Tour over...baby time?

Now that the Tour is done, my body seems like it wants to go to the hospital. I've been feeling lousy on and off all weekend. I want to try to keep this baby gestating for 1 more week at least, but I'm betting the doctor will want to admit me this week and stabilize my funkiness before delivering the baby. At this point she, ie baby, hasn't rotated much, so a C-section may be in the near future. That's okay with me...let's just do what needs to be done.

Time passes weirdly on the couch. I can't believe I've been here for almost 2 weeks. I've hardly watched any movies and only read 1 book. Ray and I had plans for a really nice night out before the baby shows up, but that obviously went out of the window. It's almost as if early labor started 2 weeks ago.

I'd like to have a little time to put stuff into the baby room, fill her dresser with all of her clothes (good god, lots of clothes) and diapers and stuff. I'm hoping that I'll have one more week at home to sneak in and do that kind of thing a little at a time.

Need to make it to Monday

Today started with bad news on the Tour front (can someone please figure out how to hold this major sporting event without letting these blood doping egomaniacs participate!), and me feeling kinda peuny (as my mom would say). I'm hoping it's just a sign of days on end of laying down.

If I go to the hospital, apparently they'll give me this nasty stuff to bring my blood pressure down which will actually make me feel really bad. Plus no internet access. Plus I'll have to deliver this baby early and she needs to cook a little longer. So I need to stay out of the hospital for another week. Or at least until they install the carpetting in the bedrooms on Monday. You can see how my sense of logic has gone out the window.

I probably should pack my bag tonight just in case. At least Ray bought me this cool little DVD player thing, so I'm saving up a bunch of movies to watch during "free time from hell."

Blood doping dope

You know, Alexandre Vinokourov was making the Tour so much fun to watch...the ultimate underdog with his stitched up knees. But he had to go and dope up and lose all that respect he was garnering. What an idiot. And what a bummer.

So now I'm cheering for Alberto Contador, the young Spaniard who is back into racing after recovering from a blood clot in his brain. He's 2 in the standings right now, about 3 minutes behind the yellow jersey.

Meanwhile, I am trying to distract myself from the food I'm not allowed to have right now...pizza and fried rice with spicy mustard come to mind. Why is it we always want what we can't have?

Also, I'm realizing that weird people come to the door during the day. This teenager just told me he's trying to win a public speaking contest and can get points for first impressions. He flashed this flimsy Cert. of Authenticity at me. I just don't buy it. "Sorry," I said, "I'm on the phone..."

Narrow miss

Well, thankfully I'm still on my couch. My blood pressure was so high initially at the doctor's office that it looked like I was going to spend some time in the hospital, but it went down again. They are keeping a close eye on me, and it looks like we'll be having this baby sometime in the next 2-3 weeks. Wow. We're feeling more ready for it though. Let's get this show on the road!

Me: "Serves me right. I'd been getting cocky saying I was having a 'textbook' pregnancy."

Dr. McD.: "Well, you are having a textbook pregnancy. This is just a different chapter!"

What?! No Santa Claus?!

What the heck was I thinking. I pre-ordered my Harry Potter book from Amazon, and apparently I'd imagined little postal elves dropping it off on my doorstep at dawn with a giggle. I'd wake up, wander to the front door, pick up my package, and settle into the couch to read. But it's not here yet and it's 1 pm. Crisis.

Ooooh! UPS just showed up! I wonder...

YES!

The bright side

1. Our bathroom is done! We can't try it out until the caulk dries, but it looks marvelous. Unless something funky happens, I will gladly recommend Gabino and his crew as contractors.

2. I feel better today and had a great swim (doctor approved swimming as part of my 4 hours of non-rest time).

3. The triage nurse said they'd probably hospitalize me before inducing me...so hopefully no baby next week. Hopefully no hospital next week either.

4. The Tour de France is great company. My favorite rider is Alexandre V. (KAZ) who has 60+ stitches in his knees and is maintaining at 19th place overall. Michael Rasmussen (DEN) is rumored to have tested positive for doping and has been disqualified from the Olympics and something else, though will continue in the Tour (don't understand how this works).

5. Our kitchen counters are done and the whole thing looks great. God, I want to go in and mop and clean for sheer joy.

6. I have the house to myself after 4.5 days of company. It's so QUIET.

If nothing else, by sheer will

There's a possibility that I will need to deliver this baby next week if my symptoms don't improve (blood pressure mostly). I don't know if it's an outside or an inside chance. However, because I am a contingency planner, I am preparing myself for the worst and expecting the best. But I also believe there's something to setting short-term goals in order to reach the longer term ones.

Longer term -- I would like to deliver this baby no earlier than Aug 15

Short-term -- I would like to make it to...

