Running in Circles

A while ago now, Jaimes had an affair with someone who, not so long before that, had been one of my closest friends.

I tried to respond with forgiveness and with love for both of them, attempted to take it in and then let it go without resentment. I say "tried" because I felt hurt, jealous, betrayed, and while I wanted with the best of intentions to just let it at go, I am sure some of it came through and colored interactions with each of them in some way.

In retrospect, I am not sure responding thusly was wise. I still had my hurt. They still had their guilt. Maybe coming at it this way just allowed all of these feelings to fester. Is this where my relationship with Jaimes suffered irreparable damage? I'm not sure. The relationship with the girl has never recovered, in spite of repeated attempts I've made to reach out to her.

All our poisoned feelings stayed, infectious and diseased, remaining beneath the surface all the while so that the wound could never close or heal. Perhaps if I had instead reacted in anger, pushed them both away from me, it would have been like slicing open the wound so that all the bile and puss could bleed away, so that it could then heal.

Jaimes feels that I smother him. Is it guilt that colors his perception? Does he feel that I should have been hurt, angry, and instead I keep trying to be loving, kind, healing...which, not being what he wants, what he needs, smothers him? Maybe.

Or maybe I'm just grasping at straws. Maybe the affair and my response did not doom our relationship, but he had the affair because it was already doomed.

C

I feel like I have a scarlet letter emblazoned on my chest. "C" for complicated, too too complicated.

Coming Apart

Many people, when I tell them about the separation, say something to the effect of, "Well, that is a big decision. Being in a relationship takes work and effort, involves making concessions. You must have talked so much about what you could do to fix things, to get to this point. You must have exhausted all the alternatives."

When they say this to me, I murmur something that sounds vaguely affirmative. But it feels weird, the whole interaction.

Why does it feel weird?

We didn't exhaust anything.

Jaimes is checked out. He has no desire to fix things. He has no desire to talk things through.

Then today, my dad asked me if we've considered counseling. I responded honestly, "Jaimes isn't willing." My dad was silent. I was silent.

I can't presume to know what Jaimes is thinking. Sometimes it seems he really cares for and loves me. But right now, where it concerns me, he is unwilling to give, unwilling to make concessions, unwilling to put himself out. And he is indifferent to my giving.

I will be the first to say that we've been struggling for a while; being new parents involves a lot of stress, dropping our budget from 2 full salaries to 1 salary creates stress, creating from scratch and running a business is stressful, trying to pay off debt can be stressful, moving in with roommates can cause stress. Stress, stress, everywhere. We haven't handled it well, and rather than coming together to battle it, we've come apart. I am not happy where we are now. I have felt for some time that change is needed.

But if I had my choice, in all honesty, I think I would choose for us to change together.

Something Beautiful

On Not Posting for Some Time, and Now Posting Again

For a long time after Ravenna's birth I wasn't able to find the time to post or update. Or really, to log onto my computer at all. I still have backlogs of email dating from them until now that I haven't really touched.

More recently I've started having time here and there where I could post, but I've had a sort of ethical issue with it. Right now, a huge percentage of my world is family life. Most of the things that I find myself wanting to express have to do with Ravenna or with Jaimes. But I make no secret of who I am on this journal. Perhaps nobody reads it any longer, since I have gone so long without updating, but in the past people who knew me read it. People who knew me peripherally read it. I've had the experience, several times, of meeting someone for the first time, only for them to tell me that they read my journal.

Thus it becomes a privacy issue.

Not for myself, so much; I started blogging during a time in my life when I felt all muddled about who I was, when I felt that I was too often tailoring what I showed of myself to each individual I interacted with, showing them only what I thought they wanted to see. Also, I felt that I was starting to live my life in a way that I was ashamed of. I was making choices without integrity, and wanted to hide them from others. I wasn't okay with myself, and that is a nasty, poisonous feeling. If you don't care for yourself, if you disapprove of your own choices, if you are drowning in guilt, how is anyone else supposed to know you or care for you? You're not a whole person, you're just a shard.

In a low moment, at a turning point, I thought that, if I started to write about my life with complete frankness and honesty, if I forced myself to be open about everything I was thinking and doing, either I would start thinking and doing only that which I was able to write about, or in the course of exposing and examining myself and my actions, even if nothing about me changed, I would start to accept myself for who I was. Either way, giving up some level of privacy was essential to the spirit of this exercize, and I did so intentionally from the very beginning.

But...

Yes, a "but".

But these days, it's not just about my privacy. If so much of what I would have written the last year or so would have been about Jaimes, then it is an issue of his privacy, too. If people who know me can find and read this blog, people who know him read it too, and what right have I to air our laundry out in the open when it affects him, and peoples' perceptions of him, as well? I don't want people to judge him based on my highly biased viewpoint.

I suppose it is about Ravenna's privacy, as well, although that doesn't give me the same sort of pause. Maybe because she's a baby, still, and I feel that whatever I post about her, people won't judge her for it. We aren't as quick to judge babies, somehow. Maybe we see them as still unformed. Pure. Full of potential. Whatever bias I have, I don't think anything I say, at least at this point in her life, will affect peoples' perceptions of her, or the relationships that she forms with others. She is still too new, and too insulated.

So, privacy is of import.

Jaimes's privacy, in particular.

Here I am posting, anyway. Why is that?

Here's why. I am sitting at a changing point in my life. We are sitting at changing points in our lives, our little family. Jaimes's privacy is going to be less and less an issue, because we are not so intimately entwined these days. Jaimes and I are separating.

So here I am, sitting on top of a ledge...behind me I see a life all entangled with his, and ahead of me I see a life all my own again. As such, I feel more comfortable owning it, writing about it, and airing it in this forum. Maybe journaling again will help me sort myself out.

I Am Like the Vine

". . .When the Buddha taught his First Noble Truth, he elaborated the gnawing sense of incompleteness that underlies much of our experience. As if he were describing the Second Law of Thermodynamics (that every isolated thing is moving toward a more disorganized state) or Freud's reality principle (that pleasure cannot be maintained indefinitely but must always give way to unpleasure), the Buddha evoked the unrest, instability and uncertainty that color our lives. In the face of these qualities, which he called the three marks of existence, we all feel yearning or longing. In the psychodynamic world, this yearning or longing is sometimes described in the language of the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein, as the depressive position. In the curious reverse language of psychoanalysis, the depressive position is considered a developmental achievement because it acknowledges the feelings that come with an acceptance of separateness. The ability to see things the way they are, not to expect constant gratification but to understand that all things are limited, is what allows for personal growth. . ."

("Open to Desire" by Mark Epstein, M.D.)\

I have so much trouble with this, with accepting separateness. I want to be one with everything. With everyone. I don't want to be an individual connecting with other individuals...it's scary. I know this is illogical, irrational. But still, I feel it.

This gets in the way of relationships. With friends, with lovers. With family. These rose colored glasses I wear, they keep me in a state of denial. And then I can't ever see anyone for who they really are, and in trying to pull them into myself, I keep them at bay.

Interestingly, this seems similar to the stage Ravenna is going through. She is beginning to understand that she and I are not one, that she is an individual separate from me. And she does not like it. It makes her anxious, and she clings to me.

I, in turn, cling to everyone around me.

I am like the vine.

Distortion

I realized a short while ago that I do Jaimes, myself, and everyone who knows me a disfavor when I post on here as I have the last few months.

When I am frustrated and upset, it is all too easy to vent my feelings in this forum, forgetting that I am content a much greater portion of the time and not representing this contentment at all. There just doesn't seem so much to write in times of happiness, not so much a need to let my feelings out.

Added to that, I find sometimes it is almost more difficult for me to admit to happiness than to upset. To say it out loud, to display it...sometimes I am hindered by a sense of shame and guilt. What if you, who are witness to my happiness, are not happy right now yourself - am I rubbing salt in your wounds if I ungraciously show my current good fortune? This may be paranoid. It may be stupid. But whatever it is, it is, and it colors sometimes what I say. My shame leads me to speak softly about my contentment if I am not sure of my audience.

This leads directly to a distorted representation of my life. Bumps in the road are magnified. while the road itself, along with all accompanying scenery, is muted, if not entirely hidden from view.

I guess what I am trying to say is this - I am happy. I am happy in my life, I am happy with motherhood, I am happy with Jaimes.

And Jaimes - he is not a beast. He is not perfect, and he wounds me from time to time, but he also inspires me with a spirited soul, he loves me with a generous heart, and he treasures our child with his entire being. I cannot box him up and contain him as I sometimes am wont to do, but try as I may, I don't really want to.

