Katie & Scott & Simon & Cecily.

Tag: katie (Page 1 of 2)

Day 360: labor

There are these videos that we watch in the prenatal classes that we go to, which are full of slimy newborns, milk-filled breasts, and the faces of women in labor. After a while, you kind of get used to most of it and I think it’s certainly acclimated me to what to expect (at least visually) when my son is born. When he comes out all icky and bloody and looking a bit like Benjamin Button, I won’t be shocked by it. The videos have helped that much.

It hasn’t completely calmed me in terms of labor, though. Sure, it has helped to identify the stages of labor, helped to define what transition means, and helped to set guidelines for when we should call or drive to the hospital. But every woman’s labor is so different and most women, as the actual delivery nears, get kind of crazy.

Not lunatic psychopath crazy, but they’re clearly dealing with a kind of pain that most have never experienced before and it takes them to another plane. It’s a little scary that Katie is going to go through that in about a month or so. Even after seeing the videos, I’m not completely sure what to expect from her.

And my biggest role once we arrive at the delivery room will be one of comfort and calming, but I’ve never been in that situation before. Will I be able to react quickly and correctly when Katie starts really feeling those contractions? Will I be able to stay focused and calm myself?

I don’t see how any class or video or thing (aside from having had a child already) could ever prepare you fully for the experience. I’m excited. And nervous. And a bit gassy, although that might be unrelated.

Day 322: 2009 favorites

Author’s note: This post is ghostwritten by Katie. Scott is busy reading the directions to a new board game we got for Christmas, so he’s dictated his list of “favorites” for 2009. I’m providing the descriptions, which probably won’t give you any real insight as to why he picked them.

From Scott: I wanted to make a best of 2009 list, but seeing as it’s only my opinion on things, calling anything “the best” seems like an overstatement. So instead, here are my favorites of 2009:

Favorite Movie: Where the Wild Things Are
I talked Scott into going to see the Maurice Sendak exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Free Museum Day. He wanted to go to the Chabot Science Center, but I convinced him it’d be a better strategy to go into the city during the day and then come back to the East Bay and check out the science center at night, since they have an observatory. It would have been a brilliant plan except that everyone else apparently had the same idea. By the time we got to the observatory there was NOWHERE to park so we had to turn around and go home. The only relevant point to this story, of course, is that Maurice Sendak wrote Where the Wild Things Are, and we got to see a lot of the original drawings that day at the museum. The movie was pretty good too.

Favorite Old TV Show: Lost
I don’t even remember what happened last season on Lost. Time travel? Juliet might be dead? (Oops, spoiler.) They’ve been on hiatus longer than the human gestation period! We’ll have a BABY before we know how this show ends!

Favorite New TV Show: a toss-up between Glee and Better Off Ted
Yes, the singing is fake, and yes, the baby drama is a little over the top, but how many other TV shows have choreographed musical numbers? Glee may be cheesy, but who among us doesn’t love cheese? Better Off Ted is pretty funny too. I feel like there are a lot of shows about people named Ted, though at the moment the only other one I can think of is How I Met Your Mother. That probably isn’t relevant either.

Favorite Theatre Event: American Idiot
For those of you not in the know, Berkeley Rep produced a musical this fall in collaboration with Green Day. The result, American Idiot, felt a lot like I suspect Hair felt like back in the 60s. Disenchanted youth abusing drugs and alcohol to dull the pain of real life…one guy goes off to war, another gets his girlfriend pregnant, the rest of the plot is a little fuzzy. We had seats in the second row. The set was enormous, the music was loud, and the baby had a great time thrashing about in my belly like the dancers onstage.

Favorite Internet Thing (Useful): Google Wave
Umm…Scott sent me an invitation to Google Wave, but I never actually tried it, so I have no comment on this one. Other than I heard from other people that it wasn’t useful.

Favorite Internet Thing (Useless): Yo Balloon Boy
I was disappointed to find out, about 10 minutes ago, that this is an actual internet thing and not just something clever that Brice thought up for his facebook status update.

Favorite Food: Yogurt by weight
I’ve never seen Scott so swept away by any other trend. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that you feel like you can’t get ripped off–you’re paying for exactly what you put in your bowl. That and he feels like an “expert.” And I can pretend it’s somewhat healthy!

Favorite National Event: Barack Obama’s inauguration
We only saw about 5 minutes of the inauguration telecast before heading out to work. We had recorded the whole thing on our DVR but never watched it and it got deleted. We saw the important part, though, when he was sworn in.

Favorite Personal Event: Katie’s pregnant!
I bet we can all predict Scott’s favorite personal event of 2010. Hint: Katie will no longer be pregnant! (And I don’t mean the series finale of Lost.)

Scott: Wow, Katie did such a great job writing most of this post, maybe I’ll make her write all my posts in the new year! Tomorrow, I’ll write a lot about video game this past year, which I would never let Katie write because she’d make video games sound stupid and boring. She once wrote an ode to a Playstation that should never be seen by any video-game-loving gent. It would break a boy’s heart.

Day 184: perfect?

I find it charming when Katie wears my shirts.

She’s wearing one now. It’s the one with the grasshopper on it. I like it! It’s cute.

There are moments during our marriage when Katie says a certain word in a certain way or looks at me with a certain face or asks a question in a certain tone when I just know that things are perfect.

Most times, we just sit together and watch TV, or eat pizza in bed, and understand each other. Is there any greater comfort than that of a relationship which has entered this phase? Having a best friend with whom one can always be absolutely truthful and completely relaxed?

No, I don’t think there is anything better.

Day 176: why am i still up

Katie tends to go to sleep a bit earlier than I do. I’ve noticed something odd about my behavior once she goes to bed. It’s like I revert back to my college days. I’ll stay up way too late, playing games downstairs or on the computer, read various blogs online, or do other random things to stay out of bed.

It’s not because I dislike sleep and certainly not because I don’t like sharing a bed with my wife. But, the earlier she goes to bed, the more likely I am to stay up super late. If Katie goes to bed around midnight, I’ll usually only stay up a half hour or so, finishing up my blog reading and then heading to bed.

However, if Katie feels tired at around 10 PM, I find that staying up just an extra 2 hours suddenly turns into 3, then 4, then beyond. Why does this happen? Why do I stay up late, doing nothing when I know I’ll be tired in the morning? And why is this more likely to happen the earlier Katie goes to bed?

Well, I’ll try not to do that tonight. But…who knows? It’s hard to tell how well my mind works late at night.

« Older posts

© 2024 It's Dai Time

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