Back to work!

Hello again from sunny San Diego (yes, I finally made it out of that blasted San Francisco airport and home to B!),

Just a quick post to tell you that as of next week you won't be hearing from me as often. I'll have a job!

After a number of weeks of waiting, something has finally come through with the IPJ! My main job will be to design and plan a 3-day Festival of the Arts to celebrate the 2009 Women PeaceMakers when they come next fall, to replace the annual Women PeaceMakers conference that we no longer have funding for this year (due to this lovely economy). It's a 6 week position (after the Arts Festival they have a few other WPM-related jobs for me), taking me half way through April when I'll probably be very ready for a couple weeks off before the little one arrives.

Speaking of the little one, she's doing very well. She enjoyed Victoria, if her very enthusiastic and nearly constant movement was anything to judge by. Though another explanation would be that she was restless without her dad's soothing touch around (Brent's warm hands seem to have an instant quieting effect on her - I just hope it lasts out of utero too!).

Week: 29, as of today only 74 days to go till EDD!

Size: my belly is still 40cm at its widest, but its roundness is extending upwards now. My weight on the other hand, seems to be jumping by leaps and bounds! Our daughter is now 15 inches long and weighs 2lb 12 oz. (I just wish that accounted for the extra 4lbs I gained in 10 days!).

This week's pregnancy complaint: It's taken a while, but I think I have to say I'm finally starting to feel my size! Getting up and down from the couch or worse, our bed (which is on the floor) has started to require extra effort, and bending over has become a bit uncomfortable. We're not yet at the can't-see-my-toes phase, but I hear it's only a matter of time!

Pregnancy news this week: Brent and I went to a newborn care class on Tuesday night. Little of the information provided was new, but it was good for Brent to try diapering and swaddling and I learned a new sideways football hold that is supposed to do wonders for calming a fussy baby. Though the real highlight came after the class... Brent and I had wolfed down a light dinner before going to the night class and at 9:30pm were feeling peckish. I'd like to blame the impetus on him, but we ended up on a dedicated mission to find an all-night diner. Denny's did not disappoint. We swerved (safely) off the highway at the familiar glowing yellow and red sign, and proceeded to order 2 make-your-own grand slam breakfasts, which allowed us each to polish off pancakes, hashbrowns, 2 eggs and oatmeal for me and a biscuit for B! At 10pm!!! Naturally we had to deal with the regret of looking at the piles of grease- and sugar-(aka fake syrup) covered plates when we were done, but it sure tasted good going down! I am trying to be healthy, but if you can't do that when you're pregnant, when can you? ;-)

For those of you who were asking, I'm happy to report that my glucose tolerance test came back fine, and I learned that I'm not anemic either.

But for now I should run. Brent and I are going to a couple's prenatal yoga class tonight in honor of Valentine's day, and I still have to write and send my own job description to IPJ's Executive Director tonight so that she can get the final approval for my position and I can start work on Tuesday!

I'll just finish with a couple more baby shower photos to tide you over (because as my friend Cat says, it seems weird to post an entry without photos); these are from my friend and photographer extraordinaire, Tegan.

Love,

Jen, Brent and we seem to still be on butternut squashes (which I think they used a few weeks ago as well!)

The Trials and Tribulations of Travel!

Well seeing as I have a very unwanted 3 ¼ hours to kill, I might as well write a blog post. Maybe venting will help me calm down.

It’s 7:15pm and I’m sitting in the San Francisco airport having just missed my flight back to San Diego. I have only ever missed a flight once before and it was in an eerily similar situation on the return journey from my first “homecoming” visit to Victoria from Vermont and my forlorn fiancé, 4 years ago.

Brent and I just experienced an unpleasant déjà-vu as an urgent trip to the bathroom (during which time I paid careful attention to the announcements, waiting for them to even announce that my flight was boarding, let alone give a final call!) resulted in me arriving at my gate at 6:52pm (as I am watch-less I thought I still had around 20min), allegedly 2 minutes after the cut off boarding time!

