Deaf and Dump

14 women graduate from police institute

Sunday, January 20, 2008

(Pictured)Policewomen who graduated from the Police Training Institute with their trainers and other officials during the graduation ceremony at the institute.

D*HA • The Police Training Institute (PTI) has trained the first batch of policewomen on the principles of communication between the police and people with special needs (deaf and dump).

Their words, not mine.

We have a Laugh Factory here, rather "The Laughter Factory", but who needs it when you can just read the local daily rags. If only this were the exception....

Church Service

He's not as angry today. It's kinda like watching church on TV, but just throwing open the window instead.

32 Weeks and a Jicama

Your Pregnancy: 32 weeks

How your baby's growing:By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

** I just noticed it said he'd be getting real hair. I don't know how much I would have liked him with a piece, so I'm glad he changed his mind about that.

She, I mean he needs to fatten up that belly with those next 3 or 4 pounds.
We started childbirth classes at the hospital Monday night. We missed a lot of it as I was double booked and had an appt w/ the doctor downstairs and P had a minor accident on the way to the hospital and had to leave his car behind. It should be interesting. It's two Swedish ladies and a local.
There is a couple in our class who also live in our compound and she's having an elective C-section. We (the 3 other couples from our compound) are curious as to why she's there. So far, none of the information has applied to her. We'll see how long they last.

Call to prayer

I can't get this right side up, but you don't really need to see the video anyway. Turn your speakers waaay up. I'll try to get better audio on the web cam later.

The speakers are suppose to be set up so that you can hear at least one in every part of town. We seem to be in a happening area. There are at least three. I can follow the first one for the 3-5 seconds it goes before the second and third ones come on. O.K., not really. You can also hear the guy giving the "service" over one of the speakers on Friday mornings. I'll have to catch that too. He seems angry.

And yes, it's raining. It has been for the last 3 days. Rainy and cold. I like it. And that's our back patio. If you saw the back of the exterior units, you'd know why we want to move. They have a little yard in the back and on the side as well as another carport.

Big Boy

We had another ultrasound completed last night to monitor the "liquor" levels. They're up, way up. It's now at about 15.8 up from 11.2 and 11.5.

Other than that, he's a big boy. She measured his head 3 different times as he moved around. It's measuring about 34 weeks 2 days, so almost 3 weeks larger. His abdominal circumference has always been right on or a little small at 30 weeks 5 days and his femur length is 33 weeks 3 days. We're going to have a tall, big-headed, skinny baby boy. He's almost 4.2 pounds (give or take 1/2 a pound)which is about a week and a half ahead.

When she first started the scan she was right over his face and he blinked for us a few times. Then she said she made him cry because his began rubbing his eyes with his little fists. Sooo cute and yet kinda creepy at the same time.

The MD that completed the ultrasound was an Indian lady. Dressed in her head scarf and long skirt with her white lab coat over all of it. We kept saying what a big boy he was and she giggle and affirmed that yes he was a big boy as she scanned down to show us his testicles. Niiice!

Would you like some gumbo with that smoke?

Perry invited some folks over for dinner tomorrow. The recipe says to make it a day or two ahead in case you burn the place down. Wait, I think it said it tastes better if it sits for a day or two. Details.

Wooo-hooo! 31 weeks!

Your pregnancy: 31 weeks

How your baby's growing:This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

He's been head down the last few times we've been in, so no somersaults. Just some gut punches and rib ticklers. He kinda slides from side to side too...feet in the upper left one day, punches in the lower right the next, good fun.

This pictures doesn't seem to show it, but I've put on twice as much weight in the last 3 or 4 weeks as I should have. Still have 9 weeks and 9 pounds to go. At night, I'm not sure where it's going to go. It hurts! Then I wake up the next morning, and it all seems to have worked itself out for another day.

Besides my hips painin' me as I try to sleep, I get the lovely, and oh so vivid pregnancy dreams.

This time, I took Avery (21 months old) to the Met in NYC. As dreams go, it's not exact. There was a huge fountain out front in a park. People were swimming in the fountain, so I hopped on in and tried to get Avery to go with me. She didn't want to. I told her to go back inside (up all those stairs and into that huge place) and find her mom. I didn't want to have to take her, I was swimming. Of course she didn't go back inside. Jill came out looking for her and she was gone. I couldn't decide whether to off myself (in my dream) or not. I told P about it this morning and said to go ahead and call social services because clearly I'm unfit and little buddy's not even here yet. And I'm never going to that museum with a small child in my custody. Screw culture. (sorry dad)