~ July 8, 2005 ~
It was my birthday yesterday…
..and some bombs went off in London today.
I had a big shock when I arrived at work. I'd had to walk across Hyde park because my train terminated unexpectedly three stops short of my stop. Why? Londoners have been victims of 4 terrorist bomb attacks today. There are dozens killed, hundreds injured. I feel a bit overwhelmed, not least because one of the bomb blasts was at a Tube station only a few hundred metres from Paddington, the stop I get off at every weekday, near St. Mary's hospital. I work there as a clinical pharmacist in the vascular surgery ward. The hospital initiated a Major Incident plan to cope with the injured. It was a slightly surreal experience working there today, knowing that I would be involved, in a small way in the treatment of some of these people. there was a very odd calmness all over the hospital.
Tricky and I talk about this every now and then. It was one of our greatest fears when we first arrived in London. Terrorist threats were in the news every night. Then we sort of forgot about it and got on with our lives. I catch the Tube every day. And today it really did happen and it felt all too real and too close. I'm not just watching this on the televison news. All of our London friends are accounted for. I can't understand why people want to hurt other people who are just going about their lives. I'm a bit overwhelmed and can't really write much more today. I feel really tired. I'll try to write more later.
I think I might ride my bike to work tomorrow.
~ July 4, 2005 ~
4D Snowy.
Its my birthday next week and Tricky decided to take me on a day trip to Windsor this weekend.
We've been to Windsor before but I was too stupid to realise that this was just a ploy by Tricky to get me to a London suburb called Ashford on the way back home.
What's at Ashford you wonder? Well, there is a 4D ultrasound clinic at Ashford I reply. What is 4D ultrasound you ask? Why, I reply, its like a regular ultrasound only in 3 dimensions plus time, which is the fourth dimension. Yep, we saw our little Snowy in glorious monotone poo-brown 4D! How amazing is that?
It would be easy to carry on about the technical marvel that this type of ultrasound is, but I was completely overwhelmed by the emotions of seeing our child breathing, sucking, swallowing, opening and closing eyes, flailing arms and legs, still inside Tricky, still to stay 10 weeks inside Tricky. It was the most emotional experience I've had during this pregnancy since I saw the first little flicker of light that was Snowy's heartbeat at 6 weeks. Its sometimes hard for me, the non-pregnant human in this relationship, to relate to our little baby but this left me with a big lump in my throat. I just want to point and say to friends and strangers that I made this with Tricky! It is difficult to put these emotions into words so I will just post these few pics. I think you'll agree that Snowy is a very cute little baby.
~ June 21, 2005 ~
Normal reception will resume shortly
It seems I'm having a slight problem with some images after moving to a new server. Most everything else should function normally, including the photos. I'll fix the other images after work tonight.
Update: now everything should be working as before. Except I seem to be back in my updated-once-in-a-blue-moon mode.
~ June 12, 2005 ~
Birthing class.
Well, this is all become a little too real. I've been to my first birthing class with Tricky in the local Methodist church.
It was a bit surreal at first walking into a big room with a bunch of heavily pregnant women and their partners. All of the partners have a look on their faces – something like worry mixed with confusion and perhaps just a smidgen of panic. Thats the first-time fathers anyway. There were a few who already had children. They just looked tired.
It turned out to be quite a good few hours. We went through all of the ways the partner can help during the birthing process. There was lots of massage involved and there was some squatting and there was a bit of moaning (Tricky got the giggles during the moaning – can't take her anywhere.)
I also learned an amazing fact about the woman's body. When the baby is born, its head comes out first, right? You might also know that some of the female pelvic bones are specially designed to move and widen the birth canal to allow an easier birth. But did you know this? The coccyx bone (tailbone) also moves out of the way, like a trapdoor and – get this – when the baby is in the perfect birthing position, the coccyx is actually designed to slide over the babies nose and squish the fluid out of of the nostrils. Is that detail or what? Besides that, there are numerous other tiny details that make the whole process flow as... erm well, as nature intended. I'll try to compose a list of them for your education and awe. God (insert deity of choice) has a pretty amazing design shop out there somewhere.
God and his team of industrial designers.
God: *stroking long white beard and poring over some blueprints* Hmm, I like this.. erm, what's that thing called, the coccyx? ..I like this movable coccyx but why don't we make a change here *takes pencil from behind ear and scribbles* and have it squeeze the boogers from the little tyke's nose at the same time?
Designer One: Hmm, that's doable. What about the rest of the tail?
God: Get rid of the tail. I never liked it. And make it cry the second it comes out. I like a bit of drama.
Designer Two: And what about the appendix and that little dangly thing at the back of the throat?
God: I spent a whole day on those. They stay!
D2: But you said form follows function. They have no function. What possible use....
God: *thunderclaps and lightning* I SAID THEY STAY! Along with the nipples on the male model.
D2: *groans and mumbles* nipples on a man. You'll be having the testicles back in those little bags again.
God: Well the woman has breasts, why shouldn't the man have a couple of dangly things to play with. Maybe I
will put them back in the bags.
D2: *sarcastically* Well, that brings us back to the nipples, hey, Mister Almighty One.
D1: *whispers to D2* leave the nipples alone dude...do you want to spend the night in purgatory doing the waste disposal documentation again?
God: Whose donuts are those?
