THE PARIS LETTER: Baby Supplies, False Labor, and a little 9/11 Reflection

Belleville

Hello everyone -
Well, I know you've heard me say it before, but I am really pregnant at this point - 31 weeks, and I just realized that bending over to tie my shoes is becoming increasingly difficult. Time to bust out the slip ons I guess. Sheesh.

I had some false labor this week - first time in this pregnancy I've ever had to call my midwife after-hours, so thank goodness for that I guess, but because everything with the baby has been so normal these actually-very-normal Braxton Hicks contractions freaked me out. I had also been having some pelvic pain (sorry to get graphic on you so early in this letter...) so I had this fear that I was dialating or the baby was descending early and they'd have to put me on bedrest for the next 6 to 8 weeks. That was really my fear, the bedrest. I already feel so much less mobile that I think I might go crazy if I had to stay in bed - But, I've known so many women that this has happened to that I have had it in the back of my mind since I hit the second trimester.

THE PARIS LETTER: Hurricanes, Mall Pools, and Cloth Diapers

Hello there from non-hurricane-threatened Paris -

Sheesh! What a weekend for my friends in New York and on the East Coast! Matt was supposed to fly to New York for a week yesterday, and just had to change his flight - clearly - in a way, it's nice to see New York taking all these precautions for once. And in another way, why does there always have to be a hurricane/blizzard/heat wave in New York that makes travel and life difficult? Its enough to make you wonder why 10 million people were foolish enough to call this place home. This year has really been a bad weather year for that city.

Sunset from our Paris apartment

But not for Paris! Matt and I were just talking at dinner about Europe's weather in general - it seems mysteriously free of the kinds of yearly insanity that strikes the US ; Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Floods, Tornadoes - Other than an occasional Italian earthquake, does Europe really have these kinds of natural disasters regularly? Given that last winter two inches of snow was cause for alarm here, I feel like maybe not. Someone, please tell me if I'm wrong - it seems somewhat unfair that all of Europe should be spared the kind of craziness all of the US seems to go through each year.

THE PARIS LETTER: Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer...

Ahhh, its August. Doesn't it FEEL like August? Things are slowing down, everyone's on vacation, at the same time September's out there looming - This usually leads me into a frenzy of trying to get things done for work before its time, but this year I'm trying to use the August time to get the house ready for the baby and other more appropriate things. Also - adn some of you will know what I mean by this - I started to read George R.R.Martin's GAME OF THRONES series, so if you've emailed me and you don't hear from me this week, just know that I'm buried in a 5 book fantasy cycle and can't return any emails until I come up for air.