Pick a Birthday

So news that the induction will come a week from today, barring the baby coming sooner, got me thinking. We do not have long to go. So, thanks to the good folks at Wikipedia, I made a little list of every remaining day from today to next Friday including famous events, births and holidays. Go ahead, pick a favorite birthday.

July 31

Events:

1961—The first ever All Star Game tie occurs at Fenway Park in Boston when rain stops the game after nine innings

Birthdays:

1143—Emperer Nijo (Japan)
1919—Curt Gowdy
1958—Mark Cuban
1962—Wesley Snipes

Holiday:

Hari Pahlawan, Malaysian Warriors’ Day

August 1

Events:

1774—Oxygen is discovered for the third and final time
1944—Anne Frank makes the final entry in her diary
1981—MTV begins broadcasting in the United States

Birthdays:

10 BC—Claudius (Roman Emperer)
1779—Francis Scott Key
1819—Herman Melville
1942—Jerry Garcia
1963—Coolio

Holiday:

Armed Forces Day, Angola

August 2

Events:

1980—The NFL Hall of Fame Game ended with 5:24 remaining in a 0-0 tie due to lightning

Birthdays:

1533—Theodor Zwinger (Swiss scholar)
1924—Carroll O’Conner
1950—Lance Ito
1966—Tim Wakefield

Holiday:

Day of Azerbaijani Cinema, Azerbaijan

August 3

Events:

1492—Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain
1936—Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash at the Berlin Olympics
1949—National Basketball Association founded

Birthdays:

1509—Etienne Dolet (French scholar)
1925—Marv Levy
1926—Tony Bennett
1940—Martin Sheen
1968—Rod Beck

Holiday:

Independence Day, Niger

August 4

Events:

1977—President Jimmy Carter authorizes creation of the Department of Energy

Birthdays:

1222—Richard de Clare (English soldier)
1821—Louis Vuitton
1901—Louis Armstrong
1949—John Riggins
1955—Billy Bob Thorton
1961—Barack Obama
1971—Jeff Gordon

Holiday:

Saint Sithney, Patron Saint of Mad Dogs

August 5

Events:

1305—William Wallace captured by England
1620—The Mayflower departs England
1861—United States issues first income tax
1957—American Bandstand debuts

Birthdays:

1301—Edmund of Woodstock (English politician)
1930—Neil Armstrong
1937—Herb Brooks
1962—Patrick Ewing

Holiday:

Children’s Day, Chile

August 6

Events:

1923—Henry Sullivan swims the English Channel
1926—Harry Houdini escapes a sealed underwater tank after 91 minutes
1962—Jamaica becomes independent

Birthdays:

1180—Emperer Go-Toba (Japan)
1809—Alfred Lord Tennyson
1911—Lucille Ball
1928—Andy Warhol
1965—David Robinson

Holiday:

H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s Accession Day, United Arab Emirates

August 7

Events:

2007—Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s homerun record

Birthdays:

317—Constantius II (Roman emperer)
1876—Mata Hari
1929—Don Larson
1960—David Duchovny
1975—Edgar Renteria

Holiday:

Emancipation Day, Turks and Caicos Islands

August 8

Events:

1988—The lights are turned on at Wrigley Field, allowing the Cubs to play night games for the first time

Birthdays:

1079—Emperer Horikawa (Japan)
1937—Dustin Hoffman
1961—Bruce Matthews
1967—Marcelo Balboa
1981—Roger Federer

Holiday:

Father’s Day, Taiwan

Baby Update

So Anna just called following her appointment with the doctor this morning. So much for the nonstop eggplant diet. Anna is still one centimeter, which she was at her last appointment on Friday.

She did say that they went ahead and scheduled an induction date for Thursday Aug. 7. Anna goes back to the doctor on Wednesday (assuming nothing happens prior to that) and then she needs to be at the hospital at 6:15 a.m. on Thursday. I just hope the baby isn't born before 10:30 when I get there (go ahead, comment on that one).

Otherwise everything seems to be fine, though. He is still moving quite a bit, so much in fact that Anna had a hard time sleeping last night. She feels like she is getting a little sick, but the midwife said today it should not be a problem. I hate that I have to keep a little distance between us right now, but with my luck Anna would get better and have the baby right about the time I would be getting sick, and I'm not missing out on holding and kissing him.

More to come soon.

Still Waiting

Well, not too much happening just yet. We were hoping for a double birthday today(Anna had hers), but barring something surprising in the next few hours we will have to wait at least another day. Anna is ready to have this boy out and about, which brings me to a question:

Do any of these recommendations actually work? I've heard eggplant, walking, herbal tea, something I dare not say as to avoid offending certain readers. Does anything actually speed nature up, or does it simply take its own course?

Also, funny moment with the in-laws. For the benefit of anyone who may not know, they are British. Some of their English words are different from our English words. One such example is, spelled phonetically, "oh-b-ghene." Anna and her parents, on the back of a conversation pertaining to childbirth, labor and other generally feminine concerns, began talking about "oh-b-ghene" at the dinner table.

Turns out "aubergine" is the British variation of eggplant, the remedy proposed to Anna by her midwife at their meeting Friday. I thought, naturally, that they were saying "OB-GYN" in their own particular way. Needless to say, comedy ensued.

Good Morning Beautiful

Ladies and gentlemen, my wife.

I know some of you are still reeling from the initial shock of seeing this picture, wondering whether pregnancy is playing tricks on Anna's ordinarily reserved sense of judgement or whether I simply decided to take my life in my own hands and post it without her knowledge.

She is aware.

I just wanted the world to have a glimpse of what pregnancy already has done to our little family. This morning I woke, more or less, to this scene--Anna in my National Varisty Line Camp football shirt and my poker underwear. Without giving away too much of my underwear attire, let me say that other mornings look quite similar and include my sleeveless Texas shirt, my Aussie Hoops Furman intramural basketball jersey and pretty much anything else Anna can find. It really is something.

The site of Anna in clothes several times larger than her body is something each day, even if I have to stomach talk of the impending convenience of sleeveless shirts.

Baby Update

So, there isn't a whole lot happening at present as we wait for the little guy. Just a lot of imagining--imagining how I'll detest stop signs and traffic lights between my house and Pineville, imagining how and when he might show up, imagining how little sleep we're going to get. And I imagine every day past the due date (Aug. 2) will be excruciating if he isn't here yet. Then again, maybe they'll be excruciating if he is.

In other news, we got the swivel/rocker/recliner chair to go in the boy's room yesterday, and I journaled in it last night. I'm going to like it. Anna and I had a discussion a few days ago about whether one should discipline a yet-unborn child. After being kicked in the ribs, as it was described to me, Anna manually moved the boy's leg from a particularly uncomfortable position and then rolled onto her side so he couldn't put it back.

We also had an incident of discussion relating to pain. My vote is that Anna keep it to herself, at least when applicable. The boy was hitting a nerve with his mommy the other night and she was in pain, which I was happy to help with as best I could. Then, though, the lights went out. Everything was fine again and I was in that beautiful place just between first sleep and a dream when, evidently, he touched the nerve again. Anna screamed, which I could have dealt with even given my low tolerance for being startled. It was the accompanying reach for and grasp of a certain part of my body that isn't in the top two or three least appropriate places to grab a person, but still isn't quite a place I'd type here. Laughter ensued, but not immediately.

That's about it for now. More to come soon, perhaps. Oh, and of course we're still keeping the name a secret.