Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Nine Times Out of Ten

Nine times out of ten when someone says something, give them the benefit of the doubt. There’s nothing so sensational as comments taken out of context, which is why those mined quotes are the comments we hear so often. A friend of mine who is a journalist recently pontificated on the decline of journalistic standards with the advent of the internet (apparently ad revenue isn’t making up for the loss in subscribership and the demand for free media). After reading GQ’s recent interview with Phil Robertson, I can’t say that his assertation is too far off the mark. Although low in journalistic quality, Phil managed to start a national controversy. Why? He repeated the Bible’s stance on homosexuality, a viciously polarizing subject in popular culture. Specifically, when asked about what was sinful he replied: 

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”

So Phil doesn’t agree with homosexual behavior, this shouldn’t surprise us. I mean, have you ever seen a picture of the guy? Would you expect backwoods Louisiana to be a bastion of liberal thinkers? The question still begs, if Phil said exactly what we would expect him to, why the national controversy? Maybe it was the way he said it. I’ve heard comments on social media that Phil was drawing a comparative analogy between bestiality and homosexuality. I’m not going to lie, I don’t see it. A recent article in The Atlantic agrees with me and explains Robertson’s comments best: 

He did not actually equate homosexual behavior with bestiality, as many have been saying, and tellingly, his catalog of sinful sexual behavior also included heterosexual promiscuity.

In other words, if you were to ask me what a soda is I’d probably list for you some of the more popularized ones, like Coke, Pepsi, maybe Sprite. But in only listing those items I’d say it was safe to say that I did not intend the reader to be able to do a comparative analysis of my views on Coke’s relationship to Pepsi (as the Huffington Post Suggested). 

Now, where did all of those horrible quotes of Phil’s come from that I’ve seen all over social media condemning blacks and homosexuals? They came from a 2010 speech that Phil gave at Berean Bible Church in Pennsylvania. The whole sermon is on youtube if you’re so inclined, and is quite long. Mined from his speech is an exerpt:

They’re full of murder, envy, strife, hatred. They are insolent, arrogant God-haters. They are heartless. They are faithless. They are senseless. They are truthless. They invent ways of doing evil.”

 If you watch it you will see that Phil is making a popular connection between the Church of Corinth and modern day America. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he urges the citizens to put away their lingering pagan leanings, sexual immorality among them. The “they’re” that Phil refers to in his speech is American culture at large. Not homosexuals and blacks. I have yet to track down where that came from.

And he’s right. All you have to do is flip through the channels on the tube to see a former Disney Channel acolyte swinging “naked” from a wrecking ball, JT deblousing MJ’s sister on the halftime show of the most watched event in America, and if you go to the GQ online article to read of Phil’s crazy rants you’ll be peppered with links to other “articles” such as “The 15 hottest Sports Broadcasters” or “Five Minutes with Kate Upton” (complete with a topless picture of her), and “30 Hottest Jewish Women Under 40 Will SHOCK YOU”. Yes, exactly the type of world I want my daughter to grow up in. We all pervert the glorious gift of sex, homo and heterosexuals alike. Our means are different but our end is the same.

Phil Robertson’s proselytical style may not resonate with me, but he is right and I’ll proudly stand beside him. 

But becoming hypersensitive to such a specific sin has its own dangers. Consider Pope Francis’ assertion that we get back to the gospel, what’s important, and stop obsessing over specific sins like homosexuality. Focus on the real gospel, the gospel of Christ, and the gospel of love. We could all learn a lot from the example of Pope Francis. Let’s focus on loving our neighbors instead of judging them, Phil Robertson included. It’s all too easy for the right to judge the left and the left the right. Another quote I’ve seen making it’s rounds on social media is a photo of the polarizing self-proclaimed bible thumper with the following words of mega-church pastor Rick Warren inscribed on it: 

“Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”

… right on the head. Love your neighbor, leave the judging to the Almighty, speak the good news and the truth in the Bible, argue less, and accomplish more.