I am blessed with more than my fair share of love, joy, and contentment. Not always, perhaps, but what is happiness if it does not have a background of occasional trouble to contrast against? I would not want perfection.

But the life I have...I want it.

Perhaps someday soon I will find a way to write about it and represent it in a more balanced fashion.

My Birth Story

Here it is, long overdue - this is the story of Ravenna's birth. For 7 months now I've thought to myself that I would write it at any moment. Unfortunately, I am more a planner than a doer. I hatch great plans, grand schemes, and all with good intentions, but I have trouble following through and transforming them into action. Now, finally, is the time for doing.


My Birth Story

I'd been planning to work right up until I went into labor, but the week before, on Tuesday, September 12th, I suddenly felt that it was time to tie things up and take leave. At this point, I was still two weeks away from my due date, September 26th. While everything from two weeks before to two weeks after is considered "in range", I had heard that first babies tended to be late, if anything. Nevertheless, I went with my instincts and gave notice for that Friday. I spent that week working to make a positive handoff of all my work to other members of my team, and on Friday, I cleared out my desk, tied off all loose ends, and went home.

Now, those of you who know me well know that organization does not come naturally to me. But this was very organized...it was the cleanest, most organized, most professional exit I've ever had from any job, I think.

I had occasional contractions starting a few weeks before I went into labor, but things really kicked into gear on Sunday night, September 17th. I don't remember what we had done earlier that evening, but we went lindy hopping that night. There was a live band playing, and although Jaimes mostly opts out on the rare occasions that I do make it out to a swing dance these days, he was there. It was only the second or third time I'd been out to a swing dance throughout my pregnancy, but each time I went, the baby in my stomach seemed to really enjoy it - moving around in time to the music, kicking and rolling and making himself/herself felt and known.

I had a great time at that dance, taking in the music, dancing some, sitting and watching...I remember it being a great evening. That evening I felt a strong connection to this mysterious being in my belly who I was so curious about and impatient to meet, both of us joyful and happy.

Already it was getting to be a strange evening...at some point, I'm not sure if it was before the dance or after, there was a fire at a Whole Foods near the neighborhood we lived in. The block was blocked off, there was smoke, fire engines, lots of commotion.

After the dance, we went home to bed. The night was a windy one...very windy for Seattle. At some point our power went out. It wasn't out long, but all the clocks got reset.

At about 3 am I woke up with what seemed to be my first contractions. I don't remember how I knew what time it was - I think the power was out at this point, and it was dark so I couldn't find my cellphone right away. This power-out, and the wind and storm, and the fire earlier...so many strange happenings, all night long!

The contractions at this point weren't too strong. The power came back on, and I found the cellphone. After I found my phone, I used it to time contractions. I also text messaged our friend Ward, who was planning to film at least part of the birth. The contractions were fairly consistent, but not too strong, and I don't think they were ever much closer together than 20 minute intervals.

I don't remember if I slept more that night, but I think I did. Jaimes was up for a while with me. We were excited, exuberant. We made love. He slept, I lay awake and anticipated, let the contractions sweep over me, meditated and connected in my mind with my baby.

Early in the morning we called our friend Ariel, who was planning to act as a doula for us, and she came over. We must have spoken to the midwives at some point, too.

That morning, I felt an incredibly strong urge to take care of some registration work I'd been sitting on for Jaimes' upcoming class series. I also wanted to write up a skeletal outline for a birth announcement email and finalize a list of recipients so that I wouldn't have to worry about it later. I spent several hours and completed both tasks. Although I had been telling everyone for the last 2 months of my pregnancy that I thought I was carrying a boy, at the moment that I wrote my email I chose "Announcing the birth of our baby girl!" as the subject. I can't tell you why...maybe instinct, maybe chance.

Although my contractions had seemed to be getting closer together in the morning, they slowed down while I did my work on the computer. It was a significant slowing, with maybe an hour or even more than that between contractions. Jaimes noticed this, perhaps more than I did, and strongly encouraged me not to do anything else on the computer.

Unfortunately, at this point, I don't remember a lot more about the rest of that first day.

The contractions must have started getting closer together again sometime that afternoon or evening, because I was uncomfortable enough that night that I did not sleep well. I remember various things I did to cope, but I don't remember what I did when, or which days. It did seem that one coping mechanism would work really well at first, and then as several contractions passed, it would become less and less effective, until it seemed hardly to work at all. If I left it and then came back to it again later on, it often regained much or all of its effectiveness.

Early on, probably often that first day, but less and less in the following days, I would pull into a fetal position or push myself into a bridge, or other such positioning things on my own, that seemed to help. They weren't very intense positionings. They weren't effective at all towards the end, but at this point they still had a positive effect.

At this stage, it also often helped to have Jaimes put his hand on my sacrum, or on my back, solid downward pressure, throughout the contraction. I think it also worked to have Ariel do this at times, to give Jaimes a break. I would sit or lie down while they did this. I think I made noise, but was not to noisy...but Ariel or Jaimes might have more to say about it.

Christa had come over on Monday. While she is a very giving, nurturing person and wanted to help me in whatever way she could, at that point I was having trouble with her energy, so Jaimes chased her off. He kept she and several of our other friends (Malou, Shorey) at bay for the rest of the labor...giving them updates, but advising them that they could best help me by giving me space if/until I explicitly asked for them. It seemed to me that he, also, was driven largely by instinct at this point, wanting to close off and protect the space that I was in.

Tim and Ward were in and out now and throughout the labor. They both did a wonderful job of staying back, out of the way, unless I asked for something or needed something which they could provide, at which point they would come forward, meet the need, and then fade away. I know they were around the house a large portion of the labor, and that they did a wonderful job of not only supporting me, but of supporting Jaimes and meeting his needs so that he could more fully support me, but I don't really know when they were around and when they weren't. That's how responsive they were, and how respectful of my space, my energy, and my needs (especially my need for space, particularly emotionally and energetically). Even now, looking back, I am very impressed with the both of them. They were amazing.

Jaimes and Ariel were both wonderful, as well. Jaimes had found subs to teach all his classes and cancelled all other engagements, so he was at my side 24/7. Ariel also was around most of the time...she had called into work and was with us all the time, with a few exceptions where we sent her off to get some sleep and meet her own needs.

During these days, there was pain, there was nervousness, but there was a lot of joy. We were excited. This process was strange and terrible and wonderful and beautiful, and we were taking it all in, eyes wide open, hearts open as well. It was all so amazing!

I don't think I got any sleep on Monday night. Contractions were regular again, 10-15 minutes apart. We had checked in with the midwives by phone, but I don't believe we had seen them. I was still able to eat and drink.

Tuesday, same thing...contractions were regular, but the midwives did not come over because it appeared my labor was still a pre-labor. My water had not broken, I was still fairly lucid, not much in the way of bloody show. I did see a mucous plug at some point, maybe by then, or maybe it was after...I can't remember now for sure.

By lunch time I was starved, and I really wanted to get out of the house...Jaimes showed some trepidation, but gave in to my pleas and took me for sushi. We first drove to Kisaku, our favorite sushi restaurant, but it was closed. Contractions on the way were terrible, getting much worse, but I so wanted sushi at this point that we carried on and went to a spot that Jaimes knew about, not too far away, in Wallingford. I remember that the lunch was wonderful. We had some particularly delicious yellowtail belly. The sushi chef was a woman - this is possibly the first and only time I had seen a woman in this role. She had several children of her own, and we chatted a little bit about labors. The waitress was a woman also, but completely oblivious to my labor pains. She had the poor timing to come over several times just as a contraction was starting...while I was not noisy during these contractions, I blanched white, gripped the counter, and was unable to communicate with anyone until the contraction passed. She would ask if I was alright, Jaimes would explain...but I'm not sure she ever really figured out what was going on.

When we left the restaurant, the contractions were 5-10 minutes apart, perhaps. There were one or two on the way back to the car where I had to just stop, hold on to Jaimes, couldn't move again until it passed. Jaimes played it cool, but I think he was getting pretty excitable by this point.

At home contractions continued with regularity.

At some point on either Monday or Tuesday I did a self examination while I was on the toilet, and realized that my cervix was at least somewhat open...I could feel in with two fingers, and could touch...my baby's head? My water bag? I wasn't quite sure. I think that might have been on Tuesday.

I think the midwife on call came over to check me on Tuesday, either that morning or that afternoon. I was a few centimeters dilated, but still had a ways to go before I was far enough along that she would stay, so she went over the signs we were to look for with us all again, answered all our questions, and told us to keep in touch.

