23 - 27 days left - my take

Of course, with The Day in eminence, I have similar, but slightly different thoughts. Quite typical for males, apparently, I start thinking about my paycheck, and associate some of my feelings of self-worth to it's size. Do I make enough that I can send my child(ren) to a private grade school? Prep shool? Private college? Can I pay for braces, that convertible that they really want when they turn 16? (not buying that even if I'm a multi-millionaire by then, in case you're wondering).
But then similar to D, I at least try to think about the importance of spending time with the little one(s), and hope that's more valuable than spending money on them.
To quote Jurassic 5: The most you can spend on any child is time.
I'll try to think about that, and less about my salary and future expenses. Maybe that'll make the little knot in my stomach go away.

23 - 37 days left

We are down to the final few weeks. Somewhere between 23 and 37 days left; although I think I will induce if I am 1 week late. That said, if all the comments I get from strangers are correct I should be delivering any day now. Why would anyone think it appropriate to say "Whoa, you gonna have a big baby" to a pregnant woman?

My last day of work is next Friday and I am anticipating stopping work with both joy and dread. I realized yesterday that I haven't had a significant period of non-work since I was 16 years old. I think my first semester of college was without a job, but other than that I have been steadily earning money since I had a drivers license. Quite a bit of my self-worth is wrapped-up in working. Not necessarily in the amount of my paycheck, but in the act of supporting myself: being "useful". I guess I define useful as bringing in some money to the household. I need to start rethinking my "job" for the next 4 months and realize I will be a caregiver, and that while poorly paid the pay-off will be creating another well-rounded adult.

I give myself an infinite-mirror headache when I think that someday the little one in my uterus may someday have exactly the same thoughts about another little one, and so-on-and-so-forth.

Romper Womb

"Romper womb" is my new favorite pregnancy term. Thanks to Meghan for giving me this descriptive phrase. My little one is playing "kick the ribs" almost hourly, but this is a good thing as it means the head is down and feet are up. A nice position for 35 weeks.

We toured the hospital maternity ward. Very nice: Mini-fridge, stone-tiled shower with shower wand, super fancy hospital bed, birthing ball, and gliding/rocking chair. Rick gets a chair that folds out into a single bed. Vail had an even better setup, but it is hard to beat a ski-slope view in a high-income county.

Stupid question I asked my OB this morning that I am sure she will repeat to her co-workers this afternoon:

Me: "So if my water breaks while I am swimming in the pool will I know?"
Dr.K: "Um no, except you will leak for a while after you get out of the pool. And we will completely ignore the public health implications of this happening."

Humorous Spam Mail

Twice in the last week I have received spam email to my gmail account that actually made me laugh. Both emails were for Canadian Rx's, and both had excellent subject lines:
#1: "Griddle riddle cakes"
#2: "Stackin the grizzles"

Whomever this shaddy drug distribution company is using for spam mail has an excellent sense of humor, and also makes me think that "griddle" and "grizzle" may just be naturally funny words. Just like "moist" is a automatically cringe inducing word.

Childcare Woes

Rick and I have started to look into childcare options. We put this off wayyy too long. I naively assumed that since I don't need childcare until January I didn't need to get started on the search until now. I was very wrong. We will be on at least two waiting lists. I was told not to expect a call from the William and Mary Childcare Center for at least a year (probably 18 months). We will be on another waiting list for the YMCA which may only take 6 months to get to the top of.

We are on another waiting list, but Rick and I toured the place yesterday and we majorly underwhelmed. Not scared, but not excited about sending our infant there. And we were going to try another place, but then read the Virginia Department of Social Services inspection reports which are handily available online and we got very scared. This is only a small example of what we have read about at infant day-care centers (not one we are looking at):

Standard #: 22VAC15-30-430-F Complaint related: Yes Description: On April 30, 2008, a three year old child was left unattended on the center play area for approximately twenty minutes.

Standard #: 22VAC15-51-50-A Complaint related: No Description: Licensing representative reviewed the criminal background check of staff member #1. The background check in the record was a copy with ink signatures in the section designated for state police use. After consultation with the CCRE/State Police, it was noted that there was no record of a background check being processed for this individual.

Not to mention that infant day care costs anywhere from $8000 - $10000 a year! I would gladly pay higher taxes to make sure women can get back to work, or take at least 6 months paid leave. What about all of you without children?

Where Is My Brain?

So, I totally forgot today was our wedding anniversary. That was one of the reasons we got married around the 4th of July. That and the awesome fireworks we get every year. This year, I forget the anniversary, and I have a head-cold and might not be able to go out for the festivities tomorrow night. Argh!

I am very glad Rick remembers these things.