Pregnancy update

Whew! We finally made it safely home after months of exciting travel. We did take a brief break in there to see the midwife and get a sonogram. So here's the latest lovely pic of the passenger. He's so big now that he no longer fits all in one screen capture, as you can see. You might have to click on the picture to read the various labels, but we had fun seeing the heart beating and his little hand in his mouth (perhaps biting his nails like his dad or sucking thumb as mom did). Everything is generally good -- growing on pace and due date still scheduled for Halloween. We were given one last chance to find out the passenger's secret identity, but took a pass. Rather, we agreed to alternate pronouns for each remaining month. For July, the passenger was "she" and now that it is August, the passenger will be "he."

Lots of folks have asked how I have been doing, especially with all this crazy travel. I'll admit, it has been a lesson in admitting my limitations. After a day or two walking the Rive Gauche with Dan and Mike, my poor little feet couldn't take much more (For some reason, Dan finds this picture especially amusing). I sat out one morning and then joined them at Notre Dame for the afternoon. After going through the church, we got in line to go up to the tower. A nice gentleman from the cathedral was handing out little fliers to everyone in line and mentioned that I might not enjoy the 400 or so stairs. I agreed and decided to explore the crypt while the boys went up top. It was a bit cooler in there and they had cushy seats. I enjoyed a bit less the constant visits to rather poorly kept French bathrooms, especially ones where someone was stationed to gather tips. What these people did to earn them, I'm not exactly sure.

I took a whole day off in Geneva and when we went through big museums like the Louvre, British Museum and Egypt Museum in Cairo, I was usually tired/sore enough to break down and request a wheelchair. BTW, wheelchair in the Louvre is a nightmare because it's a bunch of buildings pasted together. British Museum is a purpose-designed building, so fewer elevators to be hassled by. Not enough elevators in Egypt Museum (though for a hefty tip, it's easy to find secruity guards willing to be litter bearers up stairs).

As challenging as I thought Europe was with the warm weather in Paris and unpredictable bathroom quality, Egypt was a bit more challenging. With the triple-digit heat, it was tough keeping up with the need for water. The picture at left is Luxor Temple, several temples stacked inside each other like Russian dolls. There is one bathroom in all that and you have to tip a nice Egyptian lady so she'll give you toilet paper at the door. You aren't supposed to put the paper in the toilet because most toilets in Egypt can't handle paper (sound familiar, Mom?). There's no soap and the water runs sometimes. A new concept of cleanliness develops in such conditions.

So our first day out we headed to Karnak at 8am to beat the heat and crowds and were back to the boat by noon or so. For my co-workers who saw me at the 95th Anniversary Sing Along, you may recall the "Sandy beet red after handing out water to everyone while not drinking enough herself" look. After a few hours at Karnak, I again wore that look. Luckily, each day was laid out so that we returned to the air conditioned boat, where I could take a nice cold shower before lunch (all prepared using bottled water). Then we'd visit something else as the sun was beginning to set around 4pm or so. Plus, after day 1, I learned to drink more water, that there was a bathroom on the bus that took us everywhere, I can carry my own TP, and to generally bring more change for these goofy bathroom people so I can make more visits.

Even though the Valley of the Kings had less shade and hotter temps, I had learned enough on day 1 to enable me to survive without turning that red that frightens people. I didn't go into the tombs that involved tons of stairs, but I got to see three with amazing colors and a fair number of rooms. When we visited Edfu Temple, one of the lovely guards with oozies took Dan and I out alone behind a smaller temple (yeah, it was really as freaky as it sounds) and showed us the heiroglyphic for childbirth. It is just left of center and a bit darker because people have touched it for good luck for a few centuries. You can see the upside-down baby torso escaping from underneath the seated woman. Edfu is supposedly where the goddess Isis gave birth to her son Horus.

By the time we got to the pyramids on our second to last day, I was coping nicely with the heat. Sadly, all the walking on uneven thousands-of-years-old surfaces had really gotten to my joints, though, so I had a bit of hip pain. I didn't climb up the interior of the middle pyramid with Dan and did get a wheelchair when we went to the museum later in the day. The two-day journey home to Newcastle didn't help much. So I've been trying to sit still for a bit to allow my hips to recover. It's hard staying still for any period of time! While I'm recovering, I'm afraid I waddle a bit, but am generally doing ok. The passenger is enjoying the downtime by regularly swimming about and occasionally giving some really solid kicks. My goal is no big walking for a few days so I can go back to work on Tuesday. It puts a bit of a cramp on Dan's hopes to go to one or two local castles before classes start, but he's been really good about taking care of me during recovery. I'm glad he convinced me to schedule in this recovery week in the first place.

So Dan, the passenger and I are all feeling quite well after our many journeys and we're glad to be home. Plus, how cool is it to have visited Egypt, enjoyed an all-you-can-eat buffet for every meal for 8 days and not have suffered food poisoning once during the whole trip! I took full advantage of it, for all those of you out there who have reminded me to feed the baby. I'll admit to even stashing the occasional roll or fruit to snack on between meals as the passenger is constantly hungry. When we've had a chance to sort through the 1,300 pictures Dan took in Egypt, I'll see about including some of the highlights.