Cops… in Pioneer Square

By kate on September 1st, 2005

My office overlooks Pioneer Square. Today, I walked through the square on my way to get some lunch and walked past two policemen apparently arresting two homeless-looking men. As I passed, I heard Bad Cop screaming at one of the men.

“This is a family park! It’s not a place for your narcotics use! You can’t abuse narcotics in my park! I get paid to protect this park! Don’t tell me you’re not using narcotics! What’s this!? It’s a crack pipe bong!”

I walked out of earshot feeling mostly sympathy for the poor man being yelled at. Obviously a drug addict, he was probably just trying to sit somewhere quietly and get high, and being (probably) homeless, had nowhere to go. During the cop’s tirade, he was standing quietly, not resisting or doing anything I could see to provoke it (and his companion also stood quietly with his head bowed).

Drug dealers are one thing, but it didn’t seem that this man was being accused of selling, just using. Now, as well as being arrested (likely, although I didn’t see it), he was also being bawled out in public by a mustachioed asshole.

Today being First Thursday, I’m guessing they were rounding up all the homeless so that the park will be less scary for rich art-loving sub/urbanites.

Working in this neighborhood, I see more than my share of homeless people and drug users. I try to keep up a strong and purposeful facade so nobody will bother me, but to be honest, the great majority are so much lost in their own worlds/heads that they don’t talk to anyone (or even get up very much).

It’s hard to say what the answer is that will solve the homeless problem. However, I feel like it needs to be addressed with sympathy and compassion, rather than anger and accusations.

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Zippy lives up to the name

By kate on August 31st, 2005

Today was an exciting day.

We went to yet another appointment with yet another midwife, because even though we liked everyone we’ve seen, we didn’t feel any of them were just right.

This time, though, both Steve and I felt that we liked the midwife enough to choose her (and her partner in the practice) to be our care provider. It’s a relief to finally have someone chosen, after a while of worrying that maybe we were being too picky. Our first real pre-natal appointment is in a week and a half.

The really exciting part was when she offered to let us hear Zippy’s heart. After the disappointment of last time, I was especially eager to have some proof that Zippy is among the living. When the midwife felt for my uterus, it was significantly higher than it had been even a week ago, which was cool.

She pointed the doppler around on my abdomen, and twice we heard maybe 3 or 4 beats of Zippy’s heart before it faded away. She said this was because Zippy was probably moving around. He/she truly was being zippy, because it was hard to pin down the heartbeat.

After another agonizing five minutes or so of probing / listening / adjusting, we finally caught Zippy in a quieter moment and sat quietly ourselves for a minute, listening to the heart. It was cool. The midwifery student (a trainee) timed the pulse, and calculated it at 150 beats/minute, just what it should be.

The healthy range is 120-160 bpm. The midwife told us that legend has it that a faster heartbeat (such as Zippy’s) means it’s a girl. In the same camp, our next door neighbor is certain Zippy is a girl. She takes her powers of intuition seriously and says she’s never wrong. I personally haven’t had any motherly intuition on the subject.

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Dragging a bit

By kate on August 30th, 2005

I’m back from my trip, and my cold is mostly gone. I’m still dragging, though. I have this headache that comes back on most days. I’m trying to resist taking anything for it, for the baby’s sake, but sometimes I’ve had enough and take some Tylenol (which is OK for pregnancy).

I’ve also been taking a bit longer in the mornings to “get going” physically. I’ve been a bit achey and slow.

Finally, my aerobic fitness has suddenly been shot to hell. I find myself breathing heavily after walking up a flight of stairs sometimes. I’m hoping it’s temporary as my body adjusts to something.

I had aerial practice last night, which actually made me feel better physically and mentally. Being out of breath a lot has made me feel pretty lame, so it was good to realize that my strength is still intact. I was able to climb and do pull-ups and sit-ups and things. I’m sensing that my exercise will become more weight-training-centric for a little while, although I’ll keep trying the aerobic (carefully).

Filed under: active, circus, pregnancy | Comment now »

Nothing to fear but…

By steve on August 24th, 2005

[This is an entry from Steve]

Before Kate became pregnant, we bought a book about pregnancy and what to expect. Since then, we’ve bought a few more, and have spent plenty of time noodling about the internet.

