Baby Idol aka Another Potential Suitor

Vote for Weston tonight!

I just voted and you have to look for the picture, which is the last picture on row 17.

Good luck, Weston! We are cheering for you.

Pooped out

Yesterday we took Lucy out for a short outing. We met Chad and Erica
at Tangy Sweet for a cup of yogurt. We placed her in Ergo Sport
Carrier and I think that she loved it. There was not a peep from her
until we were browsing around Bed Bath & Beyond. Then we just had a
couple of outcries before we made our final selections.

Once I unzipped her, I discovered that the impromptu pillow support
had left an imprint on her foot. She was definitely snuggled up in
there. I also noticed that the Ergo Sport Carrier says that it is for
15-40 pound children. I guess that is what the newborn insert is for.
Although when I went to the lactation consultant, she helped me figure
out how to avoid buying the additional accessory. We stuffed the small
carrying case with a couple of blankets we had on hand. Perfect! It
was just enough support to keep her propped up above the bib. And she
loved tossing her head back and checking out the neighborhood.

Before and After: Hair! Hair! Hair!

BEFORE

On the very last day of his first year, Jed received his first hair cut. If you've been following this adorable little hair-wolf, you would know that this is a truly momentous occasion. Once I caught wind of the impending doom (a serious must read), I was sure to check the blog several times throughout the day. I hope that mom and dad held up okay. I am sure it was a tough day. Although they truly have enough shots to torture this kid during his wedding video many, many years from now.


AFTER

Happy Birthday, Jed! We wish we were able to help you celebrate tomorrow!

Happy Negative One Week Birthday

Lucy is two weeks old today. Plus we have one more week until my due
date. The big news is that she is back up to her birth weight of 6 lbs
6 oz, according to the scale we are renting from the breastfeeding
center.

We dressed Lucy up for her visit with Shannon and Will. We have very
few clothes that she can actually wear. And finding those few items is
another challenge in itself.

I had washed two large loads of hand me downs two weeks ago Wednesday.
But I left those in the dryer with the intent to fold them and put
them away based on size around the same time I was pushing away. I'm
pretty certain I have a few long sleeve t-shirts perfect to wear with
her sleep blanket, but I have no idea where they are.

When I received these little pants immediately followed by a
prediction of an eight pound baby, I thought my baby would never wear
these little pants. But as you can see, the crotch of her pants are
about the same length of her long, skinny legs.

I don't think that she minds hanging out in the nude most of the time.
She is a little hot box. This baby snuggles up on you and you are in a
sweat. Plus we need a lot of skin-on-skin contact to bring in the
milk. And there can be three diaper changes in a row, which usually
happens right in the middle of a feeding. I also think the giant neck
holes sort of make her look teenier than if she is just wrapped in a
blanket.

This evening's celebration includes a bath before tomorrow's two-week
doctor's appointment and the National Spelling Bee, which is being
held only four blocks away.

Chicken vs. Eggs ... Lots of eggs

See this pillow? I woke up at least twice or maybe three times holding it in a breastfeeding position. The last hold was a crazy contorted hold, which I frequently use with my right arm stuck out like a chicken wing.

I talked to our lactation consultant yesterday afternoon to refocus my goals of bringing my milk in. Seems I have had a bit of trouble, which I think stems from my lack of breastfeeding from the very beginning after Lucy's birth.

I guess that I should have skipped the AJ Jacobs book and skimmed the hippie birthing book a little faster. Because the real trove of info was found in the breastfeeding book, Seven Natural Laws of Breastfeeding. I packed both the birthing book and breastfeeding book for the hospital. When I asked for it the first night after my delivery, Henry said I didn't need it.

By the time I made it home from the hospital, he had checked a couple out of the library for me and was reading passages out loud to me. Who is this man? I have never been able to get him to summarize anything for me since I've known him! Last night, he also talked to me in the bed with the lights out for the first time ever. Having a baby really does change things.

My breastfeeding book describes a lot of the symptoms I've faced with Lucy. First she had a heavily medicated entrance into the world. When I "should have been" feeding her, I was completely numb from the waist down. I was scared to hold her. Plus the grandparents were there in the delivery room and everyone enjoyed passing her around. Breastfeeding during this time never entered my mind.