Tuesday evening I spoke with one of them by phone, and they advised that maybe it would help to have a glass of wine, to help me relax and get a bid of sleep, so that the labor could progress. I had some thai soup broth with mushrooms for dinner - nothing else really appealed - and someone brought me a glass of wine. After I had finished the soup, I went to take a sip of the wine. The smell nauseated me, but I took a sip anyway...mistake! Such a terrible, terrible mistake. Just that small sip, barely a taste, made me so nauseous that I went running the bathroom and barely made it in time to vomit into the toilet. The vomiting made my contractions more intense, and the more intense contractions made me vomit...it was a nasty cycle. I did not sleep that night, and I was not able to eat or drink anything else. The contractions remained intense, frequent, and the nausea remained as well.

At this point, the coping mechanisms that had worked early on were not very effective. I was moving more during contractions, writhing on the ground. At some point during the night my mindset shifted, and I wasn't really "coping with the pain" so much as I was "suffering from the pain". This may sound like a small distinction, but it's huge. My whole attitude shifted, and every moment was unbearable. I just wanted everything to be over.

In the morning, the midwife on call came to check me. I was sure that after two full days and nights of labor pains, and this last night so long and painful, I must be close. But no! I was only 3 centimeters dilated. I couldn't believe it. How long would this go on?

At this point someone, maybe Jaimes, maybe the midwife, had a chat with me and clued me in to the shift I had gone through. Somehow, with their support I was able to bring myself back and to begin coping again. Instead of spending every moment suffering and wanting it all to end, I connected with what was going on, let it wash over me, let myself feel it, and began, once again, coping.

Wednesday passed. Contractions were 5-10 minutes apart for most of the day. I was still nauseated and could not eat or drink, but I did alright. I walked around during some contractions. Sat by myself for some. Had Jaimes or Ariel stroke my back with a firm downward touch for some. For a while sometime in the afternoon, Jaimes and I danced through the contractions. We danced to The Beatles, music that the baby had responded positively to throughout much of the latter part of my pregnancy. It was painful and difficult and wonderful all at the same time.

Wednesday night the midwife came to check me again. Three full days now, two full nights - contractions 5-10 minutes apart and quite intense - surely things were progressing and the baby would be born soon! But no. After all this work, all this pain, after a night of suffering and a full attitude shift and a day of regular, intense contractions, after having been experiencing regular contractions for 60-some hours and only having had 6-8 hours of sleep in all that time, nights and naps combined, after not having been able to eat for the last 24 hours, I was STILL only 3 centimeters dilated.

I did not take this news well. Again, my attitude slipped, and there was a marked change in my contractions...again, instead of coping, I was suffering. I cried. Why, why, why? Why wasn't it going anywhere? How long would this last - could I be in labor forever? It would never end! These thoughts and questions were irrational, but I was not in a rational state of mind. I was hungry, nauseated, exhausted, and still beset by regular, intensely painful contractions, that didn't seem to go anywhere, with no sense of progress or forward motion.

We talked about options. The midwife told me that we could consider going into the hospital and getting me a shot of morphine. At this point, my uterus, which is, after all, a muscle, was exhausted - it was working hard, and regularly, but not effectively. The contractions were not working to pull my cervix open because the uterus was so exhausted. It wasn't able, any longer, to pull with uniformity, with intent. The morphine would slow the labor down a bit, allow me (and my uterus) a bit of rest, which would likely allow the uterus to start working more effectively again. We talked for a while during the downtimes - during the contractions, I was in my own world, in pain, unable to communicate - and decided to go with the morphine. So, we drove to the hospital.

The drive was unbearable...every bump along the way was extremely painful, would set off a new contraction.

At the hospital, the set me up on some monitors to observe some of my contractions and to check the baby's heart rate. After they were satisfied that everything was normal, they gave me the morphine.

Oh my, that morphine was such a godsend. The contractions didn't slow down that much...I think they were still every 20 minutes or slow...but they became bearable. The nausea subsided. My people brought me home, and they brought me dinner - I ate, rather, I devoured a full portion of butter chicken and garlic naan, I was so famished. And then I slept. For four hours! The contractions continued while I slept.

When I woke, early, early the morning of Thursday, September 21, I went to the bathroom and manually examined myself, and it seemed to me that my cervix was now open almost 5 centimeters. Progress! Forward momentum! Joyfully, I went back to bed. I was not able to sleep again, and the contractions started becoming more and more intense. Jaimes woke up and started helping me to cope with them. At this point in time my coping ritual became more and more elaborate, and more and more specific. Sometimes I would get onto my hands and knees and roll against my yoga ball. Most of the time I would squat, holding on to the bed in front of me for support, legs apart, and rhythmically move myself, in this low squat, side to side, forward, back, up and down. Jaimes would stand behind me and press downward on my sacrum, hard, just so, in a very specific way. This was physically demanding for both of us. I think it was especially hard on him, finding leverage to push in the way I needed, working with my movements, some of which were very unpredictable. It started when I woke up, at or around 4 am, and went on for hours, every few minutes, the interval between decreasing steadily.

At some point, after a number of hours had passed, when it was really intense, Jaimes needed a breather and Ariel stepped in to take his place. As the contraction ramped up, as I started my rituals, Ariel tried to push against me in the way I wanted, but she didn't do it just so, as I wanted, needed, had to have it, and I was in pain, so much pain, and her touch was too tentative, was wrong, was aggravating instead of soothing, I was like an animal and could not communicate, did not have the capacity for kindness or tact, the pain and the contraction were washing over me, and I must have screamed at her to stop, stop, it's wrong, it's not working, back off, where is Jaimes?!, he knows what to do, ooooooh, oh my, ooooooooh...............and then it passed.

This terrified Ariel, I think. Up to this point she had been present, helpful, a comfort and a crutch, so good to have around. But the extreme emotion, and perhaps a feeling that she didn't know what to do, or a frustration that she couldn't help, perhaps, along with the stress of 3 days of missed work, not enough sleep, not enough food, and constant stress, all got to her. There was a marked change in her, and from this point on, through and after the birth, and in the weeks after, she was much more removed, much more timid.

It's not so much that Jaimes was able to do something Ariel could not have done...I think it's more that he had been there as these more intense contractions were ramping up, learning with me what worked and what didn't, "practicing" this ritual that had evolved through the morning so that he could do exactly what I needed from him without any hesitation or error. At the start it took some communication and time for him to figure out the exact positioning, the pressure, the connection that helped the contraction to pass more bearably, but he was making his mistakes when the contractions were less intense, when I had more capacity for coping.

Thursday morning is when my awareness of the people around me starts to get really hazy. The pain was more and more intense, and I was more and more in my own world, apart from all else. Contractions were longer and longer, and now outlasted the gaps between contractions... not even a minute apart from the end of one to the start of the next. I know that Tim and Ward did a lot to take care of Jaimes and meet his needs, that they fed him bites of food between contractions, let him drink Emergen-C through a straw that they held up to his mouth, so that he could be with me every moment and help me through every contraction, frequent as they were...but I know this more because I was told about it afterwards than because I was at all aware of it at the time. I know that in the morning my water sack ruptured, and there was water all over, leaking out during and between contractions. It was not, however, a full break...the mebranse at the cervical opening were still intact. I know that sometimes Ariel would coax me to drink through a straw between contractions, and that once in a while I would take a sip, but that often I refused. I know that the midwife on call, Suzy, came at some point. That she checked me, and that I was fully 9 centimeters dialated, but that the membranes at the cervix were still intact. I believe she came that morning and was with us most of the the day, or all of the day.

At some point, they artificially ruptured the remaining membranes, in an effort to help things progress.

At another point, they left me alone with Jaimes with instructions for us to be loving, to kiss, for him to stimulate my nipples, all this over a prolonged period of time, 40 to 60 minutes, which would in turn cause my body to release oxytocin, a hormone that would stimulate longer and stronger contractions and progress the labor. I don't remember much about this except that there was so much pain, the contractions were even more intense, and they had been so intense to start, and it was so difficult to feel loving or turned on. Pain was everything. I was in another place.

Sometime in the morning, early on, I think, maybe 5? 6? 7?, in addition to the contractions, there started a pain in my hips, all down my legs. It was constant, but it escalated during the contractions. When it started it was bearable, but through the morning it became more and more intense, until eventually it surpased the contractions. At the time I thought it was muscle pain from the intense squatting ritual we had been doing for so many hours. It kept getting worse, and worse...eventually the pain between contractions was nearly unbearable, and the pain during was like a nova, a bright light overwhelming everything, radiating down my legs starting at my hips, hot and bright and terrible.