It seems I wasn’t the only passenger who missed the flight; four other passengers were similarly caught off guard due to the lack of announcements. I guess I should be happy I can still fly tonight at all. Poor Brent will just have to come get me at 11:40pm instead of 8.

Furthermore, missing this flight was adding insult to injury after my arrival in SF. After going to the US citizens and permanent residents’ line, I was informed that there were new procedures for all green card holders. We are now required to give a full set of electronic fingerprints and be photographed upon entry. I complied of course, only to be told there was a “problem” with my fingerprints and I would have to go through a secondary immigration check. Naively, I thought that perhaps my fingers had swelled during pregnancy making the fingerprints harder to recognize. Oh no. To make a long and (once again) humiliating experience brief: basically, due to the fiasco Brent and I went through getting into the US when we first came to SD, I will now have to go through additional questioning every time I enter the US! I was informed that the only way to get the flag that is on my identity (including fingerprints) removed is to file a petition. Which the Homeland Security officer assured me would take a very long time. So, after thinking this mess was finally over, it seems that despite me having permanent residency, I could be denied re-entry to my new home at any time!

Well, not wanting to dwell on this travel debacle any longer, I’ll try and tell you instead about my fabulous 10 days in Victoria. As I may have mentioned before, it was a unique trip “home” in that I was without both a home and the integral presence of my parents. Luckily, many friends and family members were kind enough to open their homes (and beds) to the belly and I (and often, my frequent companion Lindsay too) and to lend the use of their cars, phones, occasional internet, kitchens and most importantly, their time, to yours truly. So despite feeling a bit like a wandering nomad, the people I was able to see made the trip well worth it.

A couple highlights were a trip to Mt. Washington with my brother Sean to hit the X-country trails (of which only 1 blue and a host of black diamond runs were open!) one day, and this Saturday when Linds and Nicky (with a lot of help from Nicky’s mom Madeline and Lindsay’s best friend Hana) threw me a lovely baby shower!

There were a lot of other great times (a pregnancy massage from Kathy, seeing 'Slumdog Millionaire' with Kier & Keenan, walks with Linds & Barclay, a little Rock Band, and a lot of tasty meals with everyone) but for the most part, 10 days rushed by faster than I could imagine. In the bustle of trying to see everyone, I had to reconcile myself with only being able to see most people once or twice, and there were even a few important people who I missed completely :-(

Nevertheless, the trip reminded me that I need to make the effort to make it home more often (though this immigration issue puts a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm). At the moment I’m planning on returning to Victoria with my parents for another visit in August. For now, I’ll have to “make do” with Maui next week!

Well this entry and a few games of spider solitaire seemed to have brought me to 45min before my flight, so I think I’m going to go plunk myself in front of the gate as I don’t think Brent or I could handle another missed flight!

So glad I got to see those of you who I did last week, and hoping to see more of you in person over the coming weeks/months!

Love,

Jen, Brent and our somersaulting butternut squash (more on her another time)

Inauguration Mania

Well it finally happened - the US has a new president!

(Bye-bye Bushy!)

Of course, even more important than the fact that George W. Bush is finally OUT of office, is that Barak Obama, in all his intelligent, humble, far-sighted, even-headed brilliance has taken that powerful oath. And that the US has finally embraced an alternative to the seemingly marble-hardened mold of a white, upper-class man to lead it (now if some of its western neighbors could do the same...).

While I don't have a lot of experience witnessing American presidential inaugurations, it seems that the hope, pride, anticipation and inspiration shown by Americans for this specific American president is unique. Personally, I don't know how anyone who listened to that inaugural address could have come away unmoved! Boy, he's good!


Yes, it is an exciting time to be in this country and yes, you can see I am totally smitten with "our" new president! (Brent doesn't mind, he's pretty smitten too)


As for our lowly little non-country-ruling lives, I imagine most people won't appreciate hearing what we've been up to here as even if I avoid mentioning the exact weather conditions, the fact that I'm discussing a 14km hike in a park searching for water and then heading straight to Cold Stone would probably betray what the skies and thermometer are doing here... ;-)


Just remember, I only bring it up because I'm hoping you will come visit!