Second, Lucy was beat up from the forceps and we were both exhausted. We just wanted to sleep. She had a headache and it hurt her little jaws to eat.

Furthermore, she was three weeks early. Even though she was technically a full term baby, she was a near term baby in other books. One nurse kept cramming her head into my breast telling me that she was old enough to know what she was doing. But when she would suck her fist, she would try once and then fall asleep. The latch/suck/swallow
reflex was not working together.

But I still didn't realize where things were headed. I guess because I hadn't read the book that described the sleepy baby syndrome and extreme jaundice very clearly. We were going home on the 16th until they came to me and said that Lucy was staying in the hospital because she had jaundice, which makes her sleepy, which means she won't eat, which means she won't poop, which means the jaundice gets worse, which
means she just sleeps...

Hence the chicken vs. the egg. I can only speculate where this went wrong. Or it was completely inevitable. I don't really care. I do know that if she had listened to my in utero pep talks in the shower about working together to get out of my body, some of the problems would have been avoided - like the drugs and the bruises. Or if she had
listened to the doctor who turned her into position, but she just rolled back over.

But as I've noticed so far, Lucy prefers to do things in her own time. And she is incredibly observant. So I'm not surprised that she wanted to see the look on everyone's faces when she actually made it out on my very last push before being rolled off for a c-section.

I pumped while she stayed to tan in the hospital nursery for three extra days. But once she returned home, I didn't keep it up. We were feeding FOREVER. So I had no idea that she wasn't stimulating my milk production. At least not until after our lactation consultation on a Friday night before a holiday weekend. Once I started pumping, my
numbers had totally dropped. Here is where the books are not helpful.

They all say "use it or lose it." That's it. With reason after reason with why it's important to feed her immediately after birth. Only buried in passages of various books did I find seeds of hope. But not until after I had a total breakdown. I was completely devastated that I had obliviously let my chances of breastfeeding pass me by. And it was only slipping farther away every time I supplemented with formula,
had visitors and skipped skin-to-skin interaction. This was insanity. An insightful article on the case against breastfeeding in The Atlantic helped me put things in perspective.

Yes, I suppose I do fall into the demographic Hanna Rosin describes in the article. Unlike the author's experience, I haven't alienated any of my friends who stopped breastfeeding for various reasons, including many of the same ones I am currently facing. I knew that there was an even chance that I might not be able to breastfeed Lucy for various reasons. Plus my mom only breastfed me for eight weeks. I made it okay. And I certainly wasn't going to let my child die. We would figure out a way to pump her full of food before it came to that point. But it did help me think about why I felt so passionate about breastfeeding with all scientific evidence (or lack of) set aside.

Convenience... Clear and simple. In three months, I would like to pick her up, head across the neighborhood, and not have to worry about washing bottles along with paint brushes at the studio. I'm all about being light. In fact her name means light and merry. So I didn't just want to quit just like that without even reaching her two-week birthday. I was even on the fence about a Cesarean. I could have been swayed, except I just wanted one area to heal. So once I started with the forceps, I wanted to finish there.

After emotionally bottoming out, I actually stopped reading the books and read through a couple of my favorite art magazines, found another class at Penland, and in general thought about life beyond now... Could I go to Penland in August? Probably not, but I can dream. And it lifted my spirits just enough to know that there is an artist (Helen Hiebert) out there who makes paper lanterns and homemade hot air balloons. And I can learn from her. It really helped me to think about life beyond the weekend and the endless feedings around the clock.

So despite the book's foreboding advice, there are some helpful things I learned. Adoptive mothers can breastfeed. Yes... That's crazy. And that fact gave me a lot of hope. I almost expected to read that even a transgender mom can breastfeed. Plus there is a term called relactating. I don't think that just because I didn't pump for 24 hours and I let Lucy sleep for four hours between feedings that I qualify as someone relactating. Like Taylor said, it's supply and demand. Instead of being frustrated by not having enough milk for her, I read that Lucy was finally working with me to bring in the milk that I need. Don't just keep giving her more and more formula. Instead, feed her more often.

So as I waited to hear from the lactation consultant, I made Henry head out to Whole Foods to buy Mother's Milk tea, which contains fenugreek, an herb that enhances milk production. I also scheduled my third postnatal acupuncture appointment. The first two did wonders for my healing and recovery, aka pain and swelling.