Hours of this, felt like an eternity, the midwife thought dehydration might be exaserbating my tired leg and hip muscles and causing or, at the very least, intensifying this newer pain, and they gave me an IV.

I tried other things to cope, standing in the shower with warm water pouring down on me; lying down with the midwive's apprentice, who was also a message therapist, trying to work with my body to release the pain in my hips and legs; sitting in a bath - I think maybe Ariel or someone else added water off the stove to the bath, since our water heater wouldn't fill the tub? - but all for naught. It was so unbearable, and it had been all day long. I had been at 9 cm for hours, and again, we were stuck. The midwives thought we were almost there, so close, but I was so overwhelmed with this pain, so frustrated, so hysterical, I didn't think I could do it. If it had been just the contractions, I could have. But this extra pain in my legs, in my hips, this radiating constant terrible pain that never subsided, just flared up into excruciating and then ebbed back into sharp and bright and one step past bearable, only to flare up again, over and over again...it was too much. We were approaching nearly 90 hours of labor, and I couldn't do it any more, I was despairing and suffering, and I couldn't talk myself out of it again as I had before. I couldn't find it within myself to cope.

We talked through our options...talk being an understatement, my memory of this all is hazy but I am sure I begged, pleaded, was possibly incoherent. I was so angry and upset with myself for a perceived failing, for not being able to do this in the way I wanted, for even considering giving in, but at the same time feeling so overwhelmed, so despondent, submerged in pain and unable to surface. After a time, with Jaimes's unconditional support and encouragement, we made a decision to give up birthing at home, and to go in to the hospital for an epidural. I am not saying this lightly when I say that this may have been the most difficult decision I had made in my life up to this point.

Once the decision was made, we acted quickly. Ward drove me in my car, and drove as smoothly as he could so as not to aggrivate my contractions. Was Jaimes in that car with me? He must have been. Suzy, the midwife, followed in her own. She spoke with the hospital before she left so that they would be ready for us when we arrived.

When we got there, they brought us to a birthing room. Again, they hooked me up to a monitor and just observed for a set period of time before doing anything. This time was excruciating, but at least there was light at the end of the tunnel, I could see and understand that this pain, this blinding, white-hot pain would end, that it was finite.

I think it may have been at this time that they determined my baby was posterier-facing, and possibly pressing against my sciatic nerve in this position, thus causing the intense, constant, non-contraction pain I had been experiencing all day.

The anesthesiologist came in wearing some non-traditional cap, maybe it was patterned with an american flag?, and spoke with me, with the others in my crew who were in the room. I have no idea what was said, I was in such a different world. Eventually he positioned me so that he could administer the epidural, and in time my legs numbed. It was mostly effective, but not entirely...even after he had administered the anethesia and given it time to work, and even after he administered a second dose on my right side, some level of pain in my ride hip and leg persisited, and it would flare up with each contraction. It was, at this point, however, bearable.

Now I was advised to rest, if I could, to let the labor progress. I think they administered some other drugs to keep the labor going, progesterone?, since the epidural and the decrease in pain would have interrupted the natural hormonal cycle of my labor. The nurse adivised me to sleep in a specific position to encourage the baby to turn.

I slept for an hour. When I woke, although I could no longer feel my contractions, with the exception of the lingering pain in my right hip and leg, I strongly felt it was time. I asked a nurse to examine me, or maybe it was the midwife working at the hospital...they checked, and I was fully dialated, the baby's head beginning to crown. And, while I had slept, the baby had turned, and was now anterior facing - a position much more condusive to the movement through and out the birth canal!

It was time to push.

I don't know when they had all come, but around now, or almost now, or shortly after this point, those who had been at the house along with several other friends all arrived in the room. Ward, Tim, Christa, Malou, and of course both Jaimes and Ariel. The nurse was in and out. Our midwife, Suzy, after a break for her own personal care, had come back and was with us again. The hospital midwife, Sally, was presiding over the birthing.

Because my legs were now numb, they set me up with a bar over the bed for the pushing. For each contraction, I would reach up to the bar and pull myself into a squat, using my arms...they would stand on each side and help to pull me up, and then I would push for the duration of the contraction.

The pain that I still felt in my right leg turned out, actually, to be a blessing in disguise. Because it flared up with each contraction, I could still tell when a contraction was coming on, even before it registered on the machines (and once in a while, even when it did not register). Because of this, I always knew when to push, and it felt very natural. Also, I felt more connected to the baby, I think...she was feeling pain each contraction, and still, so was I. If my pain had been completely numbed, I am afraid I would have been more emotionally, spiritually, and energetically disconnected from the process and from my child.

They positioned a big mirror in front of the bed so that I could actually see my baby coming out as I pushed. This was amazing, feeling it, experiencing it, and being able to see it, to see my baby emerging with each push, with each contraction.

This phase actually went by very quickly...I think no more than 4o minutes passed from the moment that I started pushing to the moment of my baby's birth. The baby emerged, first just its head. With its head outside, but it body still inside me, my baby turned, opened its eyes, looked at us, and attempted an indignant yowl (although, due the fluid in her mouth, it was more an indignant gurgle). So amazing! Not even birthed all the way yet!

One more push, and the baby emerged completely. 9:31 on Thursday, September 21, 2006. Jaimes caught her, with Sally's assistance, and moved her straight away to my stomach. She helped him to cut the cord, and he and I gazed at our baby, amazed, awed, lost. I offered the baby my finger, and it grasped it with its tiny fist. So strong! Was it now that they wrapped the baby in recieving blankets to absorb the vernix and keep it warm? I do not know. Someone asked, "So is it a boy or a girl?" We didn't know! Nobody had checked! We were just so amazed, this was our baby, here, with us, where we could see and touch, connect tactilly. Jaimes, I think, checked, and announced that it was a girl. A girl! Here with us! I think I cried. I think he cried.

We asked that the hospital not clean or weigh her right away, that they leave her in my arms, and they honored this request. She remained physically in our arms and on our bodies every moment that night.

The nurse helped me to latch her, and this baby of ours ate for 45 minutes. 4 days of labor made her hungry! Jaimes and I ate her up, savored each and every moment with this new creature.

When did everyone leave? I don't know. I just know that eventually, all had gone, except for Jaimes, myself, and our new baby girl. We had wanted to go home right away, but as my legs were still numbed and I could not stand, we spent the night. We alternately stayed up and slept all that night, gazing at our baby, holding her, attending to every breath, every noise, every moment of quiet. Between the two of us, we never put her down. I slept more than Jaimes, perhaps. Throughout the night we were terrified of every noise she made, and then even more frightened when she became silent. We were learning her. Learning fear and worry and love.

We talked that night about the labor, about the birth, about the future. We talked about names. From the first moment Jaimes looked into our baby's eyes, he felt Claire come to mind. This name felt good to me as well. He also felt that Sara fit. Perhaps then, or perhaps later, for a time, when I looked at her, I wanted to call her Caroline. We talked also about Ravenna...we had talked about it as a name before the birth, but wanted to make sure that it felt right, that it fit, before we decided for certain.

Morning came, and we wanted just to leave. The hospital staff convinced us to stay long enough to let their pediatrician look at her, even though it was redundant to care we would get from our midwives later that day. The day nurse insisted on testing her sight, her hearing, and got terribly upset with us when we declined to let her do the foot prick-test, since we planned on having our midwife do it that afternoon...in fact, she made us sign a form declaring to the state that we were declining the test, when in fact our midwife would and did send in the test results later that same day. But finally, all said and done, they released us. Jaimes went down to get the car, and I packed up. Somehow, the first time putting my daughter into a sling, I managed to get her settled just right so that she could nurse while I walked, but hidden away from all prying eyes and from all the world.

We drove home, walked into the house - and it was perfect. Our friends had gone, after the birth, the night before, and cleaned up in anticipation of our arrival. What love! What wonderful friends!

Jaimes and I climbed into bed with our baby, and spent days on end loving each other, loving her, getting to know her and getting to know ourselves as new parents. We hardly emerged at all these first few days, except to eat, and even that was almost too much.

Our baby has a name now. She is Ravenna Claire Krueger. We are still on our journey, Ravenna and Jaimes and I, getting to know each other, learning and growing, but we have emerged now from the bedroom. Ravenna is an absolutely wonderful, amazing baby...she has the sweetest temperment, but is at the same time curious, inquisitive, and incredibly present and grounded. We had such a time bringing her into the world! Yet for all the length, for all the pain, for the disapointment and sense of failure when plans changed, I wouldn't change it in any way. There was also love, beauty, excitement and joy entertwined with every day and every moment of the birth. I love where we are now, and so love the path that brings us here.

