Labor: Take One!

What we thought was pain from too much running around this weekend (sunny walks, late dinners out, closet reorganization, etc) was actually contractions. I know. 

Things I learned this weekend:

1 - My prepreggo weekend diet of a handful of meals, late nights, and decaf coffee will not cut it at 33 weeks.... 

2 - When they say dehydration causes contractions, they weren't lying. 

3 - I don't like contractions. At all. 

4 - I also don't like IVs. At ALL. 

5 - My baby is already at the "head" of the class. The mid-wife on call could feel his head through my cervix! He is all in position and ready to go. I am so proud. 

6 - Although I didn't have the best angle during the ultrasound, Josh said the baby looked amazing. He is gaining weight like a pro; his legs and arms are getting ready for us to feast on! I thought my 18-week ultrasound was the last one, so even though this was not under the best circumstances, I was happy to take any pictures of the kid that I could get. 

7 - I want a fetal heart rate monitor! Too bad you can't register for one... Having the sound of his heartbeat fill the room and be able to see the needle jump every time he moved for 3 whole hours was heaven. 

8 - If this afternoon's hospital visit is even the slightest indication of what labor is going to be like, labor is going to blow.

9 - I don't know what I would do without Josh. 

just keep swimming...

Friday ended with the words, "Josh, if I EVER want to spend the day walking around the city again, shoot me." 

We both had Friday off, and Josh and I had a Groupon for a car detailing. The problem was, we had to drop it off in Brighton around 8am and pick up was at 5. Initially, I was really excited. With all the baby stuff and errands we had been doing, we didn't have much couple-time. A whole day of walking around and just spending time together sounded divine. 

Cut to a 1 am Thursday bedtime and a 6:30 am wake up call. We were dragging our feet and almost went to my mom's house (near the detail place) to sleep on the couch all day. But it was too nice a day, and like hell if I was spending my day off on some couch, so we decided to rally. 

Off to the aquarium! I can't even remember the last time I was there. It has been at least 20 years, if not more. Let me just say, the New England Aquarium is pretty awesome. Sure we were there with like 17 field trips, but Josh and I really enjoyed ourselves. My camera ran out of batteries pretty early on in the day (of course), but I got a few good shots here and there. 

I couldn't seem to capture the jellyfish, though. They had a whole room of all these different kids of jellyfish downstairs and it was mesmerizing. Sure we saw sharks and penguins and huge turtles and these amazing sea horses and electric eels, and Josh was just too adorable getting excited and pointing out fish in all the different tanks, but those jelly fish were the highlight of the day. If you are in the area, be sure to check it out. 

After seeing all these funky crabs and 10-pound lobsters, we went and had lunch at the Barking Crab. What? I think the day could have ended there, but we still had 4 hours to kill, so we literally dragged ourselves to the park. Like, we each had to stop and sit on a bench somewhere every few blocks. It was pretty pathetic.

A few hours lying in the park, then off to Brighton to pick up the car, THEN off to my mom's to check on the house, THEN home. Home, sweet, sweet home. We had granola bars and hummus in bed for dinner, and I was asleep by 8. Eight months pregnant + 80 degree weather + 4 hours of sleep + walking around all day = the first time my feet swelled. So not doing that again...

Anyway, below are the pre-battery poop out pics from the aquarium - enjoy!

NEMO!
Lionfish!
These sharks were seriously scary. And the way the tank was set up, these sharks would just sneak up on me and I would literally scream and jump back. "They can't leave the tank," Josh kept telling me. Maybe not, but those dead dead eyes. Shudder.
Teeth!
This turtle was awesome. He actually took a nip at the diver who was in the tank; it was pretty intense...
Josh's hand in the shot, just to give you a sense of how big he was.

Ever moving jellyfish were hard to photograph. 
This is actually a sea horse! It blended into the seaweed in his habitat. Evolution os awesome. 
These rays were interesting. Their undersides looked like happy faces and some of them had very unique camouflage. 

lucky

My friend Courtney asked me a question the other day that got me thinking about how lucky our generation is compared to our parents'. I started thinking about all the support that we have that our parents never had the chance to get. Of course, my parents' situation is a little different than most; immigrants finding their footing in a country half a world away from their entire family only adds to the already daunting task of getting married and raising a family. 

As my dad always like to tell people, he came to this country with $8 in his pocket (he also got off the subway from JFK and stepped into a police shoot out in Times Square... but that's another story...). After literally walking the streets of Manhattan with his resume in hand and sleeping on people's floors, he got a job and went back home to meet/marry my mom. After they got married, they lived on Long Island with a piece of glass on a box for a table and newspaper for curtains. My mom had to learn about JC Penny, the supermarket, jeans you know... America. They lived paycheck to paycheck and when I was born, they had to juggle baby expenses on top of everything. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been. 

