Three arms would be nice

My doctor always says that when we fall pregnant for the first time, our bodies should not waste time and effort creating nausea, exhaustion, lax joints or tender gums. Instead, our bodies would be better off growing a third arm. Because we're going to need it.

I remembered this today when taking a large pram and two children down a travelator at the shops. At the beginning of the trip, both children were sitting nicely in the pram, one in front of the other. By the time we finished and were on the way home, Sonny Ma-Jiminy was sitting in there, but Smoochy Girl was threatening to climb out and fall on the ground so I carried her in my left arm.

I walked quickly down the travelator towards a man who was not walking. He was having a ride. (This behaviour could rightfully feature in my sidebar under "Things I Hate.") As we got closer to him, Sonny became worried I would smash straight into him (which I wouldn't) and shouted, "Don't crash into that man, Mummy! Look Out!"

He put his hand out to the side to catch a handrail to slow the pram down. This made the pram veer to the left, and it took a huge effort by the right half of my body to keep it going straight ahead.

Smoochy wanted to leap out of my left arm and head downwards so she could grab the handrail too. The left half of my body struggled not to drop her as she grabbed the rail and pulled herself off balance.

Then she became worried that she'd fall out of my arms and so she reached up, grabbed the neck of my top and pulled it violently downwards.

Argh! Exposure at the shops! No! All I could do was grab my neckline with my teeth and haul it upwards.

Some days, I really need that third arm.