Pregnancy Update/Confession: 28.5 Weeks

I went to the doctor for a TB scare after interacting with a few students who tested positive for TB. They squeezed me in on an hour's notice.

Nurse did the normal pee in a cup, weight, blood pressure, heart beat, all that jazz. I was surprised at the number on the scale, but I've come to expect surprise.

Doctor comes in and says we need to reweigh. Something must be wrong, she says. Back on the scale. That number can't be right. It is. She looks at me and back at the number.

I'm in trouble.

We get back in the room and she says, "Let's talk about your weight gain. Tell me what you've been eating."

Uh oh.

Damnit, guys. I've been eating GREAT. Protein, yogurt, watermelon, whole grain English muffins, bananas. Except for last weekend when I ate lots of cake, cupcakes, mousse, flautas, muffins and drank my weight in soda.

Apparently my snoring is due to my weight gain. And my swelling to my soda intake. And my soda intake is making me gain weight. EVEN IF IT IS SPRITE!

Hence the FIVE pounds I gained in a week.

So, she put me on a diet until Wednesday (my next appointment). I'm only allowed to consume water - and water with lemon. No soda, no coffee (not a problem), no tea, no caffine, no ice cream, no fast food (not a problem), no sweets. I'm supposed to do this all weekend until Wednesday.

If my swelling doesn't go down (she used a fancy word to describe how when she pushes on my calves or feet and the fingerprint stays indented - not good), then I'm on a diet for awhile. This really sucks. And it comes on the heels of doing really well. I really thought about not posting this, but I need to be honest with myself and with my ladies. I messed up.

Damnit.

For Better or For Fucked the Hell Up

I'm furious with religious people at the moment who continue to claim that gay marriage will ruin the sanctity of marriage. The institution of marriage is not itself sacred. Certainly, some marriages are sacred, but the institution of marriage is not sacred (anymore).


Let's talk about who can get married:
1.) A man and a woman who are truly in love
2.) A man and a woman who are in love and have had premarital sex
3.) A man and his virtual girlfriend
4.) A man and a woman in Vegas, knowing last names not required
5.) A man and a woman who have a friend who was ordained online
6.) A man and a woman who have continuous cohabitation otherwise known as Common Law Marriage (think of all the premarital sex)
7.) A man and his lady cousin (only in some states)
8.) A man and a lady friend of his who wants US residency
9.) A man needing assistance on his medical bills and a woman with great health benefits
10.) A man and a woman who just don't want to wait any longer to have sex
11.) A man and a woman who will surely get divorced (43-50% of marriages end in divorce)

I'd say the majority of those lack any sort of sanctity. Let's face it: marriage as an institution in America has been snatched by the secular world. Who wouldn't enjoy a legal life-long commitment to a (or in some cases, your favorite) person in the world - and enjoy all the wonderful benefits? Marriage is no longer just a religious commitment. Letting gays marry does not hurt a religious marriage any more than the divorced man worshipping in a congregation or any more than Tiger Woods and his soon-to-be ex-wife.

Because what makes a marriage important or true is the two people involved. It's relative. Surely, everyone can agree: There are some marriages with two individuals who are in love, who marry because they can't imagine spending the rest of their lives apart from each other. And then, there are some people who barely know each other and get married after winning a jackpot in Vegas (Vegas hands out 95,000 marriage certificates a year). There's definitely a difference.

I'm just fed up with religious people using the Bible as grounds for discrimination. This Jesus who tells you to hate on gay marriage probably would show more love than you are showing. And all this hatred for homosexual marriage seems really pointed. I'd like to see Christians get their shit together: if you're going after the sanctity of marriage, take a look at some other existing policies (see above). Because Christians aren't slamming them or even offering their Christian criticism from their high cross, I can't help but think they just hate gays. And that, my friend, is what we call discrimination. Not religion. And hopefully the courts will make this right, as they have for interracial couples.