The Scariest Moment in My Life So Far

Ravenna had an accident last night. The good news is that she is okay.

She fell, 3-4 feet, from a baby chair on the kitchen table to the floor. Andrew and Ahuvah were in the kitchen but didn't see the fall, just the aftermath, and I was downstairs in the basement - I just heard the thump and their reaction and her crying. I don't think I've ever been as scared before in my life as I was at that moment, and in the moments after.

I ran upstairs and grabbed my baby, and was holding her, consoling her, crying myself, trying to assess her condition, didn't really know what to do...I started dialing the pager for my pediatrician, but then changed my mind and called 911 instead. They sent some firemen medics who came, looked at her, were glad to see that she was crying (good sign), and that she hadn't lost consciousness (good sign). I don't remember much of that time, it was all a blur, with the exception of one fireman who was trying to calm me down, and who gently reminded me that Ravenna takes her cues from me. They advised us to go to the ER at Children's, which we did. Ahuvah drove Ravenna and I. Jaimes wasn't home when she fell, but he met us at the ER right away. Both Ahuvah and Jaimes were amazingly solid and calm and supportive the entire evening.

At the ER, they looked her over. By that time (and since), Ravenna was acting well and in good spirits...laughing, playing, a little cranky that we weren't allowed to feed her until they finished assessing her and ruled out the need for any immediate surgery, but otherwise very much herself. It's we, the adults, who were the basket cases, although I think we all held it together pretty well.

Right off, Ravenna's vitals were good, but they could tell from a dent in her head that she had a depressed skull fracture, so they did a CAT scan and then had a neurosurgeon come talk to us. It turns out she has what is called a ping pong fracture - the bone, in one section of the skull on the left side of her head, is dented in. Miraculously, there is no break in the bone, n no internal bleeding, no swelling, and no other trauma. In fact, the neurosurgeon had trouble believing that the injury had happened at 6:30 that evening...he asked us several times if it was possible it had been injured during delivery, via forceps or something, because the injury, to him, looked healed.

Because of her age, the nature of her accident, and her fracture, (and in retrospect, possibly to assure themselves that we are not abusing Ravenna), they also did a full set of X-rays on her to make sure there were no other fractures or injuries, and those all looked fine. After a grueling 6 hours, they let us go home. With a traumatic head injury, it is important to maintain close observation for the first 24 hours. Under their instruction we woke Ravenna up every 3 hours to make sure that she was responsive, and she was fine.

Over the next few days, we need to make a decision about surgery. As far as I understand so far, we can safely opt out. The reasons they would do surgery to fix the fracture are partially due to concerns about long-term implications of the pressure on her brain from the bone - it's possible that it could be a root cause of chronic headaches or who knows what else later in life - and/or cosmetic concerns. The surgery could be done at any time, and it could be done months or years later, but it's much easier if done in the first week, before the bone has time to harden and set as it is now. I think at the moment Jaimes is leaning away from the surgery, and I am possibly leaning towards it, but we both want very much to educate ourselves further, before we decide either way.

Today we followed up with our pediatrician, and she thought Ravenna was doing well. We talked over our options, and decided to see an Infant Cranial Sacral Practitioner in the short term, to make sure Ravenna is in alignment and to see whether Cranial Sacral work might help with the fracture. We'll also schedule an appointment with the neurosurgeons to discuss the possible surgery, but we won't commit to it until we've tried the Cranial Sacral, checked back in with the pediatrician, and really, just had a little time to think it over.

So that's where everything's at now. Again, at this point, Ravenna is doing great. She's in good spirits, happy, chatty, laughing, interacting with everyone, doesn't seem any the worse for wear. Our pediatrician says nobody would be worried at all, except for this fracture.

Keep us in your thoughts, please, and wish us wisdom as we figure out what comes next.

Terrible, Angry Would-Be-Poetry

Yes, I know that I still need to post my birth story. And pictures of my baby, who is getting to be less of a baby and more and more of a little person. But I'm not going to just yet. Instead, I will leave you with bad poetry. Bad, but emotional. I'm pretty emotional right now, and it needs out...so here it is.

you know what? it's fine.
it's all fine.

you care little enough about my art that you are willing to throw it
away, or to let your friends throw it away.
I thought it meant more to you than that
but now at least i know.

i believed you when you said yesterday morning that there would still
be a chance to look through everything once before it was gone
but i was naive.

cuts bleed
it's not pretty
in fact, sometimes it's really shitty
but most of the time the bleeding stops
and it all heals over
leaving a scar to replace what was once there.

naivety is sweet
but it's a sickly sweet
and it's sometimes better that it be lost.


instead of the art and mementos art to aid my memory
i'll have the bleeding
and the pain
and then the scarring
and i'll just cherish the scar instead.

i'm angry now
but
i can't be angry long

when it's gone
instead of loving you for what i thought you to be
i'll take you for what you are
and i'll just keep the things that don't matter to you
to myself, where they will be safe.

Big Brother Gmail

Gmail's figured out that I'm having a baby. Here are the sort of sponsored links it's tagging on to most of my mails these days:

Sponsored Links (feedback)

2006 Cute Kid of the Year
Enter your child's photos for a Chance to win 1 yr College Tuition
www.TheCuteKid.com

Free Baby Bottles
Avent Set With Bottle Warmer, Nipples & Brush. Requires Survey
Family-Offer.com

The Baby Sling Directory
Directory Of Baby Sling Deals. Find Baby Slings Quickly.
BabySlings.TheBabyDepartment.com

Baby Shower Gift Idea
Unique Gift Idea for Expecting Moms Who Own Dogs-Great Baby Shower Gift
www.dogmeetbaby.com

Buy Baby Carriers
Affordable Baby Carriers & Sling Wraps From Ellaroo & More-Order Now
www.CottonBabies.com

Colic or crying baby?
Discover how easily you can put your baby into a deep sleep!www.sleepingbabyzzz.com

About these links

Ah, technology.

Lightening

My baby dropped this week into my lower abdomen, "lightening" I guess. Now instead of being shaped like an overblown beach ball, I am shaped like a pear. I can breathe more easily now, but I've gotten so much more uncomfortable - bending over at all is painful now, even the angle caused just by sitting up isn't feeling that great. I feel okay when I'm walking, standing, or lying down though.

Last week we got to "practice", spending time with a 5 month old belonging to friends of ours who were visiting... it was really good for my esteem. I think I've had a small, nay-saying voice in my head whispering what f I can't do it, what if I don't have a clue what to do with a baby, what if I'm not cut out? But it felt really natural being around Estella, holding her, watching her cues and signals and trying to understand what she wanted and felt and needed.

Jaimes, too. I really think he's going to be a good father. It's been something, being around him these last few months - he's been growing and changing like you wouldn't believe. It's like some restless demon inside him has calmed down. He's got more depth and grounding right now than I've ever seen in him before.

That's most of what's new with me. I mean, I'm still working, still doing some massage, doing some tango - but mostly I've got baby on my mind. I am so impatient to meet this creature that's been moving around inside me all these months, listening to me, responding to noises in our environment, exploring its boundaries, the walls of my visceral cavity, with its elbows and arms and feet.

On Sunday, at the outdoor milonga on the Kirkland waterfront (part of the weekend's tango festival), a large number of the tango women got together to throw a short, impromptu surprise baby shower for me. (30 or 40 women in all? Quite a few.)

Part way through the milonga they all gathered up the hill, lured me up there, and surprised me with gifts of many baby books (they had apparently planned this as a theme ahead of time) and with warm congratulations and support. It was amazing - I'm still feeling emtional about it. They made me feel incredibly warm, happy, and cared for!

I don't know how to go about thanking each of them individually, because I've lost track of who was there, who was not there, who gave what (most of the books they gave didn't have anything attached to mark who had given it)...so I'm left feeling that I was given this great gift by the entire community of tango women as a whole.

If you are one of these tango women, thank you so much. What a gift this is that you gave me - not the books (although they were great, and I am SO excited about them!..I've been happily thumbing through them and reading them to everyone within range for days), but this feeling of belonging and support.

My mommy was on NPR last week - updates on the IBM class action lawsuit.

Sprint is dumb.

A few months ago, my contract with them finally ended. After two long years waiting to switch, I was free!

A few days before I decided on a new provider, some Sprint guy called me up. "We'd like to talk over your current plan with you," he said, "to make sure it's the best plan, or maybe find you something better."

"No thanks," I replied.

"Uh...well, we'd like to offer you 10% off every bill! All you have to do is agree to another 2-year contract -"

"Thank you, but no thanks," I said again.

