*sigh* Still no signs of anything. Nada. No dropping, no stomach ache, no bloodiness or crampiness. Aside from that ONE BH contraction a couple of weeks ago, it's like my body has reached a point of self-satisfied stasis and seems to think we're going to hang like this for a while. Which is fine, but...well, we can't really. And two weeks past my due date is Christmas eve and I think that would just be a crappy time to get induced because no one wants a holiday birthday, especially when you are a kid and all your friends are away during that time and school is out so you don't even get a goddamn cupcake party, not to mention that for your whole life people will give you "combined" gifts/cards, which just sucks the life out of the whole special-for-a-day thing.
Anyway. I guess Speetus will come when s/he comes. In the meantime, I have made a playlist, albeit a short one, of songs that never fail to make me happy, even though many are on the lugubrious side:
Hallelujah, by John Cale
Beautiful World, by Colin Hay
First Day of My Life, by Bright Eyes
Between the Bars, by Elliot Smith
Perfect Day, by Lou Reed
Say Yes, by Elliot Smith
The Coo Coo Bird, by the Be Good Tanyas
The Littlest Birds, by the Be Good Tanyas (Thanks Olive!)
We Walk the Same Line, by Everything but the Girl (Thanks again, Olive!)
We Walk the Same Line, by Everything but the Girl (Thanks again, Olive!)
Open Hearts and Doors, by Antigone Rising
Broken, by Antigone Rising
In Spite of All the Damage, by the Be Good Tanyas
Look at that Green, by Sarah Harmer
Tom Traubert’s Blues, by Tom Waits
Take this Waltz, by Leonard Cohen
Tower of Song, by Leonard Cohen
All I Want in You, by Barry Louis Polisar
Anyone Else But You, by the Moldy Peaches
Birthday, by the Sugarcubes
And I have full playlists of Rose Polenzani, Melissa Ferrick, Ani Difranco and other usual suspects, plus a feminist hip hop list, and iTunes genius mixes based on various unquantifiable elements of my musical tastes...I feel pretty ready. If only Speetus would catch up!
I know this is not the part of the post that I should be focusing my comments on (come on, speedus we cant wait to meet you!), but I was surprised/excited to see Rose on your playlist. I always think of her as "our" local, little secret. She is a friend of a friend and plays a lot of local shows so I never realized she had an NYC following :)
ReplyDeleteI love Rose. I can't remember how I first heard her, but she sings so beautifully I couldn't stop listening, even with all the god references...She doesn't come to NYC that often but I get there when I can.
ReplyDeleteheh. i about bit my arm off not calling my bff when she was due. i really did think she might not have told me. (but let the record reflect that i controlled myself! and let the record further reflect that she called maybe 12 hours after her son was born, which was pretty reasonable, especially considering what time it was. we both get gold stars.)
ReplyDeleteyour mix sounds great. i love, love, love the be good tanyas. i will have to look at this post again when things get closer for us...maybe i'll throw a little erin mckeown in, too.
you are, i'm sorry to say, dead on about the problem of december birthdays. but, speaking as an early-december baby, you don't really avoid them at any point in the month. just plan on a lot of half-birthday parties. pool parties are fun!
i have to say, being born on 12/21 suits me and i have never been disappointed about the timing of my birthday. maybe my family and friends are just extra good about this (being that my parents and bffs were born in dec, too) but it helps to quell some of the anticipation of 12/25...like an "almost there" point! plus, you can count on a vivacious personality in your sag! p.s. love the playlist and the abundance of leonard cohen!
ReplyDeleteYour mix is fantastic. You're so prepared. We went nine days over and I remember how annoying all the check-ins got - especially given the fact that they were coming via text, face.book, email, phone - every which way. It felt like forever and now it seems like it passed so quickly!
ReplyDeleteI do feel bad that my Shane has a 12/21 b-day (thought cheered that metalstork likes it!), but what can you do? We plan to always try to make his birthday special and separate from Christmas. Also thought of the half-birthday celebration as well. We'll see what his thoughts are.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe you are so close to having this baby! SO exciting! Also, it's great that you aren't too uncomfortable.
aren't people so annoying?! it used to drive me crazy to come in to work those final days and have people ask, "no baby yet?" i wanted to scream - "do you see me here?! do you see this belly?! why are you asking?" argh.
ReplyDeletemy brothers in law (twins) have 12/23 birthdays. the family always makes a big deal of them, putting aside christmas stuff for the day to celebrate. it is possible to have both, but yeah, i totally understand the preference of a little more distance. hope your babe makes an appearance soon!!
i love the be good tanyas.. you should check out patty griffin... when i have my baby, for sure i just listen to hear cds. she is my favorite artist.
ReplyDeleteI won't say that I was not wondering how things were going. ;) I am down to the finishing up stages of you gift and I amuse myself thinking that you baby is also finishing up whatever they need to be ready. I am glad that you are both feeling comfortable.
ReplyDeleteAs for December birthdays, I never minded too much except that I could never have a party on my actual birthday (the 22nd.) My mother kept the dining room clear of Christmas decorations so that my cards and cake would have a "birthday" space.
On the other hand, having the days starting to get longer again on your birthday is a pretty awesome gift.
I cannot wait to see pics of your little one. You are in for such joy. Hopefully well before Christmas!
ReplyDelete"Perfect Day" is on about half of my playlists. Whenever I teach yoga it's the song that leads into the blissful relaxation part of the program. Love you list! I can't wait to hear the news, and the only reason I'm not emailing you is because I know to check your blog. ;)
ReplyDeleteGOOD LUCK! And maybe we'll be celebrating the same birthday!
Have you had the baby yet? J/K!
ReplyDeleteBut have you? (;
Sadie's bday is 12/30 and we're trying embrace it. It sucks being between two holidays. She's going to get passed over big time!
Well it IS heartening to hear from/remember all the excellent Dec birthday people out there! I do have a special place in my heart for Sags and Caps, anyway. Maybe something about that rough birthday season is "character building" ;-)
ReplyDeleteNo movement on the Speetus front yet. Maybe a little droppage? Hard to say. Nothing definitive, for sure :( I am settling in for a wait and charging all my rechargeable batteries, literally and figuratively.
We feel bad that chunk's birthday is a week before Christmas and have talked about celebrating half birthdays as well, so that as a kid, his two favorite days of the year are not always within a week. What is funny is that I am sure people keep asking, but in my case, when my water broke at 36 weeks, I kept getting, "already" remarks! people are never happy!!! :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously! DO they think you would have the baby and not mention it to them??? We had 5-10 email/texts/voicemail a day asking about it. I eventually snapped at a good friend (and of course had to appologize) and told her to stop asking and to tell everyone else to do the same. I told her she was incredibly special to me and would be one of the first 5 people we called. Oy.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that and have fun labling!