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I'm ready. I'm ready to meet this baby and fall in love with him. In my imagination, he is cute, with perfect tiny parts and a sweet face with full cheeks. I can't wait to snuggle him on my chest and smell his hair. I can't believe how old my other kids are. And I'm still in love with them, after all these years. It is amazing our capacity to love. In families, love only multiplies, never subtracts.

...and ready to go! The baby is now in the proper final birthing position. He is head down and his body is lying on the left. And he has been stuck there for at least 1 full week now. For the prior couple of weeks before that, he was head down but his body swiveled from left to right, depending on which side I slept on. And before that he was flipping head up/head down. He is right on time, compared to my other children. They were all birthed from that same position. It is great that he is being so cooperative. I don't want to need a cesarean section for my 6th birth, and almost no docs will deliver a breech baby any way except a c/section. I read something online yesterday that made me think. This gal had given birth and she had taken her heparin shot that morning, not knowing she was about to start real labor. So she was not allowed to have an epidural. That makes sense. Bleeding into the spinal area could be bad. Nobody had mentioned that yet. Good thing I read ar

My pool is finally getting cleaner. There is a layer of silt along the bottom of the pool now, but the 3-inch deep pile of leaves is gone. I figured I would have to do this all by myself. The pool man came today, I caught up with him as he was on his way out. I asked him if he vacuumed the pool and he said no. There were too many leaves. Just keep emptying the bag from the Polaris and eventually the leaves would be gone. OK, I had removed most of them by hand using the net and pole the past few days anyway, so whatever. I asked him if he shocked the pool with chemicals as well and he said yes. He says he has too many pools all in the same bad condition to spend all day vacuuming a few. I think I have emptied that mucky Polaris bag about 15 times in the past few days. Not to mention untangling it in the first place from the concrete-anchored basketball hoop that had been blown into the pool. This is the second time I have had to fish that horribly heavy contraption out of th

The "bad" news (I use quotations because while I find it disturbing, my OB says it is standard) is that there was a trace of protein in my urine. No sugar. I looked carefully at the strip myself, and saw the one square was clear yellow, and the other square was yellow with a greenish tint around the leading edge. My blood pressure is 115/63 though, which negates any concern related to protein in the urine. As spilling protein and high blood pressure could indicate toxemia/pre-eclampsia, but that does not appear to be the case for me. So what *does* it mean? Doc says my kidneys are working overtime to filter for 2, and that they will tend to spill protein/sugar off and on no matter what I eat, and it is not related to what I eat. Not to over do the sugar, of course, but I don't have to completely stay away from it either. I mean, I HAVE to eat SOMETHING. I'm HUNGRY. OK, I'll stop shouting. But don't stand between a pregnant woman and her food. Reall

Here is today's belly pic at 35w2d, with a pic of my youngest DS. Went to Lamaze refresher at the hospital last night. It was nice. Only a couple of hours, including a tour. I really wanted the tour because I had to switch my care to a different hospital. The one where I delivered my 2 youngest, you may recall, got rid of their maternity wing. So now I have to drive much farther, 35 minutes as opposed to 10 minutes. I guess in a pinch I can still go to the old hospital and deliver in the emergency room, but that doesn't sound good to me. So I will try to leave the house earlier in labor this time and see how things go.

Here are some pictures I took this morning, all within a mile of my house. This giant pine tree fell half into the tennis court of a local park. Here is another downed tree in the same park. I will have to call the electrician after the winds die down. I wondered why the light never came on last night. Pretty dramatic walk to the bus stop with DS this morning. Another local tree. I noticed the neighbor did not trim their tree this year. I can't comment directly on the wildfires ravaging the southern California area because thankfully there is no fire currently burning in my area. The smell of smoke is strong, though, and the sunlight has turned an amber color. I would like to send my wishes for everybody affected by the fires that their houses and family and friends and the brave firefighters all stay safe. :-(