Josh and I got started with few materials things as well. I pretty much left everything in NYC and asked/made Josh to leave all his grad school stuff behind (most of it was gross). We started with our clothes, books, pictures, and not much else. But we had jobs. We had an apartment lined up. We had a substantial savings account. We registered. The generosity of our friends and family gave us our fancy dishes, our everyday dishes, our 36 (!!!) wine glasses, a rack to put them in, our new furniture, our new pots and pans, nice knife set, a big screen TV, and who knows what else. It was like opening a kit and having a stocked life all ready to go. We complained about how Crate and Barrel PACKED THE PRESENTS, for Pete's sake.  

Having our parents close made me appreciate how hard it must have been for my parents when they were starting out. When I was little, phone calls home were a big deal, and hand written letters were the easiest way to share news. If they had vacation time, we went to India. Trips to Belize were not really an option. Josh, Divya and I have traveled the world, mostly thanks to our parents' airline miles. 

Now that Josh and I have a kid on the way, I am realizing again how lucky we are. No only do we have our parents, their friends, and our friends close by for help and advice and baby sitting and all that, we have a baby registry. It's insane. 

Now if we didn't have this, of course it wouldn't be the end of the world. We would have bought a perfectly suitable used crib and asked around for hand-me-downs for clothes and supplies. We would have taken the kid to the library. I would have taken more time off work in lieu of a nanny. We would have given up so much more than we have recently in order to prepare for this baby. Sure we are watching our spending and have started a separate baby fund, but Josh and I are still going out to dinner, still buying clothes and video games and getting our hair colored. We are so incredibly lucky to be able to do all this and still know that we will want for almost nothing when it comes to the baby (except, you know.... sleep). 

Is this a sign of the times? Is it even ok to visit a new baby without something brand new from  the BabyGap? Showing up with just used clothes and advice may not be enough any more. My parents had a support group and passed around clothes and toys and free time. Although I know we will have all that (most of my maternity clothes are borrowed), I feel like the "material" aspect of having a baby (or getting married even) has increased since we were kids. 

Of course, not everything we have will be brand spanking new, but most of it will. Am I unhappy about this? Of course not; I am incredibly thankful. Is it absolutely necessary? Probably not. 

What do you think? Do you think we have it easier than our parents did? Do you think it is because they sacrificed for our success or if today's society dictates registries and presents and checks for brides and babies? Is it a combination of both?

say what now?

Josh and I have started reading this blog, a rec from Ms. B, and are enjoying it immensely, as the couple in the blog are going through many of the same things we are currently going through. The writing is hilarious and her tone and experiences make her incredibly easy to relate to.

Last night, I pulled up the a post to show Josh how they organized the baby closet, hoping we could do something similar, and I scrolled down to show him some pictures. As we glanced at this post, I wistfully commented on how this woman maintained her figure, particularly her butt, while the rest of her grew. I am becoming more and more self conscience about how honky-tonk my bandonkadonk is getting and it depresses me every time I look in a mirror.

Me: How did she do it?
Josh: Well, maybe her butt was small to begin with.
Me: Yeah, maybe...... Wait. WHAT!
Josh: Oh shit.

Yeah, "oh shit" is right.

crown prince

Indian women have their own culture. We will find any excuse to get together, talk, eat, and make each other feel like royalty. I experienced this first-hand (as opposed to seeing it in the movies) at my mendhi ceremony before I got married. I love the idea behind the mendhi ceremony: dozens of ladies gather the night before the wedding to sing and dance, and since we are all waiting for the mendhi to dry, we aren't allowed to do any work. There is a method in our madness:) 

Moms-to-be get a similar treatment. The menu is comprised if all my favorite dishes; I am not allowed to do anything that day (except sit around and talk about how happy I am); all my aunties sing songs to me about my new baby; and one by one, they bless me and the kid and feed me my favorite desserts (to make sure the baby comes out all plump and sweet). Oh - and I get to eat off of silver plate and wear crazy jewelry! It's enough to let all the attention go to a girl's head. 

Then, my kicked and bruised ribs start hurting and I remember that this isn't all about me any more....

Getting anointed! 
All jeweled up!

Couldn't do it without my sister and mom. 
Food! 
My special plate! I ate more than this, don't worry - this is sans rice and puris.
A table full of my favorite dishes. This picture would make me sad, but my fridge is full of leftovers. Yes. 

