I just discovered in checking my stats that Held In Contempt is listed on NJ.com's local blog list, which I honestly didn't even know existed. That's pretty darn cool.

I'm quite distressed right now, so this will be short. I failed my one-hour glucose tolerance test, and not by a little. I feel like a big, fat, focus on the FAT, failure. I've been having such a great pregnancy, and this just makes me feel like shit.

Yes, I know I said that I would update on Monday about the weekend. I lied.

I ended up working for most of the day at home yesterday, cuminating in a rather unpleasant email exchange with one of my internal clients.

Today started with me gulping down the super-sweet orange Glucola at 8 am, and then heading off to the OB's office for my 28-week appointment.

The good news: BP of 110/70, baby is measuring at 28.5 weeks, which is perfect, and my slight foot edema is nothing to worry about.

The bad news, at least from my perspective: I gained 10 pounds in the last five weeks. Now, no one at the office has said word one to me about my weight for my entire pregnancy (I'm up about 30 pounds at 28 weeks, according to the scale at home), but man, that seems like a lot. Maybe I need to cut back on the ice cream a little bit.

Anyway, they'll call me tomorrow about the glucose tolerance test results, and then I'll get seen in three weeks so that they can check me before my business trip to Vegas.

Now, back at work. Ugh.

We're back, New Hampshire was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time. However, the trip back today was a little bit long and uncomfortable, so I'll update more tomorrow, since I'm on vacation until Wednesday.

It's amazing how things like a packing list change when you get pregnant.

Previous packing list for a weekend away:

Clothes
2-3 pairs of shoes
Toiletries
Books/Magazines
CDs for the car

New pregnancy packing list:

Clothes
Shoes that don't cut off the circulation in my sausage feet
Toiletries
Pregnancy books/magazines
Body pillow
Stretch mark cream
Tums
Prenatal vitamins/folic acid
Gallons of water

I can't wait to see what the list is like after Fudgette arrives.

Technically, I'm on vacation. However, this doesn't seem to stop the voicemails, even though I have my "extended absence greeting" on. We're heading up to New Hampshire this afternoon for a reunion with part of Dave's family, where we'll be until Sunday, and I'm not taking my laptop. I'm looking forward to just relaxing and getting some reading done. We're coming back on Sunday, but I took Monday and Tuesday as vacation days as well, so I have a while before I am forced to go back to work.

So it's my last work day before a six-day vacation, and what am I doing? Sitting at home procrastinating, instead of drying my hair and getting in the car to go to the office. I'm having a throwback to morning sickness morning, and it's miserable outside. Meh.

1) I am immune to the chicken pox. Huzzah!

2) My third trimester starts today. Where has the time gone????

Interesting note to last night's Mets victory -- the 42-year-old Franco got his first save in over two years, and former Met and all-around oddball Turk Wendell gave up a 2-run homer to seal the victory.

Electronic Freedom Foundation founder John Gilmore was removed from a British Airways flight for wearing a small button that read "Suspected Terrorist." (from Lawrence Kestenbaum)

Here's a rather scary article regarding the fact that New Jersey ranked second in the nation last year in the number of Caesarean births. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control, nearly one of every three babies delivered here in 2002 was a Caesarean section.

The rate in the United States for the procedures, commonly referred to as C-sections, reached an all-time high of 26 percent last year, according to the CDC.

It's interesting that the NJ malpractice crisis figures into this number, as well. The chairman of the OB/GYN departments at Morristown and Overlook Hospitals (which are part of the same system as the hospital where Fudgette will be delivered) is quoted in the article as saying that "very few obstetricians are willing to take any risks" because of the obscene malpractice insurance rates in the state.

No news yet on the chicken pox. My coworker has still not broken out, so maybe she's not going to get them after all. My lab results should be in today, according to the doctor's office.

In other news, although my blood pressure is fine (we bought a home monitor just to be sure), my feet are starting to resemble sausages. Ugh. I'm used to having rather skinny ankles, but now I barely even *have* ankles. I'm trying to keep my feet up, and my water intake is somewhere around 100 ounces a day, but I guess until the heat/humidity breaks, it's something I'm just going to have to deal with.

Thanks to all of you on the notify list who voted in the name poll. I'm happy to report that we have picked a name from that list.

No, I'm not telling you what it is. You'll just have to wait.

Someone appears to have made off with my staple puller. I am not pleased.

"In the year 2003, there is no reason to wear one outside of your home. ... There are so many other options out there that are stylish, more convenient to carry and appropriate for women over the age of 12."

An open letter to the Sunday New York Times Style Section Photo Retoucher. Yes, I read the engagement and wedding announcements every week. You can admit it, too.

A writer for Popular Science recently called Dockers to find out the science behind their new stain-resistant khakis, which allegedly use "nanotechnology" to fight dirt. Here's the amusing conversation that she had with their customer service agent.

If anyone knows a patent attorney with pharma experience who's looking for a job in the NYC metro area, drop me a line.

A woman from Alabama has won the 22nd Annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a parody honoring the writer of the worst beginning to an imaginary novel.

