Seven Quick Takes vol. 37

Just throwing in my 7 Quick Takes with Jen, who fully deserves more pregnancy whining than I!

{one}

So I'm still pregnant. Apparently this bambino doesn't want to come out nice and early like its predecessors. I'm not quite 39 weeks yet, so I shouldn't be complaining of course, but for the record - still the longest pregnancy ever.

It was actually great planning on my baby's part though because this week's weather has been horrendous! Here's what it looked like out my door yesterday:

And heres what the area highways were like:

{two}

I only mention this because we've gotta drive two hours into the city in order to actually have this baby. Thus the roads and the weather have been causing me a bit of anxiety. We have to drive this ridiculous distance because of the excellent socialized health care system which for some reason deems rural hospitals incapable of delivering perfectly healthy babies. And the midwives in the province must be within a half hour distance to a hospital that delivers in order to be present at a birth at a home or birth centre. So this all equals us having to drive two hours to the birth centre, which shouldn't be a big deal but last year Max was born 20 minutes after we got there so we should probably be on the ball and not drive impassable roads! 

Needless to say, good job baby in deciding not to arrive in the middle of a terrible March blizzard! Today is sunny, although cold, and the forecast has no more snow for the next week so we should be in the clear! 

{three}

I'm still fighting off anxiety like nobody's business. I think it must be due to some seriously out of whack hormones because I've never had anxiety to this degree in pregnancy. And if anything you'd think by the fifth time all this pregnancy stuff would just come easily, and naturally, with no worries! The other night I would have walked 25 miles for an ambien, no joke. Thank goodness the last couple days there has been a lot of improvement and I've managed to get some sleep. 

{four}

If you haven't yet read Brianna's beautiful birth story at Ignitum Today yet go do so right now! She is, as usual, ridiculously inspiring. 

{five}

And has anyone read this article on women staying at home from New York Magazine? Its long, and makes a ton of points that I haven't completely waded through yet, but I think overall it brings up a lot of issues that our secular culture always loves to dismiss and ignore. The thing with staying home is that it has so many effects that it is a complex issue and not many people like thinking about complex issues.  

{six}

I reread Northanger Abbey this week. I needed some Jane Austen comfort and I can't even remember when I first read Northanger Abbey. It always comes under a lot of criticism because Catherine, the heroine, isn't quite as mature and well-formed as Austen's other heroines. But Austen still is so good at piercing through to what makes character's tick, their true character. I've also decided that every teenage girl needs to read Northanger Abbey. Is there any other novel that describes so well how insecure and ambitious teenage girls can be? So naive? Yet brings the heroine around to common sense and discernment of real character? I don't think so. 

{seven}

Well I'm off to do...not much of anything...I have zero nesting tendencies in pregnancy. I've been lying on my couch watching Poirot episodes all week and letting the kids run wild. Yesterday I let Max empty all my bookshelves, clean laundry baskets, bedside table, and almost the entire contents of underneath the kitchen sink (before he got to the really poisonous stuff of course) before I could get up enough energy to get up and stop him. If ever I get energy back one day its going to be a cruel day for the poor little guy. Thankfully its the husband's scheduled Friday off so children might get fed and disciplined after all!

Have a great last weekend of Lent everyone-I still can't wrap my head around Holy Week. But I wish everyone the graces to survive Palm Sunday Mass with the complimentary distractions/weapons that all toddlers adore!