All in all, a great weekend despite the INSANE heat wave that is still plaguing us at this very moment. For those of you who live south of VT, I concede that while yes, it is hotter where you are, you probably also get to relish in the luxury of CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONING. Our pets are miserable, and so are we. This is honestly the first time in the 6 years we’ve lived in VT where I’ve been tempted to go to the store and pick up a small window AC unit. For the majority of the summer, AC is overkill in VT, and window fans will suffice. I keep telling myself that if I had AC I would be able to clean the house, but we all know that is a dirty lie.

Jazz Fest wrapped up in Burlington on Sunday—while we didn’t hit up any of the shows, it was fun to walk around town and hear the music wafting along the street.  We went on several more dates this weekend.  R reminds me that I am a spoiled gal, and he is right!  Saturday R went climbing with a friend, and I accompanied them to the climbing site.  I sat in the shade for a couple hours, reading some books and generally enjoying being outside.  We left once it started to get really hot, and picked up greasy food for lunch at Al’s French Frys, followed up by creemees.  We spent some time in the garden, and I actually was able to do some weeding.  We topped off our day with a fun visit in the ‘burg with A & S, and a friend of theirs who is hiking the Long Trail (and soon to be taking 6 months to hike the Appalachian Trail).  Yesterday we grabbed iced lattes from Uncommon Grounds, went to the library and the used book store, devoured some Mexican food, caught Iron Man at the theatre (I REALLY liked this movie), and then got creemees at the Beansie’s Bus.  

I have been eating so much fattening stuff in the past 4 weeks—normally I don’t permit myself to eat so much sugar, but for some reason, I feel oddly compelled to just eat with reckless abandon.  Gone are the 2nd trimester days of veggie wraps.  I have been making heavy pasta dishes with cream-based sauces, topped with heavy meat like sausage.  This is not typical hot-weather fare, but if my body is saying I need it, I will gladly indulge.  I’m still drinking about $10 worth of milk a week.  Milk has been a 3rd trimester addiction that I will indulge without question.  It’s fat free milk anyway, so I’m not going to lose sleep over it.  Time to attempt cleaning my humid house….

I went for my last prenatal massage today with my awesome massage therapist, Hanna.  I can’t believe how much better my back and neck feel already.  Hanna is going to be teaching infant massage classes this summer—it will be interesting to check those out.  It’s supposed to be good for fussy or colicky babies.  

 

Other than that, nothing new here.  Just relaxing and doing a lot of reading.  I’ve been taking time to think about possible career changes post-baby, although these changes will require lots of serious discussions between R and myself.  I also intend to wait several months before I (we) make any decisions, as we feel that the baby should be our compass, at least in part.  I’ve been seriously considering making a move from academics to a large pharmaceutical company.  There are so many reasons for wanting this change.  The first and most obvious reason is that federal funding has been in the shitter for the last few years, with no indication of improving anytime soon.  It is still unclear at this time whether I will be funded as a postdoc when I am ready to return to work this fall.  This is the sort of uncertainty that I can’t continue to tolerate, as I have been in a career purgatory of sorts for nearly 2 years.  Secondly, I’ve spent the past 2 years gaining teaching experience.  While the experience has been great and I don’t regret having it, I also question whether teaching is something I want to continue to do.  As an instructor, you are unappreciated, practically uncompensated, and expected to cater to the emotional needs and whims of the students, most of the time at the expense of course objectives.  This is not to say that working for a pharmaceutical company would be without its issues and frustrations.  Obviously, there is a lot one can criticize with respect to profit-driven conglomerates that seek to market their products to desperate (and often ill-informed) laypeople.  That said, the allure of having a job to go to with benefits, actual compensation, and (gasp) resources to do one’s work, is quite compelling.  I am attracted to the idea of FINALLY having a career that pays off, rather than one that continues to drain and depress me, as mine has for some time.  I don’t see the past couple of years spent teaching as a waste by any means—certainly, teaching Psychopharmacology is a valuable asset if you want to go work for a pharmaceutical company.  Additionally, all of the experience getting up in front of people day in and day out, presenting information (most of which is rather technical) is a skill that will come in handy.  This past semester, I spent 5 hours each week lecturing in front of students.  It doesn’t sound like a lot of lecture time, but boy, when you have to walk in prepared and ready to answer questions, the preparation time for those 5 hours can be pretty significant.  Even if I never teach again, it’s still something I know I can do.  The biggest hurdle now is thinking about relocation.  Vermont does not have these sorts of jobs, and Boston would be my best bet for finding fulfilling work.  It’s not so much that we don’t want to live in Boston as that we are pretty content in Vermont and find the prospect of leaving difficult.  Again, these are decisions that we will come to in time, and I am sure that we will make the right one.  Once the baby is here, we will have a better idea of what is best for him/her and us.  In the meantime, I am trying to patch the holes in my education, and have added this to my “reading before baby” list:

I am just trying to ensure that I’m as competitive for a pharmaceutical company job as I can possibly be!

I should try to finish reading Infinite Jest.

 

Just got back from the midwife appointment.  I’m up 35 total pounds, blood pressure was 102/60.  I’m just a little over 3 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and head is engaged.  Not a lot of change from almost 2 weeks ago, however, I am psyched because this is a GREAT place to start from once labor begins.  R is less than psyched–the anticipation is really getting to him and he is starting to lose some sleep over it.  We managed to get through our last childbirth class last night, and I will be taking a last-minute breastfeeding class on Friday.  I’m going about life as usual.  I just need to convince R to do the same.