Monthly Archives: June 2008

The Roku Has Arrived

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We got our Roku box this week that allows us to instantly stream movies from the Netflix library. Now that we have been using it for about four days I thought I would do a follow up to the post I wrote on May 26th in which I talked about ordering it.

It is easy to fill up the instant movies que by going to our online Netflix account and selecting the titles we want to eventually watch. I added a bunch of things that I was pretty sure I would like as well as some things that I probably never would have chosen if I had to pay extra or, if I had to wait for the DVD disc to be mailed to me. One such thing was a documentary about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec called Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre. I found it interesting and somewhat inspiring mostly because of the innovations that Toulouse-Lautrec came up with. I qued up some other interesting looking documentaries, including some on pregnancy. The movie selection is not amazing but with the variety of categories you can choose from it makes it worth while. And, I hope that they will keep expanding the available titles to include some more modern things.

We do feel a bit like guinea pigs because there are some functionality issues like the navigation being a bit clunky. For instance, once in a while the picture will freeze and take a moment to catch up to the audio. That has only happened a few times on the first day we used it though. One time we saw a line across the screen that was a glitch in the streaming, I think. Additionally, I think the remote control user experience is below par. One issue I have is that level at which you can forward or rewind a bit rudimentary and imprecise.

All in all we find this device and service to be worth it. It is just so easy.

Pregnancy Update: 31.5 Weeks Along

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I am 31.5 weeks pregnant and had an appointment with the Obstetrician yesterday. She took another fFN to determine the likelihood of me delivering in the next 7-14 days. It came back positive. This means I am more likely than not to deliver in the next 7-14 days. I got the call about it to give me a heads up this afternoon. I have to go and have a ultrasound on Tuesday morning to check the length of my cervix (which last time they checked about 5.5 weeks ago was already shortened to 2.1cm). All I can do is stay the course: bed rest, Nifedipine, stay hydrated. I would add: keep my stress down.

Another thing that came up yesterday was the question of tenderness in my lower, side belly (mostly on the right). I was asked to set up an ultrasound to check out my appendix and get blood work done to rule out appendicitis. Billy doesn’t think that I have it. I don’t know. I am worried about that tenderness though.

When the doctor (not the one I saw yesterday… remember, I have three Obstetricians) called me today to tell me about the fFN I told her about my aggravating experience of trying to set the ultrasound for ruling out appendicitis (I will spare you the details) to which she replied “I don’t think you have appendicitis”. She suggested to take one stressor out of it all that I should skip this test and basically watch for symptoms at which point if I have the big bad symptoms then I will just go to the hospital and have it out.

So now we are preparing for a preemie. One that will live in a little box at the hospital for a while.

I am visualizing making it to full term anyway. But, I am making sure everything is set up for readiness because I need to do that at some point anyway. This includes preregistering a the hospital and getting my things collected that I need and want to take with me.

For now, I will work on relaxing and being in the moment. Lately I have had an even harder time doing that.

Spiritual Midwifery

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My friend Jenny read Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin as a teenager and knew then that she would have a home birth. And she did. A few years ago she gave birth to a beautiful little girl in her home. Jenny’s description of her home birth experience left me in awe. Hearing her story strengthened my own desire to have a home birth.

Even after I had prepared myself to accept a hospital birth as my only option due to my pregnancy being considered high-risk (well, there was a financial consideration too) I decided to order the book Spiritual Midwifery. I felt that it would help educate me to make informed decisions and to understand the alternatives that I could try to request. I also knew that it would give me tips and tricks on how to trust and work with my body’s innate ability to give birth.

I just started reading it just as I am finishing up her other book, Guide to Childbirth. I find both books enlightening and alarming. Enlightening because there is a lot of joy an wisdom related to the reader. Alarming because there are things that can “go wrong” in any child birth situation (at home or in hospital) as well as choices that hospitals and their staff make to help facilitate labor like unnecessary drugs and procedures. I appreciate that Ina May is helping distribute this information to mothers-to-be. I find that it is empowering and I see how it empowers other mothers who have already given birth.