In preparation for my appointment, I printed out a diagram of a little Chinese acupuncture model for low breast milk and showed it to Peter, Dr. Wu's son and partner. He said that he would do the acupuncture for low breast milk, but I really need to eat pig's feet soup. Plus whole milk, not low fat. And eggs, lots of eggs. Maybe a half an hour after my appointment, I was feeding Lucy once again, according to her on demand sucking. I received a call from Mrs. Wu. She told me she had something special for me and to send my husband over to the office next door. He returned with a small paper bag of herbs for my pigs feet soup and a jar of sweet rice pudding, which I am supposed to cook with eggs.

I finally spoke with my lactation consultant. She helped relieve my fears. She knew all about the pig's feet soup, which she said gives you greasy breast milk. And while I'm out shopping for pig's feet, I could be pumping, which works. She gave me a focus and a plan. I'm going to pump, pump, and pump. Yesterday I pumped 347cc and my goal is
700 a day. Although not in one day! So I pour little bottles into one another and pour over the numbers I've logged into the spreadsheet seen at the top of the screen. Then if she is alert, we can practice her breastfeeding. But Henry feeds her my milk from a bottle, otherwise. Each day she is a little stronger and eats a little more. Which also means she poops more, pees more and is even more alert after naps. Plus I need a lot of skin on skin action with the little one. That's not so bad. She's a very sweet baby to snuggle with.

I am just looking forward to having my milk in and relaxing on the pumping. Even better, when she is x months old and I can be a recreational pumper, which is what I planned to be after taking the breast pumping class. I hope that she will continue to be an excellent sleeper beyond this early stage in her life. Because if there is anything about this family, we like to sleep and that 3 am pump/feed is very, very hard.

Alex and Lucy

The gifts keep pouring in and one of our favorites was a complete set of tie-dyed onesies, ages zero months all the way up to twelve months. Kimberly, of Stella's Sweet Shop, made these for Lucy. I am wondering if Alex is making plans to take her to any shows. The bright colors compliment her coloring. The yellow is starting to fade, fortunately.

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas...

In non-baby-related news, we had a second major life goal met on our hallway this week. Congratulations to Rocky for making it to all fifty states. Maybe we can join him in Hawaii for the completion of his second goal.



When you reach the age of 29 and send an email out to your friends and family about a life accomplishment it’s more than likely to announce you’re getting married, having a kid or some big promotion you earned at work. However for anyone that knows me that’s obviously not the case. This email is about the dream of a 13 year old Rocky Fox finally being fulfilled.



As many of you know, while on a trip to the Indianapolis 500 with my dad in 1993 he decided to drive the 90 or so miles down the interstate to Cincinnati and take me to a Reds - Braves baseball game. On that fateful day May 27th 1993, after driving from Indiana to Ohio I became enamored by the fact that you could drive from state to state so easily. Having grown up in California the idea of so easily crossing state lines was new to me.



Upon arriving in Cincinnati, my dad realizing my new found obsession kept telling me “look over the river, that’s Covington, Kentucky, it’s less than a mile away.” When my dad and I left the stadium (in the 8th inning), I assumed (as any spoiled child would) that my dad would quickly drive across the river taking me into Kentucky before heading back to Indiana, at most 10 minute detour. However Bill Fox “Didn’t want to get lost.” So instead he came up with some ridiculous rationale that I “saw” Kentucky and that counted. Dad, if that counted then I saw every state we flew over on the way to Indiana. Padding my “state statistics” like this was totally unacceptable even at the age of 13.



I vowed as we drove back to Indianapolis that I would not only make it to all 50 states but that Kentucky would be my 50th state and I would drive my dad across that river. Grated I’m 100lbs heavier, with a little less hair and a lot less Mossimo apparel but 16 years later on May 23rd, 2009 I made it to Kentucky (5,839 days late).

Needless to say making it to all 50 states was not easy. At times I questioned if getting all 50 states was possible, or even sane. The hotel I stayed at in downtown Detroit was at best unsafe, the drive through Navajo country on the way back from the 4 corners was eye opening and watching the Giants blow playoff games in Florida was heart breaking.