Wed, July 25...when Bretney has graciously offered to paint the baby room
Sun, July 29...when we have our big shower
Mon, July 30...when the bedrooms will get new carpeting
Tues, July 31...when we finish baby classes
Sun, Aug 5...when Jane gets hitched
Wed, Aug 15...when we take Infant CPR and will be into week 37.

I think I can -- I think I can -- I know I can -- I know I can...

The tub

I have nothing better to do than lay around and take occasional remodeling photos.

--sigh--

Okay, that sounds way too pitiful. What's exciting is that this is our new 'Greek Bath' and while it's shorter than a standard tub, it's about 10 inches deeper. I'm looking forward to feeling very Medittaranean in it! (Whatever that means.)

DVD recommendations

The doctor put me on bed rest today, which means that about every couple hours I will be convincing myself that I need to get up and go run around the block.

So while 6 guys work on our bathroom, I'll lay here on the couch, entertain myself on my laptop, and field suggestions for dvds and silly websites to cruise. Next visit to the doctor (early next week) I'll find out when she thinks this baby is showing up. I assume they'll want to induce a bit early at the least. Eeeek.

Nerves/superstition

Every day for the last couple weeks, my feet and ankles have been getting more swollen and itchy. My hands have been getting in on this action too. After about 3 pm, I sort of give up on being upright, or at least try to per the nurse's suggestion. It's hard. I'm not a leisurely lay-on-the-couch sort of person for long periods of time (short periods, yes!). Since the swelling doesn't really seem to go down, even after laying in bed all night, I'm concerned this is indicative of a larger issue, one that will necessitate early delivery.

Aside from the obvious, this is NOT a good time for that as tomorrow a crew of guys is showing up to rip up our bathroom. The tub we ordered has not yet arrived to fill the hole they'll create. And the baby room is still an office.

I'm hoping the swelling is just plain ol' swelling gone wild and not a symptom of anything else. And by writing about it here, I bet it will be. I'm superstitious like that!

Survey says

I love surveys, especially when I'm suppose to be working/writing something else. Copying this from ReebeckiSupergirl:

[One] Have you ever been asked out?
Yes. Remember when you getting asked out meant you got a note passed in school?

[Two] Where was your default picture taken?
I don't know what this question refers to, but the "picture" on my blog is one I drew of Sam and Mons.

[Three] What's your middle name?
That's a hard question, since I dropped my middle name and use my old last name as my middle name, but actually I think about it more like I have two first names or two last names and no middle name.

[Four] Your current relationship status?
Taken

[Five] Does your crush like you back?
I think so... :)

[Six] What is your current mood?
Guilty that I'm not writing newsletter copy for this wee contract I do periodically (hopefully this is the last time).

[Seven] What color underwear are you wearing?
Sporty pink with flowers that I bought at REI for our trip to Italy.

[Eight] What color shirt are you wearing?
White tank/pajamas.

[Nine] What happen to it?
Well, I put it on last night, and then I slept in it, and now I'm working in it as I haven't yet taken a shower. I don't understand this question.

[Ten] If you could go back in time and change something, what would you change?
I hate this question because I hate my answer: I would have not gone to grad school and figured out earlier that I needed to study something else. But I regret that I have this regret as my first grad degree compliments subsequent degrees. Ugh, don't want to think about this any more.

[Eleven] If you must be an animal for one day, what would you be?
A tropical fish living in its natural habitat.

[Twelve] Ever had a near death experience?
Not really, unless you count my self-induced dramatization of what could happen while I was parasailing. Ridiculous.

[Thirteen] Something you do a lot?
Talk to the dog. And right now, pee.

[Forteen] The song stuck in your head?
The theme from "Charles in Charge." Why?!

[Fifteen] Who did you copy and paste this from?
Rebecca

[Sixteen] Name someone with the same birthday as you?
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamil)

[Seventeen] When was the last time you cried?
Tuesday, when we watched the birthing video in our baby class. At the end of it the instructor said, "Wasn't that just beautiful!" Beautiful wasn't really the word I had in mind. More like, holy shit, this is happening in 8 weeks and it freaks me out.

[Eighteen] Have you ever sang in front of a large audience?
Yes, karaoke and as part of the vocal jazz choir in high school, where my friends would tell me after a performance, "You looked mad."

[Nineteen] If you could have one super power what would it be?
Flying!

[Twenty] What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Glasses!

[Twenty-one] What do you usually order from Starbucks?
I try to not order from Starbucks, but when I do it's a tall decaf cappucino or some blended icey concoction.

[Twenty-two] What's your biggest secret?
What secret?

[Twenty-three] Favorite color?
Orange

[Twenty-five] Do you still watch kiddy movies or tv shows?
I like corny family sitcoms from the 80s. Why I don't know. And some animated movies.

