Reader

I am a huge reader. I read everything from religous books to political to humor to vampire fiction.

I got this hunger for books and reading from my parents. I don't have many early memories that don't involve my parents and books. My earliest memories of bedtime is settling down to my own book while my parents read their books. I asked my mom about this memory one time and she said that I was about 3 at the time. In fact, I don't remember NOT being able to read.

Mom read romance, mystery, and what she called "Love in the Family" - true crime type novels. She read Janet Louise Roberts, Stephen King, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Ann Rule, etc. She always had a book going until her brother passed away in 1990. She said after that that she just couldn't concentrate anymore. She eventually was able to read magazines and Reader's Digest and towards the end of her life, she could read books again. At the end, she loved Janet Evanovich and I got her a cd player so she could listen to the Stephanie Plum books.

Dad was a different kind of reader. He read everything from Winston Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples to James Bond to Philip Jose Farmer to James Michner. He loved EVERY kind of reading material. Another thing: he was reading at least 3, if not more, books at any given time. He had one in the bathroom, at least one next to his chair in this living room and at least a couple in the bedroom.

I'd go to the local used bookstore with him a couple times a month with a bag of books to trade in. He'd carry in 10-15 books and come out with 6-7 books as well as a couple for me.

Like my dad, I generally have at least 2 books going. Generally, one of the books I have going is an old favorite. I tend to read my favorites until they fall apart and then I get another copy. Among my favorites are:

• The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss
• Shanna also by Kathleen Woodiwiss
• Heir to the Shadows (Black Jewels, Book 2) by Anne Bishop
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Interestingly enough, I also love audio books. When I was driving back and forth on my commute from Hell at my last job, audio books helped save my sanity. I've got a number of favorites that I have in audio and paper versions.

The reason I'm writing about all this besides to let you in on how my brain works is because my husband got one of these:


It's called a Kindle 2 and it's a digital reader. I want one, but I can't tell you why and these things are NOT cheap. Furthermore, I don't know that I need one.

Hubby can justify it. He rides public transportation to and from work. It could save him a lot of time and energy. Additionally, he's a writer and wants to publish some of his work for Kindle so in that way, I think he needs it.

For me, it's like an iPhone. It's cool. It's really cool. But I don't need it. I can't think of a single reason that I can't use what I already have. Also, I really LOVE books. I love the way that old books smell. I love the feel of the paper. I love the ragged edges of a well loved book.

What books do you read and are you considering a Kindle?

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You think you brain so big*

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.

Well, let's see.

• Look at the list and bold those you have read.
• Italicize those you intend to read.
• Underline the books you LOVE or if you can't put a note at the end (I can't underline on Blogger for some reason).
• Reprint this list in your blog so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - LOVE IT
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - LOVE IT
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling - LOVE IT
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - LOVE IT
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - LOVE IT
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - LOVE IT
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - LOVE IT
58. A Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - LOVE IT
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I've read 44!!! My father insisted that I read a number of "classics" while growing up so I suppose I should be grateful to him. I am disappointed that there's no Mark Twain on this list. Tom Sawyer and Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court are two of my favorites.

*Sorry, the title is an obscure reference to a line from Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace

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Doctor Merry-go-round

Last couple of appointments have been pretty interesting.

First, a midwife checkup at House O Babies a week ago Friday. First thing out of the midwife's mouth was "I want you to have your next appointment with an OB instead of a midwife". To which I replied that my next appointment was with an OB.

I had scheduled several appointments in advance as I knew that I'd be going every week for a while. So I knew that my next appointment was with an OB/GYN and it was during this meeting that I was to discuss birth options - particularly c-section. Vicky, the midwife, said that I had been discussed during a meeting amongst the midwives and OB/GYNs and because of certain elements, I might want to consider a scheduled c-section.

After my meeting with Vicky, I needed to get a Non stress test. If you don't know, this involves a recliner and a monitor. The preggo lies calmly on the recliner while the monitor is strapped around her belly monitoring the baby's heartbeat and activity. My problem is that Spider Monkey is at a weird angle, so the only way the monitor picks up her heartbeat is if you have the monitor on the left side of my belly button at a weird angle. The straps holding the monitor won't keep it at the exact angle required no matter what we do, so I have to sit and hold it exactly at that spot to pick up her heartbeat. So 40 minutes later, my arm is killing me and I'm about to go crazy.

After this appointment, I picked Moo up at the train station and we drove to his folks house for the weekend. They live about 2-1/2 hours away and I really looked forward to getting out of the house for the weekend. I figured it would be the last time I was more than 30 miles from the house for a while.

We spent a couple of days with them and were gifted with a huge box of onesies and outfits for Spider Monkey. Mom-in-law also had a high chair, a little wagon filled with books and a weenie little chair that's just the perfect size for a Raggedy Ann and Andy doll to sit. I rested, ate the most awesome watermelon ever and read this book.

Last Tuesday had us back at the Perinatologist. It was the first time since I started going there back in January that I've actually seen the perinatologist and not a member of his staff. After a very thorough ultrasound, I met with him. For all that he's a gruff old fart, I really like him. The baby was now a whopping 7 pounds 15oz. YES, ALMOST EIGHT POUNDS OF BABY and we were only 35 weeks 3 days.

The doctor explained that we were getting to crunch time. He explained again that gestational diabetes causes the placenta to degrade faster and that insulin injections increase the rate of degradation. He also explained that my age added another factor to this rate and that the baby's size also aggravated the situation. At the current rate of growth, we could have a 12-14 pound baby by my due date. Everything is working the way it needs to and SM looks completely healthy but the risks are mounting.

