Random Musings

In an effort to prepare herself for labor, Jessie has actually been asking me to take her on walks. What? Am I dreaming?! Somebody pinch me! As a reward, I took her out for a stroll during the weekend at the memorial honoring the late Chiang Kai-Shek, savior and scourge of Taiwan.

After snapping several pictures at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, I decide to keep at it once we get home. One thing I’ve noticed is that as long as Jessie is playing with her iPhone, she won’t really pay any attention to what I’m doing, as evidenced by the numerous pictures I took of her with various stuffed animals.

There’s no way I could have pulled these off if she were just laying there. Of course, she probably didn’t think I’d be posting them up either. (Surprise!) If I can keep her busy with the iPhone when she goes into labor, maybe Jessie won’t notice the pain or the fact that she’s just had a baby. 

Which leads me to my next thought. Jessie has made it abundantly clear that she doesn’t want me snapping pictures or taking videos of her when she goes into labor. However, a friend whom she borrowed a breast pump from this weekend told her that she’ll regret not having those precious, captured memories of herself cursing, screaming, and going crazy at her beloved husband to cherish forever and ever. Well said.

Speaking of crazy, being pregnant comes with its benefits. People tend to treat you nicer and you always have a seat on the bus or subway. The reason? Because no one wants to argue with or get a pregnant woman angry.

That’s exactly why I had Jessie go into Blockbuster to try and get us a free DVD when the one we rented had a scratch and kept pausing in between scenes. Of course, this is after the fact that we finished watching the movie. Here’s how I imagine it going down:

Jessie: This DVD doesn’t work properly. I’d like to exchange it for another title.
Blockbuster: Sorry, that’s not part of our policy.
Jessie: Excuse me? I’m not sure you’re understanding me. Let me rephrase that for you. I’m 36 weeks pregnant, I waddled all the way over here, and now I’m hot and sweaty. I know you’re not talking crazy to me. Even my husband isn’t that stupid! (Or is he?)
Blockbuster: Uh… well, is a lifetime worth of free rentals, OK?
Jessie: Yes, I suppose that will be satisfactory.

And on a final note, after visiting the doctor’s and taking medication, my mom’s blood pressure has finally gone down to a normal level. Initially, her blood pressure was above 200/100, which falls into the category of hypertension crisis. This is severe hypertension with acute impairment of organ systems and the possibility of irreversible organ-damage.

Yikes! That’s some serious stuff there. I have no idea how she’s been making it around with that kind of blood pressure this entire time, but I’m glad everything is OK.