-John

P.S. Thanks to Jessica for letting me post here!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Colette's Arrival

 
Warning:  This post is not for the faint of heart.  First, it’s really long.  For many of you, it may seem like too much information, for others, like myself when I was pregnant, you will appreciate all the gory details.  Reading stories of natural births, rather through one of Ina May Gaskins books, online, or hearing them from other women, was empowering for me.  Knowing what was to come helped me gain strength throughout my pregnancy, and I hope telling this story will do the same for someone.

Colette Marie Roth was born September 13, 2012 at 12:15 AM after a brief two hours of labor.  But it didn’t really begin there.  Let me back up to the previous Thursday afternoon when we went in for our 37-week checkup.  I had mentioned to the doctor that I’d been having contractions off and on all week.  She said that was normal, but she had a much more surprised tone after doing the cervical check.  I was 3 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and at a minus 1 station (I’m still not sure if that’s how I say that).  I don’t know if this is unusual for first time moms at this point in their pregnancy, but I was certainly happy to hear that over the past week I had essentially labored through the first phase of labor!  She explained to me that this did not mean that the baby was necessarily coming anytime soon, but that when he or she did decide to arrive that the labor would be quicker than I had expected (um, understatement of the year!) as I would begin labor in the active labor phase (the second phase of labor, the third is pushing).  She then gave us instructions on how to deliver a baby in a car, which was a real possibility since we live roughly an hour from the Santa Cruz hospital we’d chosen to deliver in.

That night and off and on for the next few days I had times of much more painful contractions.  In between contractions I would feel nauseated and began to think, “this is it!” but the contractions never sustained longer than 45 minutes.  I didn’t want her to come too soon, but I jokingly asked the little baby in my belly to arrive Wednesday evening (the 12th) after John’s last final.  That would give us eleven days together before John had to go back to school.  Apparently, I have a very obliging child. 

The night of the twelfth I began having some contractions around 10:15.  I didn’t think anything of it, because I’d been having contractions almost every night at that time for a week and a half.  I started timing them; they were lasting 2 minutes, which was unusual, but they were six minutes apart. We headed to bed at 10:45 and the minute my head hit the pillow I felt (and I swear I heard) a POP!  It felt like punch, and it was painful.  To the point that I may have possibly said a swear word.  I jumped up and water started pouring down my leg as I ran to the bathroom.  John followed me asking what was wrong and I told him to call Michelle (our doula) because my water had just broke.  That’s when things started getting tough.  Instantly the contractions were stronger, faster, and harder.  John told Michelle the timing of my contractions and asked her if we should go to the hospital.  She asked him if I was crying.  We both found this to be an odd question, but told her that I wasn’t crying, but that it was getting real at this point.  She instructed him to call the hospital.  When he got off the phone I told him that we had to leave now, no matter what the nurse at the hospital said. 

It took me a little while to be able to walk down the stairs and outside to the car as John scrambled to get the last minute essentials.  Between contractions I talked to all the necessary people on the phone.  I’m pretty sure my mom and sister got the wrath of my pain when they both asked me if was doing my Lamaze breathing.  (I apologized later). 

By the time we hit Moss Landing, which is about half way to Santa Cruz, John was slowing down for the intense fog and I was getting pretty panicky.  The contractions were only two minutes apart and with each contraction I was gripping the dash and leaking more fluid.  That really freaked me out.  I didn’t know that your water could just keep breaking, so I started thinking something was wrong.  By the time we got back on the freeway stretch of hwy 1, John was passing a construction zone and slowed down even more! I was losing my mind.  I kept telling him something wasn’t right.  At this point my contractions were ZERO minutes apart.  It was just one wave rushing into another.  Honestly, it made me think of surfing.  Like when you are out and some huge set is coming through and you keep trying to swim back out to catch one, but you’re losing ground every time.  I felt like the waves were overtaking me, as if I were going to drown in pain. 

