Too...MUCH!!!

Wanna hear about my day?  I know you are just dying for an update...  :) It's a long one, and not even all about baby for once.

Up at 6 AM as usual, with only about 4 hours of sleep, as usual.  Stupid cough and stupid hips and stupid pillows and stupid wrist...  Difference today is I don't get to eat breakfast, but have to still take meds that make me woozy.  Today is the day I get to drink glucola for the gestational diabetes test and be poked in the arm. Fun! 

Off to work at 7, make 50 sandwiches for lunch, slice 48 oranges for snack and then drive across the river.  Still a bit shaky--I miss my banana and peanut butter and milk!  Everything is ready in case my appointment takes longer than we expect so someone else can serve lunch.  They take me first for the appointment and while I am in there she comes to get my blood.  The good thing about this set-up is I am distracted so I don't even notice the needle.  Glad that is over.  So OB and I talk for a good long time and here is where we are:

~Gained 7 pounds, which she is happy about since it is a steady, even gain and I am still under the max recommended.

~Blood pressure was 173/65, low normal and great since I have a history of slightly high BP.

~Down to 500 mg Metformin, since I am having some occasional dizzy and lightheaded moments, mainly when I don't eat enough or am really, really active. 

~Albuterol prescription for the cough, Benadrly for sleeping.  These two recommendations alone were worth the appointment.

~Fundal measurement is 24 cm, exactly what it should be, heartbeat is steady and strong and baby is closer to the surface which means good growth.

~And biggest news:  we have deadline date.  She is concerned that I may develop some complications, mainly due to age and blood pressure, and since baby is growing exactly as it should and very healthy, she expects we can safely deliver between 36-39 weeks.  She won't take the baby before 36, but if I don't go on my own before 39, then we will induce.  I don't really like that idea, but a healthy mom=healthy baby, and while I am not one for planning when to deliver, it will probably reduce my stress level if I have a deadline by then.  She does not want me traveling after 34 weeks either, so that works perfect with my plan to do nothing but veg the last month.

It is 9:30 AM when I am done and I joke with the office staff that I was kinda hoping the ice storm that is coming would be here by now so schools would start closing and I can go on home instead of back to work, but no such luck--it's just bitter cold.  Drive back to work and as I am pulling into the parking lot, the county announces that they are sending kids home beginning at 10 AM.  YES!!!  We are part of  college campus and also have a contract with the school system, so our director usually gets to make her own best decision about what to do and who to follow--best case is she can close for either or both systems.  So I serve lunch at 10:45, we close to families at 11, so after spending 30 minutes at Walgreens, we are home by 12:30.  This was a good, crazy mixed-up day!  

Good, cause I am tired.  T.I.R.E.D.  Maybe it was the not eating, or how rushed the morning was, or the culmination of not sleeping well at night, so I nap at about 2:30 PM.  At 4 PM, I wake up practically screaming.  The worst charley horse I have ever had in my life.  I massage, I stretch, C. massages, reminds me to relax--I can't.  Then I start breathing.  Now the pain did not go away, and actually it still hurts 5 hours later, but I kinda went into this zone where I could handle it and began to relax.  So our childbirth class and the relaxation CDs and hypnobirthing reading does work.  C. joked that if I can't handle this, what about a baby--I reminded him we actually get something out of that pain, this only gave me a sore leg.  He agreed.  Besides, my mantra for childbirth is "This is not painful."

Stop laughing.

So I roll over and doze off again.  I hear the rain and ice hitting the windows and dripping on the front porch.  Then...hmmm, that one sounds odd.  And then, what was that on my head?  OH NO!!  Our bedroom ceiling is leaking, onto the bed and lamp!  We put down towels and C finds the leak in the attic and puts a bucket there.  But it is dark outside, in the middle of an ice storm, and the roof is covered in ice, so there is nothing else we can do.  We had a tornado in our area about 3 weeks ago that took off a corner of our roof, opposite the leak area, and that was all the damage we had found, but obviously there was more, as the roof has never leaked before and this is the first real rain we have had since then.  We have a settlement from the insurance company and a repair guy coming to do the corner next week, but we have to start over tomorrow.  ARGGG. Maybe they will replace the whole roof though.

As good as the day was for the most part, and the OB appointment seems so long ago now, I am done with this day.  So now I am on the couch, eating Reese Cups, watching "My Name is Earl" with my husband.  I told ya, I am just like Britney...

Too...redneck?

Just call me Britney.

Yesterday was very long day, not bad, just a lot to do.  C. had to stay late at work, then we went straight to a baby class across the river.  I was very sure to eat several times in the afternoon, so much that C. teased me about leaving a bag of Cheetos in the staff room.  Not mine, but now I had Cheetos on the brain.  So when we got to the class, I checked out the vending machines, but no Cheetos.  I had water with me but by the time we got out of class 2 hours later, I was starving.  We had planned a quick run to Sam's and I got some chicken salad at the Wal-Mart next door for dinner, since it was already 8 PM and I was not making anything when I got home.  And there in the line, the Cheetos were staring at me.  Somehow they jumped in my bag.  While waiting for C. to finish, I opened them up, right in the Wal-Mart lobby.  Did I mention my feet are bigger so I am leaving the laces loose?  So there I am pregnant, almost barefoot, scarfing Cheetos in front of a Wal-Mart.  I don't even like Cheetos that much, and tossed half the bag on the way home, and now I have heartburn.  

At least my thong wasn't showing...

Too busy!

22 weeks!  

Wow, I can't believe I last updated here in December--that was over a month ago. I feel like January went by sooo slowly, but then ago, that last post wasn't that long ago in my mind.

A few quick hits then some details:
~ The baby room is painted! Bright sunny yellow with full bookcases and baskets and drawers--how did I already get so much stuff?! I haven't even gone crazy shopping yet. We still have some rearranging to do and one more piece of furniture to get and the curtains made and ceiling fan hung and I have yet to decide on which crib or a crib at all, but otherwise it really is a baby room. I'll post some pictures when it is done.

~So it is good that we stuck with yellow, orange, and green colors, since baby was very uncooperative at our ultrasound. Yah for me--I don't want to know, but boo for C.--he really wants to know. He is convinced that since we didn't see any hanging parts it is a girl. Actually, he is convinced it is a girl because it was stubborn and lazy, like it's mom! We get to try again in 2 weeks, and if he knows you will have to drag it out of him--I'm not talking. Otherwise the ultrasound was great: baby is measuring exactly on target, all the parts that are supposed to be there are there, heartbeat was very strong, umbilical cord was working and fluid levels were perfect.

~I finished with the physical therapist in January, but not before I developed carpal tunnel. So now I get to wear a brace when I sleep--let me tell you how much fun that is! It does help, but I am hoping my joints go back to normal this summer. One of the reasons I finished with therapy is because I am swimming and doing yoga and strength training at the Y. I love it. Love, love, love. I had to sit out for a few days last week and I really missed it. The water and the stretching is making a huge difference in my energy and sleep, and my back feels so good all day.

~We started childbirth classes last week. There are only four couples in our group, and so far, so good. Even C. walked out after 2 hours--that he actually participated in--and said "not bad." We have 2 classes this week, so it may be a little more overwhelming, but I am glad we are starting a little earlier than the norm, in case we want to do another session somewhere, or complications come up.

~Which they almost did. A call from my OB last Thursday that she wanted me to see a kidney specialist sent me into bit of a tailspin. She wanted me to get the earliest possible appointment, so I freaked a little bit more. Then when the earliest was March 10, I said no way--if there is a reason I need to be there, see me now. Can you imagine--something might be wrong with me or the baby and they are willing to wait 6 weeks?! So between my OBs office and the specialist, they worked it out for Monday afternoon. All weekend I was told not to do anything special or different, but yeah, bedrest couldn't hurt and would ease my stress and blood pressure. Of all the things that can go wrong in a pregnancy, I have this irrational...fear, I guess it is, of having to go on bedrest, and I really thought we were over that hump after week 4. I think it is because I am such a go-go-go, controlling kind of person that having to let others do it, miss work, stay home does not settle well with me. I would do it, of course, but not very quietly. So anyway, the appointment Monday was GREAT! I really liked the doctor and he saw nothing in my labs or history that indicated a problem at this time. I am still high risk, and may yet develop pre-eclampsia, which is what my OB was leaning towards as opposed to kidney disease, and will be monitored more closely (like ultrasounds every 4 weeks now--one plus is getting to see the baby more often). But for now, keep eating healthy, KEEP EXERCISING--yah, I was so glad to hear that, take my BP and vitamins regularly, put my feet up often and call him if anything changes. I was so relived--I will do anything I have to do to keep this baby cooking as long as possible, but getting to keep my life as normal as possible will def help me to not stress out--I really believe a happy mom makes a happy baby. Cause we know there soon will be no "normal life" as we know it.

That's all the craziness for now. I think my next post will not be about baby stuff--I do have other thoughts in my head I'd like to share. Oooooo, maybe I will give you a preview of my next organizing job....