Finding Rhubarb

I discovered perhaps the greatest movie ever made, but can't find it.  Join my quest in finding this masterpiece.

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Rhubarb was a 1969 British short film written and directed by Eric Sykes, starring Sykes and Harry Secombe. The dialogue consisted entirely of repetitions of the word "rhubarb", all the characters last names were "Rhubarb", and even the license plates on vehicles were "RHU BAR B". A baby "spoke" by holding a sign with the word "Rhubarb" written on it.

Rhubarb is a radio idiom for unintelligible background speech. 

No Sleep 'til...

I read a study once that goes like this.  Put a man in a room with no environmental clues as to what time of the day it is.  Other than that, he will perform the normal activities of work, cooking, entertainment etc.  Eventually his body will switch from an 8 hour sleep-at-night schedule, to short intermittent cat naps throughout.  It was claimed that is a more efficient way of operating.  I can now say this is completely false.  I try it every night and constantly feel exhausted.  Olive is worth it though.  Those are some shots we took this morning of the 10 day old babe.

Olive joins the tree

I witnessed the most amazing thing this morning. Here is how it went down:

5:00 pm While shopping for window treatments at target Lacey mentioned that her contractions were getting a bit stronger. I didn't think much of it and left for school.

10:00pm I arrive home to see Lacey and mom counting minutes and writing down numbers. Whoa!

1:00am Lacey tries to sleep but the contractions are coming on strong too strong

4:00am After 3 hours of me trying to convince her it's better to be safe than sorry, and her trying to convince me she'd rather be at home in our king memory foam bed than in a birth center we pack up and leave.

4:30am Arrive at Birth Care in Old Town Alexandria

5:30am After soaking in the tub, and being the toughest girl I've ever seen through some big contractions, Lacey crawls into bed for the final 45 min of pushing.

6:00am Watching Lacey give birth 100% natural was incredible. No screaming, just concentrated breathing and pushing. I've lost the right to complain about anything, ever.

6:23am We grew a new Olive on our family tree. The most perfect thing I've ever been a part of making.

Click here for a sample of only the "G" rated shots of the evening.

What I didn't know...

Tonight is the first night that I have had anything at all like contractions or what they call Braxton Hicks. My mom, Chas and I were walking around Ikea and I started to feel the tightening and surging as they call them but didn't pay much attention because we were on the hunt for a cheap, practical and esthetically appealing form of shoe storage. Luckily we found most of what we needed, but had to leave early as Ikea can be an all day affair and Chas had to get off to school. After he left, while my mom and I were eating a yummy dinner of orange roughy, brown rice and green salad with Annie's Poppy Seed Dressing, I started to inform her of this tightening in my now bulging stomach. Throughout dinner and my dessert of chocolate milk (which has become a favorite in the last couple weeks) we realized that although I may not have the baby for a few more days things are definitely happening.

I figured that tonight may be a good night to get some thoughts out about this pregnancy because things may get a little crazy very soon. I wondered what would be important to me in years to come if I read this blog again and what would be interesting to posterity as well. The things I didn't know before I got pregnant came to mind, so here are a few of them.

I didn't know...
-I would be so happy to be having a baby girl (even though I had to wait to get confirmation from a doctor who spoke English as his Native language. The first person who told me was a Korean nurse who hardly spoke English.)
-I would be so curious to see what color eyes she has
-My belly could possibly get this big and then continue to get even bigger
-That I would have to have Chas tie my shoes almost everyday and he would do it so lovingly each time
-I would see and feel her kick for the first time on a bus in Korea and that Chas would see it too
-I would be so lucky to have absolutely no complications and enjoy such a comfortable pregnancy
-That I would like being pregnant so much
-I would choose to have the baby at a Birth Center and feel so peaceful about it
-I would have no cravings
-I would walk on the Great Wall of China at 4 1/2 months
-I would cry when I heard her heartbeat for the first time
-I would look forward to hearing her heartbeat at every appointment after (it is so reassuring)
-That Chas would sing to her in my belly

So little Olive these are the things that I remember so far from this pregnancy. I am so excited to meet you and kiss you and play with you. Come when you're ready and we promise to take care of you and love you dearly.

Chas took these pictures January 28th 12 days before my due date which is February 9th. Thanks love for having such a wonderful talent.