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SUNDAY, November 30 This afternoon Aaron and I went to see "In America." It was one of those movies where the trailer is better than the actual film. Not that the movie was bad -- but the trailer made it look like it was going to be amazing. Afterwards we went to Pakistani food. As soon as we finished eating, I walked to the bathroom and threw up my entire dinner in the bathroom sink of the restaurant. Aaron said no more Pakistani food until after the birth. After spending 20 minutes trying to force bits of food down the bathroom sink drain, I agree. FRIDAY, November 28 Thanksgiving was v. nice. We spent the day over in Marin with my parents, Dave, and Matt and Reed. Then at night we drove back into the city for Melissa and Dave's East Coast expatriate party, where there was live music and singing (besides being fun, that's excellent prenatal stimulation). We had to leave the party a little early though because my ankles suddenly swelled up to a freakish size. Also, we SCORED on leftovers because my parents
were left for Los Angeles this morning, and couldn't take that much
turkey or stuffing with them. Woo-hoo! MONDAY, November 24 This weekend was our family baby shower! (We decided to have one for family and one for friends, since Aaron's family is so huge.) Thank you so much Chelle, Tina and Malika for organizing the whole thing (and Tina and Andre for hosting)! It was lots of fun, and everyone was incredibly generous -- and it made us realize (again) how lucky we are in our families. Here are some pictures. In donut news: LOU'S WAS CLOSED! It's an old-school donut house with old-school hours. We'll have to check it out next time we go to San Jose -- sometime closer to Christmas, probably. However, on Sunday we went to the German Christmas Festival with Dirk and Carola, and I finally got to sample the hot German mini donuts made by "The Nutty Bavarian." (There goes my supposition that the US was the only country with donuts). Last year we waited in line for 40 minutes, and the N.B. ran out as soon as we stepped up to the register. It looked like the same thing was going to happen this year -- but he fiddled around with the generator and an hour later we had a bag of hot mini donuts. When I got home, I felt slightly sick, realizing I had eaten a piece of cake and tiramisu left over from the shower, a bag of hot doughnuts, marzipan balls, and some sugar-covered hot Bavarian nuts -- all in one day. If this baby weighs 15 pounds, I will have no one but myself to blame -- me, and that Nutty Bavarian. In baby news: Ann-Marie delivered her baby after 76 hours of labor. It's a little boy -- Duncan Carrier Snell, who weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz., and is supposed to be absolutely adorable. Lindsay had a little girl, but there's no word on the name/weight/details yet. FRIDAY, November 21 MELASMA ALERT. Yes, the hyperpigmentation on my neck has spread again. Have I been focusing too much on the belly oil and ignoring other valuable skin care products? The irony! THURSDAY, November 20 So I was just over at Sage Femme for my midwife's appointment, but I got sent home early because not one, but TWO women from my pregnancy class went into labor! Ann-Marie had just broken her waters that morning, and the Lindsay was in the back room at 6 cm. Things were pretty hectic. That only leaves four of us now: Deborah, Josie, Val and me. Val said that she and Clark (her husband) think of us like airplanes on the tarmac, just waiting to take off. Aaron and I had discussed it earlier and decided we thought of it more as waiting in line for the scariest waterslide at Raging Waters. You're watching the people go down one by one in front of you. You're hearing them scream and it's terrifying. But you can't get out of line because you turn around and there's all these other people behind you. In other news, the cucumbers are working! I didn't expect such an instantaneous result, but my blood pressure totally dropped. Weird. WEDNESDAY, November 19 Thank you, Aaron's mom Chris! Just as I was about to break down and buy one more maternity outfit, Chris sent me a new pair of pregnancy-pouch-pants and a cool long-sleeved shirt. I pulled them out of the package this morning, and I'm wearing them today. It's funny -- I used to find them unattractive, but now Carola and I agree that pregnancy-pouch-pants are heavenly. P.S. How is The Onion so consistently brilliant? This article by Danny the Squirrel is a crack-up. P.P.S. I just found out the one of America's (and thus the world's) (unless Canada has them) Top Ten Donut shops is in the Bay Area! It's called Lou's Living Donut Museum, and it's in San Jose. Aaron and I will have to stop by on our way to the family baby shower on Saturday. TUESDAY, November 18 Apparently, I got bigger again -- I better kick up the belly oil. This isn't just a personal feeling, but the professional diagnosis of our midwife, who saw me at the potluck/party, and said, "NOW you're big!" Aaron had noticed it earlier that day, as had our mailman, who said, "You look likuh bitch boll." (He's got a pretty thick accent.) MONDAY, November 17 CONGRATULATIONS SUZANNE AND STEVE! This is wonderful news. So it was a busy weekend. On Friday we went out to So ("Impressive fare at bargain prices") with Emi. I wanted to try out this restaurant as a run-through for my birthday dinner; it turns out we're not having it there. Then on Saturday Aaron went off to shoot a film, so I spent the day in Marin. I was supposed to do a crafts project (a stocking for the baby) but it turned out to be a total bust (lack of planning). Instead my brother and I went to see "Elf," which was hilarious -- some