Update - Failed Relaxation

I went back to the doctor yesterday and got hooked up to the monitor. I felt like I was being hooked up to a polygraph machine. I felt so nervous I was worried I'd skew the test. My heart was beating about a million beats a minute and I had adrenaline streaming through my system. I wanted to jump up and run as far away as possible - exactly the sort of activity that is completely off limits.

Thankfully I was able to prove I was not in active labor and the baby's heart beat looked good. So after portraying a sufficient amount of penitence and promising to change my ways I was allowed on "modified bed rest" which means I'm allowed to sit up sometimes. Lame. But I'm trying to be as sedentary as I can to avoid having this baby too early.

So in two days I've finished two books and enjoyed every World Cup game. But I am NOT happy about convalescing. Yesterday I asked myself what I would like to do that I normally don't have the time to enjoy. I decided to read the Washington Post from cover to cover. I had it handy and I thought it'd be relaxing.

Unfortunately the front page story was this one. Teka Adams was nine months pregnant when an insane woman abducted her and attempted to steal her unborn child by cutting it out of her with box cutters. Ahhh!! I will now have nightmares for the rest of my life.

So paper reading for stress relief was probably not my best idea ever. Time to find something else to do. Like write really long blog posts...

There and Back Again

I just spotted this shirt on Threadless called "There and Back Again." It combines two of my loves: Tolkien and Public Transportation Systems. I also think it's funny that none of the girls sizes are sold out but both the men's X-large and XX-large are gone.

Scale

The amount of oil spewing into the Gulf Coast I find almost incomprehensible: 30,000 t0 60,000 barrels (each barrel is about 42 gallons) a day. The spill is so large it is easily visible from space. The bright white spot is the oil slick reflecting the sunlight. NASA has been taking images since the explosion. You can see a slide show of more images on the NASA website here.

She Got Up Off the Couch

I'm reading and loving this book, "She Got Up Off the Couch and Other Heroic Act from Mooreland Indiana" by Haven Kimmel. It's hilarious. Aaron noticed it this morning and is threatening to take it away so it doesn't inspire me to violate my prescribed "bed rest." I'm on the couch right now enjoying New Zealand v. Slovakia.

Time Out

Yesterday I went to the doctor for a routine appointment. I mentioned that the previous week I hadn't felt the best. I mean, I felt fine, but I felt like the baby/my body might be feeling a little over eager to wrap this whole pregnancy business up. Sure enough, the doctor checked and the baby was super low in my pelvis, I was dilated, and about 50% effaced. All of that would be great if I was another two weeks along. Unfortunately I'm only at 34.5 weeks.

At that point they tried to send me to the hospital to get monitored to make sure I wasn't in active labor. I told them I wasn't in active labor and I didn't need to go to the hospital to find that out. So they hooked me up to a monitor in the office for an hour. (Why they wouldn't start with the in office monitoring instead of the hospital in the first place is kind of annoying to me) I think I would have gone crazy with only the "Female Reproductive System" posters to stare at. Thankfully I happened to have some library books I needed to return in my bag. So instead of pondering the great injustice that is female anatomy I read some Uncanny X-Men comics. I was feeling happily entertained but I think I may have lost some bargaining power when the doctor came back in and saw my reading selection.

My chart looked okay, no active contractions but I was encouraged to go get more tests, go get another ultrasound, go to the hospital for more monitoring etc. etc. to make sure things were okay. Because something had triggered my body into early labor. I said that I didn't think there was anything mysterious about what had triggered early labor -- it was my crazy life. I knew when I was triggering contractions (picking up Reuben, moving boxes, staying up all night to finish deadlines, walking up hills, walking too far, not drinking enough) and I would try to be more careful.

The midwife was unconvinced but so was I. So she played the dead baby card. I hate that. That's when the medical professional says I don't agree with you and my bottom line is a healthy living baby. As if that isn't my bottom line? Oy. So I was assigned bed rest and given a day to think about things. Which I think is the adult form of being put on time out. So during the last 24 hours I've been consigned to feeling guilty about not doing every test to be absolutely certain nothing is wrong and to enjoying the World Cup.

Thankfully Amy is here with Eliza so Reuben hasn't had to be stuck on time out with me. He gets to have fun with his aunt and cousin. Check out Amy's facebook photos she took yesterday. They're hilarious. And yesterday was Amy's birthday. Happy Birthday Amy!

It's Hard To Shave a Moving Target

Since it is hot and Reuben's hair was getting shaggy I decided to try to shave his head yesterday morning. Despite a popsicle bribe, it turned into a wrestling match, a hot, itchy, hair and purple popsicle juice everywhere wrestling match. Now Reuben is mostly bald except for a few patches where he managed to dodge. Oh well. It'll even out as it grows out, right?

I also been having fun playing with a holga camera filter which make Reuben look like he was born around the time Aaron and I were.

And here's a portrait of Battle just for kicks.

Better Than I Choose To Be

Life is going well around here. Work is busy for both of us and we are happy to spend the remainder of our time together as a family.

We love our house but it has no air conditioning. As it's warmed we've invested in several fans and some heavy curtains to block out the sun. I would NOT be so environmentally responsible if given the choice. I definitely would have cranked up the AC by now but I'm learning to live with the heat and humidity. It helps motivate me to go out and find fun, air conditioned activities and it makes no barrier to spending time outside since it's often just as cool if not cooler out than in.