John seemed to think I was handling it all pretty well.  He told me later that he knew I was in pain, but figured we had a few hours to go.  I was thinking that I couldn’t see how this could get worse, and wondering if I could handle six or seven more hours of it until I got to 10 cm.  Oh, little did I know.

We pulled up to the hospital and stopped in front (where the sign said “No parking”) and I slowly got out of the car while John grabbed the bag.  It was dark inside and when I walked up to the automatic doors they didn’t open.  I was beyond sanity and just started banging on the glass doors.  A nurse came up from behind me and explained that we’d have to go to the emergency entrance, as this entrance closed at 8:30.  I’m pretty sure the look I gave her explained that wasn’t going to happen.  She used the intercom to ask for someone to bring a wheelchair and she told me to sit down to wait.  I tried to sit down on the bench outside, but that’s when the burning sensation began.  I had read enough about birth to know that this meant it was time to push.  I’m pretty sure my eyes were bugging out of my head as I was thinking I was going to have my baby in the parking lot!!  I started telling the nurse, in a very audible tone, that we had to go; this baby was coming!  I told her it was burning and that the head was coming.  Then she said the absolute wrong thing:  “Is this your first baby?  No, honey, that baby is not coming right now.”

Why do people do that?  Like you don’t know what’s going on with your own body??

Luckily, the security guard arrived and pushed me to the delivery room.  The nurses helped me onto the bed and checked for dilation.  I heard her say, “Oh my God, she’s at ten.” Told you so.

The doctor on call came in and they had me lay back and put my feet in stirrups.  I told them this wasn’t right, this wasn’t how I was supposed to do this.  The nurse explained that this is how you have a baby and that I needed to hold my breath, put my chin to my chest, and push.  I didn’t argue, but none of it felt right to me.  Shouldn’t gravity have been helping me out in this?

I tried a few pushes, annoyed that no one was listening to me.  I didn’t have much progress.  I kept trying to focus my energy, but honestly, I didn’t know how to push from that location.  Maybe that sounds silly, but, well, I’d never done it before!

Luckily, my OB arrived in minutes and she had the nurses raise the bed and lower the stirrups.   Right again, I thought to myself.  Now in a closer to seated position I began to push with every contraction.  That’s when utter pandemonium began.  I could feel the baby’s head with every push and I was screaming.  I wasn’t meaning to, by any means, but it was like something else had just taken over.  The nurses keep telling me to stop screaming and hold my breath and push.  And I kept trying, but I wasn’t really making much progress.  It was finally at this point that I thought, I don’t want to do this anymore.  I’ll just stay pregnant.  Why did I want to do this naturally?!  But darn logic kicked in to remind me that there was no possible way to get relief other than to just have the baby at this point.

I started hearing the nurses talking to the doctor, I heard them talking about heart rates and whose was whose.  Then my OB looked at me and said, “Jessica, you have to push this baby out right now.  The heart rate has dropped and it needs to come out.  If you don’t push it out with this contraction I’ll have to do an episiotomy.”  I knew then that this was serious.  We chose this doc because she’s so adamant about natural birth.  She wouldn’t suggest cutting someone if it wasn’t serious business.  I’d love to say that this was my shining moment and that I did it then, I had my baby and everything was perfect.  But I pushed and pushed and when I was done, she was still in there. 

That push did move her around though.  Her heart rate went back up! After that last push, though, I was determined.  I guess my doctor could see determination in my eyes, because she knew.  She told John to take my clothes off so the baby could lay skin-to-skin with me immediately.  He pulled my top off removing the oxygen mask they had given me to wear between contractions. 

