More Photos at 39w4d

Lobsters, okay?

1-point perspective in Wiscasset, ME

Megan, Bridget, Deirdre, and Fiona outside the Midori concert at Bowdoin

Sophia likes Midori, too

Nathan Nichols and Bridget (39w2d) at Popham Beach State Park

Photo Update

I've been lax about photo updates, so here are a bunch of pictures from the last week or two! Karen, J.T., and Lulu Yost came to visit during our first week, and we tried to find some beachy fun.

Lulu, Karen, and J.T. at Thomas Point Beach

Here's what Bridget looks like with clothes on...

...and without clothes, mostly.

Totally pornographic horseshoe crabs

J.T. spent most of his time in this tree in the yard....

... Harvesting these. Vegans are weird.

Then Ben and Sue Heersink came to visit for the weekend. But -- since every picture Sue takes shows everyone smiling and facing the camera, perfectly centered in the frame -- I only took pictures like these:

Sue, Bridget, and I think that's probably Ben.

That's not even Ben! That's just some guy outside the lobster pound at Basin Cove.

 Then I took a bunch of photos to use as reference for my Intro Painting class:

1-point perspective lesson

2-point perspective lesson

Hue, saturation, and value lesson.

Bridget needs to eat a lot of food (generally) and protein (specifically). We're trying our best to eat local foods when possible. Check it:

Homemade bread, local pork sausage, scrambled local duck eggs.

Yes, duck eggs.

Finally, here are some adorable pictures of Bridget and Sonmi-451 trying to do some work on the computer:

From the moment they wake up....

...until it's time for bed.

Walkthrough: 13 Hildreth Road, Harpswell, ME 04079

To give you all a sense of the place we've chosen to have our baby, I recorded this video walkthrough of our rented house:

Questions?

A Transfer of Maladies

For much of my life, I have suffered from a variety of more or less serious physical complaints. At their worst, they were completely debilitating, but most of the time they faded into the background: a low ambient hum of discomfort. These ailments tended to worsen when I used them to define or describe myself ("I have a bad back"), or to avoid an unpleasant task ("I can't lift things") or to claim high status (See Johnstone, Impro, chapter 3) through having an interesting medical problem ("I have a 39° curve of my spine").

I'm not going to mention all of my chronic or recurrent conditions and symptoms, because such a list would make me sound like a whiner, and the wonderful fact of my life is that I have very few complaints these days; the treatable issues have been treated, the manageable issues are being managed, and many issues have simply disappeared. But the following issues are relevant to this post, so I will describe them:

• Since around the age of 18, I had bad heartburn caused by hiatal hernia, a condition where the top of the stomach moves above the diaphragm that usually separates it from the esophagus. Two attempts to surgically repair the problem were unsuccessful. Currently managed by daily dose of Prilosec.
• Scoliosis (the aforementioned 39° curve) contributed to a large amount of back pain throughout my life, sometimes causing spasms that would lay me out on the floor with tears shooting from my eyes. Happily, my back pain has mostly gone away over the last six years, a result I attribute to regular meditation and drastically lower stress levels.
• I have profoundly flat feet, which caused pain in my feet and hips and makes it hard to find comfortable shoes. This has been managed successfully for many years with orthotic inserts in my shoes, without which I cannot comfortably walk more than 100 feet. Even with the inserts, I find it very uncomfortable to stand in one place for a long time, though long walks are no problem.
• I suffered from insomnia for many years, starting around 1983, the year I saw "The Day After," a movie about the effects of a nuclear strike in the midwest. I used to obsessively turn on my clock radio throughout the night, listening for the Emergency Broadcast System signal that spelled our collective doom. Instead, I usually heard The Whispers's "Rock Steady". Nowadays I sleep like a baby.

You have probably guessed by now what I'm going on about. Over the years, Bridget has found my ailments tiring, irritating, or inconvenient. And now, my friends, she is suffering from each of the ailments above.

I am not celebrating my dearest love's pain. But every time she experiences a new symptom that is or was a part of my experience, she gains empathy. She looks at me with watery eyes and says something like "Oh honey... I never knew. Did it really feel like this?" I nod.

The tears spill from our eyes.

Are you serious, lady?

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
JEREMY BROOMFIELD, blogger, father-to-be
A RECEPTIONIST at Mid-Coast Hospital in Brunswick, Maine

JEREMY: Hi there, my name is Jeremy Broomfield. May I please speak to Natalie Rockwell?
RECEPTIONIST: I'm sorry, she's not in today. Would you like to leave a message?
JER: Well, you can probably help me. Natalie is the midwife who will deliver our baby in July, but before we meet with her, she asked us to send my wife Bridget's medical records. I've got the documents scanned and I just need her email address.
RCP: We don't have email.
JER: What?
RCP: We don't have email.
JER: Oh, I heard you. I just meant "what are you talking about?"
RCP: We don't have email in the hospital. Well, we have it within the hospital, but email can't go in or out.
JER: But that's... crazy.
RCP: You can send her a fax.
JER: A fax, you say. Well, maybe. But in order to find a fax machine, I might also need a time machine.
RCP: ...
JER: Okay, fine, sorry. I know the policy is not your fault. Wait, is it?
RCP: No.
JER: Okay. Thanks!

- END -

 Below, my new fax cover sheet.

Final Regular Ultrasound

But first, here's a backlogged picture of Bridget and the dog:

29 weeks, 5 days, 1 leetle Poopanz

It's getting hotter in Arizona for real, with afternoon temps in the mid-90s. This is the time of year I start having to take multiple showers a day just to feel human. Bridget, meanwhile — who generally loves hot weather, sunshine, warm air, and long walks on the beach — is finding her pregnant self feeling overheated on the regular. Feelin' faint. A little woozy. Thirsty.

Which seems to me like she's finally coming to her senses. At last she can relate to how I feel anytime the temperature rises above 80°. But she feels deeply unnerved by the change. Sort of. 

But then she goes into the nursery and feels great!

32 weeks, 1 combination washer/dryer

Yesterday during the ultrasound, Dr. Rolle could barely restrain himself from telling us the sex of the baby, but he somehow managed it. Here's a face:

 ...and here's some feet and maybe a hand:

The baby is 4lbs 10oz at the moment, and a little bigger than expected (reading at 33w5d instead of 32w1d) but that's fine. Bridget's blood pressure is 102/58, which makes the OB swoon with joy. Everything that we ask about as a potential problem or concern is "fine, perfect, totally normal," according Dr. Rolle. The placenta is working just fine. The baby is hiccuping, which means its diaphragm is working — a sign that breathing will come naturally(!). The baby is head-down. The baby's pulse is 142bpm. Bridget is, shockingly, drinking enough water.

So far so good!

CAN THIS BE SAFE...?

 ... at 28 weeks and 2 days?!

28w2d riding, real mellow-like, okay?

That's nothing. I heard that Caroline Diehl, the head of the equestrian program at VVS, rode up to the hospital to give birth on her favorite horse.