I have had low blood sugar episodes in the past, and they seem to come on very quickly during late pregnancy. No surprise there, with another little being sharing my blood glucose. I was at home yesterday when I felt the symptoms starting, so I went into the bathroom and used the blood glucose monitor, curious what blood sugar level trigger the symptoms of dizziness, sweating and shakiness. My blood sugar was exactly 60. An online search showed that was hypoglycemic, but not dangerously low. I ate a meal, as I was hungry, along with some candy to bring the numbers up. I still didn't feel very good afterwards, and 45 minutes later my blood sugar was up to 137. Anything under 140 after a meal is OK. This morning I checked my fasting level upon awakening and it was 82, which is perfect. I think my problem is that I am insulin resistant. It showed up on my 3-hour glucose-insulin test. I recall the second hour of the test showed elevated insulin levels, and the blood sugar wa

Doc is having me start every week now. I guess because I am of advanced maternal age. So Thursday mornings are IT. And the FFN test results from yesterday are negative. That's good. I don't really want to have the bub this early. I think he must be head-down because the contractions I have cause SO much bladder pressure. Eeeek!

The appt was mostly good, but a little bad, in my opinion. I spilled a trace amount of sugar into my urine. I know my body has a hard time handling sugar, and I haven't exactly been an angel about the sweets, but in 6 pregnancies, this is the very first time this has happened. I asked the doctor about it right away. He said as long as my fasting glucose is under 105 that I don't have gestational diabetes. My last 3 readings were 90, 88 and 80. On the other hand, I feel that I probably should lay off the frozen Snicker bars and other chocolate confections. It was probably a bad idea to buy them during pregnancy in the first place. I hope I don't develop GD. To do that would put me at high risk for diabetes later in life, and that is one horrible disease. I remember when I was taking differential diagnosis examinations in chiropractic college. I told a friend of mine if the question was multiple choice, choose diabetes because diabetes causes *everything*. I'm

Here is a joke sent to me via email by my mother in Washington State. HUMOR FOR LEXOPHILES (LOVERS OF WORDS): I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me. Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest. Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work. To write with a broken pencil is pointless. When fish are in schools they sometimes take de bate. The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large. A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months. A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal. Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking. We'll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply. When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A. The math professor we

Today it started. I walked into the mommy-and-me class with my youngest and the ladies looked at my belly. One of them said, "are you *still* pregnant?? Haven't you had that baby YET???" I said, "Thanksgiving." So is that in 3 weeks? 2 months? No, closer to 5 weeks. Then another mom chimed in "you look so small." I plastered my dress to my belly to show how large the bump was, assuring her that the baby measured average like all my kids, then she said, "I mean the rest of you is so small". That one made me smile. I said "that's the whole idea. To have the baby and be back to my normal size." I know the first gal didn't mean any harm. It is just that I want to try to savor these last weeks of calm before the "baby storm" starts. And to parade my huge 8-9 month belly around town. I was thinking today of the preemie moms who miss out on that part of the third trimester. I am determined to enjoy it with

We had a blast at the Science Center in Los Angeles yesterday. My oldest DS turned 17 last Monday, and this is where he wanted to go. We baked cupcakes, got the gang together, and headed out. I asked DH to take care of the youngest, because I didn't want to worry about him running away in the crowd, and we were going to watch an IMAX film. We ended up watching one about Dinosaurs in 3D. I have some pictures from the science center, and a couple from DD's college apartment too. It was the first time I had been there. I had driven by in the past, but I couldn't help her move in because of my condition, and I have been avoiding long drives, too. She says she is OK there for now, but she looks forward to finding a place next year with fewer roommates (there are 10 there now counting her). Here is the birthday boy (17) on the high wire bicycle: Little brother (8) was also barely tall enough to ride the bicycle. He had been turned down based on height last time, so he wa

Here is a piccy from my camera phone. It had a few strange artifacts, probably due to other people using flash photography at the same time, but I think DS looks SO cute in his little snow suit. He was waiting for ice skating class to start last week when they showed up with the Stanley Cup and let people pose with it for 30 minutes before leaving again. So here is my 4-y-o. Edited to add: DS is the boy in the red cap. And the Stanley Cup was won by the Anaheim Ducks hockey team this past season.