When the next contraction came everyone around me blurred.  I was so focused.  I could see everyone yelling around me, cheering me on, but the only person I heard was John telling me to push, telling me I was doing great, that I was almost there until it happened.  All at once, the baby came out- head, body, adorable bum and all :).  The doctor put her directly on my chest and I just looked at her, taking the whole thing in before I realized I still didn’t know the gender!  I started asking What is it? What is it? The doctor suggested I turn the baby over on its back, when I did John told me we had a baby girl! I asked hm if he was happy, if he had secretly wanted a boy, but he said he wanted God's perfect will, and that's what we got :)

I felt like I had been in the pushing stage for hours.  Turned out I only pushed for 25 minutes!  I had experienced all of active labor in the car, and all of early labor over the course of ten days at home.  It was and still is hard to wrap my head around.  Maybe because I didn’t really have the time to process what was happening with my body.

Looking back, I’m overwhelmed at God’s provisions and blessings.  I told this story to our pediatrician at our first visit this week, and he said the same thing all my doctors have said:  “You were made to have babies.”  I don’t know really how much I believe that, but I do believe that I was made to have this baby.  In my pregnancy, delivery, and in holding my newborn I can see how God had his hand in this entire process.  I had an absolutely perfect pregnancy, medically speaking.  My delivery was everything we’d prayed for and more. It was a natural and fast vaginal delivery with no pain medications whatsoever.  And our girl is perfectly healthy, a very healthy eater (haha) and a great sleeper.  Even my silly little wishes of not wanting to be cursed with swollen ankles in pregnancy, telling the baby to show up after John’s last final, and praying that our baby would have John’s nose were answered. 

The Lord listens to even the smallest of prayers. 

And now we have a beautiful daughter that is fearfully and wonderfully made (psalm 139).  



Tuesday, September 4, 2012

9 months...it can only get bigger and better from here!

There are only 24 days left until my due date.  PRAISE GOD!!!  I am so ready to meet our kiddo and find out what it is!!! Everyone I meet, and very often people I don't know at all, want to tell me what I'm having (they all say a boy), but I'm dying to know!  Furthermore, I'm so ready to not be pregnant anymore.  It's crazy how I've been trying to gain 20 lbs. since high school and now that I have (albeit all in one place was not exactly the plan), I have decided that I will never, ever take being skinny for granted again. 

Seriously?  Look at this!

So my baby apps tell me that our kid is the size of a watermelon now.  I didn't need to read that to figure that out.  It seriously looks like I swallowed a whole watermelon!  How hilarious is this belly?

The stats say that the baby is 19-22 inches and 6.5 lbs, roughly.  I don't know where they get these estimates, because some people go full term and their baby doesn't weigh that much, but I guess these are averages.

At this point, we're basically just waiting for baby us to decide when to show up.  I think it has at least been considering it's options, as I had contractions all day Sunday.  They were even consistent, but would only last for about an hour and then go away.  Although it wasn't necessarily a fun day, it was really good for me because I found that my head was in the right place.  I wasn't scared or worried, rather I was calm and getting rather excited, like "okay, let's do this!"  Although, honestly, I don't want he or she to rush.  I want it to get chubby and let it's brain and lungs develop as much as possible, which is significant in these last few weeks.  I mean, heck, if I've survived 9 months, what's 24 more days?

In the meantime, I'll keep working on baby us' rug.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

8 months...geeez!!

"This stuff is gettin' REAL!"

That's a quote from my husband :)  Last week we had a tiny scare that involved a hospital visit -it was a false alarm and everything is still going really well, but this was the quote that came out of it.  And it's true, it really kind of hit home after that.  We're really going to be parents, and REALLY pretty soon.
I mean, we're at eight months now.  8 months?!  Actually, 33 weeks tomorrow!!  We're gonna have a teeny tiny itty bitty widdle baby in our arms within the next seven-ish weeks!  ho-leeeee cow!

Luckily, we learned some important lessons during our hospital visit.
1.  We feel even more secure in our choice of hospital.  The nurses were awesome, and they were very straight up with us.  They answered our questions and weren't afraid to tell us the best and worst possible scenarios.  I appreciate that- why do they keep you guessing sometimes?