"They had but one last remaining night together, so they embraced each other as tightly as that two-flavor entwined string cheese that is orange and yellowish-white, the orange probably being a bland Cheddar and the white ... Mozzarella, although it could possibly be Provolone or just plain American, as it really doesn't taste distinctly dissimilar from the orange, yet they would have you believe it does by coloring it differently," the winner wrote.

Love. String Cheese. Awesome.

Well, I've got good news and bad news this morning.

The good news is that we interviewed a pediatrician last night, and we liked him very much and are going to use him. He's two minutes from the house, is the director of pediatrics for the hospital where we're delivering the baby, and is very pro-breastfeeding. Yay! One more thing to check off my list.

The bad news: my paralegal's daughter has a raging case of chicken pox, and my paralegal doesn't think she's ever had them. Now, I had chicken pox when I was 12 or 13, so I should be immune, but my OB's office wants me to come in and have a blood test just in case. Apparently, at this point in my pregnancy, there's no risk to the baby, but there is a high risk of varicella-related pneumonia to me. Super.

Yet another article from the Boston area about why the image of the pharmaceutical industry is so terrible. I really think that the comparison to the tobacco industry is a bit over the top, don't you?

I love this story. Two sisters have been banned from shopping at Filene's Basement stores nationwide after excessive returns and complaints. "Given your history of excessive returns and your chronic unhappiness with our services, we have decided that this is the best way to avoid any future problems with you and your sister," wrote David E. Sherer, vice president of loss prevention at Value City Department Stores of Columbus, Ohio.

Here's an interesting story from the Philadelphia Inquirer about the ratio of female to male valedictorians in the Philadelphia area. The paper found that 106 young women were named to the honor this year, while 64 young men received the honor.

I keep forgetting to blog about this: Harvard has allegedly revoked its offer of admission to our favorite plagiarist, Blair Hornstine.

I wonder what her dad is going to do now, since he was going to follow her to Harvard to take an adjunct faculty position.

Catherine, who is currently studying for the bar, poor thing, asks: "Did you hate the bar? And what is your favorite way to procrastinate? And, if you have ever been to DC, what is your favorite thing to do or see there?"

Ah, a three part question!

First, yes, I hated the bar with the heat of a million burning suns. However, because I took it just three months after my father had a massive stroke, I was more of a zombie than most people in the same situation. I graduated from law school on a Sunday afternoon, and packed up the car and moved back to Pennsylvania from Virginia on that Monday. Started bar review classes on Wednesday. The schedule was thus: Wake up, study, go to visit my father in the hospital or rehab center, then dinner in the car and straight to bar review. Lather, rinse, repeat. I was absolutely certain that I was going to fail miserably, because, honestly, at that point, I JUST DID NOT CARE. I was more focused on, you know, whether my father was going to die.

Luckily, I passed the bar, and my father made at least a partial recovery.

As for procrastination, the tools of choice were at that time either cleaning or reorganizing stuff. I felt like I didn't have control over anything at all, so the organization made me feel like I had a little bit. Now, the tools of choice are the net, video games, or, again, organizing my closet.

Finally, I lived in the DC area for seven years (college and law school), and my favorite spot the whole time was the Jefferson Memorial. I used to love driving down there at night and just sitting on the steps by the water, watching the other monuments and the moon on the water.

I have a few more questions coming up -- feel free to send more along. I'd be happy to answer them!

I'm sitting here in my office with the window open, and there's a cool, heavenly breeze blowing in. I love this kind of weather.

St. Louis was very nice, albeit hot, but the hotel was absolutely gorgeous, and for some reason I got upgraded to a suite that was approximately the size of my entire house. When they say "Heavenly Bed," they're sure not kidding.

The deposition went well, although we did run over into a second day, and the staff at the firm whose offices we were using were absolutely wonderful and very gracious. The conference room we were in looked right out onto the Arch and the river, so it was a nice distraction when the testimony got heated.

I managed to get out on an earlier flight on Thursday, so I was home by 8:45, instead of 11 pm, and pretty much went right to bed. Well, I watched The Amazing Race, which my husband had so thoughtfully Tivoed for me, and then went to bed. I got to see our new furniture, which looks amazing, for about ten minutes. I'll be remedying that over this weekend.

I had an early morning training class to teach on Friday, so I staggered into work, caught up on email, and was out the door by 12:30. I came home, ate lunch, and then took a much-needed nap. We went grocery shopping and then picked up a Tivo Series 2 for the living room (the old one is now upstairs in the den). Whoo, we are just full of excitement these days.

This morning, I'm heading out for brunch with my doula, and then planning on picking up some placemats and other incidentals for the new furniture downstairs. We're hoping to get to the Jackals game tonight, if it's not too hot.

I also have a number of reader questions to answer, too, and will be doing that later on today. Have a great Saturday!

Woohoo! David Duchovny will be appearing on the final bunch of episodes of Sex and the City, airing in January 2004, as a potential suitor for Carrie, and someone who will give Big a run for his (considerable) money.

