I'm Your Man, Dumas

Got out and inflated the birthing ball today. (A birthing ball is just an exercise ball but "birthing ball" sounds so Lamazian, not to mention more accurate as I sure as heck ain't doing sit-ups on the thing). As soon as it was inflated I sat down on it and sighed. I am not sure why it works but there is nothing more comfortable to sit on when this pregnant. The ball was my friend during labor with Lowell, the only thing that worked to keep me going out of my freaking mind when I was contracting, so I got a wee bit tearful thinking back as I got comfy. (By the way if you like birth stories I did write Lowell's up - available here - but if you don't like them for god's sake don't read it because it's graphic and entirely unladylike). I would sit on this thing all day long if I could but, man, ball-obsessed preschoolers just don't do well being told that the world's largest ball is off-limits to them. (I can't wait for the Google searches I am going to get with that sentence).

Woke up with a cold on Sunday. Less said about it the better. Just one thing, you know what really, really, really sucks? Having a raging sore throat AND bubbling heartburn. Pregnancy is just so damn glamorous. *Repositions squat on big-ass ball, burps*

New development. As of today we are a two-car family. We lost the battle to own just one and as happy as I am to now have a car everyday, I am a little depressed about it. Numero duo is a beater, 1994 Subaru, for Matthew's commute. His commute is 10 minutes but across a major waterway and there is no real way to do public transportation that didn't turn his 10 minutes into an hour-plus odyssey. And after a year, still no one wants to do a car pool. Argh. I don't know why it's bugging me so much (well actually I do but I don't want to sound like a sanctimonious whiner so I'll skip it) but no doubt I'll get over it. Just couldn't fathom doing the newborn and preschooler thing without access to wheels on a regular schedule. You know what's funny was when Matthew was telling me about the car he found that was in our budget, I was all, yeah, a '94, not that old. Uh, yeah, that's almost 14 years old, Dumas. I still think that the 90's were like 5 minutes ago. (Weren't they? Is it just me?)

Comments

[Chair]

I picked up one of those balls at a garage sale this summer, I had no idea they're so awesome! I will get J to inflate it for me ASAP (I have no clue where the pump is).

We are wanting a newerish/larger vehicle and will likely wind up keeping our beater (a 1991 corolla! beat that! and that's our MAIN right now!!) for J's commuting, too. We are also constitutionally against two cars but J's work is just outside the city so transit doesn't even go there, he can bike in the summer but, um, we live in Canada, right? So, like, there's a lot of snow in the winter. There are only 4 other people in the office and they're in different neighborhoods so car-pooling is also not an option.

I find peace in the knowledge that most of the things I'd actually bother to get out of the house for are within walking distance (man, did we ever hit neighborhood jackpot) so the family car will be for exceptions and long distance stuff. That's the plan/justification, anyway.

[Jules]

Good luck with your Subaru! We just retired our 1992 Subaru - we ran the crap out of that car! We used it for our dogwalking business, so it not only had to travel many many kilometers per day, it also had to carry its fair share of cargo. It ran enthusiastically, even in the winter, but finally a gasline problem that was too expensive to fix was what put her down. We miss her, enjoy yours!

[Mandy]

Yes, the 90s were just a few minutes ago. To think otherwise is to accept the fact that I graduated from high school 20 YEARS AGO. ARGGGHHH. We just sold our '89 Honda (my first car, still going strong) to a girl in high school who wasn't even born in 1989. *Sigh*

[nicolle]

way to embrace suburbia! hehe. the price you almost have to pay to live outside of a city or europe. le sigh.

every morning i drive by the DRIVE-THRU Starbucks on my way to drop julia off at K and it makes me weep. drive through coffee just seems so wrong.

does your ball have a handle? like a pregnancy hippity hop? you and lowell could bounce your way to the grocery!

[BOSSY]

Bossy has one of those balls. No pregnancy, just the need to feel as though she's toppling over while she writes.

[kara]

welcome to the dark side...

[TX Poppet]

In consideration of The Great Mofo Delurk today, I am sending this little comment your way. I enjoy reading your blog regularly and look forward to every new post.

[LetterB]

Hey thanks! And let me just take this MoFo opportunity to say how much I appreciate people taking the time to leave comments here. I love them, they make my day. I try to respond to as many as I can, either here or via email, but sometimes it doesn't happen. Thank you for making my little bloggy world ten times better.

[E.]

I had one of those big ol' balls around during the weeks I was waiting to pop, and I used it both to prepare for labor and during labor. It was pretty comfortable for contractions. I also found walking through contractions worked pretty well (did not even try that in my first labor), and my favorite position this time (aside from floating in the water birth tub once I got to the hospital) was bent over with folded arms resting on a table or chair while my belly hung down ("table pose" in yoga speak). But, yes, we had to very quickly give the ball back to the person we borrowed it from, b/c our son was having way too much fun slamming it into things.

I'm currently in the process of writing my long and unladylike 2nd birth story. I look forward to reading your 1st...

Good luck with your labor, when it comes!

[Scott]

Actually, I think the 90s were only 2 or 3 minutes ago, because the 80s were totally only 5 minutes ago. Wow.