[Twenty-six] What are you eating or drinking at the moment?
Water.

[Twenty-seven] Do you speak any other language?
Nothing well. I took a lot of German, but honestly I think I understand and speak Spanish better (not that I am any good at that either).

[Twenty-eight] What's your favorite smell?
Swimming pools.

[Twenty-nine] Describe your life in one word what would it be?
Orange

[Thirty-one] Have you ever kissed in the rain?
Yes, and meanwhile the car was on fire.

[Thirty-two] What are you thinking about right now?
I need to go back to work! (Not work work, but just back to the work at hand. Once I'm done with school then I want to go back to work work.)

[Thirty-three] What should you be doing?
Working.

[Thirty-four] Who was the last person that made you upset/angry?
President Bush, when I read today's top story.

[Thirty-five] How often do you pray?
Rarely, and when I do it's not really praying, more like meditating.

[Thirty-six] Do you like working in the yard?
I like to weed for 30 minutes, then I'm done with the whole yard experience.

[Thirty-seven] If you could have any last name in the world, what would it be?
Well, I don't know. But when I was a kid I wanted my first name to be Nancy, like Nancy Drew.

[Thirty-eight] Do you act differently around the person you like?
Unfortunately, I think he gets the more bitchier me. Especially right now that I'm uncomfortably pregnant.

[Thirty-nine] What is your natural hair color?
My mom would say auburn, but I'm not exactly sure.

[Fourty] Who was the last person to make you cry?
Those people in the birthing video...in pain and then having babies pop out.

Contradictions

I was just browsing the Land of Nod website, seeing if there were any items that we can't live without for bambino. It stirred up an odd combination of feelings. First, I generally appreciate but dismiss these kind of higher-end things for babies because they use them so briefly, they are expensive, and I don't want my child born into a world where she has to have the latest and the best. I believe our child will be better served by having a few nice things and learning to appreciate what you have, especially the used and functional. (I believe that most kids, and adults for that matter, will need to learn this lesson in the coming years as our country sees its world-domination sunset and our economy and environment tank, but that's an entirely different topic.)

On the other hand, I really do like nice things. I like well-designed, aesthetically appealing, quality furnishings just as much as the next girl. However, I can't shut off the part of my brain that says Reuse, Recycle, don't contribute to landfills by buying all new everything, don't be the Ugly American Consumer who "needs" way too much. I am proud of the fact that we have bought just one new piece of furniture for the baby room, and it's a dresser we expect her to be changed on, paint when she's a teenager, then take to college, and later furnish her own apartment. So, no...she will not be sleeping in a premium sleigh crib, with 800-count Egyptian cotton bedding stitched by hand by the "Amish" (i.e. an outlet in Pennsylvannia with products imported from China and marked up 8000%). But hopefully, in time, she will learn the satisfaction of reusing, appreciating and protecting material goods rather than throwing them away. And I'm ready to be patient for this particular learning to occur, since apparently the pressures of materialism are more persuasive for kids now than they were when we were little.

On a seemingly very different note...

I was discussing this topic with Ray, who (ever practical) said that saving money on all this baby gear means that we can paint the house sooner rather than later. Under his breath he mentioned the "strange" Russian woman who painted a bathroom in the condo...

"Strange? What do you mean she was strange? Ray, she was hot! I would think you'd want to hire her for that reason alone!"

"But she wore those weird clothes to paint in."

"She wore clothes she felt comfortable in, which happen to be hip and tight, and she had the body to pull it off. Plus, she never spilled and she was fast."

"But I'm a geek...and we don't trust people who dress like that..."

For Ramon

In Ramon's personalized heaven, he's chowing his way through a bowl of boiled potatoes right now. I miss you, Mony. You were so...lovable and weird.

This better be temporary

You know, I used to have really great ankles...

Accessibility

One thing I learned by having Ray's dad live with us for a few weeks (aside that our house is too small for three adults) relates to physical disability. Ray's dad has a really hard time walking, navigating stairs or curbs, inclines/slopes, and any bumpy surface, even with the help of a cane or walker. Getting into and out of our house was a challenge for him, even with us driving up on the lawn to lessen the distance between door and car.

Being out and about with Jim highlighted these challenges even more. There are lots of places where you can't pull up right in front of the door. A lot of people have those disability placards for the close parking stalls, but seem to be plenty able to walk well (I realize sometimes disabilities aren't obvious, but there are a lot of people who seem to have no trouble at all.) And the most mystifying observation of all: Jim's new place in senior housing has no loading zone or disabled access from the curb. That means when he wants to get a cab, he has to walk halfway down the block to get into the damn thing, or risk stepping off the curb and between cars to get himself out to a cab sitting in the street. This makes no sense to me! I think we're going to talk to the senior housing people about making the building slightly more ADA compliant on the outside.