The quest has required multiple girlfriends, a ton of friends, endless rental cars, airline flights, hotel rooms and of course Rosemary Fox’s Visa card but I made it. Thanks to all of you who let me sleep on your couch, drove with me through Missouri in a thunderstorm, scheduled your weddings in places from Maui to Greenville, Maine, listen to me tell the Kentucky story at work or at a bar and were willing to accept that 700 miles driven in a day was more than reasonable.

Oh and thanks to my dad for fulfilling my dream and keeping his mouth shut when I drove us across the river.

I’ve included some photos and a sweet excel spreadsheet for you to enjoy during the work day. I've now also had my picture taken in front of 49 State Capitols. Expect another email like this when I finally make it to Honolulu.

Rocky

PS: I’m now taking suggestions on new life goals to fill up the next 16 years of my life with a random pursuit.

Flash Cards

Henry is hanging out with Lucy on the couch. She had a rather lengthy
feeding and managed to stay alert enough to check out the flash cards
Ike and Laura gave her on Saturday.

Will she stay awake until Matt and Taylor get here? Let's hope so.
Silas is one of many potential suitors and you always want to make a
good first impression.

Uncorked

Friday night, Lucy began a rigorous feeding schedule at the
recommendation of her lactation consultant. Her belly seemed to fill
up and her little umbilical cord popped off. We still can't decide if
this will be an in-y or an out-y at this point.

We are still hard at work trying to get her to eat. She definitely has
sleepy baby syndrome. I suppose part of that is that she is still
jaundiced. Otherwise, she isn't really eating enough to maximize her
full social time.

She finally woke up for her uncle Alex. And barely opened her eyes to
take a peek at the black and white sea flash cards Ike and Laura
bought before she left.

Mom and Alex are leaving today. We will definitely miss the extra hands.

Happy Birthday - One Week Old

Tonight at 6:35, we sang Happy Birthday to Lucy, who was basking under
the glow of the Newshour with Jim Lehrer.

We had several visitors today:
Karen and Art from next door
Katie and Maya
Chuck
Kyle and Peter

I read Lucy her first book outside of the womb, Good Night,
Washington, DC, which Shannon brought over yesterday.

Plus she had her first doctor's appointment yesterday. She weights 5
pounds, 15 ounces. That's why she looked like Elvis with a giant jump
suit and collar. She looked like MC Hammer with her little duck outfit
her abuela gave her for the ride home. Even though it was beautiful
out, I was a little nervous about putting her in my little onesie from
35 years ago. It was just too cold out. Wait a minute, my birthday is
March 29th. I'm guessing it wasn't balmy for my ride home.

Week Two Plans
A bath with her brush
A visit from the lactation consultant
Better swaddled blankets once we finally watch the video
Visit from Uncle Alex
Second week checkup scheduled at 8:30 during the peek of rush hour -
ugh...

Nicknames?

So far there's:
Little Lucy
Lulu Bear
Kitten (because she sounds like a kitten crying when she's furious)
Willow (from Lisa because of her long limbs)

But her grandmother does not have a name! I imagine that Martina will be Abuela or some variation. But Mom hasn't fully decided. She did try out Grammy. I asked if that was related to her love of music.

So we are looking for suggestions. I'm guessing Memaw is out, because I, like Kenneth on 30 Rock, had a Memaw. And I still have a Grandma, my mom's mom. I'm not certain if there is room for two in the family. Maybe...

We are home

What a wonderful anniversary gift! Lucy was discharged just in time for her first rush hour in Washington, DC. We took H Street from GWU to our condo. I pointed out the White House and highlights of our alley. I tried to show her around her nursery, but I think that she was sleeping the whole time.

We also took some pictures of our new family outside our decorated condo door, thanks to Rocky. Then Mom took another shot on the sidewalk in front of the building. The weather was perfect! Bright and crisp with all of the colors seeming a little more vibrant than usual. I really wanted to take her to the roof and invite everyone up to celebrate.

