Dion McGregor

Friday, June 13, 2008

"Dion McGregor was the most prolific somniloquist in recorded history. A Somniloquist, or voluble dreamer, is a person that talks during their sleep. Through the 1950’s Dion McGregor’s roommate taped his surreal narrations and in 1964 an avant-garde record was released to minimal fanfare. Dion is incredibly unique due to the way in which he sleep-talks. Rather than mumbling random incoherent words like most sleep-talkers, Dion narrates his dreams eloquently at a conversational tone making them an incredible and surreal experience for the listener." - courtesy of Ink Mathematics

ps: "The Mustard Battle" is my favorite.

Lily Pond - Vicki Feaver

"Thinking of new ways to kill you
and bring you back from the dead,
I try drowning you in the lily pond -

holding your head down
until every bubble of breath
is squeezed from your lungs

and the flat leaves and spiky flowers
float over you like a wreath.
I sit on the stones until I'm numb,

until, among reflections of sky,
water-buttercups, spears of iris,
your face rises to the surface -

a face that was always puffy
and pale, so curiously unchanged.
A wind rocks the waxy flowers, curls

the edges of the leaves. Blue butterfles
appear and vanish like ghosts.
I part the mats of yellow weed

and drag you to the bank, covering
your green algae-stained corpse
with a white sheet. Then, I lift the edge

and climb in underneath -
thumping your chest,
breathing into your mouth."


@ poetryarchive.com
@ Wikipedia

Me & My Narrow Pelvic Arch

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

I saw my doctor today and she gave me the low down. I was apparently mistaken all these years in thinking the problem had something to do with my cervix, because what's actually going to prevent me from having my baby naturally is my NARROW PELVIC ARCH.

Big babies and narrow pelvic arches apparently do not mix well. According to my doctor there is a slim chance that natural birth could be possible, but she's strongly advising me against trying. She says the risk is too great that complications during birth will cause brain damage, cerebral palsy, and shoulder dystocia. If the baby were smaller or comes early, she said, it would be less of a big deal. But he isn't, so it is. Pretty scary stuff.

My pelvis is shaped like this:



but the baby would prefer if it were shaped like this:




Just a few months ago, a woman with a narrow pelvic arch who's child suffered severe brain damage from an attempted natural birth won a 21 million dollar lawsuit against her doctors. What I'm wondering is, how come no one has ever been straight with me about this until now? Why has it always been this murky thing my gyno's have mentioned in passing?

I'm not sure why, but this is making me feel all sorts of funny things.

Baby Chatter

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

There's so much that needs to be done around the house, but it's seriously just WAY too hot for me to leave the (mildly) air conditioned living room for too long. The heat makes my PUPPP ridiculously excruciating! About a week ago my doctor prescribed me these prescription stregnth Benadryl-type pills to ward off some of the itch. They work really well, but now because of the heat I'm taking them as often as possible and they make me sleepy and woozy. As a result, I've been pretty checked out for a better part of the last four days. As an example, I JUST woke up from a "nap" 15 minutes ago (2:15) that I went in for at 10am. Rumor has it the heat is supposed to break a little tonight- fingers crossed.

I rarely just talk about what I've been up to here, mostly because there's got to be SOME sort of limit on how many times I write "the baby kicked/punched/attack me today, I made a new mix, growing up is strange," which is most certainly what I'd write every day if I let myself.

I went for my final ultrasound last week as I mentioned before, and it was enlightening. My mother came with me and soon became witness to the fact that this little boy is SO FAR from little. In addition to having long femur bones (no wonder he's been able to KICK my DIAPHRAGM), I found out that he's already 6 pounds, 10 ounces. To put things into perspective, I was only 7 pounds, 3 ounces when I was BORN, never mind still growing, with 4 weeks to go. The baby is supposed to gain a half a pound every week from now until birth, which means I'm easily looking at a 9 pound baby here. And for me, that most likely equals C-Section, something I really, really wanted to avoid.

Gyno's have been telling me varying folk tales about my small lady parts since I first started going to them, and depending on who was talking I heard everything from "no natural birth ever" to "natural birth to small babies only" to "natural birth as long as the baby is average sized." Big babies, though, have never, ever been on the menu for me. Just watching my body grow to the size it is should have been a big neon sign to me that this baby was so much bigger than average sized, but I've been really, really good at making excuses. I already had brought up the possibility with my OBGYN, and she told me to wait and see before I start worrying about surgery. Unfortunately it's looking pretty inevitable now, which is making me really anxious.

This weekend, Davey and I went to a BBQ at his Aunt's in Sturbridge. His sister Krishna and his brother's wife Melissa were there too, along with their kids. Talking to Melissa has been pretty eye opening for me, as far as babies go. They have a 2 year old daughter, Avery, who apparently was ALSO around 9 pounds at birth. I found out David was almost 9 pounds at birth, too. Apparently Morrow's just make big babies- lucky me! David apparently also has inherited most of the more dominant Morrow genes, since Avery looks a lot more like him than her own father.


See little Davey in the right hand corner? I rest my case.


All the worrying I was doing, though, was pretty much put to rest at the 3D Ultrasound. My mother, after seeing something about it on tv, paid for me to go and get a special, elective ultrasound that would allow us to see the baby pretty much exactly as he is (as opposed to a shadow, like in regular ultrasounds). I WISH I could put the video up that we got, because it was eerie and magical. I got to see him yawn, open his eyes, stretch, suck his thumb- amazing! We also have a pretty good idea of what he really looks like now, and that is basically ALL CHEEKS. He apparently has enough hair that it is FLOWING, big eyes, and really, REALLY likes putting things in his little bow mouth (feet, wrists, fingers, thumb, whatever's close). I think it's safe to say that David and I were both a little overwhelmed. I've been pregnant for so long that sometimes it's easy to forget how CLOSE we are to the due date.

