. The details are just wonderful.

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  23. S.B, I'd sort of forgotten myself, until it happened to poor Patience. Both of them were very much looking forward to starting their family. I've decided that once I finish the last September update, I'll let them try again.

    I really love Patience as well (she looks just like her dad and I always thought he'd make a pretty woman!). I'm really glad you like that conference room picture as well because it took me so absurdly long to set up! It was one of those "I never want to look at another OMSP again" moments that I'm sure you've had as well!

    Thanks for reading. :)

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