1% Baby

Here we are, one week away from baby’s due date. So far, nothing to report. I was all kinds of optimistic about baby coming the first week of September, but I guess he pays no heed to my optimism. Instead we remain firmly and largely pregnant.

The fun of the last week or so is focused on all the wild rumors of tricks for inducing labor. The most popular recommendation seems to be to eat spicy food and have sex. If you’ve ever been a 39 weeks pregnant lady, you know full well that the last two things on your mind are sex and spicy food. Mixing spicy food with my heart-burn and indigestion would most definitely induce something to be forced out, but a baby probably is not that thing. As for sex, well, as I’ve said before.. It’s quite hard to give anyone a convincing “come hither” look as you waddle around with an extra 40 lbs on your body, most of which is centered around a huge watermelon baby-belly. Nevertheless, I’ll admit that Rick took one for the team and gave it a whirl, but so far, no positive results.

The next trick we’re on to trying is the Labor Inducing Salad from the infamous Caioti Pizza Cafe in Studio City. Rick’s sister first mentioned it to me and now Jamie says she’ll pick one up for me this weekend to give it a try. Apparently the magic ingredient is balsamic vinegar. I’ve heard about that separately and have been enjoying mixing balsamic with fresh mozzarella since last week. Again, so far, no results. Who knows though.. I read a review that says someone from Good Day LA went there to try it while she was pregnant and she went into labor the next day.

Next on the list: foot massage. More gossip claims there’s a pressure point on a woman’s foot that can induce labor. Sounds interesting to me. I need a pedicure anyway, so it’s worth a try.

Any other ideas folks? Suggestions?

Oh yeah, and another fast fact: Only 5% of babies are born on their actual due date. Since we all know we’re dealing with the 1% baby already, we wouldn’t put it past him to tack on an additional against-all-odds bit to his record. If that happens, we’ll definitely have to take him to Vegas and bet it all on double-zeros on roulette!

Just set this up for my coworkers and anyone else who wants to play…

http://lennon.babypool.com

No monetary prizes.. Just bragging rights!

A lot of the “nesting” is done and now I’m just sitting around waiting to pop. But you know the old saying.. a watched pot never boils. Lennon does’t seem to have any intention of being born right away. I think he’s “dropped” a little but I don’t feel like he’s made great strides. He is definitely feeling the squeeze of his confined quarters and keeps trying to stretch me out more to make room. Unfortunately, there’s only so much stretching I can do.. I guess eventually he’ll figure out that he needs to branch out… and get born to get more room… but for now, he seems fine.

When baby does decide to join us, we have a very nice and simple nursery setup for him. Everyone’s been asking for some pictures, so here they are:

Crib with Fishies

Cleo by the changing table/dresser

Armoire and Crib

Much of Rick’s days are now spent shooing the cats out of the nursery. Josie has taken to sleeping on the changing pad and/or the crib.. Cleo and Mao love the sunshine that comes in early in the morning. Baby will have friends when he finally arrives!

I’m still working too. Sticking it out until next Friday.. even though I am tired and less comfortable day by day. Oh well. The good news is the doctor says I am doing great for being this far along. I hear that from everyone else too. That I don’t look like I’m due any day now. My ankles aren’t really swollen like most pregnant ladies are at this point. My blood pressure is exactly the same as it was at 15 weeks - which I think is pretty cool. I attribute this to my continued working out - 45 minutes on the elliptical twice a week - on the weekends. Yes, seriously, I’m still doing it at 37/38 weeks. Phew!

Hopefully my next posting will be about Lennon being born.. and not about how I love watching the new NFL season with an even larger belly in front of me!

This weekend I plan on doing a lot of “nesting.” This is, as they taught us in class, what a mother-to-be does before her baby comes. She gets all crazy about making things clean and organized and perfect for her little one. Since the baby furniture arrived yesterday, I am very excited to start pulling the nursery room together for Lennon. Rick spent a bunch of hours unpacking things (the furniture came in huge boxes from Thailand) and rearranging furniture throughout the condo yesterday. Tomorrow he is going to put the crib together - his own rite of passage! After that, I get to start the decorating and “nesting” this weekend.

Of course this all assumes I don’t go into crazy early labor. I am officially in week 36 now - which means the due date is 4 weeks from Saturday. I have a premonition that the baby will come sometime in the first two weeks of September. Maybe a hair early.. Or maybe that “premonition” is really a “hope.” Either way, I’ve been coaching him and explaining that football season starts on September 4th and he needs to be born by then or he’ll miss the season opener! (I already bought him a Cowboys onesie to watch the Sunday games in!)

Yesterday was my 36 week doctor appointment. For those of you who haven’t been pregnant yet, that’s a sort of milestone. They check the baby’s position and see if he is in the right head-down direction for being born. Lennon has, like a good boy, “assumed the position.” They also did some wacky cultures and officially announced that “he could come any day now.” I was encouraged to pack my hospital bag and leave it in the car from now on. I think I’ll do that this weekend. (Again, my premonition says he won’t come before September so I think I’m good.)