All the pics can be seen here

60 minutes

I am currently watching 60 Minutes. Morely Safer is doing a piece on Anna Wintour. His crotchey old man digs at Lagerfield's and Galliano's outfit choices, couture prices (esp during a recession), the health of the models, and the clothing choices in the audience are priceless.  Old men are funny. 

ravens and writing desks

Too bad the Hatter never asked Alice how a crib is like a wedding dress. I would have had quite the answer for him last night.

A few weeks ago, Josh and I picked out a crib set we really liked. We looked in stores and online and there was one that really fit our needs and tastes and the room and it was great. It was on the pricey side, but my generous in-laws were gifting us some money towards the baby furniture, so we decided to go for it. Plus, we could use it again, and our siblings could probably use the set if they wanted it. As many of you know, I don't mind spending more if I am getting more. Huzzah! Furniture was now officially off the list!

Although we had picked it out a few weeks ago, we both still wanted to wait a bit before we ordered it. My fear of the unthinkable and a fully furnished baby room was too much for me. I get anxious just typing it out. When I called, however, the gentleman told me the delivery time was 10-12 weeks! Ten to twelve! Apparently, they don't keep this line in stock. That's fine and understandable. They must be in a warehouse somewhere, no? No.

Apparently, after you place the order, they cut down the tree for the crib and an 85 year-old Belgian man whittles the furniture from the single trunk. It is then placed on a steam boat that goes from Europe to America via China and is then carried on the backs of donkeys across the American dessert en route to Boston. Gah. Because of the slow boat to China business, they can't guarantee delivery even after 12 weeks. I was reading reviews online and some poor women had to wait four MONTHS.

Nesting or no nesting, those of you who know me know that not having everything in place with at least a month buffer time is completely unacceptable. The idea of an empty baby room with clothes in piles in laundry baskets makes me shudder. Sure the kid can sleep in the Pack N' Play, and i KNOW people have done more with less (like my own parents), but that's just not how I roll, so to speak. I called them right back and canceled the order. "Well, you ARE cutting it close, my dear," he said to me. How is 2.5 months "cutting it close"!

So after I canceled my order, I went online to see what's what. "This is a blessing in disguise," I said to myself. "Maybe high end furniture is not for us, and we can get something ore moderately priced that is in stock somewhere." Hah. Styles that I liked were in stock at Babies R'Us, just not in the color we wanted. Colors were in stock at amazon.com, just not in the styles we wanted. No online vendor had a complete set of anything that looked remotely attractive. My already weakened emotional state was not helping the situation.

When I got home, Josh and I spend at least an hour looking at different websites, different stores, and different styles. The ones we like were either (1) way crazy expensive, (2) awesome and kind of in our price range but whittled by nuns or something and would have to be special ordered, or (3) out of stock until September.

Finally, we found a store with a set we liked in a color we could live with that could be shipped in early June. A miracle. After much discussion and some hyperventilating on my part, we did buy the crib and changing table last night. Three guesses as to where...

So ladies and gentlemen, heed my words. As soon as you slingshot that condom out the window, order your crib. It may even beat you home from the hospital.

so awesomely wrong

wedding!

Yay! Jason and Kim are married! This was the ONLY wedding we had this year (crazy, right?) so all my wedding energy and happiness was poured into this particular weekend. I can't even tell you how excited I was. I think a lot of it had do with who exactly was standing up there.

By junior year of college, a lot of us had paired off (A and M, Jason and Kim, J and K, J and M, S and S, me and Josh), but for various reasons - horrible tragedy or just people wanting different things - many of these couples went their separate ways after graduation. Only two of the couples who started dating in college* went all the way to the altar, and watching one of them get married this past weekend made me so insanely happy.

That said, this weekend also gave me the chance to see all those people listed above in their new relationships. Even though I am closer to some of them than others, I can honestly say that I was equally thrilled to see them all so happy. Everyone just seemed so incredibly content with their lives. Their boy/girlfriends were charming, friendly, and a lot of fun. Everyone was so at ease with each other, and newcomers didn't really feel that new. Dare I say it? Are we actually grown ups? Wow. As Josh said, Jason and Kim may have been the only wedding this year, but in two years, three tops, wedding invites will be flying. 

*Some of them married fellow Jumbos, but they met/started dating after we all graduated.

Here are some pictures of the happy couples from this weekend, but I wish I had more. There are a few happy couples missing from this gallery. Sadly, I had my big Sony this weekend, as my sister still has my little Canon (she borrowed it for her trip to Japan). I was too busy dancing and eating to lug my Sony around, so picture-taking was severely limited. I'll update as the rest of the photos start rolling in.