As for my ever-growing belly, it is doing well. I think our daughter has grown a fish tail though, as she seems to be doing less random kicking and more constant swimming around in there. It seems she's a water baby just like her parents!


Week: 26 - 96 days to go till DD


Jen's belly size: 40 inches

Baby's size: 14 inches (36cm) head to heels, and she weighs about 2 lbs. Think of her when you grab your next English cucumber!


This week's pregnancy complaint: "More water!"
Anyone who has spent any amount of time with me knows how much water I drink. And yet lately I can never seem to get enough! Unfortunately, this can be an early sign of gestational diabetes (diabetes that you get during and only for the duration of your pregnancy), which would suddenly put me in the high-risk category and would likely make me ineligible for the Birth Center since I would have to be monitored through the birth and if the baby was too large (an effect of poorly-controlled GD) it may mean I'd be giving birth via C-section. But I didn't have any of GD's usual preconditions (I maintained a good diet and exercise and there's no family history on my side) and I don't have many other symptoms. Luckily, I happen to be going for the routine test they do for GD a week today so I'll know one way or another then.

This week's highlight: Last week seemed to be a baby-filled week! We had a prenatal apt on Tuesday where we got to go over our birth plan with the midwife. She was very nice and B & I were happy to hear that the Birth Center supports (and will allow) everything on our "wish list" provided no serious medical complications arise. She also reassured us about all the things they will do and let us do if the birth takes longer, begins to slow down, etc. before we will have to consider any interventions. It was a bit of a shock though to realize that my appointments will now be bi-weekly as I'm beginning my final trimester in 2 weeks and then I will go in weekly for our last month.

I also went to a La Leche League meeting with one of Brent's coworkers, and to a Maternity and New Mom meet-up group in Balboa Park. Both were good opportunities to be able to meet other new moms and moms-to-be and hear about their experiences. The LLL meeting was very helpful for breastfeeding issues and support, and the Meet-up group was fun with quite a varied group of moms!


This week's fun fact: This week she opens her eyes!



I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who wrote after last week's post to encourage me to take a 7 month unemployed "maternity leave." I have started to reconcile myself to it more and more, sometimes with great gratitude that I've found myself with this time and sometimes with a pang of regret that I'm not off in the work world with everyone else. But it helps to hear many of you weigh in on the former side (especially those of you with first-hand knowledge of how precious and fleeting those first few months are). I'm sure it will fly by and I'll be back in a "9-5" (or more like 8-6) before I know it!


But speaking of work, I should really go finish my presentation for a conference I'm speaking at on Friday (my topic is on sexual violence in Congo). Next week should be my first real week without work to do and then on Friday I get on my much anticipated flight to Victoria!!!!!!! I'm sad I can't stuff Brent in my suitcase, but as it is we're trying to work out how he's going to convince his boss that with only 3.5 vacation days in his bank, he should be allowed to take a 6-vacation day trip to Maui next month... <:\

I hope all of you are doing well!

Love, Brent, Jen and our little cuke.

p.s. yesterday we also got a surprise visit from UPS with a HUGE box sitting on our doorstep! It seems that our little cucumber's uncle Gavin and auntie Grace sent her her own little chair for our apartment! Or, as uncle Gavin calls it, her "videoconferencing throne!" Thanks you two! XXx

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!

&

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!

Into the New Year at 24 Weeks

Happy 2009 everyone!

Well to be honest, we entered the New Year at 23 weeks, but I reached 24 weeks yesterday, so that's what you get to hear about!

But let's start with the 'New Years' part of the title...