2. When I do go into labor, our drive should not be within the hours of 4 and 7 in the evening.  It took us an hour and a half to get there with rush-hour traffic!!  That's not so conducive for a crazy lady in labor.

3.  Pizza my heart is right down the street.  We know where to get grub when it's all said and done.

Now that we have those valuable jewels of knowledge under our belt, we're ready.  We got this. What else could we possibly need to know ;)
Can you believe this is my workout DRESS??  It's very much a shirt these days :)

I couldn't decide which one I looked fatter in.



What else??...Oh, stats and updates!!

  • Baby-us is the size of a honeydew melon!!!  17-19 inches (roughly) and 4.5 lbs!
  • All the books and websites say the kiddo is running out of room to move around, but I think it missed that memo, because it's still walking the rim of my left side at night.  Which leads to...
  • 3rd trimester insomnia.  I've got it super bad.  And it's SO frustrating.  If the baby is not kicking me, then it's the darn Braxton Hicks contractions keeping me up.  I try to go to sleep around 8:30 or 9, but I end up getting up and reading or something until the Sandman shows up between 11pm and 1 am.  
  • Although I haven't gained any more weight, my fingers look like they have.  I'm thankful this is the only part of me swelling (I have nightmares of cankles), but it means that I can't wear my rings anymore.  I'm trying to convince John to fly back to New Zealand to have the jeweler make me another custom ring in a bigger size...but he's not game.  Although he may change his mind if he had extra time to climb and surf while he was there...
Finally, I must admit that I have a new obsession.  Nesting.  It's like the rest of life has completely fallen to the waist side and all I can do is get ready for the future President's arrival!  I'm organizing (and reorganizing) all the babies things, I've put together every baby contraption I can ...stroller, co-sleeper, baby seat, etc.  and I've begun making a rug for the nursery.  Not that our kid even has a nursery, but it will someday.  Hopefully when we move in December it will get a room.  It's a bit ambitious, but I wanted to make an eco-friendly rug, so our baby could crawl around and not ingest fumes of formaldehyde and pesticides.  It's made from t-shirts from our closet, friends, goodwill, etc. How's that for reusing? :)
So this is it (well, the slow beginning of it):
This is about 6 shirts..and 1 1/2 weeks of work! 
Yeah, I have a long way to go.  Maybe it'll be done by the time our kiddo is 10!

Friday, August 3, 2012

$.02 on the chicken sandwich

I should preface, this post has nothing to do with our baby.

This post is my two cents about this whole Chick-fil-A craziness, and why it makes me insane and happy all at the same time :) Insane, because although I believe this to be an important issue in this country right now, it has completely taken over my news feed.  More than the Colorado massacre, more than the Olympics, more than Joseph Kony and the LRA, more than the upcoming election.  It is all about the leader of the chicken sandwich and his views?!?!?!

So I saw this picture on a friend's facebook page and I felt that it truly explained why this whole thing actually makes me pretty happy.



Finally, the American people are willing to put their money where their mouth is!!  It doesn't matter where you stand on the issue of gay marriage, people are either supporting chick-fil-a financially (with record numbers on August 1) or not supporting them at all.  WHICH IS AWESOME!  Either way, people are actually feeling passionate about a cause and working for or against it!  Proof that it can be done!  My hope, as Willy Wonka is mentioning here, is that more Americans will boycott what they think is wrong!  Why are we giving money to companies that support something we hate?! 