That was that, and he didn't have much else to say.

A few days later, I actually switched.

Later on that week, days after the switch had taken place, another Sprint representative called me to "talk about my plan".

"Um, I've actually switched providers. I am no longer a Sprint customer," I told the poor, clueless woman on the other end. It was news to her. You'd think they'd update some record somewhere when people leave, so that these marketing folk didn't waste their time calling non-customers, but that's apparently not how it works in Sprint-land.

Now, several weeks later, I've got a new issue. I was set up for online billing when I was with Sprint. I got a notice from them the other day letting me know that my bills is available...but, now that they've figured out that I'm no longer a customer, I can't log into the online system to SEE my final bill. And they haven't mailed me anything in the postal mail so far.

I've sent emails back and forth with their customer service, requesting a copy of my final bill, either in print, via the postal service, or online. They don't get it. They've quoted me the final balance, but what I want is the bill. I want to see a breakdown of charges, and want to verify that they ended service on the correct day.

You'd think they'd want to give that to me. So I would pay them. But nothing so far...

No bites for weeks now. Thanks for the words of support. Whatever it was, that frenzied night of cleaning was enough to scare it away.

Update on the bed:

No bites last night. Jaimes was home from CO, and he didn't get bitten either.

So, whatever was biting me either:
A. died a terrible death during The Great Cleaning
B. took the hint during The Great Cleaning and migrated elsewhere
or
C. took the night off

Time will tell.

In other buggy news, while I was reading last night, a very determined moth flew up into the bedroom light fixture and frantically threw himself at the (hot) lightbulbs over and over again. He'd duck out of the fixture entirely, but then dash back in again. As he was doing this, he tossed and bumped about the remains of other bug-creatures that had perished in the same fixture some time ago.

I watched for a short while in awe and horror, until he calmed down and settled a bit into the bug graveyard just beneath the bulbs. Out of pity I then turned off the lights, so the bulbs would cool and he could move on to something else, somewhere else...but I do not believe he ever moved again.

Destitute, hot and disillusioned, the moth gave himself up to death there in my light.

One of these days, I should clean it out. All the dead bugs silhouetted against the bulbs are pretty, in a rather macabre sort of way, but also perhaps a bit garish.

I woke up at 2:00 AM with itchy raised welts all over my abdomen, sides, and middle back. Something was in my bed with me, biting me. This does not make me happy.

I am cleaning all the bedding now in hot water. Whatever you are, nasty little creature, I hope you die a painful death. Soon. May you never wake anyone else with your nasty bites ever again.

WARNING: Rant to follow. Also, post contains personal information. Skip it if these sorts of things irritate you or make you uncomfortable.

---

Do not ever, ever do business with The Donor Source if you can help it.

Depending on how well you know me, or in what context, you may or may not know that some time ago I made the decision to donate eggs to a Seattle couple who could not otherwise conceive on their own. I donated through The Donor Source.

Unfortunately, as a complication of the donation process, I got very sick - more ill than I've ever been in my life. I had an extremely severe manifestation of Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). My ovaries swelled up to the size of softballs and filled my abdominal cavity with blood and fluid. I could not keep food down, I could not lie down due to the fluid from my abdominal cavity painfully rushing into contact with my lungs. My body distended; I looked like I was 9 months pregnant with twins. Three times they had to do an operation to draw fluid out of my abdominal cavity. I had to be hospitalized for a week - my kidneys had stopped functioning, my bowels had stopped functioning, I was severely dehydrated and malnourished, my blood pressure was extremely elevated, I was more in pain than I have ever been in my life, and I could not function. In the hospital I could not leave my bed - I had a catheter and was fed for days by I.V., most of which time is a haze in my memory due to painkillers and anti-nausea medication they kept me on.

It was nasty, but I lived through it. About a week after I had checked into the E.R., I got to go home. I was 40 lbs overweight, all of it fluid and water sitting around my various cavities that my body had not known how to process or get rid of. Over the course of a week, as my kidneys woke up, my body processed the fluid and peed it all away. After just a few weeks, my ovaries shrunk down to a normal size. Thankfully it seems that there were no lasting complications.

In retrospect, knowing more now about OHSS, I believe that the Northwest Center for Reproductive Sciences, the clinic that handled the donation, should have seen any of several warning signs during the donation process that I was at risk and perhaps proceeded differently. And when I started to go downhill after the donation, they should not have kept assuring me that I was fine, just wait a day or two more and everything would be better. I listened to them for a while because I had been brought up looking at doctors as authority figures, all-knowing, always right, never to be questioned. I kept getting more and more sick, though, and finally, after a week I was more sick than ever - could not eat, could not lie down, could not sleep, had trouble breathing, was feverish, was vomiting constantly, was visibly distended, had already had two procedures done to remove fluid from my abdomen but it kept filling with more - so I visited an E.R. near to my home, where they checked me in right away and started monitoring me and working to give me care that I desperately needed.

If you are considering IVF or Egg Donation or any other care through NWReprosci, I would advise you to proceed with some level of level caution, and to have a frank discussion with your caregivers about risks, warning signs, and about their course of action should any warning signs appear. As for me, though, what's done is done. I can't go back and change the care that NWReprosci gave me, and happily I have my health now. It's better maybe to just move on.

What does this have to do with The Donor Source? Was it their fault I got sick? No. Did they provide the care? No. Why then am I so upset with them?

Before the donation process, I and the recipient parents both met separately with a lawyer and signed contracts provided through The Donor Source dealing with many facets of the donation process such as custody, rights, responsibilities of all parties involved. A portion of those contracts specified that the recipient parents would be taking out a temporary supplementary health insurance plan on me, through The Donor Source, to deal with any complications. They would pay any deductibles required by the plan, and it would cover anything else that might go wrong. I was not to be held responsible for any costs incurred by the donation process or by any complications resulting from it.

Well, it turns out that operations to remove fluid from one's abdominal cavity are expensive. Week-long hospitalizations are expensive. All the trauma and trouble translated to a thick stack of bills.

And so far, The Donor Source has not followed through on getting them paid.

This all happened almost 11 months ago. Those bills are still not paid. Some are still sitting with the hospitals, some have gone to creditors.

These hospitals and creditors are not patient. I've spent more time than I care to recall talking to them, explaining, directing them to the The Donor Source, writing letters. I've paid some of the bills out of pocket just to get them off my back, but I can't afford to pay them all. I don't think anything has made it all the way to my credit report yet (my letters of dispute to the creditors clearly establish that I am not responsible and they need to desist) but it's hard to be sure.

Meanwhile, my contact at The Donor Source assures me again and again that it will be taken care of soon, any day really, it's just that insurance is slow. It's sitting with insurance and they'll take care of it soon. Just hold tight. I'd ask them for a contact in the insurance department to speak with, or anything, a policy number, any information about the status of the claim, and they always gave me the runaround.

Except -

Here's the tricky thing -

I managed to piece together enough information in a form The Donor Source had me fill out earlier this month to track the actual insurance policy holder down and to speak with someone there. The guy I talked to was actually quite helpful and I am finally feeling optimistic that I may see some traction soon. But I cannot tell you how surprised and upset I was to hear from him that they had not actually received any paperwork or bills for me until late in May, and they're still waiting on The Donor Source for paperwork they need to tie things up and settle the accounts.

I faxed this insurance guy all the paperwork I have, all the bills, all the records, which will hopefully help jump-start things a bit. But I was only able to do this because I cut corners, did a little detective work and found him on my own. The Donor Source was never going to help me - for the last half year they've actually been blaming the insurance people for the delays. And for almost that entire time, they hadn't even initiated things with insurance!

Almost as if to rub it in, this afternoon, after I had spoken with the insurance guy, a Donor Source rep returned my call from earlier in the day and assured me that insurance people are just slow, it's normal, everything should be taken care of any day. What a pack of lies. And all the while it's sucking up my time, my energy, stressing me out worrying about money and collectors and my credit report and my credit future.

I just want to be here and now, in the present, excited about my baby and everything to come. I don't want to keep worrying about this stuff forever - I'd like it to get resolved and all go away. This should be a time for anticipation and celebration, not for worry and trouble.

I wouldn't wish my experience or the mess afterwards on anyone else. So stay away from The Donor Source if you can; it's better that way. They are not responsible, they are not reliable, they are not trustworthy. They're bad news waiting to happen.

Apparently it's not only illegal to gamble online in WA state, it's illegal to even discuss online gamling. I could be in violation of the law with this post.

So 1984...