So I'm flying off to balmy St. Louis tomorrow, because I have a deposition to attend on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm guessing this is going to be my last airplane trip before the baby arrives, although I'm not totally sure, and I'm none too jazzed that I'm taking an Embraer wee plane each way. On a brighter note, I'm getting to stay at the Westin, which features something called the "Heavenly Bed.". It sounds amazing, but with all the trouble I've had getting comfortable and being able to sleep lately, I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to really enjoy it. I guess we'll see.

Miss Alli writes a stunning piece on Outrage Fatigue. Go. Read it. Seriously.

When I went to my OB appointment last week, I got my trusty bottle of tasty (NOT) drink for my glucose tolerance test at the end of the month. Dave amused me greatly this morning by singing "GLUUUUU-Co-Laaaaaaaaaaa!" to the tune of the Ricola mint jingle. He's so cute.

I really don't feel like being at work today.

That is all.

The fabulous Julie asks "Tell us about your nursery! Do you have a theme? Do you think themes are lame?"

Well, the nursery, as it will be, is currently my office. We're going to order the crib and dresser/changing station shown on this page, but without the hutch.

Here you can see the bedding set we've chosen. We're keeping the walls cream-colored, but we plan to put up the border. I'd also like to get a glider rocker and ottoman, for rocking the bebe.

Other than that, we're winging it. We've registered for a few things at Target, and we have a longer, more involved registry at Amazon/Babies R Us, but we'll be stopping by the store today to add some things that are in the store but don't seem to be available online. I've promised Dave that he can control the little UPC-scanner gun.

The West Virginia state Supreme Court granted class action status Thursday to lawsuits against the maker of the diabetes drug Rezulin, pulled from the market in 2000 because of liver toxicity issues.

The court reversed a decision by a county Circuit Judge, who denied the plaintiffs' class-action request in 2001, ruling that tests did not conclusively prove that the drug caused liver damage.

Rezulin, made by Warner-Lambert Co., won Food and Drug Administration approval in 1997 and generated $2.1 billion in revenue before it was banned in March 2000. FDA research linked the drug to 63 deaths from liver failure.

I'm celebrating Independence Day this year by, uh, contributing to our nation's economy!

My paralegal and I are heading up to Jersey Gardens to do some outlet shopping, since her husband has to work today and mine is taking his parents to the airport to make their annual pilgrimage to Ireland. I'm hoping to find some cute baby things and just hang out somewhere air-conditioned.

Then our friend Jeff is arriving for a visit tonight, which is awesome because we rarely get to see him. The rest of the weekend? We've got very few plans. I need to go and order the crib and dresser/changing table (this crib, for those of you who might be interested, but not in that finish), and we might try to get to a Jackals game. We also need to put the rugs down downstairs, now that the floors are finished and lovely, in preparation for the arrival of our new furniture, which will hopefully happen this week.

Oh, and we hope Verizon will show up and fix our phones. We've had no dial tone since last Sunday! It's a good thing we have cell phones, I suppose.

Happy 4th, everyone!

I had asked my notify list (HINT, HINT, BABY STORIES) recently if they had any questions that they'd like to have answered on this here page.

From Melissa, of mesawyou: Are you planning on naming the baby Siobhan?

For those of you who read my former journal, you'll remember that my pseudonym was Siobhan. I still love the name, but after a lot of discussion, Dave and I decided that it's a hard name to give to a little kid, mostly because it's difficult to spell. We may use it as a middle name, though. And no, we haven't decided on a first name yet, either.

Up next time: a question from Julie!

In the meantime, feel free to join the list. I'm sending more tidbits that way, especially about work and the baby.

I'm seriously considering trying to convince Dave to go and see Man of La Mancha with me, now that I know that Marin Mazzie has taken over from Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Aldonza. I saw Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell both in Ragtime (in Toronto) back in 1996, I think, and in Kiss Me, Kate two summers ago, and they were sublime in both productions. Anyone want to go if the husband turns me down?

Sadly, I find it hard to take people seriously who use cheesy AOL e-mail addresses as their primary business address. I'm not talking small businesses, here. I'm dealing with a very large printing company who doesn't seem to have a corporate e-mail system. And if you're forced to use AOL, could you not come up with something better than (and I am making this example up) LUVS2SRF79@aol.com to use at work????

Increasingly, it's not just the relationships between drug companies and individual physicians that are under scrutiny. Federal investigators are now issuing subpoenas to top academic medical centers and hospitals across the country as part of a widespread crackdown on pharmaceutical company marketing practices.

How can I resist reading a blog whose first entry today talks both about affirmative action AND shoes?

It also appears that the Kennedy family is having a very bad week. Of course, the articles in the NY Daily News and NY Post were much sleazier -- allegedly Carolyn Bessette was snorting coke and sleeping with her ex, underwear model Michael Bergin, and Kerry Cuomo was caught mid-tryst by her husband. Juicy. Somehow that family just cannot manage to stay out of the news.

I don't know quite what is going on with the dead and mutilated cats being found in the Denver area, but the story just completely creeps me out.