Potatoes in the Mist

You'll be happy to know I dragged myself to the pool today. I enjoyed it once I was there. The pink noodle and I swam slow laps for 20 minutes. I also saw my pool friend. I'm usually shy with new people unless they're the friend of a friend, but this woman is very easy to talk to. She spotted my belly when I was getting out of the pool a few weeks ago and asked me a couple of questions. Turns out she is pregnant too -- but does not look it. She actually has a bigger frame than me, not in a fat way but a broad-shouldered, powerful swimmer way -- but her stomach is like a hard little apple. It's nuts! When I got home, I did a search for due date statistics. It turns out most women, 37% or so, give birth between 40 and 41 weeks...June 10th-16th for me. But two of my friends gave birth recently and one was 2 days before her due date (39th week) and the other was 3 days before her due date (39th week). We shall see. Another thing I have noticed is that NO ONE wants to talk a...

Third trimester is, in a way, the most dastardly of all...the energy and well-being of second trimester has fled...now I'm lugging around a bowling ball and trying to find the energy to go about everyday life. Deep fatigue and insomnia are a hideous mix. On the bright side...I love feeling him move. Sometimes he even does it when I walk now (formerly a quiet time for him). And after dinner he wiggles all his limbs, as if to say, "Yay! I just had some potatoes!" It's endearing. One of D's cousins gave me a copy of Belly Laughs... Jenny McCarthy's account of her pregnancy...not something I would have picked up on my own, but I enjoyed it. Who knew a celebrity could be so relatable? She even gained 60 lbs to my 43 (a total I am trying not to raise, although the carrot cake did win the carrot cake vs. popsicle battle tonight). At one point, she says she baked a pan of brownies each night and ate the whole pan by herself...D said, "And she only gained 60 lbs??...

So I was returning from a veggie burger excursion tonight (D is at a family thing out-of-state) and I got the urge for something sweet. The dilemma was: 1) a square of carrot cake from the corner grocer or 2) fat-free Edy's Fruit Bar (a popsicle, really) from my freezer. The popsicle won, because the carrot cake would have required me to walk an extra block. D and I saw Baby Mama on Friday (no movie would be complete without a guy in the ticket line yelling, "Better hope you won't deliver in the theater, huh?"), but remarks from random morons aside, it was quite enjoyable. Although I must admit the video featured in the movie (no clips were shown, thankfully) gave me pause. The video was entitled: "Extreme Delivery!!" and showed mothers delivering 15-lb infants.

So I was really stressed about my appointment with Dr. ____ today. You may remember, my regular doctor warned me that he would say I had gained too much weight, though she told me she wasn't concerned at all and she gained more weight than me in her pregnancy and she even pointed out that she is 7 inches shorter (which was nice of her. My doctor rocks.) So, anyway, because I'm such a non-anxious person, I got worked up about the visit. I've always been pretty healthy and never been chastised about my weight or whatever. So I was dreading it. But I got there and he was very mild-mannered and nice. Other than the fact that his exam room was hotter than Hades (I was dabbing at my face, neck and arms with damp paper towels before he got there; his sink actually had foot pedals), it was fine. He saw my Lemony Snicket book and told me how his daughter likes that series. He said I was measuring perfectly (they measured my belly). I stiffened when he said, "You had a big weigh...

When you're pregnant, annoying people come out of the woodwork. Granted, I've heard the following so many times... 1) You're big! 2) You're so big! 3) You're big for x weeks! 4) Twins? ...that they barely penetrate. But today, some STRANGER stopped me on the street and asked me where I was going to send E to school. I gave her the polite version of "None of your @*@#^@! business," i.e., "I'm not going to get in a discussion about schools." Even that didn't get her to stop talking! As I walked away, she yelled after me, "Do you live here? There aren't many schools around here." I didn't tell her this, but we're planning to send E to D's school, which is not in the neighborhood, and it's still NONE OF HER BUSINESS. So, if you see a pregnant woman (and this is not directed to my emotionally intelligent blog friends, but rather strangers who may stumble across my blog), you can smile, or leave her alone, or say, ...

Tidbits from today: 1) I went swimming this morning. A while ago, I asked myself, "Who are you trying to impress?" and gave in to the urge to use a pink noodle under my arms while I do the breaststroke. This way, I can do 30 minutes of laps and not get tired. Anyway, the old man I was sharing the lane with said, "You move at a remarkable clip! I thought I would have to pass you, but you were always ahead of me." I wonder if it's that I was fast (thanks to a little help from my pink noodle friend) or he was slow. But it was a nice compliment all the same :) 2) I was contemplating my toenails and realizing I should clip them, but this is a Herculean task that is just not going to get done -- by me, anyway. I'm still shaving my legs but even that involves gymnastic contortions, and toenail clipping requires fine motor skills in addition to the contortions (shaving just requires broad strokes). And I'm too much of a germophobe (and cheap/frugal/whatever) to ...

(If you're allergic to TMI, skip this one.) So I did open that packet from my hospital and skimmed through the materials. Most of them were about innocuous housekeeping matters. Fill out this form! Pick a pediatrician to examine E in the hospital! (They have a referral line you can call, which is pretty cool.) Tell your insurance that you're going to give birth! (The biweekly prenatal visits might have tipped them off, but ok.) Add the baby to your insurance policy! And then...they sneaked this in: "You will be tested for strep B. This is not an STD. 25% of women have this bacteria." Then they described the doctor's test for it. That's when I stopped reading in dismay. Basically, they swab your lady parts, AND your nether parts. Ahem. The irony here is, they really haven't gotten up in my business that much, so I thought maybe they wouldn't. Now I can see that I was wrong. (Is that ironic, or just unlucky? I remember Alanis Morissette's song was c...