Lucy also met several of her neighbors - Rocky, who wore pink just for her; and, Debbie, who is letting us borrow her parking space this weekend. Carol and Lisa came bearing beautiful personalized cupcakes decorated with little baby booties and a sweet message of Hello Lucia! Lisa bakes lots of yummy goodness at Red Velvet Cupcake just around the corner, one of our future favorite hot spots. I've pulled out her cupcake swaddling blanket to bundle her while I eat a cupcake in just a few minutes. We are going to have to invite Kyle and Peter down tomorrow to meet Lucy. We've already eaten all of the delicious meatballs and cobbler without her.

With all of this delicious food, I think her Grandma is really enjoying her maternity leave so far, except it could be a tad bit too relaxing for her. But now that Lucy is home, I'm hoping to take full advantage of her talents.

Mini-me?

We went to feed Lucy tonight. I was worried that she would sleep the
entire time. I was a little worried that she had forgotten me. But she
was pretty alert and I believe she remembers me. She even did a great
job latching on. Now if I could only sit long enough to feed her.

The last time I saw her in person, I thought she really looks like
Alex. It is a little strange to wrap your head around breastfeeding
your brother and not be weirdes out. But tonight, I think that she
looks like my baby pictures. It's amazing how she changes everyday.

Based on my limited breastfeeding experience, it reminds me of Dorothy
walking through the field of poppies on the Wizard of Oz. One night I
tried to feed her for over an hour on the left side. By the time I
moved to the right, I fell asleep within five minutes. Goodbye any
mild form of insomnia I may ever have. I just need that baby topless
snuggled up under my boob. It is all I can do to keep my eyes open
right now. And she's not even home yet.

I have taken full advantage of having these few days to settle in
while she bathes under the sun lamps in the hospital nursery. I have
learned how to crawl in and out of bed on my hands and knees. We've
unpacked and put away my overpacked hospital suitcase. Plus I've had
two in-house acupuncture appointments. That's the great thing about
living in Chinatown. Dr. Wu is right next door. I needed to get in a
lot better shape to take care of her when she finally arrives home.
And I think that it worked.

I'm hopeful that tonight will be my last night that doesn't include a
diaper change. In fact, I haven't changed a diaper yet. Tomorrow is
our eighth wedding anniversary and I can't think of a better gift for
Henry. (And me!) I failed Valentine's this year. And I no longer need
the prenatal/couple's massage I had intended to schedule for this
past Saturday. I'm glad I forgot to make the call.

Some pics!

Meet Lucia Merritt Armijo

Meet Lucy! We had a rather busy day yesterday. And I thought I had
three weeks to go. She hit the full term mark of 37 weeks and got
things going as soon as possible at 5 am.

She arrived at 6:35 pm weighing in at 6 pounds 6 ounces and 19 inches.

She was almost a natural birth by total accident. But after three
hours of pushing, I finally got the epidural I begged for. She came
out face up. It was quite a traumatic experience. But some how she
managed to arrive without a c-section, even though I was drugged and
the attendings were ready to roll me down the hall.

I've got plenty of drugs now. Well, not exactly enough. But other than
that, we are great.

The Icing on the Cake

Henry and I both agree that being featured on a postage stamp would be one of the closet things for any artist to accomplish. And now I can say that I know someone featured on a postage stamp, which is the next best thing!

Major kudos to Peter, our neighbor and creator of PeterBakes, for this delicious design. I know a couple of upcoming brides out there. I think that it would be great to say that they know the person who created the cake on their envelope.

Be sure to check for the current rate schedule. The stamp rate went up this past Monday, May 11th. I would hate for anyone to buy a lot of stamps to learn that you needed additional postage on the side. But the lovely cake maybe worth a small stamp on the side.

I just want to add that Peter was the very first neighbor I met in the building and he invited us up for dinner on the roof when he found out we were sweltering in an apartment without a/c. Hard to believe that was almost four years ago. Kyle is pretty lucky! (And vice versa!)

Congratulations, Peter!

Final Stroller Story Segment

Sometime in mid-April, I was browsing Craigslist and found a black
Bugaboo Bee. After many hours of mental anguish and three blog posts,
here was the nimble little stroller of my space-saving dreams.

Not only was it a big savings, but the Bee had maybe been used twice.
Plus, I received quite a few accessories to go along with it - a red
nest, a pink fleece blanket, the car seat adaptor and a really fancy
baby monitor, which I gave to my mom. Her house is much larger than
mine.

