Four Oranges and a Smile

Today we had another scan - and all is good, praise be to God. We are very thankful with (so far) such a smooth run, knowing full well, it's not everyones experience. At the scan today he was kind of suspended in a weird position so we didn't get a great installment on the video but we did get a full on close up of his face. It was quite freaky, suddenly to be greeted with this full screen face looking at you, opening and closing his mouth (the doc said he was swallowing the fluid but I reckon he was trying to mouth some words . . .I think I caught something like, "Please, whatever you do, don't call me Rodney . . . ) He currently weighs just over a kilo which is about 4 big oranges. I'm not sure if that really helped me to visualize too much but its good to know nevertheless. We are back at antinatal classess tommorrow night so I'll see if we can get some more whacky installments from our diverse classmates. Till then

Scott

Leighton sent me an email entitled, "Water Birth - not for sensitive viewers" - This is what I got . . .  

Breathing

I've got a big bible study tonight. I've put a lot of work in and I'm kind of excited and a bit nervous. So I thought I'd try and calm myself to pray for it with some of the breathing exercises I mentioned we learnt in the last post. Only problem being, I've eaten too many fruit joobs today and all that deep breathing has just made me feel sick. It certainly made me slow down, but in the "I'm too light headed to stand" way as opposed to the "let's pause for a moment of thoughtful prayer" way. Damn. It's a good thing I'm not the one giving birth . . . . Scott

School's In!

There were eight of us sitting in a circle sharing a positive adjective about our partners and giving ourselves a rating from 1 to 10 about how ready we feel. There were jugs of juice and bowls of chips and pretzels. No, it wasn't sharing time at bible study but our first anti-natal class, week 1 of 6. Of the 4 couples that will be meeting every Tuesday over the next month and a half we cover the entire spectrum. Let's just look at the fathers to be. There is Nick, a cooler older guy who already has 3 kids from a previous relationship and makes wildlife documentraries. Then we have ponytail Jacque, a traveller who has recently settled down and gotten married (and pregnant) and who is as Africaans as you get. The next bloke is a guy whose name I can't even remember. He has all the character traits of a wet tea towel and wait for it . . . works in a box factory. Then there is Scott the minister. Weird. I'll be keeping track of this group on the blog - might even catch a snap of them if I can - and see what comes of all this. I might even remember the other guys name. But as far as week 1 goes, after a lot of get to know you we got straight into the breathing and except for one of the mum's-to-be who started to hyperventelate, we all did o.k. But I realised one things for sure - having a kid is going to open up a whole new world of contacts - good for the gospel, good for me. So watch this space. Scott

Lazy Conversations

There is a great scene in the film 'L.A. Story' which is set at a fancy pants wannabe lunch. You're in the middle of getting snippets of bizzare L.A. socializing when Steve Martin's character addresses a very serious looking lady beside him.

"So Shelia, I hear you are studying the art of convseration?"

She turns slowly and replies,

"Yes."

Why are we so bad at the art of conversation?

As it turns out, pregnant women are soft targets for lazy conversationalists. For people who can't be stuffed taking a real interest in a person the ammunition is plenty. Hayley has been on the recieving end of many bizzare comments like;
"Wow, your looking huge!"
"Haven't your boobs grown?!"
and
""Your getting quite a nice J-Lo bum."

Now, while that last one was probably meant to be a compliment, aren't these stupid things to tell a pregnant women? I mean, Hayley is looking great, but I imagine there is a fair bit of self examination going on as it is without comments like these. They could be careless statements from the socially retarded but I also think it's just becuase people are too damn lazy.

I think about my own chats to people. For about 80% of the time I travel the well worn rut of work, weekend and updates without even thinking. I was chatting to someone the other day who was a script writer for TV. I made some inane comment about, "Wow, that sounds cool . . ." and then kept on talking. (In my favour I was running up a hill in the dark and the rain at the time) But nevertheless - the point remains. And from seeing Hayley over the last 3 months become lazy conversation fodder, I realise that we must guard ourselves against this terrible crime aganist humanity, especially when it comes to the pregnant, old, injured or anyone sporting anything obvious which , in turn, becomes public property. I was considering putting down some ready to use ice breakers to get us out of this rut but I realised not only that I don't have any, but that it would also be kind of defeating the point. We have to become good at the art of conversation, not just programmed parrots. And I guess if you can pull that off with a pregnant women, you've climbed the everest of conversations.

Scott

We're 66% of the way there

Hayley has been pregnant 6 months today. Wow. That seems like a long time. I guess in the scale of the birth of a star, its not much, but for people like . . . well, me - half a year's pretty decent. Made me think about another classic time of waiting and how similar it is. Engaged to be married, preganant with a baby. Both are about waiting. On one hand, you know what's coming, but on the other, you can't possible predict what it will be like. Both are happy times but punctuated with the anxiety of the unknown. When both come to an end, life is never the same again. One could be excused for letting this freak one out a little. But I was helped with a healthy measure of perspective from my brothers blog just the other day . . . .

"My demons arose from 20 days of work with not a single full day off. So for some time, Monday 2nd April had become my horizon and it felt good to finally allow its trade winds to take and push me to the point of relaxation and emotinal redemption. Even though my board stayed dry due to lack of waves, I still embraced the body surf and as I bobbed up and down I realized that these really are 'the good old days'. It's that strange equation; take your current life sittuation add 5 years, lose a couple of friends, gain a couple of friends and all of a sudden your current sittuation becomes 'the good old days'.
Think about it: come 2009 you will look back on today and reminisce.
So stop whinning about your current sittuation and embrace it, because these are the 'good old days'.

Sage words indeed. Suffice to say that I'm not freaking out, but eagerly anticipating the end of August like a man desires his honeymoon. But while we wait as life decides to evolve itself its good to know that althought some moments - like species - become extinct from the present, they certianly don't desert us forever. They just become the foundation of good days we've had. And set the expectation for what's to come

Scott

Now all we need is a baby . . .
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There is a ground swell of a baby shower tsunami that is about to hit but I thought I'd get in early and get the little guy his first bear.
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Four Glorious Years

Every now and then it's important to sit back and soak in the big picture. Just like your daily glass of water, piece of fruit and an inbox full of messages, seeing the big picture is a non negotiable for happiness. The big picture for the Baby Tubman blog is that 'mum and dad' have been married for four years today. That's right, four years ago many of your were Cape side leaving a lifelong impression on the folks here. (From time to time people still ask after Andy, Dr Benny and Crazy Ed to name but a few.) But as this is not just a place to catch up on the news about baby Tubman, but also a record for him - the first 9 months he will never know - it needs to be said, they have been four excellent years. Hayley, your a babe and I love you heaps. Happy anniversary, and I can't wait for the next 60 more. You'll be a great mum. love Scott