Finally, Rick also got the stroller today. Here’s a picture:

Quinny Stroller

This is not the Bug-a-boo that Rick originally wanted.. but those things are like $800. Instead this is more like the “Macy’s” version to the Bug-a-boo’s “Nordstrom.” I still think we need to add some kind of anti-theft geo-tracking device to it. I’ll leave that project to Rick to work on after the “nesting” phase is over.

Yesterday we attended Joel’s wedding and finally had an occasion to take pictures of me being very pregnant. Everyone’s been asking me to share some and I just haven’t ever bothered. After all, this is not the most flattering shape my body’s ever been in.

Nevertheless, here’s Rick and I at the reception.. In all my “less than 5 weeks from due” glory.

Yes, big and pregnant!

And another!

For more pictures from the wedding, click here.

Laura likes to kill time on weekends watching Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood. I happen to catch a bit of the show here and there in passing. Every time I walk by, Tori and Dean are dealing with the exact same situations we are working through. They are expecting and trying to move at the same time, just like us. The obvious parallels alone don’t make me think I’m married to Tori; it is the way Tori reacts to the situation. Like Tori, Laura wants to do everything to the nines. And just like Tori, Laura wants to move into a hotel (The Chateau Marmont to be exact) while we were between homes. I only wish Laura had some of those Spelling bucks.

They look so tasty!

Tammy made these for me for the baby shower this weekend.. I haven’t seen them yet (or eaten them!) because they are trapped at the Long Beach post office until we can figure out how to retrieve them.

Aren’t they cute though?

Tammy's Baby Shower Cookies

Looks Just Like the Quinny Buzz Stroller!

Yesterday was our baby shower. It was held down in Long Beach at Rick’s folks place on the beach. Beforehand a few of us went for brunch at Claire’s at the Museum - overlooking the water at the Long Beach Art Museum. Part of the festivities involved everyone decorating their own onesies for the baby to wear. Here’s some pictures of the fun and madness.

Jennie looking sour at brunch

Jamie looking sunny in the sunshine at brunch

Gerald at brunch - all smiles!

Rick & Laura at brunch

Dave, Allie & Tiffany with Moxie puppy

Gerald & Jennie at the shower

Tiffany & Dave showing off their custom designed onesies

Gerald & Jennie showering in the sun

Rick & family: Dina, Andrew, Kaden, Beth, Rick & Adballa

Beth, Rick & Abdalla

My husband and my boyfriend

Tonight we watched Penn & Teller’s Bullsh*t show on “Being Green.” Here’s how they describe it:

In episode 606, Penn and Teller consider the popularity of the “green” movement, a largely bogus and hypocritical philosophy that links sanctimonious politics to an “ethical” lifestyle while doing little or nothing to actually create a healthier ecosystem.

Part of the show is debunking the whole notion of buying carbon credits. Rick had never heard of such a thing and started laughing at how ridiculously “bullsh*t” the concept sounded. Then I had to tell him that I’ve bought carbon credits from Expedia/Terrapass for my flights for a while. He laughed even harder, claiming I’d clearly fallen for the eco-bullsh*t.

Ah, the fun of soon-to-be mommy and daddy having different views on things. Lennon, my son, my darling, you are going to have so much fun with us and our different perspectives. Daddy guys to the deli and buys the super stacked meat sandwich. Mommy’s been vegetarian since before she turned 18. Daddy thinks buying carbon credits is “bullsh*t” while Mommy has actively engaged in the idea for a few years now.

We decided that the solution is to come together on the carbon credit cause and find a compromise. First we went to TerraPass and calculated our annual carbon footprint. It turns out that driving our 2 BMWs, taking a small handful of flights per year and our usual energy consumption at home comes to approximately 53,000 lbs of CO2. On Terrapass, we can buy carbon credits to cover that amount for $315.35. So Rick challenges me to go do some carbon credit price comparisons. In other words, how cheaply can we buy off our carbon footprint? So I found this site listing a Carbon Emissions Offset Directory. On this site you can price-shop your carbon credit purchase and get a ton of carbon credit for as low as $5.00 per ton (compared to TerraPass’s $13.12 per ton price). But then, here’s the better part. Not only does the directory tell you how and where the credits go, but it also tells you which organizations are non-profit. TerraPass is not.. but CarbonFund.org is.. And their carbon credits are priced competitively at $9-$10 per ton. The advantage here is that you can both offset your carbon footprint and make a donation to a non-profit - which translates to a tax credit! Brilliant. Saving money while saving the planet.

So that’s what we’re looking at now. Thought we’d share.

I guess this means we really are having a baby.. We just went and picked out and ordered our nursery furniture.

Here’s what we’re getting:

Conveniently it’s made by Baby Italia. It’s not the black color we were originally planning on, but after looking at the black nursery set, they all seemed a little cheap. So this is what we’re getting. It is supposed to come in about three weeks. Rick is all excited to put the crib together too. He thinks it’s a rite of passage for soon-to-be Dads. How cute.

Of course, much thanks goes to Rick’s folks who bought us this set as our baby gift. What a lifesaver! Now we can focus on buying ridiculous baby Halloween costumes.

I like this one: