A Little Blues Does a Baby Good

Saturday evening Dave and I met up with some friends in Homer, NY, for a blues concert by Duke Robillard. We brought our very pregnant friend, Kira, with us. It was Saturday and she was due on Sunday. Her partner, Jason, couldn't come because he had work to do, so we didn't think she'd want to come, either. Oh, but we were wrong. Kira was hoping that a little live music might force her unborn child to boogie down the birth canal.

So imagine what it looks like to have Dave enter a blues club with not one, but two noticeably pregnant women on his arm. This might be good or bad for his reputation, depending on your idea of what a reputation actually does for a person in a place like Homer, NY.

The music was a big hit with both in utero babies - lots of kicking and squirming and knocking around the walls of the uterus. And after the show, Kira admitted that her stomach felt a little funny, and not just because she'd eaten a whole bunch of yogurt-covered raisins. But as of the time of this publication, Kira & Jason's baby has not been born - at least not to our knowledge. I'm sure we won't be the first to find out, after all. But a little blues does a baby good.

My favorite stanza by Mr. Robillard is the following:

"Fish make love underwater,

Worms make love underground,

Rats make love in the garbage can,

So woman, don't turn me down!"

NEWS FLASH: Baby Joins the Traveling Wilburys

We've been living in a Traveling Wilburys world lately - Dave bought me the CD/DVD collection of the greatest musical supergroup that ever existed for my birthday, and we play it pretty much nonstop now. [For those who don't know, the Traveling Wilburys consisted of (from left to right) Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison, and they put out their music in the late 80s/early 90s]

So today I came home from the clinic office to find that Dave had learned not one, but two Wilburys' songs on the guitar. The songs were a little rusty (after all, he had just learned them), but as soon as Dave started playing, we were singing and having our very own Traveling Wilburys concert.

And the baby, who had been so quietly hanging out in utero today as I went to court and won a custody case (yay for my client!) and then completed a whole bunch of paperwork, etc, etc (oh, the glamorous life of an attorney)... the baby, after being quiet all day, suddenly was pushing against my belly like his/her ear was pressed right up to the side. Dave and I sang, and baby was PRESENT. This is interesting to me, because baby wasn't kicking or moving, just THERE. All day baby had been hanging around and I couldn't tell you where baby was located, but as soon as the guitar came out and the singalong began, baby was as far forward in the uterus as he/she can get. If baby could have pushed through to the other side, baby would have been rocking out with us.

I've read that at this stage of pregnancy, a fetus's hearing is developed enough that it can respond to sudden noises (like it'll suddenly startle at the scary part of the movie because of the music). But this was different - baby was responding to the guitar/singing, which I guess I could argue is a sudden noise, but we were no louder than the hair dryer, and baby doesn't give a poop about hair dryers. But baby has let it be known that guitars are different, especially if there's singing involved... and especially if it's my first love (Dave) imitating my second love (Tom Petty).

Synagogue Singing and Holiday Cheer

We hope people are enjoying their holidays, especially if it includes a little time off work - Dave and I are visiting my Grandma Joan in Colorado, but the internet connection is spotty, so this might be our only post until after the New Year. We're excited for 2008; 2007 was a spectacular year for the Cumbie Reckess house, and so far 2008 is on tap to be even better!

Last Friday evening, Dave, Azzy, Paula and I attended synagogue services at Temple Beth Shalom, where Dave and I are members. It was the first time we've been to synagogue since the baby can "hear" outside noises - and wow! As soon as we began singing, the baby had a party. Approximately 50 people were in attendance, and some of us are louder singers than others (Azzy and I seem to have cornered that market), and with each song, the baby rolled. Dave had read in the baby book that sometimes fetuses are startled by sudden sounds, but the baby didn't seem to be startled at all - more like lulled. Of course, there is quite a difference between a synagogue service and an Ozzy Ozbourne concert, so perhaps lullabyes at services don't startle as much as Crazy Train. Regardless, I couldn't help but feel very pleased that the baby enjoyed my Hebrew, even if I always seem to be a couple of syllables behind everyone else.

I do have to add a second part to this story, though, which was that earlier on Friday I was driving alone, and the song Hey Ya by Outkast came on, to which the baby also responded very postitively. So it appears that our fetus enjoys both a beautiful Friday night service AND hip hop. Maybe we should try an opera?