Still Waiting

According to my sonograms, today is the day the passenger is supposed to make his big emergence. Of course, that doesn't quite jive with the due date disk that Aunt Julie gave me (according to that, I've got several more days). Plus, the baby was only 3/5 engaged (3/5 of head was still touchable above my pubic bone) when the midwife checked on Tuesday. So the waiting game begins. I've got my library books on parenting to keep me occupied for a bit, plus plenty of household chores. We have to start preparing to move to Grenada, after all.

The passenger already has a lovely wardrobe, as you can see here. We share a closet. At the top, you can see Dan's contribution to the repetoire: "Toon kit" means "Town uniform," so the passenger now has appropriate attire for attending a football match or generally being seen about town on a match day.

It has gotten a little colder here of late. Dan got pelted with icy precip yesterday when heading home and I noticed this little icy pileup outside our front door. Dan's thinking the passenger has noted the change in temperature and may prefer to hang out in the nice warm womb instead of taking his chances out here. He's got to come out eventually, though, because it is getting obviously pretty tight in there. Just a few slow and strong shifts in position these days, no sharp or big movements.


Since the passenger hasn't really been making much of a move to leave, we took the opportunity to go to Party Tyne, a fundraiser Dan's program was doing on Halloween night. When we were in Egypt back in July, he had debated long and hard whether he'd be able to get a second use out of our galabayas (native outfits). Low and behold, the passenger accommodated by staying cozy inside me. Of course, everyone at the party seemed to think we were the Holy Family (even though they went to Egypt AFTER their kid was born). In any case, everyone was surprised to see me there and generally really pumped that one of their classmates is going to be a dad. I didn't get to dance much, but it was fun seeing the variety of creative costumes. Can you guess what the person in the picture is (answer in post label)?

I'm proud to have figured out a way to facilitate my flapjacking in bed -- just wear a slip to bed! There were lots of recommendations to make a giant loop of satin or wear satin jammies to help the rotation, but that's additional things to buy and pack and what do I do with them afterward? The slip has really made the flipping easier and less painful and it was something I already had. It's just not very warm, but after a few minutes the bed warms up. I'm sleeping a lot better now that I can roll freely and because I'm not fighting Dan for the covers anymore. Sadly, we're not fighting for covers because he's sleeping in the guest bedroom. Being woken up every time I rolled was taking a toll on his sleep, though, so there are mutual benefits. I was about to say "hopefully the baby will be here soon so we can go back to sleeping together," but I think at that point we'd both lose any hope of sleeping. It'll be nice having the passenger external, though, to actually play with and so my hips can go back to normal.


So wish us luck as we go into the home stretch here...

General update

I am enjoying some time not at work for the past week or two, though I haven't found it to be full of free time as my coworkers implied I would. It took several shopping trips, but I've now got everything I need for going to the delivery room. The shopping involved a bit of grit and lots of breaks because the hip pain was getting pretty ugly. I stopped by the back pain clinic because when I didn't wear my elastic belly support my hips hurt, but then when I did wear it, the passenger kept kicking at it because it was tight and hurt. The new bigger size has been quite nice and the little dear no longer protests nearly as much. So I usually do one errand outside the house each day.

Sleep continues to be elusive as I struggle with pillows and numerous blankets. My hip pain is worse than the bathroom breaks, so I spend the night flipping more than a pile of flapjacks. We've made up the spare bed in case one of us can't take the other's thrashing at any point, but it has gone unused so far. I could always resort to playing this video repeatedly, but it hasn't gotten that bad yet.

Maria and Lauren organized a lovely shower for me two weekends ago, which Mom was able to join live via satellite (Skype). We had lots of fun games, one of which Mom even won (she guessed I had a 40" waist and I was 41" at the time, see measuring to right). I've decided to let the diaper cake decorate our living room for a bit (we can work our way through each layer after the baby arrives).

This past weekend, we had a big potluck to celebrate the end of midterms and Canadian Thanksgiving. Canned pumpkin is unheard of here, so we had to wait until pumpkins for carving made it to the market. After carving a couple of jack-o-lanterns, I had scrapings and pieces equivalent to three cans, plus some tasty seeds. So I made some pumpkin cookies from scratch, Brent and Celeste made some tasty pies. Everything was very tasty and we even watched some recorded American football to complete the T-day experience.

Newcastle Football

A new season of football has started here in Newcastle. We lost our manager in a flurry of controversy, but that hasn't stopped the fans coming to see the Magpies play. It seemed like a shame to have come here and never see a match, so Dan and I got some student discount tickets and put on our most patriotic gear.

St. James Park, home of the Newcastle United, seats something like 53,000 people and it is usually full for most games. This game was against the Blackburn Rovers (not a big enemy or anything). This is an impressively game-focused day out. The gate we entered took us to a staircase that went straight up to our section, no walking all around the stadium past all the vendors. When we finally exited the stairwell, we found ourselves at the concession area. No alcohol was allowed into the stadium seats, so everyone hung out in concessions until kick-off. There were no people walking around the stands selling anything. The concessions even closed after halftime. People were on their feet for almost the whole game (brutal on someone who's eight months pregnant, by the way).

