chicago '08

I've been busy. what can I say?



it's been a very eventful 6 weeks or so- the hardest and best of my life.

it started with my induction: over 36 hours of labor, 2 hours of pushing, and not a few stitches. then, as if we hadn't had a hard enough time of it, Celeste went to the NICU for 9 days. our time and contact with her were limited and we were devastated every time we had to leave the hospital to go home and sleep. I couldn't breastfeed, she was tiny, and we were never alone with her.

now, at 6 weeks, it's like we're living in a completely different world: she doesn't leave my side (except for date night!). she's a champion breastfeeder, a fat and healthy baby who grins at us. life couldn't be better. sure, I haven't slept since january 4 and I may not shower regularly, but that's seems inconsequential in the light of this awesome baby we made.

Hugsband: I thought of a scam to get a free monkey.

Wifey: oh yeah?

Hugsband: you put up a front like you're running a monkey rescue and make a website with tons of pictures of happy, healthy monkeys who love your rescue. then, you wait for people to call and try to place their monkeys with you.

Wifey: but then wouldn't you get just reject monkeys, like old and sick ones?

Hugsband: no, you could say that you only have space for baby monkeys.

Wifey: I don't know how big the market is for baby monkey rescues. I am pretty sure you're going to get cancerous, feces-slinging, old monkeys.

Hugsband: Nay sayer.

(a couple of minutes later)

Hugsband: I thought of a scam to get a free snow blower.

Wifey: really? how about you think of a scam to get a xmas present for your mom?

we started childbirth classes on thurs night. our class included a motley assortment of people of all demographics, including a girl who can't be older than 16 and at least one couple who are certainly older than us (phew!). this is the basic class offered by the hospital. they provide an overview of procedures, let you handle forceps and vacuum extractors, and show lots of birthing videos.

in this context of health education, I was very surprised to find the following snack offerings:

** packages of those bright orange crackers with peanut butter (OK, pretty gross and high in sodium, but at least there's some protein)

** PRINGLES STICKS (wtf??) in VANILLA flavor (seriously??)

dehydrated potatoes and artificial vanilla flavor, exactly what ShimSham's diet is lacking in.

I was very upset and distracted by this during the entire class.

as class progressed, Hugsband and I somehow caught a bad case of the giggles. we were the naughty kids in the back of the class. except, this wasn't junior year french class where it's perfectly acceptable to make fun of the instructor. this is an Extremely Important Class, and the teacher is the head labor & delivery nurse who has the power to deprive me of good care when I come in to deliver if she thinks I didn't take her class seriously. still, I had a hard time keeping my composure. at one point, the instructor showed a picture of infant twins dressed up like rats (from the Ann Geddes "images of horror" collection, I believe), and we both busted out laughing. I am sure the other students think that we're complete idiots.

my 3-year old niece and I had a sleep-over on halloween. originally, she was supposed to sleep over at the museum where Hugsband works, along with her sister and parents, as part of a big annual halloween party. but we found out last week that she was too young to stay all night, so I picked her up and brought her back to our place while the others slept on the museum's marble floors. (frankly, I don't see the appeal. $55 each to sleep on the floor??)

anyway, my niece is very sweet and fun but naughty enough to be interesting. she's obsessed with make-up and princesses and beautiful things and seems genuinely confused by my limited grooming routine. she said a number of very funny things while she was here:

** (saturday morning 7am) "aunt Rachel, why don't you put on some lipstick and brush your hair to be beautiful?"
"nah."

** "I need some spray for my hair"
"I don't have any spray at my house and you don't need it. your hair is already pretty."
"the next time I come to visit you, I'll bring some. isn't that nice sharing?"

** "we should paint your fingernails"
"no"

** "do you want to wear something pink today?"
"no"

I shoot down all of her ideas to make me over, I never just say "yes" and always explain that I prefer a more realistic aesthetic when she asks whether I think her barbies are pretty, and I place ridiculous limits on her television viewing at my house.

And yet, somehow the kid is still nuts about me. I don't get it.

it's been fun to watch children with autism respond to my pregnancy. while many of the kids I work with don't notice or mention it, a couple have had very strong reactions.

last night a boy who hadn't seen me in two weeks pointed at my abdomen and loudly asked, "WHAT IS THAT?" and before I could answer, he went on to state, "DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE MARRIED!"

the other day another little boy simply asked, "how did that happen?" after his dad told him that "dr. Rachel is having a baby." I decided not to take the physiological route when answering.

here's a belly picture: me, ShimSham, and the giant tendon in my neck on top of montmartre.


we were in london last week for Ilona's wedding and spent a little time in paris. the wedding was beautiful, and we had an amazing time. here's a more accurate depiction of my behavior in paris avec un coronet de pamplemousse rose.