When we met Abby at a Starbucks for the pick up, I was quite nervous
about having the cash in hand. She laughed when I told her to just
take the money. I guess it felt like a drug deal. But to me, after
living in downtown DC, I'm always super-paranoid that a person will
tackle me from across the room and take my money. Nothing like this
has ever happened to me, but I guess that's what I get for susbcribing
to the DC Text Alerts. I receive countless robbery fears from all over
the city, except for the two recent events on my block that I was
actually interested in.

Not only did we save a lot of money, we learned way more about the
stroller than if I had ordered it online or bought it in a store. She
explained that if there is something white on the stroller, then it
has a purpose. I never knew that despite my extensive research. Plus
she showed us how to open and close it, reverse the seat and more.

We returned home with the stroller in hand. I had a crate in the
bottom of the closet, which I planned to move to the studio to make
room for the stroller. I really wanted to leave it in the common area
hallway closet, right next to my grandma cart. Henry told me that I
could not. But as my clean up progressed, I opened up the closet and
tucked it in. It totally fit! Even though I still hadn't successfully
opened and closed it on my own, it fit perfectly in the bottom of my
full coat closet.

What, you may be wondering, am I doing in this picture? Well, this is
THE allocated space for my stroller. But in a surprise twist of fate,
aka our recent baby shower, the stroller now lives on a hook on the
back side of the closet door. (Thank you, Ike and Laura!)

When I registered for the stroller hook, I secretly still wanted to
hang it in the hallway. I never imagined that it would fit on the door
hanger in our closet. But we tested it out on a whim and it did.

Of course, there is quite a bit of resistance closing the door since
the closet is also full of coats. So Henry gave me a flashlight and I
scooted back into the emptied space. I wanted to make sure the foot
rest wasn't pressing against the shelving. All clear!

So now there is room for the car seat, too. No fears of placing a baby
on a hot car seat. I never would have imagined.

On the opening/closing front, I finally did it! I switched feet. When
I was younger, I was never able to balance on my left foot while ice
or roller skating. I would just sort of drag my leg along as my
friends twirled around in front of me. Seems this skill is also
related to my ability to balance while using my foot to open and
collapse the stroller. I took a stab with my left foot instead, and
voilà! Open at last!

Happy Mother's Day!

Look at this sweet Mother's Day breakfast in bed. I imagine this will
be my quietest Mother's Day ever.

Thanks to Henry for preparing my first breakfast in bed since we were
first married in Chapel Hill. We had received these great trays from
Nate for our wedding. Unfortunately we were still sleeping on a full
mattress and both trays couldn't fit in the bed at the same time!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there. Especially my mom,
Martina and Grandma Merritt! I love you all. Thank you for so so much.

Maybe I'll create a list of great mommy blogs this afternoon. But
whenever I make promises like that, I never follow through. I may end
up taking a nap on the couch instead.

Hello, Ninth Month

Heaven in a cup

I believe that I created the best flavor/topping combo at tangysweet
on Sunday. Classic with Fruity Pebbles on top. Not only is it
beautiful (although hard to tell from this picture), but strangely
satisfying. I was tempted to go back and buy a second helping of
Fruity Pebbles to finish my yogurt. But I refrained. Yum!

Welcome to the neighborhood, Chad!

My Semi-Homemade Baby Gift Journal

A couple of days before my NC baby shower, I realized that I needed somewhere to record my gifts. I bought this super cute journal by greenroom eco from Target. I was pretty lucky to find it, because I haven't seen another journal or matching accessory since.

Prior to the shower, I was very worried about duplicates, so I wanted a fool-proof place to collect the receipts. I also figured that I would receive a couple of gift cards, too. Turns out I collected more gift cards than receipts. And my duplicates were very limited. All of that worrying for nothing...

With a simple little paper portfolio, I expanded the usefulness of this little journal. Plus I think that it is even cuter with the reused ribbon from Shannon's bridesmaids gift. Luckily for me, the additional envelopes for my wedding invitations were the perfect size to fit into the front cover.

I planned to create a different folder for each of my showers, but I found that it has been easier to put all of the receipts and gift cards together into a clear plastic envelope. I would hate to loose anything!