Here is the list from before: Here are the things I have accomplished: * finish potty training youngest DS (age 2.75) He is doing great on this. Very few accidents. * purchase a Moby Wrap. Done. * purchase a Miracle Blanket. Done. * locate the newborn boy clothing, launder and place it in baskets under the changing table. Done. * call the caterer and get things set up as much as possible for the bris (Jewish circumcision get-together on baby's 8th day). I'm excited, my favorite caterer is still in business and has me on his calendar. Yay! Still yet to do: * ask oldest DS to set up the bassinet again. * pack hospital suitcase including Maya wrap ring sling and Over the shoulder baby holder ring sling. Pack baby's bag with coming home outfit. * type up Thanksgiving recipes/menu for my mom in case I'm not available to help out on T-day. * make and freeze lasagnas/casseroles. * wash and install newborn car seat. * boil parts for breast pump.

Going to the Karate Tournament yesterday reminded me of old times. Soke Kubota was kind enough to introduce me, on one occasion, to Mr. James Caan, a movie star and student of his. This picture was taken of the 3 of us around 1997, after Soke and "Jimmy" Caan had a workout. Imagine my surprise when Soke gave me this signed photo to remember our fun Chinese lunch. The signature reads, "To Mary Ann, my best always, James Caan" :-D

I try to go to the Karate Tournament every year. This is the group that I used to practice Karate with before moving away from the area when I got married. These people are amazing. And none of them seem to age for all the years that have passed. I think it is because they are in such incredibly good shape from the heavy Karate workouts. Soke Takayuki Kubota was kind enough to pose for a picture with me. So here I am, at 33 weeks of pregnancy, sitting with one of the top Karate masters in the world. For the curious, here is his official website: http://www.ikakarate.com/

Everything went great at the OB checkup yesterday, by the way. My ffn test was negative. Good thing I avoided you-know-what before the exam, lol. My blood pressure was around 90 over 60, typical pregnancy bp for me. The urine had no protein or sugar. The heartbeat was 150. And the fundus measured 1/2 week ahead at 33cm. So all systems are go. Doc says if we can keep the baby in until after Oct 15, he will feel *very* confident about guaranteeing the baby's health. I don't think it will be an issue. My cervix was long and closed when he checked it. And my usual pattern is lots of practice contractions, no movement of the cervix until the last week, which should be around mid-November, not mid-October. Organized my closet today. That is where I found the potty lid. Piled under loads of junk, bags, boxes and wrapping paper tubes. Here is what it looks like now. I think I'm "nesting". :-D

Here is the closest picture I could find on the net. My potty lid is actually from 18 years ago. I remember I had it for my oldest kids. Joseph already tried it out and I think this will help us when we are out and he has to go potty. He is doing great this week. Only about 1 accident per day. Sometimes he ends the day in the same pants he started with. I'm so very proud of him. And he is also learning to sleep in his big-boy bed. We set up a twin mattress on the floor of his room, since he started sleeping on the floor anyway and ignoring the crib. And I read to him in a reclining position now, instead of hunched over on the floor. I think he is beginning to see how nice it is to have a big boy bed and pillow, with sheets and blankets. Except last night I still found him on the floor wedged behind his door and had to carry him to bed.

DD says that the biggest adjustment to apartment living is getting used to getting her own meals every day. Every meal. Every day. Day after day after day. I laughed. Last year she was in the dorms and could swipe her meal card twice a day for an all-you-can-eat cafeteria situation. Then she comes home to visit and after she gets her cereal in the morning, there was usually some sort of lunch happening and home-cooked meals for dinner. I always prided myself on serving decent dinners for the kids. I want them to get used to it so they will cook for their families when they are grown up. My mom did it for me and I want to pass on the tradition. I think part of her difficulty lies in the fact that she likes to eat nutritious food. Many students simply eat lots of fast food. It is cheap and filling. But she wants to do better than that, and that takes effort, especially when one doesn't own a car. The supermarket is a few block's walk away from her apartment, and she

I am up 18 pounds total as of today. I was a bit shocked to step on the scale, but when I put the data into the weight tracker and saw it on the graph, I realized that I had not weighed in for 2 weeks. I had gained a full 2 pounds, but that is appropriate. With 8 more weeks to go, that keeps me on track to gain 26 pounds in the pregnancy. Baby is gaining 1/2 pound a week now and it has to come from somewhere. I guess all those frozen Snicker Bars and Dove Chocolates didn't kill my weight gain pattern like I had feared. Only 7-8 more weeks of indulgence, then I'm back on my stricter eating habits and watching my weight. Until then the mice will play....