I was constantly eating something amazing while we were away, lots of great indian food in london and everything edible in paris.
it's hard to come home and eat leftovers after food like that!

by the way, here's what ShimSham looks like these days.

that thing floating above his/her belly is a cute little hand. aw.

we went with Jake and some of Hugsband's coworkers to hear Andrew BIrd play in millenium park the other night. it was a great show, a real spectacle. Hugsband and I decided that it's pretty common to find musicians who are wacky OR talented, but he's a great combination of wacky AND talented in a brainy way that reminds me of David Byrne and TMBG.

I realized the other day that ShimSham, the fetus, will travel to NYC, london, and paris before being born. not bad, considering Shim's parents didn't have an opportunity to leave the country until after they were old enough to vote. pregnant travel is not glamorous, however. I have to wear "compression socks" (or as my grandma used to call them "rubber hose") so that I don't throw a clot on the plane. I just hope I remember to wear pants and not a skirt so that the rubber hose can be my little secret.

I flipped through a people magazine in the clinic at work the other day while I waited for my patient to show up. on the last page, there were two pictures of Jessica Alba. in the first, she was clearly pregnant. in the second, she was skinny again. the caption read "from pregnant to hot." because lord knows that those two categories are mutually exclusive.

after weeks of not getting around to it, we finally went to see the latest batman movie on the imax screen on labor day. Hugsband went all apeshit for it. me, not so much. I loved seeing chicago, which looked amazing, but I certainly prefer Tim Burton-style tomfoolery to all of this dark knight crap. how's that for a film review?

we went to walgreen's last night, and I discovered something CRAZY in the freezer section. there were 2 products I have never seen before that delighted and disgusted me: DWIGHT YOAKAM'S MAC & CHEESE MOUTH POPPERS and CHICKIN LICKIN PIZZA FRIES. the amazing thing is that these products are in the freezer case and meant to be eaten as food.

I didn't even know Dwight Yoakam had a food line, so that part was bizarre. when I think of him, which is quite rarely, it's as 'that country singer in swing blade'. so it was funny for that reason, and the completely unfoodlike nature of this food was amazing. I mean, where's the pizza fry part of the chicken? since we shop almost exclusively at trader joe's and "whole paycheck," I think I have been cut off from the world of gross junk food.

I sound so high and mighty knocking the junk food, but it was just a couple of nights ago that I made Hugsband take me to a local greasy spoon for a chocolate shake and fried zucchini after our real dinner.

it's like feast or famine around here. either I can't eat at all because everything sounds pukey, or I eat like a pig.

I have been MIA because I have been trying to keep a secret... something I am not very good at.

Hugsband and I are having a baby, due february 3. when we started out our lives together over 12 years ago, we weren't sure that we'd ever want to have a kid. and yet here we are-- more excited than we've ever been about anything in our lives. sure, the nausea and fatigue suck, but I have never had such a cool thing to plan for!

here's Shim Sham's very first picture. taken this very afternoon:

I realize that this picture is one big blob, but you'll have to take my word for it that (s)he looks like (s)he's supposed to.

it's not actually submitted just yet, but my first big fat research grant proposal is finally out of my hands and trying to make its way to the NIMH. (you know the evil NIMH, where those rats escaped from?) I have written a few piddly grants, but this was the first where the total budget exceeded a million. now I just have to wait FOREVER to see how the proposal was received.

I saw something very wrong on the ashland bus this morning. a woman was curling her eyelashes with a spoon. I can think of two things that I don't want to touch when I am on nasty public transportation: my eyes and eating utensils. and I especially don't want my eyes touching eating utensils.

it actually worked though. by the time she was finished with the spoon, she had worked up a nice curl.

I use pandora a lot at work, especially when I am stuck at my desk working on reports. for the most part, it's a great way to hear new music, mixed with some of my old favorites. lately, however, pandora is sending me a lot of crap. it's so bad that I keep thinking of Patton Oswalt's bit about bad tivo. seriously, what is it about Edith Piaf and Andrew Bird that made you think that I wanted to hear stone temple pilots?

Hugsband is still away and seems to be having an amazing time. I occasionally get 1-2 line emails, sent via a satellite phone, that say things like "saw antillean nighthawk. love you." he'll be back tuesday night.

Hugsband left to catch iguanas and snorkel in the exumas today. after dropping him at ohare, I went directly to the farmer's market and bought an obscene amount of produce. I bought all of the stuff he's not too crazy about like kale and arugula and spring onions. let me tell you-- when the cat is away the mouse goes TFN with the veg. my other plans for the next 10 days include watching horror-free movies and sleeping all willy-nilly in the bed. I feel old.

brookfield zoo is not as awesome as you remember, but it's still fun.