Also, check out this super cute use of a paper portfolio from Elise... love love love.

Laughing into Labor + Hello Moon + Goodbye, Thank Yous

Yesterday was the first day where I felt like something is really happening here. I can't really put my finger on it, but all of a sudden I felt like maybe this baby is coming a lot sooner than I thought.

Over the last couple of weeks, people would ask my due date, which is June 4th, but the date May 31st would pop into my head. For some reason, I just felt like this baby is going to be a May baby. I can't really explain it, but who can explain your intuition. I felt great - cool, calm and collected. I even started thinking about how I wanted to spend the night of Saturday, May 30th, surrounded by people who make me laugh really hard.

I met Laura on Saturday. She told me her "birth story." She went out for dinner and had two beers, even though she hadn't drank throughout her pregnancy. But she laughed and laughed. Later she went home, her water broke and the baby came THREE HOURS later. When another person began to tell me about their 26-hour labor, I promptly turned my back and said, "I want to be like you."

Yesterday I read a couple of birth stories from Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, which Sarah gave me for Christmas. In December, I almost passed out when I flipped through it and saw the line drawings of native South American birth scenes. Every one was nude and the pregnant woman was holding on to a rope in a tree. I thought I would try reading it again in my eighth month. I started a few weeks ago, but didn't really dive back in until I finished my pleasure reading this week. Technically today is my last day of my eighth month. So I am not too far behind.

Hmmm... how do I put this. The philosophy of this book is VERY natural. Way more natural than me. These stories are women who went to The Farm, a commune of midwives in Tennessee to have their baby. What I didn't realize until my latest readings is that some of their philosophy is somewhat inline with this article from the NYT that Sherri sent me in December. While the NYT article horrified some of my friends, it promptly gave me the giggles. And yesterday as I told Meredith about this one birth story in which a nurse said, "You need a kiss," I thought that I would die. Meredith was furious. I was dying laughing. Maybe this book is in my birth plan, because it truly makes me laugh. Very, very hard.



After a morning of laughing and fighting a nap, I went to lunch. Once I returned home, I finally gave in to my nap. Early evening, I didn't feel that great. All of a sudden it struck me that maybe I should check out the moon phases for May. There is a full moon this weekend. Specifically on Saturday, May 9th, which is my dad's birthday. With thoughts of all of the things I still need to do (pack, find a pediatrician, install the car seat, buy a changing pad), maybe my Memaw and my aunt Cheryl are conspiring up above to give my dad someone new to share his birthday. Could that be possible? I guess that nothing is impossible.

Instead of packing my suitcase, or even figuring out my list of things to pack, I decided to spend most of the evening on the couch and focused on my thank yous. I have completely neglected them and I have an obscene number to write. Plus I bought sixty stamps a few weeks ago fully aware that the postage rate is going up this Monday, May 11th. But I made a great first attempt last night. So I need to finish writing them, and not just because I am being a little paranoid. But so I don't have to buy sixty stamps for additional postage sometime next week.

No Brainer: Health Tracks

Thanks to my favorite baby blog, Ohdeedoh, I discovered Health Tracks, this great medical journal, which you can use to track your child's health history. I'm getting the soft cover edition, because of a recent run on the hardcover. More will be available in mid-June. But I thought that it would be best for me to start off this new life with the actual book in hand.

If you are an internet-savvy kind of parent, you should opt for the online Healthetracks, which gives you online access to your child's health history anywhere in the world via the internet for just $2 a month. Is that a Happy Meal?

Thanks to the new Penn Quarter Parents group, we had a little online discussion of Downtown Pediatricians. Granted there are none within walking distance, I think that I have zeroed in on a doctor that is on the red line, plus not far from a Circulator ride home. My OB/GYN had recommended Dr. Nicole Lang, so we are giving her a try.

After talks of nightmare experiences with pediatricians, the DC Forum made me wish for simpler options found in a much smaller town. Yes, chances are, I will likely be late. I have learned to be punctual IF it does not involve me waking up at an irregular time. So with a little one in tow... well, I hope that I won't be plagued with empty pages of wellness visits in my Health Track journal. In other words, I hope that my first month visit won't be bumped to a third because of a traffic jam. Apparently that is not uncommon.