We rang in the New Year with Brent's parents, Diane and Elliott, with a parent and daughter-in-law trip to the Cabrillo Monument on Point Loma (a peninsula on the north side of downtown San Diego with a commanding view of the city, surrounding mountains and the ocean... and on the 31st, a good view of the smog blanket that also encompasses the city from time to time - yuck), a trip to see Brent and his office at IRC, a Vietnamese lunch beside B's office, and then the big highlight - a decadent four course meal at the Prado, a fancy restaurant in one of Balboa Park's historic buildings.

The next day we went on a road trip to the Anza Borrego desert, 2.5hrs north-east of San Diego. The scenery was spectacular both on the way there (through mountains with snow, down into the desert canyon) and in the desert. For some reason I thought it was going to be freezing in a desert in the winter, but instead we were stripping off as many layers as possible and cursing our lack of sunscreen. We hiked just over 3 miles in to a palm grove oasis and back, over boulders and through streams, even catching a glimpse of the elusive and rare mountain goats.

We topped off the journey with a stop at Ali Baba, a very ornate (e.g. silver and lace trimmed fabric billowing from the ceiling), authentic Iraqi restaurant in El Cajon, where IRC settles the vast majority of its Iraqi clients (in El Cajon, not the restaurant, though we think many families would prefer to camp out there for a constant taste and feel of home). The next morning, however, we had to bid a sad farewell to Diane and Elliott as they flew back to Vermont. Luckily we'll be seeing them again in Maui (their Christmas present to Gavin, Grace, Brent and I) at the end of February!

As you would expect, the advent of 2009 brought with it a lot of contemplation about what the year ahead will bring. The blessed relief of a new and hopefully fabulous President of the US, further insecurity for the unemployed masses (such as yours truly) in this hideous economy, hopefully a further increase in the growing recognition that Mother Earth is not doing just peachy-keen while we plug on with industry and consumption as usual (and that therefore we should modify our industries and consumption asap), and for us personally, the monumental change of bringing a new life into the world.

Population worries aside, it's been nice to learn that we're not the only ones going through this crazy transition either! A girl I went to high school with, Annie Vallance, is expecting twin girls any day now; one of the women Brent and I worked with in Uganda, Jodie Scott, (who has also transplanted down to the US and is finishing her Chiropractic degree out east) is expecting in late February or March, and I just found out that a good friend from university, Jenn Radford, is due this summer! And I'm sure that before 2009 is out we'll have a few more friends to add to that list :-)

As for our little one, she's doing well, making the most of her last weeks with space to move around in, and growing like the most delicious of mouldy cheeses. According to the baby websites her home (aka my uterus) is now the size of a soccer ball! So here's the weekly breakdown:

Week: 24, 111 days to go till DD

Jen's belly size: 39.5 inches (For the rest of the world that's 100 cm!)

Baby's size: 8.5 inches (21.5cm) crown to rump, and she weighs between 1.2-1.5 lbs. Their analogy for this week is...an ear of corn?

This week's pregnancy complaint: Now that my belly is definitely a belly, sleeping is becoming a bit more awkward and my lower back gets sore after sitting in bad chairs. There's a few others, but I'll leave it at that ;-) All in all, I'm still feeling good.

This week's highlight: Our little lady likes to hang out low so it's hard for me to see the bottom of my belly where I feel her most, but during prenatal yoga last night she was doing some stretching (maybe even jumping jacks) of her own and I could swear that I felt my shirt moving. I will have to get Brent to watch sometime to see if her movements are now visible through my belly. Yes, it sounds a little 'Alien'-ish but for her parents it's pretty exciting!

This week's fun fact: In just one week the baby's survival rate has jumped from 25-35% to 50%! But when you look at all that's still developing in her - her eyelids aren't open yet, her skin is still translucent and wrinkly from a lack of fat, and her lungs are only developing slowly at this stage, you can see why it's important to keep babies on the inside for as long as possible.

Other things that we've been up to this week:

1) Creating an alternative gift registry. This is a wonderful invention that allows couples an alternative to the big store registries. It allows us to put on our own versions of gifts (e.g. second-hand baby clothes or 2 nights of babysitting) instead of always having to link to new and purchasable gifts. Stay tuned, you'll be able to see what the heck I'm talking about soon!

