Mini-Rant & No News Update #2

 Current Affairs, Pregnancy  4 Responses »
Jan 312006
 

I tried to post on this last night, but somehow managed to erase the whole post instead of publishing it.

Here’s my mini-rant on facial "recognition" technology, which I meant to include in the previous post.  Yesterday’s Silly Internet Quiz that purported to tell you which celebrity you most resemble was based on facial recognition technology.

If you’ve ever heard of it before, it was probably in the context of the Super Bowl a few years back, in Tampa, where law enforcement attempted to use it to catch criminals who came to the big game.

It worked about as well there as it did in saying that I look like Manuel Noriega.

It’s also been implemented in public areas of other communities, like Virginia Beach, VA. In addition to finding criminals, they claim it could be used to locate missing & exploited children.

Of course, when asked about that, Virginia Beach police admit that they haven’t actually located any missing children with their facial recognition software. But you can get away with all kinds of civil liberties invasions if you can justify them with a tie-in to protecting children. It doesn’t matter whether or not the thing works! It might theoretically protect a child from harm! Or catch a criminal! Or better yet, a terrorist!

OK, ok, /rant.

I’m still pregnant. I’m showing no new signs, in spite of my best efforts. Smudge seems to be very happy where he is. The fridge is working again, and over the week, we’ll be filling it. So far, there’s milk, yogurt, hazelnut creamer, margarine, and frozen veggies & pierogies in the freezer.

My co-workers had a very nice surprise shower for me yesterday. Entertainingly, only women attended, even though I work in an industry and a company that is overwhelmingly male. There was yummy cake, and toys and a second car seat for Smudge. It was very sweet. (The party. The cake involved fresh berries and was less sweet and more light than ‘cake’ implies.)

Oh, and I made a bet with one co-worker about my theory that Smudge is coming on Sunday. She doesn’t trust my intuition.

Fruit & Veg Count, 1/30: 2.5 organic gala apples, ~1/4 cup mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, and currents), ~3/4 cup mixed veggies (mostly brussels sprouts, some cauliflower & carrots)

 Posted by Liza at 7:46 am

No News Update #1 + Silly Internet Quiz

 Pregnancy, Silly Internet Quizzes  5 Responses »
Jan 302006
 

I realized a few minutes ago that since I am obsessively clicking on blogs of other almost there Moms, maybe you are obsessively clicking over here too. Especially since every day when I walk into work, I have several "you’re still here!" conversations, both live and via IM.

So I am going to take on posting "no news" updates as well as updates of substance, when I have something of substance to say. :)

I’m still having just a couple of contractions per day, an hour or hours apart. The fridge was fixable and may even already have the broken bit replaced. Smudge is still kicking around.

And props to Jen (in MD) for this amusing web site, which claims to determine which celebrity you look most like, although I don’t think it works terribly well. It claims that Jen looks like Elton John, and depending on which picture I used, it said
Liza_laughing_2

Reneezellweger_2

Camilla_2

I look like either Renee Zellweger or Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Ghastlyidpic_1

Dennis_hopper_1

Noriega_1

Using a different picture — my work ID, in fact — it matched me with Dennis Hopper and Manuel Noriega.

 Posted by Liza at 3:43 pm

Gettin’ Ready

 Pregnancy  5 Responses »
Jan 292006
 

It’s been a busy cleaning day here at Booski Haus, but we’re getting there. The guest room is 90% ready for Jill’s Mom, the nursery is probably 85 or 90% ready for Lil Smudge. The fridge is cleaned out, with one exception — the popsicle melt on the floor of the freezer. It’s a bottom-freezer, and I can’t reach. The bathrooms are clean, the master & nursery closets are as clean as they’re likely to get any time soon, Jill did 3 loads of laundry.

I also had a fabulous foot massage yesterday, 45 minutes mostly spent on the region of the feet & ankles associated with the stomach and uterus. It certainly woke Lil Smudge up, and it felt amazing.

Then I found a way to sleep that seemed to work well — sitting up on the sofa. I got almost 5 hours, and then another almost 4. I wish I could sleep in our bed, snuggled up, but reflux and other forms of discomfort just don’t have that work. At least this way, both of us sleep.

And I’ve had 1 real contraction! Real, meaning that I couldn’t shake it off by getting up and walking around or otherwise moving, and it started out high and pretty much took control of my whole torso for 30 seconds or so.

Sadly, that was an hour ago, and there have been no repeats. But still, I’m encouraged. Slowly but surely, my body is getting ready to have this baby.

Fruit & Veg Count, 1/28: 2 small organic gala apples, ~2/3 cup of mixed veggies in a yummy chicken and biscuit stew dish
Fruit & Veg Count, 1/29: 1 small organic gala apple

Whoa! Spoke too soon — another real contraction just as I finished writing. Too early, too infrequent, not intense enough to mean anything yet. But maybe an itty-bitty cause for cautious optimism. :)

 Posted by Liza at 9:28 pm

Super Bowl Baby?

 Pregnancy  9 Responses »
Jan 282006
 

If I understood this article summary posted by Emilin & Brooke correctly, the more accurate prediction of my due date should work out to being Sunday, February 5, not Friday, February 3.

I think that’s correct.

