25 weeks and planning for the future...

Hello again everyone!

Well its only been a week, but I have some news to report!

1) I finally finished my work for the IPJ! Hooray! Yes, for anyone who was counting, that took over two months longer than I was getting paid for. Not that I'm the slowpoke, I'm actually the first out of the 4 peacewriters to have all her material in!

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2) I finally booked my flight home! Jan 30-Feb 9 I will be flying to Victoria (sadly sans Brent who has to stay here and work so that he has enough vacation days saved for Maui next month) for a likely windy, cold and WET reunion home. Unfortunately, a lot of my close friends and family will be missing (Mom, Dad, Cat, Alec, to name just a few), but the trip is more than worth making to see everyone who will be there :-)

The end of one job and impending trips to Victoria and Maui have also made Brent and I consider my plans for the next 7-ish months. The US economy has brought tough times to my two main job prospects at the IPJ and IRC. I am still in discussions with both to see if any short-term work might be possible over the next couple of months, but to be honest, it doesn't look like much. And regardless of workers-rights legislation, I highly doubt any potential employers are going to be giving me one of the US's scarce job opportunities once they see my belly!

So, while I really hope to be back in a fulfilling and hopefully long-term position soon, I'm seriously considering taking my own 7 month "mat leave" for now. Of course if a fabulous opportunity were to come up before then, I wouldn't hesitate to apply for it! But the ability to stretch the US' measly 6-week maternity leave into something that will actually allow me some time with our daughter and postpone having to find and pay for decent childcare sounds pretty appealing as well.

Speaking of the pregnancy (so rare, I know), today we reach 25 weeks and according to some books I'm now in my 7th month. But according to the lunar calendar I'm still in my 5th month; I'll reach 6 months on Jan 21st (how can measuring a process that's brought human life into the world for a few thousand years be this arbitrary?).

(below: me doing some birth art)

Week: 25, 104 days to go till DD
Jen's belly size: Still 39.5 inches
Baby's size: nearly 13.4 inches (34cm) head to heels, and she weighs between 1.5-1.8 lbs. No analogy for this week, so we can use one of the suggestions from last week, e.g. a lanky butternut squash?

This week's pregnancy complaint: Just a couple lower-back twinges.

This week's highlight: I'm working out a lot lately: swimming 2x/week, walking 2-3x/week, prenatal yoga 2x/week and last week we also hit the gym and I went for a 3 mile (5km) beach run yesterday. I get tired a lot easier than I used to and I'm careful to listen to how my body is doing and stop, rest or slow down as necessary, but it sure is nice to feel strong and healthy. I was running in the warm sunshine on Coronado beach yesterday. I kept thinking I'd stop "just up there" but I always felt good when I got there, so I'd decide to keep going "a little longer." There were a lot of marines jogging on the beach at the same time and when we'd pass each other going the opposite directions I'd always think "yeah, now try it 6 months pregnant!"

This week's fun fact: I learned the other day that the uterus is made of 3 layers of muscle. The inner layer is horizontal bands that wrap width-wise around and are larger/stronger near the cervix, so that during the pregnancy they are constricted and hold the baby in. The middle layer has blood vessels. Then the outer layer is made of vertical bands that go up and over the top of the uterus. During labor they contract, opening and lifting the inner horizontal bands to expel baby. Hypnobirthers believe that if the mother is tense during the birth the inner muscles constrict, working against the vertical muscles and making labor painful. If you can stay completely relaxed only the outer muscles will work, making for a greatly facilitated labor. Haha, now let's see how easy that is to put into practice!

The following are some photos of Brent at a race he did last weekend. See how far away from the pack he is? (he came in 10th! :-)

Well that's all for now folks. While I might not be working, I'm sure most of you are!

Looking forward to seeing those of you in Victoria in just over 2 weeks!

Wish we could see the rest of you as well,

Jen, Brent and our little squash

p.s. Many of you have asked if there is anything we need for our impending arrival, and in light of the fact that everyone is so spread out we have decided to make an "alternative" gift registry online to let friends and relatives from both countries participate in a "virtual baby shower" if they so wish. http://alternativegiftregistry.org/view_registry_public.php?registry_uid=2701 (unfortunately we've found the www.alternativegiftregistry.org site goes down quite often, so sorry if you have to try again later - it is the right link!)

Though your kind thoughts and blessings for our daughter would be just as welcome!