I felt bad because we were seated at the edge of a large group of St. George's students, none of whom knew the appropriate chants. The nearby Geordies kept trying to lead us in a number of chants with familiar tunes (When the Mags [Saints] Go Marching In, etc.), but their accents were thick enough that the mostly American students had no idea what the words could be. Plus, the students were obviously talking to each other and not about the game!!

After a bit, I noticed there was a section with a strong police presence. Based on the timing of their cheering, it soon became obvious that they were the cheering section for the Rovers. I suppose it's good that Newcastle wants to protect all guests at a match, but goodness...who knew it was so dangerous to go to an away game for your favorite team? The horses with riot gear outside were another reminder of how excited people around here get about their favorite sport. I wonder if Uncle Joe's horse Charlie ever had to wear an eye shield.

After just two hours, the action-packed match was over. Newcastle defense and passing left something to be desired (allowed two free kicks without much effort). Newcastle's single goal was from a penalty kick. There was no big scoreboard or other place where the score was posted because it was assumed you were paying attention to such things for yourself. Most people stayed until the 90th minute, but after the final whistle, people were headed to the pubs. The picture of Dan above couldn't be more than 15 minutes after play ceased. Overall, I was just really impressed by how much the whole experience focused exclusively on the game, not the snacks, souveniers, socializing, etc. It was a really fun experience; I just need to bring a booster seat or something if I'm going to be standing that long.

Visitors from Ohio

I'm a little slow in sharing details, but we did get a visit from Aunt Helen, Grandma and Grandpa Saluke in early September. They came on 9/11 (hopefully some nice discount tickets for flying on such a date) and rented a car so they could see as much of England as possible while here. With school and work, Dan, Emily and I were only able to join them on their excursions about half the time, but they got to see quite a bit in their brief 10-day stay.

The first excursion was to Alnwick (pronounced AH-nick) Castle, ancestral home to the Duke of Northumberland. Northumberland is the county where Newcastle is situated, the largest in England. Like many large counties, it is kinda big and empty. Here the sheep outnumber the people. Impressive when you consider there are about one million people in the Newcastle/Gateshead metropolitan area. A friendly guide at Alnwick gave us directions to the local moor -- a landscape I have been dying to see since arriving. A moor is an ecosystem with low-lying plants, often kinda boggy and used in lots of literature to reflect desolate landscape. The moor to the left is just starting to bloom with heather supposedly. The guide mentioned that we were catching it at just the right time because they do a controlled burn to enrich the soil shortly after the heather blooms.

Our next stop for the day was Bamburgh (pronounced BAM-bur-uh) Castle. This seaside castle has a commanding view of a vast beach and some nasty rocks. For a while, the inhabitants of the castle made a small fortune in salvage from the various ships breaking up just offshore. They'd collect the leftover bits by just pulling them in with giant chains with links the size of a person, then charge the owner a salvage fee or sell them themselves. This one beach shot captures the photographer, showing that Dan does indeed take the occasional break from studying to get out and see the world. Aunt Helen was in charge of bringing photos back for the grandparents because the climb over to the beach was a little too arduous. I also got to explore the secret exit from the castle. See the hidden path in the picture to the right?

Another big day trip was heading West to the Lake District. This area is a favorite holiday spot for hikers, poets, boaters, and outdoorspeople. Plus, there's plenty of cultural events in such a touristy area as well. In England, they weren't able to set aside national parks as giant swaths of land to never be settled. Instead, their national parks, such as the Lake District, are areas with special building codes and other restrictions to preserve the natural beauty and allow people to continue to live in their towns and farms as usual. It's an interesting balance.

Our first stop was Castlerigg -- don't be fooled by the name, it's actually a stone circle similar to the one at Stonehenge. These are volcanic stones that were moved here between 15,000 and 35,000 B.C. for a purpose not quite understood yet. Leading guess is a religious use. There's lots of interesting archaeology going on currently at a village just outside of Stonehenge that is thought to have been where the people who built that circle lived. So perhaps soon we'll have a better understanding of what these circles are all about.

While visiting a famous gingerbread shop in a nearby town, we took a leisurely stroll through the local cemetery. Here we stumbled upon one of the folks who helped to make the Lake District famous locally and internationally. William Wordsworth really enjoyed this area and found it inspirational for several of his works as I understand it.

Our visitors trekked out to many other destinations -- Edinburgh (pronounced ED-in-bur-uh), Hadrian's Wall, some abbeys, tour of local schools, etc., but darned exams and work got in the way for us. They impressed the many English tourists we met along the way because each of these day trips would be a week-long holiday by British standards.

Last, but not least, I wanted to include a picture of some little friends. This is a ubiquitous hazard once you get out of the city. Apparently, it is one that customs is on the lookout for as well. Aunt Helen reported that as they entered the US, all three travelers were asked if they had walked through active pastures in the UK. Apparently, they got some kind of special mark in their passport and special shoe treatment for having done such a thing. When I had visited the UK in 1999, I just threw away my hiking shoes -- more room for souveniers. I'll probably end up doing the same with my icky shoes from this year.