Friday, August 8, 2008
It's the Final Countdown!
I am currently 35 weeks pregnant (nine months). Full term is 37 weeks, meaning the baby is ready for the outside world. A due date is scheduled for 40 weeks--that's technically full gestation.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
For all baby shower attendees
Also, if anyone is wanting to get rid of baby stuff, we are happy for hand-me-downs.
A sign of the apocolypse
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A death row inmate scheduled for execution says he's too fat to be put to death, claiming executioners would have trouble finding his veins and that his weight could diminish the effectiveness of one of the lethal injection drugs.

Death row inmate Richard Cooey says executioners would have trouble finding his veins to lethally inject him.
Lawyers for Richard Cooey argue in a federal lawsuit that Cooey -- 5-feet-7 and 267 pounds -- had poor veins when he faced execution five years ago and the problem has been worsened by weight gain.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, also says prison officials have had difficulty drawing blood from Cooey for medical procedures.
Cooey, 41, is sentenced to die for raping and murdering two young women in 1986. His execution is scheduled for October 14.
His attorneys say a drug he is taking for migraine headaches could affect the execution process. The drug Topamax, a type of seizure medication, may have created a resistance to thiopental, the drug used to put inmates to sleep before two other lethal drugs are administered, Dr. Mark Heath, a physician hired by the Ohio Public Defender's Office, said in documents filed with the court.
Heath says Cooey's weight, combined with the potential drug resistance, increases the risk he would not be properly anesthetized.
"All of the experts agree if the first drug doesn't work, the execution is going to be excruciating," Cooey's public defender, Kelly Culshaw Schneider, said Monday.
Prison system spokeswoman Andrea Carson and Jim Gravelle, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's Office, both said Monday they hadn't seen the lawsuit and couldn't comment.
Last year, Carson cited the obesity of condemned inmate Christopher Newton as one of the reasons prison officials had difficulty accessing his veins before his execution. Newton was 6 feet tall and weighed 265 pounds.
Two years ago, convicted killer Jeffrey Lundgren was put to death after a federal appeals court rejected his claim that he was at greater risk of experiencing pain and suffering because he was overweight and diabetic.Monday, August 4, 2008
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Everyday
YAZ--A new form of BC that takes care of the symptoms that are caused by PMS
Seasonale--A new form of birth control that allows you to have a period only once every three months
Mirena--A new form of birth control that prevents pregnancy for up to five years
NuvaRing--A form of birth control for idiots
Okay, so that last one isn't an accurate description, but come on! I am really offended by some of the tactics the marketing people use to try and convince women that they are too stupid/crazy to take a regular birth control pill or use any other form of BC than hormonal methods.
Everyone remembers the YAZ commercials with the women discussing their periods in a nightclub? While it no longer runs, I (and every other person I know, including my OB-GYN) HATED that ad. Number one, very rarely does a group of female friends discuss their menstrual symptoms unless something weird is going on, and then they may decide to keep those problems between themselves and their doctors. Number two, who goes out and then decides that the topic of conversation is going to be how miserable they feel? Honestly, if that was the game plan for the evening, everyone would have been much happier staying at home in pjs with ice cream and a screening of Dirty Dancing. While that particular commercial is no longer making the rounds of daytime TV, a slightly more annoying one that is all high energy and bright colors is. Ad execs, you are marketing a birth control pill to grown women, not the newest knock off Barbie that looks like it should be working a street corner rather than taking up residence in a little girl's toy box.
Seasonale is not new. Taking a regular BC pill continuously in order to avoid Aunt Flo has been well known and documented for years. I myself have even practiced this with a "regular" pill in the past. However, I have heard of some pretty bad side effects from the Seasonale version, including a continuous period for the first cycle of the pills (that's three whole months in case you weren't doing the math) and an unplanned pregnancy that wasn't discovered until three months after conception; three months which included some pretty dubious behavior on the mommy-to-be's part and a hazy recollection of who exactly was the proud papa. Why this kind of continuous usage has these side effects and just using a normal BC pill in the same way doesn't (at least in my own experience) I have no idea.
The IUD (or intrauterine device) is the most commonly used form of BC in Europe. It used to be widespread in the US until the '70s when one type ended up poisoning some women and killing them. Apparently, it's been long enough to begin re-marketing the product under the name Mirena. It also has a really annoying commercial with a bunch of gingers and while I applaud the fact that it does disclose some of the more unsavory possible side effects, it doesn't even bother telling potential consumers one important thing: lots of doctors don't insert them. It is considered one of the most effective forms of BC, mainly because it doesn't rely on the lazy/moronic consumer to do anything other than visit their dr., but not having access to it does seem to make the use a little more difficult--at least in my humble opinion.
The NuvaRing is really just like pill, only it only needs to be remembered once a week instead of once a day. This is the main commercial that irritates me. I, of all people, know that remembering to take a pill everyday at exactly the same time can be difficult what with the stress involved in everyday life. But that's not the point of the commercial. It talks about how hard it is to take something everyday. It's not hard--just pop the thing and take it (hell, pill heads always seem to remember). Insinuating that it's difficult to take the normal pill, therefore you need to have this thing you only remember once a week, is implying that your market is either stupid ("So you mean I put this in my mouth and swallow it, every day? Wow!") or so lazy that your marketing is a waste of time because they will probably not use the ring anyway.
I haven't decided what kind of BC I will be using after baby, but I am certainly getting all kinds of info thrown at me. Maybe I'll just do what the girls at East Rankin were told--hold an aspirin between my knees and make sure it doesn't fall out. ;-)
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Runway Moms
Anyway, today's episode involved the particular woman they were profiling getting a 3D ultrasound. Her baby was not as cute as Jonah (and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom--this other kid had a long ugly nose).
Makes me glad to know that even if I'm not an "Expecting Model" I'm still having a better baby that this bitch. Ha ha!!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Dangers of Modern Living
I almost ended up having the baby today. I was driving home from running some errands and was almost hit head on by some old woman. I had pulled into a center turn lane, with blinker going, and had slowed down due to oncoming traffic in the left lane. The old lady was at a stop sign, trying to pull out into traffic into the left lane. Apparently, she needed not only the lane she was trying to pull into, but also my turn lane and possibly the far right lane that was traveling in the opposite direction. I saw her coming and laid on my horn; she stopped, literally, six inches from my front driver's side bumper. Had she hit the air bag would have deployed and I would have most likely gone into premature labor. I am very blessed that someone out there is looking out for me and Jonah.
On a brighter note, I found a cute dress from target that I am thinking of wearing with leggings for the baby shower. I have passed the point where I can wear a short dress without some kind of leg covering--it's just better for everyone that way.