Long Incubation

Currently, the only greeting I get in the mornings goes something like "you're still here" or "you're still pregnant." (obviously, all of my collegues are geniuses). Mostly, I just nod, but occasionally, I go off about my impatience and how frustrated I am that the due date got moved back. Today while on such a tirade, one of my medically inclined friends tried to put the whole thing in perspective:

"Pregnancy has the longest incubation period of any of the STD's."

And so, I keep incubating!

Strip Tease

Last night we made our first pregnancy related trip to the hospital. After getting home from work, I had given Mac a call on his cell phone. "I hate it when you call my cell phone. I always think something is wrong." But no, I was just calling to tell him I got my official offer from Salem in the mail and to tell him a few details about the job offer that hadn't been provided to me over the phone.

A half hour later I was back on the cell phone. "Mac, can you come home, I am bleeding." This, I am sure, freaked him out more than I needed to as I was really only having some spotting, but it was bright red blood and the books (as well as the OHSU doc on call) all say you need to go get checked out for that. So I made sure I had everything I needed for a hospital stay while I waited for Mac and then we headed in.

Mostly we spent the time at the hospital watching Wickedly Perfect while being monitored for contractions, fetal heart rate, and fetal movement. But I also got the pleasure of meeting Summer, a first year family practice resident, who had little OB experience and was made even more nervous when she learned I was already out of residency and quite frankly knew as much OB as she did (to her credit, she probably wouldn't have suggested a bite stick). But after an exam from hell and an hour of monitoring with only one contraction, the verdict came back as "Not tonight, dear" and we were sent home.

This morning I had a scheduled appointment with my real OB. I had been hoping for "membrane stripping," but with my official due date now set concretely in my medical chart as Feb. 1 (and so more than two weeks away) compounded with last night's events, this didn't happen. And once again, I was counseled about patience as she thinks I have a while to wait. Little does she know I need a lot more than reassurance and counseling to be patient - more like a personality transplant would be required!

Poker Night

Last Saturday we had a Texas Hold'em Poker tournament at our house. (I'd actually link to the Texas hold'em webpage, except they were the second worst spam offenders). We had eleven players who all bought in for the whopping sum of $10 and then we played till only one player was left. Money prizes were given to first, second and third place. I didn't win any money at the game, in fact, I did so poorly I was the second person eliminated, but I did make $1.85 in bottle and can returns plus I netted nine extra beers in the fridge (which I should be able to enjoy soon!).

With 11 players and two big tables crammed into the living room I didn't get any good pictures, but here are a couple anyway.

Salem, Ho!

Today I got a job offer from the pathology group in Salem. Mac and I went to dinner at Lucy's Table to celebrate. There we officially decided that we'll be moving to Salem later this year. After making the decision we spent much of the rest of the dinner discussing all the features we want to find in our new house - it got us very excited about moving. Next year I might even be able to throw a dinner party without setting a piece of plywood on card tables in the living room to seat everyone!

So now that the job hunt is finalized, I can focus completely on the next big event...

Counting Chickens

The saying goes, "Don't count your chickens till they hatch," but perhaps the opposite holds just as well: Don't count them out until they are dead. Anyway, Ruby laid another egg today.


Ruby's golden orbs compared to a stark white store bought egg.

The cereal gods smile

Once again, I had to face a shopping disappointment at Fred Meyers. Figuring Rice Krispie treats are the easiest way to get rid of stale marshmellows, I stopped by Fred Meyers to get some Rice Krispies. Actually, what I was really looking for was "crisped rice cereal" - the generic stuff, but the wall of generic breakfast edibles only contained fruit krispies, coacoa krispies and berry krispies, leaving me wondering once again why plain old ordinary stuff is so hard to come by these days. So I grabbed a big box of the name brand stuff and headed out. When I got home I discovered a very pleasant surprise: three free packets of Pop Rocks in the Rice Krispie box - Woohoo! Guess who's having Pop Rocks and Rice Krispie treats for breakfast tomorrow!

The Orb of Spring

Today my alarm went off. It wasn't particularly early - just a bit past seven - but the day was still cloaked in darkness. The wind had been blowing fiercely all night long and still prowled around the house, tickling the windchimes as it went. Outside a thick frost decorated the lawn and caused the ground to crunch underfoot and my breath hung heavy in the air. To me it seemed that winter still had a firm grasp on the area. But the chickens, dumb birds of pure instinct, knew differently, for there in the henhouse I found an egg - a precious orb heralding spring and the increasing daylight hours. The unexpected find prompted me to take a keener look around and there I saw the tips of daffodil bulbs arising from slumber, a few green buds on the bushes and even the first bloom of the paperwhite. The first signs of spring were all around!


Note: Ruby's first egg ever was 1/5/03; maybe the old bird still has a season of eggs left in her (the egg today was from Ruby).