people even applauded at the end. Before I left, my parents loaded me up with a Sopranos-style ziti, a corned beef, a steak, Odwalla orange juice and a delicious chocolate-and-marscapone cake. Looks like they're going mano-a-mano with Aaron's metabolism. Thank you, mom and dad! Tonight is our last pregnancy class -- it's a potluck/party. We're supposed to be bringing something sweet. Some people might be thinking, "Perfect -- you can bring the chocolate-and-marscapone cake." Wrong -- that's for the BABY. THURSDAY, November 13 Angie, if you are reading this, head's up! My dad just informed me that this weekend is Louisiana's annual Cracklin' Festival -- and it's right in in your neighborhood. TUESDAY, November 11 Last night was pregnancy class #10 -- our last night of instruction. (We still have one more class -- a potluck/party next week.) We talked a lot about the partner's role as birthcoach. Apparently Aaron's most essential duties are: - distract me from the pain/provide positive encouragement And I added a few more (after watching yet another birth video): - make sure the lighting is flattering. . . um,
I mean relaxing We also did an exercise where we held our hand under ice for an entire minute and tried different pain-relief techniques (focusing on the pain, moaning, deep breathing, staring into each other's eyes). It was actually helpful. . . and not at all sexy, like it sort-of sounds. Before we left, Laurent, who is French, provided me with a cucumber recipe involving shallots and a vinagrette. Merci! MONDAY, November 9 Some days it is MUCH harder not to open that gender envelope than others. Particularly when you're transcribing lengthy interviews, with the envelope just sitting behind you. Girl. . . ? Boy. . .? Girl. . .? Boy. . .? FRIDAY, November 7 This was my first day of eating an entire cucumber. I felt a little funny setting down just a single cucumber on the produce center counter (it cost 39 cents). Luckily, not that many people saw me walking back up the street -- just me, my yoga mat, and my cucumber. I saved the end bits to show Aaron, sort-of like a trophy.
THURSDAY, November 6 So after lunch with Anh-Minh, I headed over to Sage Femme for my third official visit. Disaster. The midwife isn't sure if I have true high blood pressure or "White Coat Hypertension" (meaning I get freaked out when participating in anything remotely medical), so I got put on a prescribed diet/exercise regimen. Shoot! I'm supposed to up my protein and calcium, drink more pregnancy tea, and eat ONE WHOLE ENTIRE CUCUMBER every day. Also, I have to look into accupuncture and walk briskly for 30 minutes daily, which I'm interpreting to mean five days a week. WEDNESDAY, November 5 Strike that. I just checked out a pregnancy book, and the baby actually weighs FIVE to SIX pounds right now. (Unless maybe it has Aaron's metabolism.) Our midwife told us about a French study that revealed that women who sang through their pregnancies ended up with healthier babies. The problem is, they measured the baby's health by birthweight. Of course I want our baby to be super-healthy. But I don't want it to weigh 10 pounds, for obvious reasons. Tricky. Maybe I'll just sing real soft-like. TUESDAY, November 4 Pregnancy class #9 last night -- that's our second to last! First we went over a lot of scary-ish stuff -- like induction, epidurals, forceps delivery, etc.. Then we watched a freaky video about cesareans. THEN our midwife read some affirmations while we were supposed to relax. Hello? Speaking of relaxation, the other night I suggested that Aaron listen to the affirmation tape that they gave us for relaxing during pregnancy (I thought it would help him fall asleep). He listened all the way up until the woman calmly told him to "allow the light and love to fill the sacred space" of his vagina -- then he turned it off. Oops. I had no idea the tape went in that direction -- I can never make it past the first five minutes without falling asleep. So it turns out David loved driving my Prelude (we swapped him for my parent's Explorer over the weekend). Aaron totally called that one -- as we left my car in the Drake High School parking lot on Friday, he said, "Your brother's going to love driving that car." Who wouldn't? It's a classic, as this guy knows. In baby news, the baby is kicking all over the place. It is really getting strong, and I can definitely tell it weighs 3 to 4 pounds. The little lurches and bumps have turned into "THWAP THWAP THWAP wHOOOOZH." Also, it seems to be a bit of a night owl. MONDAY, November 3 Honeymoon #2 highlights: We hiked a ton, saw a bobcat (not as exciting as it sounds, since it wasn't acting that predatory), went to two beaches -- both gorgeous, and checked out the Henry Miller Library. We camped the first night at Pfeiffer State Park, and were not too cold -- I think because we pretty much brought our entire bed from home (inc. my NASA Technology pillow) and set it up in the back of my parent's car.
For the second night, we stayed at Ripplewood where our cabin was cute and rustic. Plus the lady at the front desk upgraded us for free to the best cabin -- #7. It had its own fireplace (rrromantic) and deck overlooking the Big Sur River. I think it would be especially fun to stay here in late August/ September -- that's a swimming hole outside the window.
When we got back from vacation, there was a 1-2-3 Potty and a bunch of books on our doorstep. No note, but I think it's a gift from thee (sic) next-door neighbors. The books were looking good ("Little Fur Family," "Ira Sleeps Over") until I realized half of them were religious ("Thy Neighbor Obadiah," "Prayers for Little Friends"). Hmmm. |
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