All not-so quiet on the baby front

Some people refer to the womb as some kind of magical place where existence is idyllic for a growing foetus. I beg to differ. I think a woman's uterus must be just about the most uncomfortable existence imaginable. Not only would you be squashed, contorted, crushed and thumped throughout what little-understanding-of-a-day-you-would-have, but you would be inside someone else's body a forced to listen to their growling stomach, their cavernous lungs, their glooping intestines, their constant blabbing and occasional pokes and prods from infrequently interested fiancé, big sister and various other relatives. I experienced my poor foetal-daughter's desperate attempts to escape this prison last night when it seems she was trying to kick her way out of Linda's belly. Poor kid. What a horrific way to spend the first 9 months of life.

And after all this uterine serenity, what happens? You're squelched kicking and screaming into the outside world where the ambient temperature is about 15 degrees Celcius lower than anything you've ever known and you have to get rid of all that liquid in your lungs and instead, start breathing a gaseous Oxygen and Nitrogen mixture!

No wonder babies cry for their first couple of weeks. I would too.

Now, onto other baby related things. (It's understandably the focus of life at the moment.) Linda had a check-up yesterday and was helpfully informed by the hospital doctor/nurse/staff that the baby is going to be big. To say we already knew that is an understatement. Linda is, well, how can I say this knowing that she will read it, um, she's bigger than she was with Chelsea. In fact, she would probably admit that she's bigger now than she was the day Chelsea was born, and we still have 5 weeks to go! I'm worried that the baby is going to be too big to be born naturally. We will have to ask the midwife/whoever how they will know if the baby is too big before the birth begins. (Surely you can do that.)

Chelsea has started truly asserting herself. She needs to be reminded of her true social status sometimes. The other day Linda was telling her to hurry up while at the supermarket. Chelsea's response: "OK Mummy! RELAX!" What kind of 3 year old tells their Mum to chill out like that? One that has a rude shock coming in a month or so when they find that they now have a sibling and the world no longer rotates around themselves.

Going to see The Eagles at Rod Laver Arena tonight. Should be good I guess. Linda's father has shouted us all tickets, so I have nothing to lose. I wonder if there will be tragic Eagles-losers everywhere? I'll let you know.

What else is happening? Um, I'm still waiting for my new mobile phone to be connected to the 3 network after 21 days of waiting. What a joke. The telecommunications industry ombudsman is looking into the matter.

Those scumbags in Iraq have executed Margaret Hussan - the CARE director in Iraq. What can you say about militants who execute someone who has done nothing but try to help citizens of a country for 30 years? Even Abu Musab al-Zarqawi called for her release. Poor woman. Iraq is a true basket-case now I think. Is this how Vietnam seemed in 1974? 30 years on and just the name of the country is different. Then again, Vietnam didn't have any oil reserves worth fighting for, so I wonder shat Uncle Sam was doing there? Oh yes, putting a stop to that evil domino theory.

OK, gotta stop ranting. Perhaps I'll go and memorise the lyrics to "Hotel California". Might be nice to be familiar with at least one song tonight...

J