Tummy Explodes from 5th to 6th month

Month Four was a honeymoon period for me. My constant fatigue disappeared, my appetite grew, and I had the energy of a body sans baby. My fifth month has put a damper on my energy. Fatigue has rolled back into my late mornings, and, with my growing appetite, my tummy has ballooned. I strain to tie my shoelaces or wash my feet in the shower, and if I'm active for too long my back begins to ache.

On a happy note, the fetus has started kicking regularly, especially when I sit at rest. It is a disconcerting and eerie feeling. The first time, I had a magazine propped on my tummy, and, while I read, the magazine would suddenly pop up. Sometimes, I catch a sharp, quick, bulging movement from the corner of my eye as my body feels a jolt on the side that the baby has kicked. Robby has also been so pleased that he can feel the presence of the baby too. I wonder if it gets motion sickness. I imagine it, floating around as if in a zero-gravity chamber, with its eyes shut tightly. Then I imagine it stretching its arms and legs (that's when I feel the kicking).

This pregnancy phenomenon is no stranger than science fiction, which has spawned a plethora of stories about beings growing inside of other beings. When I think about Aliens, I forget that this is a very human, very common occurrence.

Robby has been extremely busy in the last few weeks. He had a paper submission deadline on Friday, November 6th, for the ICA (International Communication Association) Conference. He is determined to go to its conference in Singapore next May, so he submitted five papers. He is eager to take me & our 3-month-old baby as well. We'll see about that!

Robby also attended the Presence Conference in Marina del Rey this past week. That meant a lot of entertaining of out-of-towners, drinking, karoake, networking, late nights, etc. I participated when I could, but left Robby to his own devices most evenings. This kept him away from Counterstrike. Plus, we had two swell Swiss guests, Bart & David, stay in our living room for a week. They explored Los Angeles, enjoyed large American breakfasts, ate a few hamburgers, checked out Annenberg's video games lab, and frequented a few hopping bars in Los Angeles. They appreciated out 75-degree weather over Switzerland's 3-degree weather. & they said that one would never be able to find American coffee anywhere in Switzerland, where everyone drinks espressos.

I have two large final papers due at the beginning of December, when the fall semester ends. I'm finding it difficult to be motivated enough to sit down & actually write them. Frankly, it has felt like pulling teeth. I've turned to the Huffington Post & Hulu to distract me. I haven't felt this amount of procrastination in a long time, and I'm ashamed that I can't be more productive. Oh, that's also why I'm writing his blog entry - to avoid writing these final papers.