My Mundane Existence (Yawn...)

At the store yesterday (Tues) the casher who took care of me looked and me and said “Girl, how many babies you have in there?!” When I told her just one she looked and commented that I might get an extra baby when it comes time to push. I am carrying all of the weight out front. I have gained 18 pounds so far and it is all out front. I look like I am smuggling a basketball under my shirt. I am so uncomfortable. I can’t wait till Joseph is here and I can start to get my body back to myself a little bit.

Well, I have scheduled my C-section. My doctor will only do a C-section within 10 days of my due date. My due date is April 24th. I think he is going to be early because I have been getting lots of contractions. Oh, Friday was crazy. I started having some major contractions and they were all over the place. I don’t know if this little guy is going to wait till the 14th. My contractions were fluctuation between 2 minutes apart to 20 minutes apart. I did not even have my hospital bag packed yet. I sat on the couch and wondered if I should pack it but then decided to stay put and see what happened. Chris made me feel better by letting me know that he can always swing back and get me anything I would need and he was right. Well, after a few hours of contractions they continued to space out more and more and eventually they stopped by morning.

I am now going to the doctor every week for stress tests. The first two tests were an experience. The stress test is to make sure the baby is not under stress (as far as I know). They put a monitor on me to check the baby’s heart beat for a while and I have to press a button every time I feel him move. On the first two tests it was more like a game of hide and seek. They would find him for a few seconds and he would turn, kick the monitor and hide. Then the doctor had to try and find him again. The last test he was sleeping so he stayed really still which was weird. They ended up using a little vibration devise to freak him out and make him jump and kick. He did not enjoy that too much. Overall from the visits and tests everything has been going well.

Chris and I feel strongly about getting Jack involved in sports. He is finally old enough to play t-ball. I am looking forward to it. It will get him in a social setting with kids his own age, he will learn to work in a team environment and it will also keep him moving so that means not as much TV time, more exercise is a good thing. The last plus is that he might meet other kids who are going to be in his class when he starts Kindergarten which will make school more fun for him. I get the feeling he will like school anyway. I also remember how much I enjoyed playing ball too.

Oh, it has been way too long since I have posted anything. I feel so out of touch. We have been working on Joe’s room. Everything from my office was moved to the basement and set up. The problem was we don’t have a phone line down there so I could not connect to the Internet. Since we weren’t using the Internet my hubby decided to cancel the service and save us some money. He also figured we could save some money if we gang it with our cable. He called Time Warner and was so frustrated by their misleading advertising. They kept him on the phone for almost an hour and the advertised price was not even close to what they told him the additional service would cost. He was so pissed off he was ready to cancel our cable TV too. I was not about to let that happen. I can’t really do much in the state I am in. I am so tired and I need to sit and rest often and I have been enjoying TV more so lately because of it. Also, when I get out of the hospital it is not like I am going to be going for a jog while recovering from a C-section. I want cable TV at that point too. We have talked more and he has calmed down. He did promise I would have Internet before the baby gets here. I need it to pay our bills because I pay everything on line. He has been missing the Internet too. We were both talking about that last night.

Needless to say, in the meantime my response time on everything is going to be slow. I do have Internet at work but myspace and facebook are blocked sites. Actually nearly everything is blocked and it is driving me crazy. I can only check that stuff from my sister’s computer right now and seem to only get over there on Saturdays (sometimes).

Well, Chris does not have diabetes but was told that he needs to take off some weight. We are under the assumptions that if he continues to gain weight that he will eventually develop diabetes. We have made more strides to add more veggies to our meals since my gestational diabetes and I think that will continue.

I don’t think I made mention lately, Chris has been worried because he has a growth in his chest near his arm. In the back of his mind he knows cancer runs in his family so that was his biggest fear. He went in for a surgical consultation yesterday and after getting checked out the surgeon did not feel the growth in his chest was anything to worry about (It had started to shrink after he made the appointment but I had him keep the appointment anyway) but what they do think is wrong with him could be diabetes. That would not shock me either. I had seen some symptoms in him for a while and since I have been tracing his family tree I also found that diabetes runs in his family too. I made mention of it a few months back and he did not want to hear about it. He will find out for sure today. Despite that he was in a good mood when I got home. Maybe stuff like that makes he aware how much I care about him and makes him take stock in the life we have built together and appreciate all the good stuff in it. Also something like this will force Chris and I to take better care of ourselves and be a better example for our boys who more than likely will be cursed to have diabetes one day too.

