I sit here in my living room, procrastinating doing the dishes because it's just TOO HOT in that kitchen. For some strange reason, I decided to do a crockpotty dinner ( ew- that sounds bad. But it also sounds funny so I'll leave it) tonight, thinking that I was a clever woman, doing dinner early in the day to cut down on the whole rush-around-and- get- dinner -on -when -I- get - home -from -work thing. WELL. I forgot how freakishly hot the kitchen gets when you use the crockpot. I walked in to the kitchen this evening and it was like there had NEVER been air conditioning in this house. And then I realized that a fuse must have blown and sure enough, the A/C was indeed off. Crockpot + no A/C = Sauna/Rainforest type climate in my kitchen. Fortunately, Brad had told me what to do in this event, and I rebooted the appropriate switch in the li'l fusebox to fire up the A/C - to coin an oxymoron- and got on with the business of making "The Rest of the Dinner." Unfortunately, the kitchen did not turn into Cool City upon the flip of the switch. By the time I sat down to dinner, I could deeply sympathize with the Wicked Witch of the West - I was melting! I felt like an old-timey southerner, mopping my brow, face, neck etc. with my napkin. Ga-ROSS. It was like the shroud of Turin- except it was the Napkin Of Claire. EW. I am SO thankful for A/C. I think I must have lost a couple pounds with all this sweating.
Which brings me to this question: HOW DID THEY LIVE SEVENTY FIVE YEARS AGO WITHOUT A/C??!! My guess is, everyone was a lot thinner and stinkier.
And it brings me to this question: When I'm feeling like I'm melting, does the baby feel hot? Or is the bubble he's living in climate controlled? It must be. I'm horribly ignorant when it comes to these things. Sometimes when I read up on fetal development, I find stuff that REALLY weirds me out and/or scares me - so I tend to shun reading those kinds of things altogether and thus I'm not as educated as I probably should be. I heartily agree with the scripture that mentions us being "fearfully and wonderfully made." Yes- I know- fearfully isn't meant that way, but it means that to me! Either way, it's time to go quaff some cool water.
And ALSO- speaking of the person living in my womb - how much can he hear? I know that he CAN hear me at this point but what else can he hear? Is he also developing a recognition of Rush Limbaugh's voice? And how well can he hear whatever he hears? Is it like listening to someone talk to you while you're underwater? Or on the other side of a door? I have become much more self-conscious recently, thinking about how he is listening - it's almost eerie! Not quite a "Big Brother" type of thing - but just a sense of what a tremendous impact everything I do is having on another life. Loud noises make me cringe more than ever. I have cut down considerably on cussing and swearing - ha! - and sharply rebuking the cat.
Okay- time to go see if human life can tolerate the temperature in the kitchen.
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7 comments:
Interesting questions...no idea. But I do know that my high school Spanish teacher had a baby during one summer, and in the hospital it wouldn't stop crying. She talked to it...her, I guess, fed her, etc. It wasn't until she spoke Spanish to the baby that it calmed down. Like, instantaneously. She spent so much of her time speaking Spanish while she was pregnant that the baby recognized her voice better with the Spanish rhythms/inflections than the English ones. Weird.
You should totally start playing Aaron Copland for him. And Gustav Holst. And Johannes Brahms, of course, because he's so passionate. And I would highly recommend Bela Bartok's "Romanian Folk Dances." They're not your typical Baby Einstein songs...much more interesting. You want an interesting baby, don't you? ;)
I'm so impressed with you knowing how to work circuit breakers, or whatever you work... And also impressive is your new theological spin on "fearfully and wonderfully made!" Oh, and must add Tchaikovsky's, Rachmaninov's, and Brahms' piano concertos to the above list. :)
Can almost conjure up that mouth watering crock pot smell. Not. I don't know why/how anyone can use one....Not criticizing you...just cracked crock pot cookology. Of course you *ARE* clever, and efficient etc for using one...don't get me wrong....
75 years ago, Southern lifestyle consisted of sitting on the porch sipping sweet tea and longing for the good old days when someone else did all the work.
re: auditory reception in the womb, I've succeeded in making a baby or two "jump" by coming upon Mary in a relaxed and quiet state, and speaking in a loud manner without warning. Of course, Mary jumped too, so it was sort of like two for the price of one.
I didn't start reading about the birth or baby stuff until near the end of my pregnancy. I didn't want to read all the horror stories and bad stuff . . . I just wanted to enjoy my pregnancy. But near the end, I felt an insatiable need to know everything, so that's when I started reading everything I could get my hands on. It actually ended up helping a lot because it calmed my fears.
I know that you can overheat a baby if you get WAY too hot, but I think a baby is generally well-regulated. :-)
This is probably a little off topic, but the electrician in me has to know? Do you seriously (er, excuse me-literally) have a fuse box in your house, or do you just not care about the difference between a fuse and a circuit breaker?
As for crockpots, a single man's best friend.
Wow- quite the responses, people!
First- Amy- no WAY! The other day I WAS listening to Aaron Copeland (sp?) and thinking, "Oh! This is good for the baby!" I wouldn't know Gustav Holst if he hit me in the face - I know I am an uncultured Philistine. I'll have to look him up.
Andrea- don't be too impressed. Brad walked me through it over the phone the other day and it simply involved flipping a certain switch.
And 999, I don't know the diff between a fuse box or a circuit breaker but I think the thing was a c.b.- it's out in my garage.
KK- I think it depends on what you cook in the crockpot. Some things may smell weird - some things can smell GOOD. Just like people, I suppose. Some smell bad, others good.
Brandywine, I was just listening to someone on public radio the other day talking about how a certain part of the southern culture died when a/c came along and people abandoned the front porch. You are SO RIGHT.
Shari- thanks for the validation!
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