About that giraffe . . .

The tee shirt reads, “I watched April during the entire month of March.”

Who is April? And why is there a tee shirt about her?

You see, in early March I was checking the news of the day…on Facebook. I sat back and watched intently. I wasn’t scrolling through Facebook, I was mesmerized by this pregnant giraffe.

Chuck asked me what in the world I was watching. I told him that this giraffe, named April, was pregnant and due any day. I showed him the live video of April and her mate Oliver, who was in the adjoining stall area at an animal park in New York.

Every few days I would check on April. Even Chuck began asking if the giraffe had had her baby yet. After a few weeks, he said “how long is a giraffe pregnant?”

Thus began my husband’s research into giraffes. He told me that giraffes are pregnant somewhere between thirteen and fifteen months. No one knew exactly when April became pregnant.

We found out that this was April’s fourth calf. Giraffes give birth standing up. The calves come out hooves first. A calf will be about six feet tall at birth and weigh approximately 150 pounds. Giraffes live about fifteen years unless they are cared for in a park or zoo and can live into their tewnties. April is 15.

Chuck gave me updates from NPR and the newspaper. I gave him updates from Facebook.

So it was last Saturday when we were on our way to North Judson to visit his sister and her family when I checked in on April. We were just north of Kokomo when I yelled, “oh my goodness April is having the baby!”  Later, Chuck told his sister that he thought he was going to have to stop the car and calm me down. I was so excited.

I could not believe I was actually going to get to see the birth, live, as it happened. April walked around the stall and I could see more of the hooves and then the snout. and then PLOP! She had the baby! It was amazing. Birth is such a miracle.

There were millions watching this birth. We were two of them Well actually I watched but gave Chuck a vivid description of everything that was happening.

He finally looked over and said to me “Don’t buy the tee shirt.” WHAT? There is a tee shirt! I did not know there was a tee shirt that you could buy. Chuck said the park was making a lot of money from the interest in the pregnant giraffe. One of the things was the sale of the tee shirt.

Well the camera that was set up to watch April and the unnamed baby boy giraffe has been turned off. It’s kinda sad.

If you see my husband you might suggest to him that I mentioned I’d like to have that tee shirt. After all, I did watch April the entire month of March.