Is it technically possible to stay pregnant forever?

... Because that's what it's starting to seem like ...

Due to Kid A's seeming contentment with staying where he or she is right now, we made the decision to postpone my mom's visit by one week to maximize her potential time with an actual baby on the outside (which included a change fee on the airfare and considerable aggro around her teaching schedule, so -- thanks, Mamalah, for going through all that!). So she'll be coming next Saturday, October 6, and staying till the following Sunday.

Yesterday, we went to FogFest, a big long street fair in town usually held on the last weekend of September; months ago, we thought we probably wouldn't make it this year, thinking we'd have a brand-new newborn or I'd be so big and uncomfortable that we wouldn't want to (or dare to) ... but neither of those is the case, so we walked the 2 1/2-mile roundtrip, ate some street-fair food, and watched a couple of the bands playing; it was too bad there was no classic car show this year, usually a highlight of the fair. It was also too bad that the walking didn't seem to make a damn bit of difference, babywise. Grrr.

Nothing to report today, either, but tomorrow we have another doctor appointment, at which we're going to get an ultrasound and a non-stress test, so that should tell us SOMETHING about what's going on in there. Meanwhile, I'm dealing with some fresh agita over my leave; something's gotten screwed up again, and I'm now certified by my company's leave administration "service" to return to work on Oct. 14, a date that has no connection to either standard leave time and procedure or to reality in any form ... so, yeahhh, I'll have to make some frustrated, annoyed phone calls to know-nothing yahoos about that tomorrow, which should be loads of fun.

Oh well, it's a beautiful day and the Yankees have secured their playoff spot, so it ain't all bad.

More news when we have any ...

Phase II

OK, don't get excited, no baby yet!

Per my mom's question about the registries the other day -- yes, they're still active, but thanks to the awesome generosity of friends and family, there's not much left on them, and we're pretty well situated for this first little bit of time with a newborn. However, if anyone's looking for any suggestions, we could definitely still use:

For baby & for the house:
--gift cards (for the million little things that are bound to come up, and for the stuff an older baby needs that we haven't gotten yet)
--clothes for a little further down the line (anything from 3 months to 1 year)

For us, if you feel like the baby gets all the good stuff:
--random things like a gift certificate for the awesome new restaurant we discovered in town, Barolo; personal training sessions from Crunch for when I go back to work; something off of our Amazon wishlists ...

And seriously, thanks in advance for anyone thinking of getting any kind of gift for us -- it really has been amazing, how kind and generous everyone has been already. We appreciate it more than you can know!

STILL nothing to report

Kinda wishing we hadn't made the due date public, at this point ... still nothing happening, and it's getting really really annoying, especially after all those hints that we might go early. :-(

Sorry, Guppa, but it looks like this kid won't be sharing your birthday unless something really dramatic gets going in the next couple of hours ...

Nothing to report

Well, today's the due date, and nothing's happening ... had an OB appointment this afternoon, and there's no change from last week. Our next appointment is Monday, at which they'd do an ultrasound and a non-stress test -- here's hoping there's no need for us to go to that one! That's waaay too far from now ...

Closing in on D-Day

No posts lately because no real news lately ... but just so you all know, at our regular appointment on Monday, the doctor ventured her opinion that I am likely to make it to the due date, but not likely over (or not by much), and that was all she was willing to guess.

Meanwhile, we're getting all the last little things ready -- a bag packed for the hospital, a cute little going-home outfit for the baby, narrowing down that list of names, etc.

So, till the next update, we'll just be watching the Yankees close the gap on Boston (1.5 games back! woooooo!) and waiting to see what happens ... :-)

Officially on leave

Today was my last day at work -- I am offically On Leave now. Feels strange, especially when the big event could happen anytime from tomorrow to, like, a month from now (technically. TECHNICALLY!!!).

But I can't deny I'm glad to be done with sitting in an office chair all day trying to find a position that doesn't hurt my back, and hustling for the bus every morning & evening, and trying to pretend I totally didn't just wear this exact same tank top yesterday (and maybe the day before) ...

Another busy & productive weekend -- Rod, tell them what they've won!

Where've we been lately? Well ...

Friday night, we bought a new car! With the Civvy at 118K miles and starting to get expensive to maintain, we needed to do this now, so, behold the 2007 Prius!

