Stinson Beach Day Off

My work organized a trip to Stinson Beach last Friday. You can see pictures if you click on the one below. It was actually really warm -- 73 degrees--and I probably could have gone swimming if I was so inclined.

Lauren Wading
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

Only four weeks left!

The photo is from last week, but I'm already bigger. I don't look too happy because my back was hurting. I gave up biking to work because of it. Now I walk 1/2 mile to the bus stop or *gasp* drive to work.

This weekend Micah and I spent a lot of time organizing and cleaning the house and comparison shopping for the furniture we need--a glider chair for nursing, a new desk and desk chair for Micah, a new, possibly bigger bed for us, and a rug for the office/nursing room/studio.

I went to yoga class on Saturday and saw a woman from our hypnobirthing class--she's one week overdue and they want to induce her. She's trying all kinds of things to naturally induce labor--including eggplant parmesan and spicy pizza, walking, intimate relations with her husband. Another woman from our class gave birth 3 weeks early and it was less than three hours from her water breaking to delivery. First child, too.

My last day of work is Oct 17th, and I'm looking forward to having a week to relax and get the last things in order, and get some sleep before the little one comes along and changes everything.

Thirty Five Weeks
Originally uploaded by lauren buckland

No photos, but some stories

I guess I'm supposed to have people coming up to me and grabbing my belly and offering unsolicited, rude advice, but I haven't experienced that at all. Instead, my interactions with strangers has been really nice. Here's some examples, most taking place on public transit (and nicely illustrating why I like taking the train and bus):

Micah and I were waiting for BART at Embarcadero station after Sunday Streets and a man about 65 approached us with a plastic bag. The bag was completely full of dates. He offered us some, stating that back in his country, they always made sure pregnant women ate dates, as they were very good for pregnant women. We each grabbed a handful, and they were delicious.

I was walking back to BART along Market Street after having brunch at the Blue Bottle Cafe and seeing the Frieda Kahlo exhibit at SFMoma with Danette, Jay, Sabrina, Jenny, Derek, Alex and one of Alex's friends. A young (20's?) Asian guy walks up next to me and says, "you're having a girl." I say no, actually, it's a boy. We begin to talk and it turns out his high school sweetheart is pregnant. We walk down to BART together and he tells me about how they found out. His girlfriend's grandmother had a dream about fishes and at the next family gathering pointed to her granddaughter and said "I had a dream. You're pregnant." Turns out she was right, and neither of them knew at the time.

I was taking the bus home from work today and three preteen girls got on. They were chatting and giggling in the back of the bus, and one of them came up to me and asked if I was pregnant. I said yes, and the others all came over and asked if it was a boy or a girl and started telling me about how their sister and their cousin were both pregnant. We all got off at the same stop and one of the girls asked if she could touch my belly, and I said yes. Another asked if we had a name yet and I said no. She asked what the baby's father's name was, and I said Micah. She said we should name him that. Then they all got on another bus to go to Telegraph Avenue.

I got on the bus last week on my way to Cafe Grattitude to meet some friends for a birthday dinner. The bus driver saw me and said, "How you two doing?"

Oh there's one more...I was early to Cafe Grattitude (a vegan, raw, organic, hippy, love-in sort of place) and the hostess seated me early. As I was waiting for my friends, our waitress came over and told me about a website where women give birth in the Black Sea among dolphins birthasweknowit.com. Then the bartender gave me a free sample of an amazing sweet almond drink.