Seaplane and Lovecraft Biofuels

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About 5 years ago I used to sell the flower hair adornments that I made at a great little local shop named Seaplane. They mainly showcased Portland designers (as well as some musicians). I loved their little shop where the owners would work on their designs while they were tending shop. I wished I was in their shoes. I felt honored to be one of the designers represented by them. Then just before I moved to San Francisco, they moved shop from SE Belmont St (a bit of a up and coming but little known about bit of town to NW 23rd where there are a lot of small boutique-ish shops as well as some larger chain stores. This street is considered a destination by locals and tourists. I never visited their NW 23rd location. I think of Seaplane fondly from time to time.

On another note (and as you will soon see, a related note), a few days ago Billy and I watched a pod on Current TV about biofuels where one of the segments was on a company called Lovecraft Biofuels. They are a company that converts cars into biofuel using cars (for a surprisingly reasonable price by the way). They have two locations; one in LA and one in Portland. We were intrigued and are thinking that we will do this when we next need a vehicle.

Today I was reading a post on ultra (a blog about fashion, design, and culture) entitled End of An Era for Seaplane: The sale of an iconic Portland boutique that told the brief story of Seaplane and of how the owners were selling it to the owner of Lovecraft Biofuels. The new owner will open a second Seaplane location in LA.

I am very interested in both business as well as the fact that I found out about the connection between them in the same week in unrelated media messages. I recommend checking out both businesses if you get a chance as they are both inspired.

Using Word Press As A Website

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I am intrigued by the idea of using a WordPress as the building blocks for a website. I have only scratched the surface. I have begun building a WordPress site for my dancer friends Julia and Jenny (of Portland, Oregon) so that they can get the word out about their art. They are The Joe Cocker Dancers. Here are the beginnings of their site.

So far I have played around with very basic layout, design and content. I need their help to get the content in place and Billy is helping me learn how to make it into a cohesive site. Billy manages my blog site, MaternityShare, so creating Julia and Jenny’s blog/site is novel to me. And, theirs will have a different purpose in that it will be promotional as well as informational and will be set up to look and function more like a traditional website.

I customized the long retangular header for them so that it wasn’t stock photo that came with the WordPress template but rather an image of them in costume. Billy and I collaborated on this photo in photoshop. It is not a finished product as I want to get their feedback on the look and feel before investing more time into its creation. I need to learn how to customize visuals so that I can choose the shape and size of the images. Perhaps we will find a way to incorporate more of the original image (see image below).

Next steps:

  1. buy a domain name then have it point to their WordPress page.
  2. get Julia and Jenny set up as site administrators so they can add and edit content.
  3. get input from the J&J about visuals and layout.
  4. have J&J create and collect content so we can flesh out their site.

The Midwife Responses Begin To Roll In

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I sent out the email I drafted yesterday to the midwifes on Star’s list a half hour ago and I already got a response! The woman who emailed me said she would call me tomorrow. I am excited that it has begun. Everyone in the home birthing community seems so nice and supportive. I feel blessed. The woman who wrote me said to check out her website and on her site I found this quote:

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.”

-Jung

This is quote has come to me in good time and is yet another blessing. It speaks to what I currenly am struggling with and have been looking at changing in my life (in general).

Doula Star

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In my quest to find a doula I spoke with a wonderful, supportive woman named Pamela Star last night about my situation, her services and other possibilities.

In a selfless, sincere manner, she offered me advise on looking into the home birth I ideally would like to have. Best case senario is that it would end up costing about the same amount of money to have a home birth midwife birth me at home as it would for a hospital stay and a doula. Who knows what will actually happen though. There is the possibility that I could end up paying both a midwife AND the hospital fees if I had to birth at the hospital.

I have drafted an email that I will send out tomorrow to midwives to see if anyone would be interested and available to take me on. My due date is fast approaching so it could be tricky to find a midwife who is not already booked. In addition, it is summer time when people are going on vacation.

Ideally I would hire a midwife as well as Star (Pamela Star) as my doula and have my baby at home. I wonder where this adventure will take me?