Category: by Barbie-dull

Posts originally in Dullicious, where I blogged as Barbie-dull between 2005 and 2008.

Words that I didn’t know 9 months ago

Nine months ago, I had no idea that the words meconium, vernix or colostrum existed. I knew about labour, epidural, delivery, but the notions were very abstract.

My son is now fast asleep. We’ve been back home for a week. The hospital kept us for 6 long days ; Adrien had lost more than the usual 10% of his birth weight. He was born on 23 November at 7:37 p.m., 13 days ago. That was less than a half hour after they took me to the delivery room and an hour after we arrived at the hospital. There was no time for an epidural, as I made it all the way to 9 centimeters by the time I got there. I thought I might have the baby in the car! We left home in a hurry. It was time to go, suddenly, as the contractions were happening every two minutes. All day I had had them, every 10 or 15 minutes, sometimes every 5 minutes, but not for two hours. I had had them the night before too. In fact, they started in the afternoon the day before. I was attending the last birth preparation class and I started to experience contractions in the middle of it.

I had a wonderful and easy pregnancy. I was hardly tired and the only nuisance, really, was having to go to the doctor’s every month. Only three weeks before the end did I start to walk at a slower pace. I was still at work 2 weeks before the end (only I thought I would have three weeks).

Adrien arrived a week in advance, on 23 November 2007, at 7:37 pm. He weighed 2,990 kg and was 49,5 cm tall. His father held my hand and encouraged me through it all. And since then, he’s been as fantastic as ever, helping me and supporting me with the baby.

“Gipsy, give me your tears”


“Gipsy, give me your tears!”

On my way back to the pharmacy just now, a gipsy talked to me. Dude, that was so weird!

I *must* blag about it 😉

She said I would travel abroad, but not just now. Well, I didn’t say, but the taxi picks me up in 10 minutes to go to the airport; I’m going to Boston for a few days, for work.

She told me to remember the number “19” because it is going to be important in the upcoming months.

She asked me if the initials M J F meant anything to me and I said no. But she said I should keep them in mind because they will matter soon.

Then she gave me a white plastic “stone” from the Saintes-Marie de la Mer, where she comes from). It’s ugly. She said people must treat gipsies right (and she meant “generously”), so I gave her 5 euros. She must have thought she was in potentially good compagny, so she went on and read my palm.

She said I was lucky and other stuff and that I had an excellent memory (wrong!)
She asked me if I had undergone surgery in my life and I said no, and she said I never would. Amen.

That’s when she said it usually costs EUR 20 to 30 for palm reading. She was _that_ close to add “otherwise the predictions don’t work”, I’m sure.

I didn’t give her any more money but I’ll slip the plastic thingie in my bag, just in case 😉

Update: I just thought I’d mention that the flight attendant, seeing I was pregnent, moved me from a seat at row 11 (exit) to row… 19!
No update on MJF.

By me, on me

[This post originally appeared in Dullicious, where I blogged as Barbie-dull for several years.]

I was at the doctor’s today and almost every time, he mentions that I look scary to him. Something in the eyes. I think he means there is severity marked all over my face, or strictness.

Anyway, I just thought I’d blog about being casually terrifying.

Dream of a new skin

I had this bizarre little dream last night that Chaals was giving me access to a download website for bootleg Opera skins 🙂 …bootleg skins… /me shakes head…

And it was bright orange and he insisted it was *the* skin to get and that I would get used to it and grow to love it 🙂 …bright orange… it totally clashes with the Opera red… /me shakes head…

I woke up amused and thought I hadn’t changed the skin of Opera in ages (I still haven’t, mind you, I don’t really see the need or amusement to change my environment aspect –quite the contrary, I like it to be stable).