I've talked about this before, about how every purchase you make is a vote and people are voting on chick-fil-a and this issue.  Why aren't people voting about these issues???:

  • Discrimination against African Americans- Wonderbread (They make bread, Twinkies, etc.)
  • Discrimination against pregnant employees- Verizon (check your phone, most likely you support them)
  • Unnecessary animal testing - Proctor and Gamble (they make everything:  Clairol, Tide, Gain, Gillette, Pampers, Iams, Downey, Cascade, Bounty, Tampax.  Seriously, everything, so check your labels.)
  • Child slave labor and aggressive takeovers of family farms- Nestle (time to pick a new chocolate, folks. As well as Gerber foods, Coffeemate, Dreyer's and Haagen Dazs ice cream, certain bottled waters- they are all made by Nestle.  All contributing to child slave labor.)
  • Involvement in plastic toy sweatshops and cause for rain forest deforestation abroad- KFC (Chicken again)
  • And many, many more!

I'd also like to point out that these aren't just companies that SAY how they feel on these topics, these are companies that actually ACT on these topics.  They've all been sued for these acts and yet, the American people just keep right on supporting them with their hard-earned money.  

So please, continue to boycott companies that you feel you don't agree with!!!  But please don't stop with politics or religion.  Boycott the companies that are actually physically hurting people and the environment as well. I believe August 1 showed that when the American people put their money where their mouth is, no matter what side you support, we can make a difference!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

30

It's funny how some weeks nothing notable really happens and others I have so much to say.  This week is the latter.

I'll start with our baby stats :

  • Baby Colette or John weighs 3-3.2 lbs!
  • The size of a head of lettuce!! (one site says 15.7 in. long another says 18.  Sounds like a pretty big difference to me!) 
  • As of today we have roughly 9 weeks and 1 day to go!
  • Brain development is HUGE right now; as of this week our baby can perceive info from all 5 senses.
Last week was a pretty busy week baby-wise.   We met with our future pediatrician AND had a breastfeeding class (well, I did, John was exempt).

Interviewing the pediatrician was awesome!!  Not necessarily the interview, but finding someone like-minded to be our baby's doctor was wonderful!  The doc specializes in pediatrics and preventative medicine.  He believes in treating illnesses naturally before rushing to prescribe antibiotics; the idea is to prevent diseases rather than create immunity to medication.  He also has a wonderful schedule for vaccinations and pointed out that they are negotiable and that we should decide as parents what is best for our children. 

I already know what you are thinking and before you flip out, yes, we are going to vaccinate our child. (Well, except for the Chickenpox vaccination, that seems unneccessary to me)  We are, however, going to follow a more extended schedule.  Especially since I have a close family member with arthritis.  (Vaccines are linked to autism, ADHD, and rheumatoid arthritis).  Research has shown links to autism and vaccines, and after working as a behavioral therapist for children with autism, and witnessing how hard life can be for them and their families, I just can't justify the risks.  I realize that this could just be one small portion of the equation, along with eating food with pesticides, watching television before the age of 3, giving an infant Tylenol, or taking it while pregnant, having a large number of fetal ultrasounds during pregnancy, etc., etc.  Children in the military have the highest rates of Autism (I believe 1 in 8 boys now), and no one is sure why.  This tells me that I should just take more precautions.

He also gave me a list of supplements to take and things to not use.  The list of items to avoid include:

  • Ammonia
  • Chlorine bleach
  • Teflon
  • Aluminum
  • Plastics
  • Microwave
If you don't know yet why I LOVE this doc, then I you haven't been listening to my rants for the past couple of years :)  These are the same things we outlaw in our house, except aluminum, that's a new one for me.  

Anyway, on his list of supplements he suggested that pregnant and nursing mothers eat 2 eggs a day (among many other things).  I mention this because, the idea of eating eggs is the most difficult for me.  I don't think I've ever eaten an egg not hidden in a chocolate cake or something.  Besides the fact that they are nasty chicken abortion, the smell and texture make me gag.  But as John reminded me (with a devious smirk), it's for the baby.  So far I have gotten up to one egg actually eaten alone.  I tried scrambled, but half-way through I just about tossed my cookies.  The next day I somehow managed a whole hard-boiled egg (strategically washed down with a giant gulp of juice after each bite).  I'm sneaking them in more and more with fried rice, baked goods (such as lemon bars- which was the recipe that used the most eggs in my cookbook), and french toast.  I'm open to any suggestions you may have!!  I have deemed this one of the biggest challenges of pregnancy I have faced thus far.  Yes, it is right up there with the carpal tunnel and surviving migraines with no pain meds!