With the down turn in the economy and the banks holding on to money with a death grip things keep getting worse for everyone. Businesses need to borrow money to pay employees and buy materials while waiting for clients to pay their invoices. Most clients are now taking around 90 days to pay. We have been getting steady work. Not tons but it has been rather steady. We had lay offs a few months back. My company is doing what they can to avoid laying off anyone else. I found out in May the executives had received a temporary pay cut of 20%. In November the hourly guys had been switched to 4-day weeks and no third shift anymore, which translates to a 20% cut for them too. Well, it was time for these cuts to hit salary workers like myself. We had a meeting on Wednesday where we were told we were also going to get a temporary pay cut of 10%. I guess we will have to tighten our belts some more. Now I am starting to worry more.

Well, I had another doctor appointment. Everything is going well. I am not putting on weight too fast and the baby is growing at the rate he should. The doctor looked at my glucose levels and did not feel my levels were high enough for insulin shots at this time. He gave me a prescription for pills. He did let me know that as I progress the pills may not be enough and I might have to switch to the shots. Only time will tell. I have also started to go to the doctor every 2 weeks now. I can’t believe how fast this is all going. Looks like I will be having this little guy by C-section around April 11th. Oh, I have too much to do still! At least we have been making a little bit of progress in his room. Chris moved my sewing desk out of the room. That just leaves the things on the walls and the computer desk with a few random boxes. I hope to work on more of it tonight.

I met with the dietitian again. I am so glad I did! I was crabby, hungry and not sleeping well. I had started to dream about food at night (I was also getting up over 12 times a night). I dreamt of cherry pie, apple pie and on another night I dreamt of tiramisu. I also had tons of questions. We were hit with a huge storm on Wednesday and I kept crossing my fingers that my appointment would not be canceled because I really felt like I needed it even if it was for moral support. Well, I came to find out that I was not eating correctly. I was not eating enough food and was starving myself. I was so relieved to hear that. I also was so happy to find out I was not eating enough carbs. Now that I know the amount of carbs I need it helps so much. That was the good part of my appointment. The bad part is the fact that any time I got near the “minimum” carb counts I needed to intake, my blood sugar would spike higher than they want. Now that I know how to eat I am supposed to track my blood sugar again for a week. If it comes back high then I will probably have to take insulin every day. Since that was the case the dietitian would not let me leave her office without me first learning how to give myself an injection. Basically she gave me a needle, showed me how to get the insulin from the bottle (in this case it was saline solution) and I had to inject myself in the tummy. The idea of it really freaked me out. I almost cried when she told me what I needed to do. I did my best to fight back the tears. She was very nice and patient. I eventually did it and it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was on par or a little less painful than the finger pricks for the blood glucose test. I was shocked because I expected it to be very painful. I told her before I left that I am glad she made me do it because I don’t know how long it would have taken me to work up the nerve to do it on my own at home.

Well, I went to my appointment with the dietitian. She went over a lot of stuff with me and it was very helpful. I have a list of carb totals on some foods. Now I have more of an idea what I should be eating and what to avoid. (In other words avoid all my favorite stuff). I am having a heck of a time finding beverages that don’t have a ton of carbs. So far I have water with lemon and hot tea with very little sugar. That is about it. I would prefer to avoid the diet sweeteners if I can. I don’t know why but I don’t like the thought of using them while pregnant. I know there are many women out there who use them without issues to their pregnancies but in my gut I feel like I should stay away from them. Another thing I learned was how to check my blood sugar. The dietitian gave me a monitor, test strips and lancets. I have to prick my finger and bleed on the strip 4 times a day and write down my numbers in my food journal along with carb totals for the foods I am eating. Well, the other day I did the test in front of Jack. He was so interested in what I was doing. As soon as he saw the blood he yelled out “I will get you a band-aid!” I kept insisting I did not need one but he kept insisting I did. Then he runs off to get one and got side tracked while in the closet he found the thermometer instead. I never did get that band-aid. Now when I do my blood test at home he insists that I wait so he can watch. He is just so fascinated.

For some reason with this pregnancy I have had a lot of discomfort in my hips and my pelvic bone. I noticed it is much worse if I sit upright in an office chair for a while (hard to avoid while working a desk job). I try to get up and move around which helps a little but still not comfortable. I need to find some prenatal yoga stretches to help some. Oh, I miss yoga. Also lately I have developed a yucky metallic taste and smell. I feel like I must have been sucking on pennies all night. YUCK! I did not have that with Jack either. Part of me wants this pregnancy to be over and I can have my body back but there is a part of me that is not ready for the little guy to get here yet. I still have so much left to do.

