To all readers in the United States, Happy 4th of July (and to everyone else, I hope your day is happy too, just not for the same reasons!)

Here I am at 36 weeks and 3 days of pregnancy. The baby has dropped even more than it looked in this picture, and I feel like she could arrive at any time! So from my experience, here are five ways you can tell you are about to have that baby!

1. You have to lift your belly to shave your bikini line.

2. You are not shaving your bikini line because you have any plans to spend time at the beach, but rather because you think the midwife and her assistants might be “all up in there” sometime soon….

3. Shop clerks everywhere look at you with slight panic in their eyes, worried that they might soon be cleaning up amniotic fluid in aisle 5.

4. You start to outgrow even your third trimester maternity clothes, but can’t bear to buy anything in a larger size.

5. Your husband tempts fate in the most spectacular way by going on a business trip for a week on another continent until you are 37.5 weeks along (oh wait, that’s just me!) Wave north to Sinead at BreastfeedingMums for me, honey!

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On Thursday, July 3, 2008, the Tyra Banks show will feature Veronika Robinson (author of The Drinks Are on Me), who will share her experience with breastfeeding her children until they were ages 7 and nearly 8. She has written about her experience before, in an essay entitled Extraordinary Breastfeeding.

Here’s the blurb from the Tyra Banks show about the episode “Motherhood Controversy”:

With her audience filled with mothers, Tyra hosts a no-holds-barred conversation about the pressures they face today. Tyra speaks with a woman who defends her controversial decision to breastfeed her kids until they were 8 years old, and a woman who believes it is acceptable to breastfeed her children in public. Then a young woman explains her desire to be a stay-at-home wife and mother — even though her own mother raised her to be a career woman. Next, emotions get heated when stay-at-home mothers debate working moms on who makes the better parent.

Perhaps I should be excited to see the topic of extended breastfeeding being discussed on an American talk show, but I cannot imagine the discussion will be productive or enlightening. The promo clip shows Tyra admitting, “I find it quite odd!” And, gee, how did the show manage to find “a woman who believes it is acceptable to breastfeed her children in public”?! I wish nursing in public weren’t controversial, and I hope at least there is a sensible mention of the various federal and state laws that protect a mother/baby pair’s right to breastfeed in public. I won’t be watching (no television at our house at the moment) so please do post a comment here if you get a chance to see the show!

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Me: Ooh, my hip hurts!
Me2: And my arm is asleep!
Me3: And I have to go the bathroom!
Me: Alright, time to get up. Roll over gently and sit up.
Me2: Wait! My tummy muscles didn’t expect that belly weight!
Me3: And my bladder! It’s squishing my bladder!
Me: Stop whining and stand up.
Me2: Oooph.
Me3: I’m up! I hope my water doesn’t break.
Me: Don’t be silly.
Me2: I’m thirsty. Get a drink of water before going back to bed.
Me3: But then I’ll have to go again soon!
Me: Doesn’t matter, you need to stay hydrated.
Me2: And besides, you’ll have to move your hips and arms again anyway.
Me3: Try resting on the other hip this time.
Me: Oooph.
Me2: I just hope I can go back to sleep.
Me3: Feel that? The baby is kicking!
Me: Good, now I know she’s okay.
Me2: Goodnight.
Me3: See you at 6 a.m.

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A while back I asked for reader input on what nurslings call breastfeeding. Here is a compilation of some of the subtle — and not-so-subtle — code words children use for nursing!

boobs
booby monster
deets (from “You want to eat?”)
I love you (awww!!)
milkies
milky time
mimi’s
mommy moo moo juice
more
mum mum
na
na na’s
neesh
num num
nurse
nursies
nursing
[sign language signs for “milk” or “please”]
side (as in “other side”)
ssss
teca or tica (from the Spanish “tomar tetica” or “drink from the breast”)
two-sies
ursing

Have a nursing nickname to add to the list? Leave a comment!

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