2) Choosing a birthing class. We had signed up for a basic class at the UCSD medical center where I'll be giving birth, but have since chosen to do a longer and more in-depth course offered at the Best Start Birth Center. We were choosing between doing hypnobirthing (using visualization as a natural relaxant and pain coping tool) or Birthing From Within (which incorporates a philosophy of birth as a rite of passage rather than a medical event. Lots of art, crafts, talking about feelings and all that good stuff) as having a natural birth is becoming pretty important to me (provided everything goes well of course) and I would like some concrete skills to help me cope with the pain. I just got off the phone with the BFW instructor so I think that is the one we'll do.

I also wanted to say that my trip to Victoria has been postponed (due to rising airfares to go sooner), but not cancelled. I am planning on booking my flight on Thursday so I will have dates for all of you there in my next post - yay!

That's all for now. I have two final short assignments to finish for my contract at the IPJ (that supposedly ended back in November) which I'm determined to have done by Friday!

Until soon,

Jen, Brent and our corn on the cob (does anyone have anything better to suggest? Please?)

Christmas and 23 weeks

Hello everyone,

While it may be 4 days late, I am now languishing in the over-full stupor of a delicious Christmas dinner, trying to find room for the pumpkin pie.

Christmas was pleasantly drawn out this year. Brent and I braved the mayhem on Christmas eve to finish our shopping (or so we hoped). Then on the 25th we acted as if it were our night-before-Christmas as Brent's parents flew in that night and we were planning on celebrating Christmas on the 26th. Unfortunately, neither of us had actually finished shopping yet and were both surprised to find that even the big stores respect the sanctity of the holiday and are therefore not open to late-LATE shoppers like us!

Then after a wonderful reunion with Brent's parents Christmas night, we celebrated Christmas together on the 26th, including a trip to Coronado to walk on the beach and explore the Hotel Del Coronado before an impromptu Mexican dinner at a place Diane and Elliott used to go to 30 years ago as cooking Christmas dinner at that point would have meant eating at around 10pm!

All the holiday fun has also made me a bit late with my latest pregnancy update. So to catch up, and use one of our Christmas presents (a tape measure), I've thought of a little weekly routine. So, here's week one!

Week: 23 (118 days to go till the due date [DD for short])

Jen's belly size: 38.5 inches and growing daily...

Baby's size: a very large mango - the kind that weigh over 1lb.

This week's pregnancy complaint: Bleedin' gums! Yes, that's literal. And they're so sore! Something about hormones and increased blood flow, etc. But strangely they can cause preterm labour so I need to get on the 3+ times a day brushing!

This week's highlight: Diane and Elliott are acting like great expectant grandparents. Diane has even felt her granddaughter kicking. And Christmas was good to our little mango too - a cuddly blanket (that I'm stealing from now till April) from Grandma Lois, a hemp onesie from Grandma and Grandpa Freeman, and a bottle for Dad to feed her.

This week's fun fact: If born now, she has a 25-35% chance of survival. We're hoping to go a full 17 weeks more, but it is reassuring to hear that her chances of survival go up rapidly from now on!

And I can finally post my most recent bump photos, even though they were taken a week late (at 22 weeks). The growing-shrinking thing has finally stopped and I think I can now consider myself officially "popped" :-)

Finally, here are some more photos of our week:

A visit from Brent's Aunt Joyce, Uncle Randy and cousins Kirsten and Alison from L.A. and part of our Christmas present to Diane and Elliott - a day of brunch, the Farmer's Market, a trip to the zoo, a football game and sushi.

Lots of love to you all,

Jen, Brent and our big mango xxx

p.s. For those of you who heard about John's debacle trying to fly home from Uganda (which summed up amounted to incompetent British Airways staff, a ridiculous shift of responsibility from Canadian officials onto airlines to verify the visa status of their passengers, and ongoing ignorance and systemic racism against refugees), he has finally been granted permission to leave the country and will be on a flight home tomorrow.