Sources:

• This Column May Be Illegal, in the June 15th Seattle Times
• New Washington Online Poker Law Stretches Tentacles, published June 19th on Poker News
• Internet gaming guide shut down in Washington state, published June 15th on PokerListings.com

Just three days later, and I've got my computer back!

Everything's in working order - I can now load CDs, I can power up my battery again... mmmmmmm, so nice. And all covered under warranty! (Well, under the extra 2 years of warranty that I purchased up front.) Apple told me 5-7 business days at least, but here it is, delivered to my doorstep just 3 from the day I dropped it off (a Sunday, at that), early in the morning so that I was here to receive it before I left for work - oh my, oh my, oh my. I am not used to having my expectations exceeded by the corporations with whom I choose to do business.

Kat is so, so happy.

Sadly, on the eve of June 17, 2006, my computer met a desperate end. She is now "in the shop" with the Apple Techs, who are even now attempting a brave resurrection.

Sad computer.

Sad Kat.

I guess I'm a little bit ahead of the curve - breast feeding is really starting to come into style.

". . .'Just like it's risky to smoke during pregnancy, it's risky not to breast-feed after,' said Suzanne Haynes, senior scientific adviser to the Office on Women's Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. 'The whole notion of talking about risk is new in this field, but it's the only field of public health, except perhaps physical activity, where there is never talk about the risk.'. . ."

(from today's New York Times)

"Beginning [today], Washington residents who play poker or make most other types of wagers on the Internet will be committing a Class C felony, equivalent under the law to possessing child pornography, threatening the governor or torturing an animal. . . the new law carries stiff penalties: as much as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. . ."

(from the May 27 edition of The Seattle P-I)

I'm so glad to see that our state legislature is spending their time on such worthwhile things.

I found another page asserting that "The hypocritical
stench surrounding the online gambling law forthcoming in Washington state includes campaign donations from none other than Indian casinos for State Senator Margarita Prentice. . .".

Nice casinos. Want to make sure we gamble in person.

Jaimes and I, after much thought and consideration, are making some unconventional choices in our plans for raising our baby. I haven't written or talked much about this, because, having grown up in the Midwest, I generally seek to avoid confrontation. In their unconventionality, and because people seem to have strong opinions in general on child-rearing, I felt that our choices might spark some level of confrontation or, at the very least, disdain.

For all that, in a moment of rash abandon, I've decided to have out. Here it is, out in the open, a rough road map for the next several months and years:

• I'm working full time now, and will up until the birth, but do not plan to return to my job afterwards. When the baby is a little bigger I will start doing more massage out of my home studio, and will continue to teach some small amount of private dance lessons from our home as well.


• We're planning on a home birth.


• I plan to breastfeed exclusively (no cereals, juices, water, or other foods) for the first half-year, and to continue breastfeeding for quite some time after that.


• We are considering "elimination communication" instead of traditional potty training.


• We plan to sleep with our baby in our bed.


• We are not planning to own strollers - rather, we will get slings to carry the baby on our own bodies. We are both strong believers in the power of touch from a very young age.


• I had an ultrasound at 17 weeks, but due to some concern about the advisability of exposing the baby to ultrasound unneedlessly I will not get another one (except in the case of some unforeseen problem with the pregnancy or suspected problems in the course of fetal development). It is for this reason that we do not know the sex of our baby, and may not know until the birth.


• While we may vaccinate at some point, especially in light of Jaimes's possible world travels, we are going to hold off for the first several years.


• I am in a committed caring relationship with the father of my baby, but we are not married and have no plans to marry in the near future. It is likely that we will give the baby my last name.

Yesterday I saw An Inconvenient Truth, the global warming documentary featuring Al Gore. It was good, although for my taste it was a little heavy on the scare-side, with almost no mention of what we can or should be doing to address global warming now. I found it slightly interesting/ironic that they chose, numerous times throughout the film, to feature a shot of Gore looking all pensive and thoughtful, riding in a car. This is a documentary about the frightening effects of CO2 emissions, and here we have this recurring shot of Gore, the primary focus point, over and over again in his car.

On a related note, there was an interesting article in the NYTimes today about a small town in Indiana trying to make serious inroads in achieving energy independence: One Farm Town's Drive for Energy Independence.

The future of the organic label is looking dim.

From The New York Times today, The Way We Live Now: Mass Natural, an article on the impact that Wal-Mart's push towards "organic" may have on the industry and on the worldwide organic farm economy.

Frankly, I find it disheartening and scary that our government's definition of a single word, "organic", might have such far-reaching impact on a market that has been steadily growing over several decades and that I strongly subscribe to. And I've always found Wal-Mart's relationship with and treatment of its vendors to be decidedly abject (along with its behavior in any other number of arenas - this is why I have not shopped at Wal-Mart for over 10 years, and have no plans to step into one again any time soon). The article does bring up some interesting positive outcomes that I hadn't considered, though, among them a drop in world exposure to pesticides and other nasties that our government (and/or others) are slow to regulate or ban on their own.

Some previous information:

Compiled from The Organic Consumers Association: Campaigning for Health, Justice, and Sustainability (a great site to keep up on what's going on with the organic industry and what you can do to help safeguard it), compiled from their pages devoted to safeguarding organic standards:

ALERT: INDUSTRY SNEAK ATTACK ON ORGANIC STANDARDS - USDA ANNOUNCES BRIEF PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
The USDA has announced a very short public comment period (ends May 12, 2006) on a proposal to amend the
National Organic Program (read the proposal here) in a manner that would weaken organic standards. The USDA's actions were requested by a very small handful of Republican members of Congress. Take action now and tell the USDA you support strong organic standards!

In late 2005, despite receiving over 350,000 letters and phone calls from OCA members and the organic
community, Republican leaders in Congress attached a rider to the 2006 Agricultural Appropriations Bill to
weaken the nation's organic food standards in response to pressure from large-scale food manufacturers.

This rider was voted on in conference committee. Here is a list of the members of that committee who pushed this rider through:

Sen Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)
Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)

"Congress voted to weaken the national organic standards that consumers count on to preserve the integrity of the organic label," said Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association. "The process was profoundly undemocratic and the end result is a serious setback for the multi billion dollar alternative food and farming system
that the organic community has so painstakingly built up over the past 35 years.

As passed, the amendment sponsored by the Organic Trade Association allows: Numerous synthetic food additives and processing aids, including over 500 food contact substances, to be used in organic foods without public review. Young dairy cows to continue to be treated with antibiotics and fed genetically engineered feed prior to being converted to organic production. Loopholes under which non-organic ingredients could be substituted for organic ingredients without any notification of the public based on "emergency decrees." OCA will work to reverse this rider with an "Organic Restoration Act" in Congress in 2006.

Background of the Sneak Attack
After 35 years of hard work, the U.S. organic community has built up a multi-billion dollar alternative to industrial agriculture, based upon strict organic standards and organic community control over modification to these standards.

Now, large corporations, such as Kraft, Wal-Mart, & Dean Foods--aided and abetted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and members of the Organic Trade Association, have succesfully weakened organic standards by allowing Bush appointees in the USDA National Organic Program to take away the National Organic Standards Board’s (NOSB) traditional lead jurisdiction in setting standards. What this means, in blunt terms. is that USDA bureaucrats and industry lobbyists, not consumers, will have near total control over what can go into organic foods and products.

WHAT'S AT STAKE
Organic Standards Under Fire:
Agribusiness front groups, such as the Farm Bureau, big food corporations like Kraft, biotech companies such as Monsanto, right-wing think tanks, such as the Hudson Institute, and industry-friendly government agencies have consistently tried to undermine organic standards and get the USDA to allow conventional chemical-intensive and factory farm practices on organic farms. Unless strict organic standards are maintained, consumers will lose faith in the organic label.

Federal Funding for Organics:
The current five year $220 billion US Farm Bill allocates less than $5 million annually for organic research, promotion and marketing...approximately one-hundredth of one percent. This means that Congress is using billions of our tax dollars to reward chemical-intensive, factory farm style operations, while penalizing non-chemical farmers. This, despite
the fact that organic food has been the fasting growing segment in the food marketplace for over 13 years. To move beyond using pesticides, chemicals and genetically modified seeds, conventional farmers need government subsidies and conversion programs that prioritize local and regional organic production. These misguided priorities must be reversed in the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill.

Preserving Organic Farms and Consumer Choice:
Genetically Engineered (GE) crops pose a serious pollution threat to organic food and farms. Windblown pollen from GE crops and commingling of seeds in grain elevators or transport vehicles are contaminating organic farms and seed stocks of corn, soy, cotton and canola. The OCA is calling for strict legal liability on all GE crops utilizing the "polluter pays" principle, to protect the property rights of farmers growing organic or non-GE crops. The OCA is also calling for mandatory labeling on GE foods- similar to laws already in place in Europe and other countries- so that consumers have a choice whether or not to buyGE foods.

