Check!

Today, on Hayden’s 37^th birthday, I am 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant. We’ll call that 9 and a half months.

The last couple of weeks have been consumed by a sprint to complete a series of tasks:·      

·        Baby Basics course for Hayden and Jessica, check

·        Breastfeeding basics for Jessica, check!

·        Pediatrician selected, check!

·        Pediatrician protocol understood by Hayden and Jessica, check!

·        Another daycare visited and waitlist added, check!

·        Car seat installed by police, check!

·        All brand new baby clothes washed, check!

·        Newborn diapers, check!

·        Got my TDAP shot, check!

·        Asked the grandparents to get their TDAP shots, check!

·        Bassinet borrowed, check!

·        Baby CPR class for Hayden and Jessica, check!

·        All essential items on the baby registry procured, check!

·        Everyone thanked for essential items, check!

·        Weekly doctor’s appointments, check!

So, we’re ready. Except for that whole, we have no idea what will happen when baby arrives thing.

I’m still going to work.

Having grown up in NJ, I have adopted Italian and Jewish cultures as my own. This is to the point where I didn’t even realize that, for example, “Kapeesh” was Italian. I just thought it was the slang word someone says when they’re demanding comprehension from someone.

So the word of the moment for me is schlep. The last couple of weeks have been the schlep of my life. The schlep back and forth to work has been particularly brutal. Because it’s been so cold (and icy and sometimes snowy), I’ve been taking the X8 to Union Station to the Redline Metro and transferring to the Blue/Orange to ride it two stops to my building. That’s a bus and two trains in each direction. I’ve conceded that I can no longer walk up every single escalator or sprint from bus to train or from train to train like I used to. Rushing has been relinquished to trudging. I trudge through mass transit. In the mornings I don’t always have someone yield a seat to me, which is no longer a novelty but a necessity. On those days, I place the hardest stone-cold but expressionless New Yorker face I have on and dare someone to look me in the eye.

But for a few snowy days, I am still walking the dog. He doesn’t understand the word schlep. I schlep up the stairs to go to bed. I schlep to and from the couch. I schlep around the grocery store…

I still maintain that the hardest moments of this pregnancy were in the beginning. But this last stage is no easy schlep. Kapeesh?!

8 and three quarters months pregnant (35 weeks!)

At this stage I feel a mix of anticipation, anxiety and entitlement. On the latter, I am being bold in my “I am pregnant, either help me or get outta my way” attitude. I raced around Capitol Hill on Sunday morning running errands and acting as if once each errand was complete a round of applause from spectators was on order. I feel that about most things these days:

If I manage to walk the dog, applause.

If I make dinner, applause.

If I put the crib together, applause. Well, on that last one, I SHOULD get a round of applause!!

My movement has slowed considerably. I got a wake-up call 2 weeks ago when my back seized up and forbade me from walking for 3 days. I am carrying a lot more weight these days, although thankfully most of that seems to be sticking to my belly. I pushed it a bit too far with activities and after working most of it out with a 90 minute massage I have vowed to SLOW DOWN and EASE UP.

On a lighter note, we had three very lovely and very different showers in one week. The first was at Jason and Lauren’s new place and was a lovely mix of our friends. The second was at IFES where my colleagues gathered – about 40-50 of them – in the Board room and gave me a very generous shower complete with cake and decorations. The final shower was in NJ hosted by my mom, who did a great job and didn't go too over the top except perhaps in baby clothes department. It was, indeed, very nice until my friend from high school stole the leftover pizza I was coveting for the journey back to DC! My godmother, Denise, was there and Hayden hadn’t met her. It was fun to hear them chat and to see her rib my mom about their college antics from years ago.

So we are ready. We’ve got all the gear. We took a baby basics class and are signed up for baby CPR and intro to breastfeeding.

This has been very me-focused blog, which is indicative of my above points I suppose. I will say that the baby is kicking like crazy and clearly growing as expected. I’d really like to meet him soon (but not too soon!)

Da Club

In the midst of a tough political environment at work, I had a nice thought about camaraderie here. All of the moms in the office, regardless of which section they work in have been so friendly and useful. This became more apparent to me yesterday when a woman that I don't know too well that works in a department that I don't work with that much, came up and excitedly exclaimed her congratulations on my pregnancy.

For a while I have been focused on the negative points of being pregnant in the workplace:

1. I have had to limit my travel, dramatically underscored by my having to say no to Istanbul - Istanbul!!
2. My physical appearance does not escape notice and increasingly does not escape comment. And I quote a male colleague to yours truly last week, "man, when are you going to pop." Nice.

But as I enter my 7th month, with my pregnancy now undisputed, I am having more and more mom conversations. Moms sharing their experiences and moms sharing advice, most of which begins, "but don't worry, you will figure it out..."

Women in the office have been extraordinarily generous. My family has been so worried about my winter coat situation (and my refusal to fork out the bucks for a winter coat I will only need for two months.) A woman in my office gave me a coat that she no longer wears and it literally saves me every morning. Another woman brought me my first baby gear: a bumbo and a moby. Both of these items are considered essential in modern childrearing, both aren't cheap and I am happy to report that both are in perfect condition. And each mom in the office keeps offering more and more. What a nice club to be a member of (finally.)