This weekend we are celebrating our birthdays and baby moon (ie. one last getaway as a 2 person family) in our old stomping grounds, Mammoth Lakes!!  I can't believe we're already at 7 1/2 months!!

Friday, July 13, 2012

29

Twenty-nine weeks today, and 3 1/2 weeks until I turn 29.  Man, time flies!!

I guess I should tell you what baby us and I have been doing since my last update.  First, we had a "Hey girl" weekend with my bestie Linds, while my husband dragged her husband up a mountain in Yosemite.  (Typical ;) ).  It was pretty great just eating good food, having some girl time, and watching Ryan Gosling movies.  If you haven't seen this Ryan Gosling fad of "hey girl" you should check this out.  It's my favorite :D

Ryan Gosling on Cloth Diapers

Some are a tad inappropriate, but I love the last one :)

I've also started swimming, which is INCREDIBLE!!  I mean, I've always loved swimming, but having the feeling of being weightless when my belly feels so crazy heavy all the time is great! And it's hilarious watching the visual responses when I get out of the pool and people realize that I'm pregnant.  I guess it's hard to tell in the water??
 It's also been a great way to get me doing something.  I've been pretty down since school (work) has been out.  I really miss my kiddos and I miss the fulfillment of teaching.  I feel this way every summer, but it's harder knowing that I won't be going back in August.

I've been keeping busy by working on my classes (I'm just taking one towards my doctorate right now...and it's pretty boring), and reading a new parenting book each week.  Last week was Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman.   It was a fabulous read!  It wasn't like most parenting books, it was written more like a novel and really fun.  I read the whole thing in a day.  The book compares American moms to Parisian moms and investigates why (largely) American children whine, have less patience, are demanding, etc., whereas Parisian children seem to have much more self-control and patience.  It turns out, after reading the book, Parisian moms are just like Southern moms.  I should thank my mom for being so tough.

Last week I had a very interesting OB appointment.  My doctor first wanted to talk to me about how we plan to space out our children.  This seemed random to me since the first one is still in my belly, but we discussed the current research about the negative effects for mom and baby to get pregnant too soon in-between.  (Risks of obesity, Autism, etc. if a year or less apart).  We really don't have a plan, but I'd like some serious time to get a grip on this whole mom bit first.

Then she wanted to discuss breastfeeding.  And not in the typical, it's-a-good-idea way, but in her total Santa Cruz hippie way in which she believes breastfeeding should be done very openly, very often.  She advises against covering up, or excusing yourself in public at all.  I totally respect her passion and I, of all people, want to support advocacy for a good cause.  Women shouldn't have to cover up or be discreet at all, it's a natural thing.  I think it's awesome how supportive she is of that!! However, I couldn't help but smile and remind her that I'm from the South.  Today I saw one of my pastors from church at the pool and I couldn't even go talk to him because I felt it inappopriate that I was swimming in my bikini!  How will I ever be at the comfort level she's talking about?!

Anyway, moms that can be the change for breastfeeding women, I admire you so very much!  However, I have already ordered a "hooter hider" for use in public places.

Last, but certainly not least, the baby stats!!

  • 29 weeks today (I think we covered that), but that means we should have a baby within the next 11 (or so) weeks!!  Eeeek!  I can't wait!!
  • Baby-us is the size of a small cabbage!!
  • Roughly 17 inches 
  • Around 2.9 lbs.
  • And we've finally, I'm pretty sure it's final now, decided on names.  Boy:  John Lincoln; Girl: Collette Marie (or Colette..I dunno about the spelling yet)