The other day I was lying on the couch and I could see my tummy bouncing around as the baby kicked. I called Jack over to see. He could see my tummy moving and he put his hand on me and felt the baby kicking. He was so excited. He held his hand there till the baby stopped. He was so happy; he insisted I call my in-laws so he could tell them. He was talking so fast on the phone they could not understand what he was trying to say. We decided to suit up for the snow and walk over so he could share his excitement.

Well, I took my glucose test and found it was high. Since I had gestational diabetes with Jack they are assuming I have it this time too and they are sending me to a dietitian and bypassing the pincushion 4-hour test (they take blood, make you drink some orange stuff, take blood half an hour later and then take blood two more times each an hour later). I am glad I don’t have to take that test. I was really hoping the weight I had lost between the pregnancies would have kept me from developing it this time but I guess genetics are against me. By the way, between getting pregnant with Jack and this little guy I was down about 40 pounds. Well, even though I had gestational diabetes with Jack I still did not know what I was supposed to do or eat. The morning I was supposed to go in and learn how to give myself insulin I went into labor so I never learned how to care for myself. Well, I am looking forward to the appointment so I know what I need to do.

Chris called me at work yesterday because he just had a good laugh. Chris and Jack were watching Looney Toons together this morning. Bugs bunny was delivered to a Gorilla family by a stork. That started all sorts of questions. Chris explained that parents used to tell their kids that babies were delivered by the stork. Jack got really serious and asked “but babies really do grow in mommies’ tummies right?” Chris answered yes which prompted the next really serious question. “Wait, wait, wait… so mommies and daddies used to lie to their kids!? You don’t lie to me do you?” Poor Chris, the first thing that jumped in his mind when he asked was the whole Santa Clause lie. Other than that we are pretty straightforward with him.

Ok, I finally know what I am doing in the baby’s room. It is not really a theme but I found a polka-dot pattern that I LOVE. It is a variety of blue, green and yellow dots on white. Chris did not really like it because it is kind of retro. I think that is the thing I love about it. I asked him if I should return it and he said that I could keep it. So I picked up fabric to make the dust ruffle, bumper pads and a little patchwork quilt. For the walls I am going to try and make a nice artsy mobile with circles and the colors in the fabric. I also might make a graphic type piece of art with the little guy’s name on it. I can print it at work and frame it. OH, I am so excited! I need to get back to Joanne Fabrics for batting now that it is on sale and to Lowe’s to pick paint for the walls. I am going with green! I did not want it blue like Jack’s room. I want each room to be individual.

We had a nice little New Year’s Eve. We decided to stay in and found that a good chunk of our family did not have plans either. We called everyone and invited them over to play some board games and eat some pizza. We had a great time. I spent the night playing a game called “Settlers of Catan”. I loved it.

Well, since Jack found out that I have a baby in my tummy he has been full of questions. He has asked how the baby eats while in my tummy and how the baby goes potty. Well, I have explained that the baby gets the food that I eat and that my body takes care of getting rid of the baby’s pee. Yesterday Jack wanted me to swallow legos so the baby has something to play with while in my tummy.

Our Christmas was nice. I did experience some dizziness on Christmas day but I think I was just trying to do too much but I am not sure. I will have to talk to the doctor about it at my next appointment. I have not had any dizziness since. Jack loved all his gifts. He was so excited to get a chia pet. He runs around the house just singing “chi..chi...chi cheetah” which just makes me laugh. His favorite gift was the Vtech hand held game system. For some reason he insists on calling it his “handy helper”. Because of the games he is so motivated to sound out letters in words because some of his games require the first steps of reading. Chris saw him working on reading on his own the other day and looked at me and said, “that is all it took?”

I am excited, I got a new hard drive for my computer. I also got a case to turn my old hard drive into an external drive. I plan on keeping music and movies on it. Oh, I can’t wait! Now I have to bother my poor brother to give me a hand moving it all. I got all sorts of good stuff like fleece PJs that actually fit! They have a drawstring so I can still wear them after the baby. Yea!!!!

It is so funny, friends of ours talked Chris into playing Santa at a party. Chris was so nervous about it. All he had to do was dress in the suit and come down with a few gifts for the kids and then go change. I was so afraid Jack would recognize him. Well, Santa comes down the stairs and Jack runs over to me and says “Why is daddy dressed as Santa?” I did not say anything. Then he ran back with the rest of the kids. I sat thinking “don’t ruin it for the rest of the kids. Don’t ruin it for the rest of the kids….” He kept his mouth shut and as soon as Santa left the room he was off like a shot looking to find Santa in the house. Chris was smart and had gone out to the garage to change. Jack is still on the fence about Santa. He asked Chris where he was when Santa was there. Chris said he was holding the reindeer for Santa.