To this end, he wants to do an amniocentesis during my next appointment to evaluate lung function. If she comes back with good function, we could deliver immediately. The point is to avoid an emergency situation and keep everyone, baby and me, safe.

So with this information and the thoughts of amnios and c-sections in my head, I went back to House O'Babies this past Friday to see who I will now call Dr Asshole.

My blood pressure was a little elevated which upset me because my blood pressure has been so good to this point. Additionally, I've had a trace of protein in my urine over the last couple of appointments. I've read enough pregnancy blogs and consulted with Dr Google enough to know that these are possible signs of preeclampsia.

Dr Asshole came in and introduced himself to me and then began to freak out about my blood pressure. He pissed me off from the very beginning. He said he hadn't read any of my chart nor looked at the report that the perinatologist had sent over. He didn't know that I had gestation diabetes and he also discounted the Perinatologist's information regarding degradation of the placenta. Then, he tried to make me feel guilty about being pregnant in the first place remarking that because of my weight, I may not tolerate labor and I may not survive a c-section. When I told him that I couldn't teleport the kid out of my uterus, he just looked worried.

In short, he pissed me off.

I've had nothing but good things to say about this practice. I've felt very comfortable there. I've been praised by every midwife about my control of both my weight and my blood pressure. I've felt like I was getting the best care possible until now. Until Dr Asshole walked in.

This asshole, who can't be over 30 and has only been out of residency for a couple of years decides it's his job to put the fear of God in me. He didn't like it one bit when I told him that I respected the opinion of my perinatologist more than his. He also wouldn't talk more about birth options because "we need to wait and see".

After this, he wanted to complete the strep b test and a quick cervix check. I almost said "hell no" but decided to go ahead. Surprisingly, he was very gentle and completed the test and the cervix check quickly. My cervix is still shut tight and he said that the baby was head down at -2 or -1 station. Next, he wanted me to go over to Labor and Delivery because he wanted some bloodwork completed immediately to see if I have preeclampsia. While I was there, I could have them do my non-stress test too.

So off to the hospital across the street. I got to triage, stripped down, gave some blood and urine samples, found that I was spotting a little, got the monitor on and held it for 40 minutes because she's still in a funky position. The monitor showed I was having some pretty strong contractions, but baby was fine. Dr Asshole never mentioned that I might have some spotting after the swab and cervical check, but luckily I assumed as much and mentioned it to my favorite midwife who was on call at the hospital, who confirmed my assumption.

The bloodwork that all came back fine, my blood pressure was lower, the contractions were calmed with a lovely vat of ice water and then I became the recipient of a giant container. A 24 hour urine collection was needed to rule out preeclampsia and I need to go back to House O'Babies on Monday for another check and more bloodwork.

I live in Atlanta and it's June 30th. In other words, it's hot as hell and twice as humid. The collection has to remain cool - preferably refrigerated. So as I write this, I've got a giant Styrofoam cooler with ice and a container of pee here in my cubicle. My co-workers keep walking by saying, "hey, what's in the cooler?!? Goodies?!?" to which I reply, "No, you don't want to know what's in this cooler".

So it's back to House o'Babies today. Off to the perinatologist tomorrow for an amnio and after that? I have no idea. I have to admit, I'm happy with a wait and see attitude. She's due in less than a month and the longer she stays in, the stronger she'll be. I really want to bypass NICU and I know even if she's got good lung function, there's still a chance that a 36 week baby will spend a day or two in NICU. But at the same time, I don't want an emergency of any kind.

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Harry FARKING Potter ... SOB!!!

Hopefully by now, everyone's read the last HP book. If not...


SPOILER ALERT ...SPOILER ALERT ...SPOILER ALERT ...SPOILER ALERT ...SPOILER ALERT ...SPOILER ALERT ...SPOILER ALERT ...


I have to say that I've enjoyed the HP series. I started reading them at about book three (Prisoner of Azkaban). I originally read it out of spite. I thought all the adults getting all wiggy over a kid's book was ridiculous. And then I read book one (Sorcerer's Stone - Philospher's Stone for the Brits), and I got all wiggy over a kid's book. I quickly ran thru books 2 and 3 and was ready when book 4 made it's debut with all the other folks at the bookstore.

The seventh book takes us back to Privet Drive and a more mature infinitely more jaded Harry. The Durseley's are as bad as ever, but Dudley definitely shocks you with his separation anxiety as well as his willingness to let the Wizarding world protect him. It's as though he's becoming a bit more openminded.

The loss of Moody wasn't altogether unexpected. It seemed apparant to me early on that most of the "Old Guard" must be removed to enable Harry to meet Voldemort. Someone is almost always there to help rescue Harry in every other book. I felt that Harry had to face this final challenge on his own.

The death of Hedwig was devastating to me. I love animals and I bawled for a solid 30 minutes after I read this. I put the book down and told my DH that this was "a terrible book and I don't want to read any more of it!" after reading about Hedwig. However, I decided to move on after that.

I somehow knew that Fleur and Bill's wedding wouldn't go unnoticed by the Deatheaters - this wasn't all that shocking.

What was shocking was the boring, dragging, everlasting, camping trip that came after. Good grief, I feel like JK Rowling could have stripped out at least 100 pages of this drivel. What a boring section.

I won't tell you how the book ends in the event you aren't finished. I'm fairly satisfied however with the ending. Everything wraps up well enough that I don't have too many lingering questions.

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