And it’s especially funny to me for several reasons:

  1. February 5 is a big birthday in my family. My late uncle was born on that date, as were two of his grandchildren. (And one of those little ones, born last year, was ~2 months early. On his sister’s birthday, no less.)
  2. My lovely wife used to work in a high-ranking managerial capacity for an NFL football team. She worked for them for nearly 8 (thankless) years.
  3. She has also worked at the Super Bowl a number of times, and several of her buddies were a tad cranky that she could not come work there again this year, because of my due date. (Personally, I suspect she was relieved to have a good excuse not to go to Detroit to work, probably at least partially outdoors, in February.)
  4. I, on the other hand, used to schedule major grocery shopping trips during the Super Bowl. You’d be amazed how quiet the grocery store is then. It’s even better than going to the grocery store in the pouring rain.
  5. Last, but not least, I’ve had a "Sunday the 5th" feeling for awhile now. And my intuition has been pretty accurate in this pregnancy, with the notable exception of my having been completely convinced that I failed to conceive — prior to the chocolate chip pancakes with a side of broccoli incident. For example, I knew he was a boy at least a month before the ultrasound where we got to see proof.
 Posted by Liza at 10:43 am

At Least It Was This Week….

 Personal  2 Responses »
Jan 282006
 

This week has been an expensive and frustrating one here at Booski Haus.

First, we finally gave in and admitted that the stopped-up toilet was not going to fix itself. $130 please. But it’s the one in the master bath, and with houseguests coming, not to mention the baby, it really no longer worked for us to have it out of commission.

Yesterday, around 11pm, I realized that our fridge was no longer producing cold. Worse, both of us actually did notice that something was wrong, earlier in the day, but we both thought that the door just hadn’t been properly shut. We have one of those freezers that are below the fridge part and pull out — if you don’t push it all the way shut, things melt.

Worse still, we’d noticed that something started to get a little smelly the day before, but we were avoiding dealing with it. If we’d dealt with it right away, we might have noticed that the freezer and fridge were no longer making things cold — in time to salvage some of the things, or at least to get a repair person out to the house on Friday.

They also melt when the damn thing isn’t working.

At 11 pm last night, after Jill was asleep, when I decided to have just a little bit of ice cream, I found that I had a pint of cold chocolate milk instead.

This would be more frustrating if this happened while I was having the baby or he was newly home.

And the fridge is still under warranty.

But the food isn’t. 90% of our food is already room temp, and that number should easily reach 100% today. But the repair people can’t come until Monday.

So…we still have unspoiled coffee, popcorn, apples, and beer. I’ll look at the condiments individually. But we’re stuck tossing a bunch of ice cream, meat, faux meat (the expensive morningstar farms soysages that I love), milk, cheese, frozen veggies & fruit, etc. And of course I’ve been stocking up in anticipation of not being up for much shopping etc for a few weeks after the baby arrives.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

It’s also rotten because while I love grocery shopping, my stamina for it is low these days. And Jill loathes it, although of course she’s willing to go while I’m semi-incapacitated.

(Oh yeah, and I wound up awake and tossing & turning until the wee hours, with extra-bad reflux after all this. And then Jill heard a loud noise — I suspect the icemaker — around 7 am, and woke me up so we could go investigate together.)

Fruit & Veg Count, 1/27: 1 organic gala apple, ~2/3 cup green beans & corn

 Posted by Liza at 9:39 am

Indulged

 Pregnancy  3 Responses »
Jan 272006
 

I have to give Jill huge props for being totally supportive as I get increasingly crazy over the course of this pregnancy.

Yesterday, I made eggplant for dinner, used every tea and supplement that I could find, had a glass of red wine (I forgot that from the midwives’ list yesterday), and we scheduled date night. We’re still negotiating whether or not we actually go to Scalini’s, but it’ll work out.

Sadly, 1 of my colleagues who has a good baby arrival prediction track record — including a little one who came 2 months early! — agrees with the widely held view that Smudge is coming late. I like his reasoning, though. He says Smudge is warm and sleepy where he is. I don’t like moving from that state either; I can hardly blame my son for that!

Fruit & Veg Count, 1/26: just under a cup of eggplant, 1/2 cup carrots, 1 small organic gala apple

 Posted by Liza at 7:37 am

Medical Update, Week 39

 Pregnancy  6 Responses »
Jan 262006
 

Today I met with the youngest and most inexperienced of the midwives. I adore her personality, but when I ask her things like "how big do you think he is?" or "is he in the right position?" she says it’s impossible to tell.

The more experienced midwives offer opinions in a lovely authoritative voice, and since I’m starving for information, I like that. Even if they are just opinions and could be completely wrong. Unfortunately, the only opinion that this midwife offered was that it could be as long as THREE MORE WEEKS.

I actually told her, in that conversation, to please stop saying that, because there was no way that was going to work for me. I had a moment when I was afraid I was going to start crying if she said it again.

On the plus side, my blood pressure etc are all excellent. I’ve resumed gaining weight. And Smudge’s fundal height is 39 cm, which is average. (Young Midwife does not appear to share Experienced Tired Midwife’s opinion that Smudge is big. But since I am objectively gigantic, I think I believe Experienced Tired Midwife.)

Also on the plus side, Young Midwife wrote down a list of supplements that I can start using, including Evening Primrose Oil capsules, and teas including raspberry leaf and black cohash. She warned me that several of them have "don’t take while pregnant" labels, explaining that no, now we WANT the baby to come out, so it’s ok for me to take them.

She also recommended that Jill and I have a date night, starting with the Eggplant at Scalini’s (45 minutes from where we live) or McKinnon’s (20 minutes).

Unfortunately, although the restaurant reviews are nearly universal that McKinnon’s very good Cajun food and Scalini’s is mediocre Italian food, the labor-inducing eggplant dish at McKinnon’s is a seafood casserole, and I’m not a seafood fan. Maybe I’ll just buy some eggplant and make something at home.

Would everyone please help send labor-inducing vibes, thoughts, prayers, hopes, or suggestions our way? Please????? The only one the midwives have asked us not to do is castor oil.

 Posted by Liza at 7:44 pm
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