Most pregnancy literature is written with a female audience in mind. Invariably, when it comes time to address the father-to-be (in a condescending little sidebar, most likely), the text goes something like this:

“You’re probably feeling [one or more of confused, frustrated, overwhelmed, isolated, etc.] at this point, but rest assured that all new fathers feel this way.”

Nothing could be farther from the truth. I’m feeling excited and confident. No confusion or frustration. I’ve got a good handle on the pregnancy, the birth, and Kate. In fact, the only negative feeling I can come up with is a bit of impatience — 6 more months of waiting for Zippy is a long time.

It’s disappointing to me that so much of what I’ve read attempts to undermine the confidence of the father before the baby even arrives.

Of *course* I don’t know what to expect — and neither did any other father before the birth of his child since, oh, the beginning of time. That’s not the point. I’m confident in my abilities to lead a good life and be a good person. My marriage, my career, and my hobbies are all examples of that. In each of those cases, I have pretty much just dived in without really knowing what the hell I was doing, made some mistakes, made some changes, and enjoyed the entire process. Why should child-rearing be any different?

To some extent, the fear that the baby books are trying to propagate is, like most, a fear of the unknown. But in my case, I’m perfectly comfortable stating that, yes, I don’t know everything that there is to know about raising Zippy. But how could I? We haven’t even met yet.

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Update from the Road

By kate on August 23rd, 2005

I’m currently on a week’s vacation in the midwest with (my best friend) Zach. The trip was his birthday gift to me last year; one last little trip before Steve and I have kids. We flew into Chicago, drove right away to Wisconsin, and ended up in The Dells, a wonderland of amusement parks, haunted houses, waterparks, and mini-golf. Unfortunately, due to my “condition”, many of my preferred activities (rollercoasters, fast waterslides, bungy/sling/extreme rides) are off-limits. We’ve been seeing what we can, and this afternoon Zach went off to get his rollercoaster fix while I took a nap.

Unfortunately, I’ve caught a cold, so I have a bit of a sore throat. I’m trying to take care of myself and get lots of rest. This afternoon’s two-hour nap probably helped, as does getting 8+ hours of sleep every night.

On the other hand, sugary treats are hard to avoid in the Dells, where every third storefront is a candy and fudge shop (no joke!). I’ve been compensating for the occasional goodie by trying to make my meals extra healthy and simple. I’m also making a real effort to get enough of each food group, and have even eaten spinach twice!

Even though my stomach has grown quite a bit already, and I’m feeling large, around here I’m noticing that many women are even larger than me. So, I don’t think I look pregnant to most.

Tomorrow, we head to Madison.

Filed under: pregnancy, travel | Comment now »

Zippy wasn’t in a sharing mood

By kate on August 17th, 2005

Today, we met with another potential care provider, a naturopathic doctor. This was another provider recommended by the birth center. She spent about an hour with us, just giving us information about the various types of prenatal/labor care available and answering our questions. In the end, though, we weren’t sure if the naturopathic route is right for us. Both of us prefer to walk the line between a natural/herbal/lifestyle approach and scientifically-based medical treatment. We want to have it both ways. No final decision yet – we have one more appointment on the 28th after which we hope to make a decision (and go in for a real appointment).

At the end of our time with the doctor, she suddenly asked if we were interested in trying to hear Zippy’s heartbeat. That was a surprise! I felt this weird sudden rush of emotion at the idea (thanks, pregnancy hormones). She took us into one of the examining rooms and had me lay on the table. She took the doppler ultrasound (a hand-held ultrasound device) and aimed it around on my uterus (which is currently just peeking out from behind my pubic bone). After a while, she located my heartbeat, which sounded oceanic compared to the usual thump-thump.

Sadly, however, she could never get Zippy’s heartbeat. He/she must have been sitting in the lower end of my uterus at the time, or at least that’s what she and our rational minds said. It’s hard not to have dark, unfounded worries, though. I’ll feel much better after having some tangible proof that there’s really another living person inside me. It may be a few more weeks.