This car is more awesome than we even knew -- everything is so sci-fi, like the key that isn't a key (just a thick card thing), that you don't even have to insert in a lock or ignition -- you just get close to the car with the key, and it unlocks, and then you sit down in the driver's seat and hit the start button, key in your pocket or bag or whatever, and ta-da! You're started. When you're sitting idle, the engine is OFF (a disconcerting feeling, to say the least), and then you hit the gas, and it takes off -- lotta get-up-and-go in this thing, and it gets 40-60 mpg! There's a back-up camera, the controls (e.g. for air conditioning and the stereo) are on a touch screen, and the brakes feed the battery -- it is waaay cool. We love it! The buying was pretty easy, after R. got our financing online and got quotes from like 15 area dealers via email; a $500 deposit with the fleet manager (our salesman of record) secured the car we wanted in our first choice color with the right option package, and we went to the dealership Friday evening to take possession. The only hitch was when we got sent over to the finance manager, whose job it was to sell us more "products" such as prepaid maintenance, paint protection, and an extended warranty (altogether another $5,000 or so to conveniently add to our buying price, of course at interest) -- thanks, but nooooo. And boy, was he persistent -- but seriously, NO, dude. Finally he ended up beating our already kickass interest rate on the loan (6.25) -- so we got it at 5.9%, and the car was ours. (The Internet rules, y'all.)

So! Saturday ... first up, the hospital tour, which was very helpful and informative; the SF Kaiser facility, where we'll be delivering, is new and modern, and very progressive in terms of the way they manage labor & delivery. All the L&D rooms are private, with private bathrooms including showers, and have pullout beds for the mom's partner to sleep in; they encourage you to move around during labor, and do only intermittent monitoring (so you're not chained to the bed the whole time); they offer all levels of meds and whatnot (solely your choice); they have lactation consultants and all kind of new-baby educators and support people on call; and the NICU, should you need it, is just a few steps down the hall. We felt pretty good after that.

When we got home, R. spent the afternoon and evening putting together the changing table, which had arrived from Target.com a couple of days ago -- it turned out to be real wood, not pressboard, and it actually matches the crib P&A gave us! Amazing. It looks really nice, very sturdy and capacious -- we already loaded it with diapers & a bunch of tiny onesies. R. also broke out the baby monitor my mom gave us, and we tested its night vision -- awesome!

This morning, we got up early to get concert tickets (how you like our priorities? heh!), then watched the Yankees till we went to Celia's with Tom and our friends Ian & Kusum (whose baby is expected about 3 weeks after ours) for probably the last time till after Kid A makes his or her appearance ... ohhh, I am gonna order a tall Dos Equis in a frosty frosty glass, and it is gonna be sooooo goood ... anyway, Kusum & I had a belly-off in the parking lot on the way out:

Exhaustion + cash outflow = house readiness

So, yesterday we went to Target (aka Hell's Anteroom -- never go there on a Saturday if you can possibly help yourself -- it's a lawless jungle where humanity goes to display its worst) and Babies R Us (a relative oasis of calm and quiet) to spend a whole bunch of money on things we haven't gotten from the registry that we feel we should have at the house before the kid arrives (medicines for me & baby, diapers, changing table pad, bath and bath accessories, etc.). We ended up scoring a glider/ottoman combo at BRU, the cheapest one in stock, which was 20% off that day, plus they took these two coupons we had gotten in the mail -- a good deal, and now we have a chair in the kid's room; R. put it together in about 20 minutes, and then, on a handyman's high, he fixed our doorbell (involving replacement of rusted-out wires and janky jerry-rigged electrical tape), which has been out of commission for like two years. We already ordered the changing table and diaper pail from Target.com (both were online only), and my mom's getting us the carseat, base & stroller -- YAY! So, while we're still missing a few things, and could very much use gift cards and whatnot (tell all your friends! heh), we're closer to ready than we were on Friday. Today I've been washing many loads of bedding and clothing, and R. has been Germanizing the garage (no small task, I assure you) so that we can actually get to the bins of B-man and Babygirl's nicely-sorted clothes. Is it too early to go to bed yet?

Now to buy a car or two and pick out some names ...

Oh, and in other news: Our friends Kent & Kylie last weekend announced they're expecting -- due date March 7. Too bad for them, we already snagged all the good hand-me-downs from our mutual friends who have older kids, but they should do OK. ;-) You snooze, you lose.