Even Hayden's female colleagues are getting into it. He came home triumphantly clutching a Medela handsfree and portable breast pump - a $300 value. His colleague just gave it to him. Amazing.

Top Ten Signs that I’m 6 and a half months Pregnant

1. The days of covering the bump with my husband’s winter coat are slipping away…real fast.
2. I curse at the pregnant Pilates instructor when she smiles at the camera, with her belly bigger than mine, and sweetly shouts, “Four more! And three and two and…” $$#@!!!
3. I shamelessly outmaneuver old ladies to get a seat on a rush hour metro
4. Wait, did I just waddle?
5. I announced I’m pregnant to someone at work who immediately gave me the “no shit Sherlock” expression.
6. I used this line with my all-male soccer mates: “Sorry dudes, can’t play pick up anymore...don’t want to harm the fetus!”
7. No pants Mondays! (and Tuesdays and Wednesdays, etc.)
8. At a recent bachelorette party, I was annoyed when my 9 months pregnant friend was still out at midnight, therefore trumping my “I need to go home early” pregnancy card.
9. When the President of my organization asked if people minded going a little long on a meeting, I replied with a similar tone of authority: “I need food. Now.”
10. Karate chops by my fetus interrupted my conversation with a Syrian feminist dissident

More kimchi please

The food in Korea is awesome. It started on the Korean Air flight. For dinner, I had bi bim bap. The best part about it was that the airline came up with a way to serve it with the usual fanfare and production of a Korean restaurant. A big part of what I love about Korean food, besides the great spicy flavors, is that it's interactive. One is involved in the preparation of one's meal. You don't just receive a plate served to you in final form, but often there's a few steps at the table before the final product is ready for your mouth. The best example of this is Korean barbecue, where you must cook your meat at the grill in the center of your table and then assemble all of the toppings into a lettuce "taco."

The otherwise typical airplane tray of food contained odd looking compartments, such as a shrink wrapped package of piping hot jasmine rice, a bowl of veggies (shitake mushrooms, cabbage and spinach) and some spicy pickles. There was also a small plastic tube filled with red pepper paste and a small packet of sesame oil. I froze at first (it's been a while since I've had Korean food and we were on an airplane), but then I figured out that you just throw it all in the bowl, mix it together and then voila, dinner is served. The amazing thing is that it tasted, to borrow Hayden's favorite phrase, "fresh." And that's no small feat for an airline.

Breakfast at my hotel has the typical five star spread of cereals, omelet stations and smoked salmon. But it also has an elaborate Korean food section, including a prominent display of kimchi. Kimchi in the morning is way too intense for me - but I did have soup with udon noodles and a very delicious clear broth.

Just now for lunch there was a buffet that had a ton of very nice looking sushi, which tragically I had to avoid. (I could tell by the cut that it was probably amazing.) But I did have other delights including the famous kimchi, some various spring rolls and beautifully put together dumplings. I couldn't convince my stomach to go for the short ribs (maybe for dinner...) But I had some sweet and sour chicken, which was tasty.

I can't quite get into the rice ball desserts, which come in a variety of flavors, but the soothing miracle of Korean green tea more than made up for it.

Korea, what to say so far

I’m tempted to wrap my first impression into a permanent one. It may be unavoidable, but in Korea, like no other place, I’m concerned that I’m passing judgment too soon. I guess that’s because my first impression is that I feel like a hick who’s confused (and a little freaked out) by the “otherness” of this place. This is disturbing particularly since I consider myself such the world traveler.

I’ve never been this far East. I know and love Korean food from my NYC days of the occasional trek to 32^nd street for barbeque. But I’m finding it hard not to say things like, “this is so weird,” “how bizarre,” or to just kind of chuckle to myself.

It started on the plane when I watched a documentary about Korean Food in New York. I assumed, based on my aforementioned experience, this would be interesting and familiar. It was the former but not the latter. A famous TV personality came to New York and highlighted some Korean influences on New York culture in a sort of boasting manner. He visited Fulton Fish Market, for example, and exclaimed that not only do Koreans get to the market first, but they are the main drivers of the Fish Market economy. While I haven’t googled this, I find that hard to believe. Slowly, but surely, the video felt more like a propaganda film. It felt a little like something that might come from North Korea, save the nuclear destruction threats.

Today, at the opening conference, there was more of this propagandizing of Korea. I find it difficult to describe and there isn’t space for it in a blog. But let’s just say as we went through a plenary session and participants made suggestions for how the organizing body could be more inclusive, each suggestion was brushed aside or punted down the road for later – all with a smile and a bow and a return to Korean-centric presentations.

But on the other hand, this doesn’t come across as arrogant as much as it comes across as desperate for approval. A traditional musical group of women came out at the end of dinner and played Western music with their traditional instruments. They played “Let it Be” and “Dancing Queen” with wooden flutes and stringed instruments whose names I do not know. It would have been nice to hear some Korean music – there was a little, but it was mostly Western pop. It was as if they were saying to the audience: we want to show off our culture but we want to make sure you understand and like us for it.

To save myself from sounding so, well, Western (and ignorant), I shall write about the food next – which is fantastic!