Keep your fingers crossed for me! I have another appointment tomorrow and hopefully I'll get a little more clarification about what's in store for me as far as the actual birth. Also I've been encouraged to bring music to play during labor and birth, and so far have put aside Joanna Newsom's "Y's," TJO's "Peregrine," and the Dirty Three's "Ocean Songs." Any other suggestions? The baby is used to and clearly prefers my stuff over lullabies, and clearly I am unconcerned with unnerving the doctor, but I want it to at least be calming, haha.

I went for my last ultrasound today

Friday, June 6, 2008

Apparently I'm growing a tiny, exact clone of David!!!



My Mom: I can't stop laughing!
My Mom: its almost surreal!

Awesomely Bad Late 80's/Early 90's Rap Themes For Blockbuster Movie Sequels

Thursday, June 5, 2008

This morning over breakfast I somehow got on the topic of MC Hammer's "Addams Family Rap," a song I remember LOVING from my childhood. (Yes, at 7am these are the topics I often wish to discuss- feel free to celebrate and/or mourn the fact that I'm not having YOUR baby) In 1991, when the song came out, I was 9 and my brother was 11. He owned the cassette single and we played it over, over, over and over again, ad nauseum. I even have a clear mental image of my brother doing some sort of Uncle Fester dance that was sort of like the Thriller dance but way more awkward.



There is basically nothing about this that I don't love.


The Addams Family Rap was just one of many, MANY awesomely cheesy movie raps from the 80's/early 90's, all suspiciously made for blockbuster sequels to already popular movie franchises. Rap was crossing over into the mainstream and suburban white kids everywhere desperately wanted a (wholesome, watered down) piece.



Ninja Rap by Vanilla Ice, brought to us in the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Turtles in Time- ALSO from 1991 (what a great year!). I was in third grade at this time, and that year my class just happened to have a talent show. I did a self choreographed dance to "Prisoner" by Mariah Carey with a friend wherein I wore white lace footless tights under a denim jumper (yes, really). The cool boys in class, decked out in sideways hats, lip synched their way through "Ninja Rap." They also did some sort of move while "rapping" that was similar to the Arsenio Hall "woof woof" movement. I have video proof of this event. Mike, Mike, Greg and Geoff- do yourselves a favor and never run for president.



Arguably the best, probably because it was done by Run DMC, is the "Ghostbusters Rap" from Ghostbusters II, which I proudly admit is one of my favorite movies of all time. This movie came out in 1989, which (I think- correct me if I'm wrong) makes this song the PIONEER of the cheesy rap themes for sequels genre. Not QUITE as awesome as breaking down the barrier between mainstream rock and rap, but an important contribution just the same, yes?

Honorable mention goes to Prince's "Batdance," disqualified both because it wasn't made for a sequel and also isn't a rap so much as... a horrifying, seven minute fever dream.



<3 siiigh. Have I mentioned yet today how much I love that little purple pervert? I honestly could watch his masturbatory guitar solos all day.

Baby Appreciation Day!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

This past Sunday was my baby shower! My mother, who has long since accepted she will probably never be able to plan a wedding for me ("Why get *married,* Mom?"), took the project on with gusto! She ordered favors on the internet, drove miles for centerpieces and party favors, planned games and even made little hand stamped place cards for every guest! It was great, and aside from walking into the room to find long tables all bunched together instead of the quaint, well spaced circular tables we were expecting and a *slight* wardrobe panic prior (the dress I bought for the shower a month ago didn't fit as well as it once had in the chest area, since apparently I'm whipping up enough milk to feed a small, starving country) everything went off without a hitch!


Bump & I (and my simian line)!


It was an interesting mix of people; at one table my relatives from my mother AND fathers side, including my adorable Grandma who was thankfully feeling well enough to attend. The next table was my friends, most of whom I hadn't seen in at least a year but NEVER GOT TO REALLY TALK TO because I was constantly on my feet greeting people and opening presents (I barely got to eat) and my mother's co-workers. At the third table was all of David's family from Worcester & beyond (his sister in law, Melissa, flew in from Tennessee!), including HIS adorable grandmother who was thankfully feeling well enough to attend. My mother, being the muffin that she is, got corsages for me, both future grandmas, AND both future great grandmas.


My mom, Ring Master, & my grandmother!
(c) Gill @ Shield Your Eyes


I had this moment of overwhelming reality while I was sitting there opening presents. I kept holding up these TINY pairs of socks and MINUSCULE tshirts and the LITTLEST, most adorable toys. Somewhere in the middle of it all it hit me that the baby is coming, any week now! He's really and truly COMING. 9 months of gestation is honestly a blessing, because it's taken me this long to really cope with the enormity of everything.


Davey & I opening presents

We've got a whole nursery filled with all sorts of beautiful, useful stuff- more than I ever could have wished for or imagined. I'm so ridiculously blessed to have so many caring people in my life! I'm sorry to everyone who drove a long way and then hardly got to talk to me; I wasn't expecting it to be so chaotic from start to finish!

Tomorrow I start the daunting but enthusiastic task of handwriting 52 individual thank you notes! Look for yours soon and thank you thank you THANK YOU again!! The Little Boy is going to be the cleanest, best dressed, most well stimulated infant that ever there was! Seeing all of your smiling, supportive faces gave me a lot of hope and a well needed jolt of "!!!"

 
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