I'll be honest...I don't check the mail that often. Sometimes you get a gift, or a card, or an Amazon package, but more often it's bills or coupons for a free rug cleaning. We have a hardwood floor. Today I got a big packet emblazoned with my hospital's name and logo. I haven't opened it yet. The message is loud and clear: Soon you'll be giving birth. You'll be pushing (probably) a 9-lb baby through an area that is really too small for this sort of thing. And yet, I'm relieved. Because I want to meet him!

It's funny how music can transport you to another time and place...I heard "I Wanna Dance (With Somebody Who Loves Me)" tonight and wham, I was in sixth grade. The future was so bright, Whitney had to wear shades. Later, I was trying to listen to Carole King's "Tapestry", but that CD is marred by another, worse association. During first trimester, when I was nauseous for THREE MONTHS, one of the few things that made me feel better was listening to "Tapestry." Now I can't play the CD because it brings back that wavy, shaky, icky nauseous feeling. Sorry, Carole. I was pleased to hear "The Right Stuff" a few days ago, though. Did you know the New Kids on the Block are reuniting? I was never a hard-core fan -- in other words, couldn't match names to faces -- but I welcome the revival of anything '80s. And I did see them open for Tiffany once (although the concert I *really* wanted to see was Def Leppard). I remember being at a sle...

Today we saw In the Heights , a new play on Broadway, with my SIL and a couple other people. My SIL went to high school with someone in the cast or crew so we got a discount. Also, the seats were big and roomy, and the ushers let me use the handicapped bathroom (no line, no stairs). So Bearette was happy. And the play was amazing! We were coming off a bad Broadway streak ( Rock 'n' Roll by Tom Stoppard - ugh - and a Chinese New Year Extravaganza at Radio City Music Hall - not Broadway, but close enough). This production was a pleasant surprise. It had a fun urban sensibility, great dancing, and the energy of the actors was "off the charts," as D said. Aside from a couple cliched "I'm gonna fly" tearjerking songs, I couldn't find any fault with it. It was set in the primarily Dominican neighborhood of Washington Heights (hence the name). D felt a couple of plot points stretched credulity...but I didn't notice. I was enjoying the singing and danci...

I got weighed today. But the doctor is not worried about my weight gain at all. She calculated my weight gain since October (mind you, I got pg in September, but I hadn't been weighed since May. I was using my May weight as a starting point. But now I'll use the October weight, like my doctor did. Because doctors know best!). Anyway, she said, "I'm not concerned at all. You're probably going to be under fifty. How tall are you?" "Five seven." She made a pshaw-type sound. "I'm five zero , and I gained fifty pounds. I'm not worried at all," she assured me. "Just don't see my partner, Dr. ___. He'll tell you you've gained too much weight." "I'm seeing him next time." "Oh, when he says that...just let it roll off," she said airily. Actually, I have my response planned. If he tells me I gained too much weight, I'll advise him, "If you had ever been pregnant, you would know that you d...

I just finished knitting another bootie. I like this one better than the first pair I made. And yes, another one is on the way (although I probably won't take a picture, since it'll look the same ;)

So D and I went to a birthday party tonight. A couple of noteworthy things happened: 1) A drunk girl, also celebrating her birthday, came over, high-fived the birthday boy, and distributed party hats to our table. 2) I met a French girl named France (one of the birthday boy's friends). She said matter-of-factly, "I am France, that is my name." May I also mention...unrelated to the above...there is no advantage to having a heightened sense of smell? None. The *only* time it is an advantage is when I walk by the pie place near my pool...D thinks they are purposely wafting the scent of freshly baked goods onto the sidewalk. Other than that...not so good. I remember, before I even knew for sure I was pregnant, the subway car smelled like they were roasting peanuts on it. I thought I was losing my mind...and then I saw that the man next to me was eating a small packet of peanuts. Also, I am a little jealous of the seniors in my building! They have such a good time. They have s...

I'm still plugging away with swimming and yoga, because exercise is my Prozac, but much of the time I am really, really lazy and tired...did you know being pregnant (first and third trimester, anyway) is like having mono? I had deja vu and realized I was flashing back to that time. I think my body is transferring iron to E now and that's why I'm so tired. The doctor said it was normal. I think it's the equivalent of giving blood 3-4 times or something. I finished knitting a white sock with red hearts on it, which I will try to photograph when the laziness fades (although I might just put up a pic of the second sock, when I'm done with that! Because the second sock always comes out better). I met the most affectionate cat in the world. Correction: I met her a while ago, but she lived in a watch repair shop where you had to be buzzed in *and* out. It creeped me out that the watch repairman could keep you there against your will (not that he did, he seems nice enough)....

Here's the sweater I just finished making for E.

It feels like there is a bowling ball in my pelvis. A heavy one. Not the kind you use with candlepin bowling. But I guess it's normal. The doctor I saw last time told me everyone has pelvic pain and everyone has back pain; the thing to worry about is if my whole stomach gets hard. That's an early contraction. I'm glad she told me that, because I had no idea what a contraction felt like. I should tell you we had a very good dinner tonight. D was going to his doctor and so we met at this Burmese place near the doctor's office. I had steamed vegetables with peanut sauce on the side (they serve it that way :) and yellow rice which had bits of corn in it. The rice might sound iffy to you, but it worked. The dessert (which they gave us automatically) consisted of fresh orange slices. If they were closer, I'd go there more often.