Rutabaga Dreams

Yes, today is my due date. I suppose it doesn’t mean all that much, other than a rough approximation of when the baby’s expected… but still it carries quite a lot of psychological weight. At this point I am in the odd position of feeling like the baby’s birth is both imminent and impossible. Completely contradictory, I know, but there it is. I’m starting to feel more emotional and more tired, and just generally ready to move from pregnancy to mother of a newborn. Soon, soon…

At my 39 week appointment on Wednesday my midwife felt that I was really quite close. My impression was that she thinks it may even be this weekend. No way of knowing until it happens though, is there!

I was at a local hardware store today and a woman asked me when I am due. I told her “today” and her eyes widened and she looked startled as she stared at my huge belly - it was if she was envisioning a ticking time bomb strapped to my torso. She cautiously asked “well, do you think you’ll be late?” I responded, “well, it certainly is looking that way”. She nodded, accepting this, and continued to stare at my belly. I think she was expecting me to go into labor right then and there.

We (Matt & myself - we did not take Emma) did go and see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe today, and we enjoyed it. There were definitely some changes from the book, but for the most part I think they made sense. There were a few things that bothered me (namely how they handled Edmund’s departure from the Beaver’s, the Beaver’s interaction with each other, and how they got all the children to Narnia in the first place) but on the whole I thought it was well put together. I think I would have enjoyed the movie more had I not just finished reading it to Emma within the last few weeks. The audience (a mix of families and church youth groups) were very excited and enthusiastic about the movie, applauding at several points and at the end of the movie. I am certain it will be quite successful, but I couldn’t help feeling like it was missing something. I wish I could figure out what it was. I’m glad we didn’t take Emma though, there were parts that would definitely have been too intense for her. I think she will be fine watching it when it comes out on DVD, though, and I think she’ll enjoy it then. She’ll be another 6 months older or so, and we can watch it at home with the lights on which should help her get through some of the tenser scenes. There was one family there with a little boy who couldn’t have been more than two and at one point in the movie he just started shrieking with fright - poor little guy just sounded terrified.

and still pregnant. Just thought I would let you know.

It is very strange to think that I am now less than a week away from my due date, even though the due date doesn’t exactly mean much. It is bugging me a little though, I feel like I am expected to produce this baby by my due date, because due date just sounds so much like a deadline to me. I’d love to just get this crossed of my todo list, but it isn’t like there’s much I can do about it! Really though, I’m not feeling that anxious (yet) - it is more just a nagging sort of sensation that is developing in the back of my mind.

And why oh why is my f key being so stubborn? Oh, massively grungy keyboard. Eww. Guess I should do something about that.

In the past week and a half or so I’ve seen 3 movies - which doubles the number of movies I’ve seen this year. It has just sort of worked out that way… First I saw the new Harry Potter movie with Matt after Thanksgiving, then saw Pride and Prejudice with my book group. Tonight I saw Walk the Line with someone I’m slowly becoming friends with. I’ve enjoyed them all - although in different ways. (argh, this f key!) The Potter movie was really strictly entertainment and eye candy… seen because we enjoy the franchise and we figured we’d see this newest installment. Pride and Prejudice was our November book (picked in Feb, before we even knew the movie was coming out in Nov) so it just seemed so appropriate to go. I thought they did a very nice job with the adaptation, even if they did take some liberties with the social mores of the time. Still, it was better than I expected it to be, and now I am really looking forward to seeing some of the other adaptations (one is on the way from Netflix as I type). I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Walk the Line (my brother had given it a only so-so review, but he is quite a movie snob) but I ended up throughly enjoying it. What an impressive effort from everyone involved in the project. I think one of the parts in the movie I found most moving was the role played by June Carter’s parents in Cash’s life. The love they had for their somewhat wayward daughter, as well as the love and support they were willing to give to a the massively drug addicted and screwed up Cash was really remarkable. How much easier it would have been for them to walk away from him, and to try and shield their daughter and granddaughters from him… to give in to that urge to protect and to turn away from the ugliness that had consumed Cash. Instead, they encouraged their daughter to help him, and they helped him themselves - showing him love and showing him that there was another way, another path he could take. What absolutely amazing people.

If this baby still hasn’t come by this weekend, I’m going to try and go see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Part of me almost kind of hopes that the baby does wait a little bit longer because it would be awfully neat to see this movie in the theater… but really, that is rather silly isn’t it.