Monthly Archives: June 2008

• 04:53 up for 4th diaper change in 2 hours. yay, new parenthood? #

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I have posted another montage of baby Ben adorableness behind the cut.

We don’t have a video of it, but he actually does this thing where he sounds like he’s complaining just before he breaks into wails. The tone sounds like he’s saying “and then…and then….and then…”, like he’s a small child telling us all about his complaints, about to break into crying. I’m sure if he could talk it would be more like, “and then I got too hot…and then I had gas…and then you people couldn’t understand me when I tried to tell you what was wrong.”

Anyways, we compiled a few video clips into a montage, which is, as mentioned, behind the cut. More enroute, because we have grandparents to deliver these things to.
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• 09:28 hoping for baby in next few hours. OMG epidural is awesome. #
• 15:26 just gave birth to a 9lb baby boy at 2:26pm PST. #

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• 15:53 is having labour induced tonight at midnight – baby here tomorrow!! #

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I went to the obstetrician today for a routine visit. It’s two days before my due date, and I was hoping she’d tell me I was well on my way. I actually am – I’m 2cm dilated and clearly getting ready to have the baby. And if I was having a normal size baby, the doctor would probably let me wait it out.

However, it’s pretty obvious that I’ve grown even in the ten days since my last appointment. So my doctor sent me to ultrasound, where the baby was scanned again to check an estimated weight and be sure that he’s padded by enough amniotic fluid. He’s just fine in there, but the estimated weight came back at…

[ drum roll ]

NINE POUNDS AND CHANGE

Because he’s gaining a half pound a week in there, the doctor recommended I have labor induced this week, to ensure that I have the best possible chance of delivering vaginally. I do not want a ten pound baby that may have to be removed via C-section, so I’m all for this plan. Also, I just want this guy out. He’s heavy. It hurts my lower abdominals when I move around too much, to the point where, if I’m on my feet a lot during the day, it hurts to roll over at night. He settles in an uncomfortable way when I stand up. I’m not waddling or anything, because I’m five-ten with a wide pelvis, but this baby is starting to cause pain. Time for him to get out, so I can actually put hm down.

I was still kind of shocked that labor would be induced. And so I went home, and took a nap until the scheduling lady could book me in at Cedars for induction. I got the call a little after 3pm: a slot was available at midnight tonight. And so, in two and a half hours, I will be at labor and delivery at Cedars-Sinai, getting shot up with Pitocin to induce this guy out.

Hopefully, once it starts, it’ll go fast. At least, that’s what I’m praying for right now. But now I’m looking at less than twenty-four hours until Paul and I actually have a son. By this time tomorrow, I will have added “mother” to my identity, and it’s only slightly less of a mindfuck to adjust to now than it was six months ago.

Of course, I can’t wait to meet this small person who will be such a part of our lives. This is the baby that came out of how much my husband and I truly love each other. This is the son who will always be part of us, and of the little family unit we created. But as much as I am going to love him, it is still a bit frightening, right now, with two and a half hours to go.

I’d better go make sure everything is ready – it’s time to get this baby out!

• 10:09 is working the last day before maternity leave. it’s like the last day of school! #

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– Gwen & Gavin are going to have a goth baby. Now I’m especially glad that we are NOT having a goth baby. Except on Bats Day. We did draw some lines somewhere, and we didn’t think we needed to express our alternative culture by giving our baby a less-than-cheerful room. That’s why he has his adorable barnyard theme.

I don’t think you are supposed to impose your counterculture on your kid to that degree to ensure they “grow up goth” (as Gavin said). I think what you’re supposed to give them access to the counterculture & let them decide. It’s one thing to dress then in alt-rock onesies when they’re small; it’s another to immerse them in the environment 24/7. There’s a big difference between using your not-quite-sentient baby as a fashion accessory, and trying to squash its brain into a particular alternative fashion sense. The way Gavin & Gwen are doing it makes the kid sound like the goth baby version of a bonsai kitten. I say forcing your kid to dress goth is ONLY valid on Bats Day, at which point the kid is at Disneyland and won’t care.

– MSNBC just showed a clip of Michelle Obama, side by side against Cindy McCain. I have to say, especially against the minimally made-up Obama, McCain looks more like a makeup-plastered Skeletor than ever. Does she just take that whole face off at night & set it next to the bed?

– Hey America? EVERYONE ELSE WANTS YOU TO VOTE IN OBAMA. Most of Western Europe has a 30% – 50% preference for Obama over McCain. McCain is the one carrying on about globalization and foreign policy and free trade, but Europeans don’t seem to care. As for Canada, I can’t find an actual opinion poll, but there IS an editorial in the Calgary Herald today comparing Obama to Trudeau., and even the Cape Breton Post calls him a “great hope” for getting America past its legacy of slavery & hatred.

• 12:22 rejoicing that attempt by united healthcare to jerk me around is “clerical error”. keep trying, evil insurance provider #
• 20:33 resting after a round of low-grade cardio on the wii fit. balance games are hard at 39 weeks pregnant. #

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Yay! Both Jessica Alba and Tori Spelling have given birth now!

Well, Tori didn’t so much give birth as get a scheduled C-section. Now, let us all be thankful that C-sections are an option these days when needed – but part of me wonders if Tori needed it. I guess she just wanted the kid out fast so TMZ would stop following her around and judging her every move: going to the nail salon, eating soft-serve with potential listeria, eating hot dogs with nitrates, getting her hair bleached, etc.

The point is, I can now go give birth without those pesky paparazzi around the hospital. Thank you Tori, for not wanting to put the effort into a vaginal delivery!