And another NYTimes article published on May 12, 2006, eyeing Walmart's proposed organic shift: Wal-Mart Eyes Organic Foods.

Just one week ago I was worried that I hadn't felt the baby kick, and now the little critter won't stop moving!

Sometimes it makes me laugh, this sudden "blick!" in my belly, not always at the most opportune of times.

Dance, dance, dance.

I am feeling really well these days, very happy and healthy. Jaimes and I went to the midwife yesterday and heard the baby's heart beating - so fast and strong, crazy that there's this new being growing inside me!

We felt it kick for the first time just this week too. I hadn't
felt anything and was getting worried, so I found some advice online that suggested I lie down, put my feet up, and play music for my stomach - and lo and behold, with the music, there was a rhythmic thump! thump! down in the lower part of my abdomen. So already, we have a musical baby.

Very pretty, but very strange.

According to Seattle's own King5 News, Pregnancy makes women smarter.

Becoming a mother clearly changes a woman's body, but it also appears to have surprising effects on the brain, too. . ."We're seeing what we think are significant changes in information processing," said Dr. Craig Kinsley.

I haven't felt it move yet.

Oh Baby!

From Amazing Pregnancy.com's due date calculator:

You are 16 weeks into your pregnancy,
and you have 24 weeks to go.

103 days have passed since the conception,
and you are 163 days before your due date.

The Baby:
This may be the week you feel your baby move. This is sometimes called "quickening" It's been described as a "flutter" or "butterflies". Don't be too worried if you don't feel it yet. It may be as late as your 20th week before you feel those first little flutters. The lanugo hair is present, and covers your baby's head and body. Your baby is still growing and this week measures about 4.5 inches long, and weighs almost 3 ounces!

My dad is sorely behind the times.

I was telling him the other night about how great Christa has been through my pregnancy, warm and nurturing, really looking out for me. Running off right after she found out to research pregnancy nutrition, making sure I'm eating well, making sure I'm taking care of myself. He asked, "Well, has she tried to get you to stop smoking?"

Umm...

"I don't smoke any more," I responded.

"Really?" he asked, disbelief evident in his voice.

"Yes, really," I said, "I haven't smoked for over three years."

"I just thought you were hiding it from us," he said.

Thinking back, the potential landlady jerked me around the first time I interacted with her, too, so I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was on Monday night.

When I first noticed the ad for the house, I called to say I was interested in renting. She asked that I drive by and take a look to see what I thought. I did, and thought it was great! I called back right away to tell her that and to schedule an appointment to see the inside... and she said that she hadn't known how to tell me during the first conversation, but at that time she was already checking references on someone she planned to rent to.

Why did she have me waste my time following up on it and driving by if she was already planning on renting it? Not a nice thing to do.

So then a week later she called back and said the other renter had fallen through, and was I still interested ... and that's where this tale ends, and the other one begins. (I wonder what his story was, and if it was any nicer than mine.)

I have a house now. I found a new rental to share with Jaimes. It's okay, not great. But it will work for him to teach dance, for me to do massage, and for us to both live in reasonable comfort for a while.

It's not the house I wanted. There was another house, not even a block away, that I fell in love with last week. I talked to the landlady, filled out an application, and even put a deposit down. Everything was looking good.

Then, Monday night, she called me to turn me down.

Earlier in the day on Monday, she had called my current landlord, who was busy with something, and couldn't really talk at that moment. Added to that, he was slightly taken by surprise, as I haven't given any notice yet. (I'm not planning on moving out for a while, and was thinking I might keep this room for a few months concurrently. Chris has a friend getting out of the military fairly soon who wants the room, so to keep from screwing Chris and Jake on rent in the meanwhile I was strongly considering keeping it until his friend got out, or at the very least taking the initiative to find a subletter for that period. Chris and Jake want to maintain the lease even after I leave, so there was no reason to give full notice to the landlord.)

So anyway, this woman, the potential new landlady, was a little put off by that, and wanted something more. To appease her, I told her I would look up the name and number for the landlord I had before I moved to the U-District, a few years back, on Capitol Hill, and I would sort things out with the current landlord as well.

I looked up the number for the old landlord, tried to call him to warn him she might call, but got a machine and left a message.

I also talked to my current landlord and sorted things out with him, and he wanted very much to talk to her again and give her a good reference for me. He had called back on his own but hadn't been able to reach her.

This done, I called the potential landlady back, gave her the number for the old landlord, and told her that I had sorted things out with the current landlord and he wanted to speak with her again. She thanked me and we hung up.

So a few hours later, she called back again. This time, she was super-condescending. She said that if she ever wanted someone for computer work, she would hire me, but she couldn't ever imagine renting to me. Over and over again, she told me that I am young. That maybe I'll grow out of it. She hit on the "you are young" thing like 6 times.

"I'm 28!," I thought to myself. "What is her problem?" I was confused and upset - this was my dream house, and I had practically moved in in my mind, and here she was ripping me down - but I remained polite and responsive for the duration of the conversation.

She said, "Let me give you some advice. Before you give out references, you should check with people to see what they will say." I told her that I had, had she even tried calling my current landlord again? He had wanted to talk to her when he had bandwidth, and he had good things to say - but she responded that she hadn't, and she wasn't interested in doing so.

"What??? Where was all of this coming from?," I thought. "My current landlord is happy with me. My old landlord was happy with me, as far as I knew - granted I hadn't been able to speak with him directly that day, but we had a good relationship when I left Capitol Hill." She wasn't telling me anything concrete about what swung her opinion so drastically this way - for all I know, it was simply because I hadn't given notice to my current landlord.

I asked if there's any chance she would call my current landlord a second time, or reconsider, and she said no. She told me that she's going to take the house off the market for now, that the current tenants are changing their time frame a bit, and she'll just wait until May to rent it to take the pressure off herself. That was pretty much the end of the conversation.

I cried a little bit afterwards, because it was pretty hurtful.

Then I went back to looking up places and tracking down landlords, starting again at square one. What else could I do?

That same night, I visited another place which wasn't ideal, but could work. That landlady took very strongly to me, and for whatever reason, really, really wanted to rent to me specifically over others who were interested in the place. I told her I was interested, and we agreed to talk again the next day.

As an aside, that night while I was looking through places, I noticed that the landlady who turned me down had posted her house for rent again, but with the rent cut by $100/mo. Ouch. Not only does she specifically not want me, but she's so desperate to rent it out that she's dropping the price to get anyone else she can.

Ouch.

Back to the new place - I slept on everything that night, and in the morning I woke up feeling that although it could work, it wouldn't be good long term. It's on the verge of too-small as is, it would definitely be too small once the baby is born, and she was adamant about a year lease so that would lock is in for the first half-year after the birth. So when she called again I told her that while I was interested, I couldn't do it.

But she wanted me so much that she offered different lease terms that worked better for me. Enough so that yesterday I signed with her for a short term lease, just for the summer. It will be fine for that long, to get us by, and we'll have more time to find something that really works. It will also be good for her, as it will put the rental on schedule for her to find a student renter in the fall when school is starting up.

Then...

This morning...

The old landlord from Capitol Hill called me. I didn't answer the phone the first time, but he called three times - must be important? - so I went to see who it was and answered. He said that some woman had called him a few days ago and asked about me, but he didn't catch the first name and he confused me with some other girl who had also lived there, same last name but spelled a little differently. Some Janet Kruger, who had been a disaster, and had mistakenly given me a poor reference because he misunderstood who she was asking about. (I think he had just gotten my original phone message and realized the mistake.)

So everything makes a little more sense now, but I still feel really rotten about the whole thing, and about how rude this potential landlady was on Monday.

He asked me if I'd like him to call her and explain. I said yes. Because, even though it won't make a difference now, part of me hopes she hears from him and feels a little twinge of guilt for being so rude. Nasty woman.

Really, everything conspiring the way it did, I think the universe was trying to tell me that this was not the place to be. Better trouble now than after the lease is signed, you know? But it's not what I wanted to hear.

As you have probably noted from the tone of this post, I am still worrying the wound a bit. I liked that house. I was hurt at how she treated me.

Oh well, life goes on. So must I.

Anyways, I have a different house now. And it's not a perfect house, not exactly everything we were hoping for, but it's good, and it will serve us well for five months.

Pirates are the new ninjas. Remember when ninjas were all in? Now they're out. It's pirates all the way these days.

How come it took me so long to catch on?