We got iced in yesterday and got the day off of work. Let me tell you, when it rains ice, it kind of sucks. However, it was nice to have Valentine's Day to ourselves.
How did we spend the day? Well, we thought it would be fun to spend all morning in a waiting room to get my blood drawn 4 times. As it turns out, it was finally decided that I should go ahead and take the next test to see if I have gestational diabetes. Luckily, I had been preparing myself by dieting for the last few days and so I was ready to take the test.
Some people have asked me why not just wait until the roads got better? They think the idea of a pregnant woman out on bad roads seems a little unnecessary. Well, let me tell you that it was VERY necessary! If we didn't go take the test yesterday, I would have had to go another day being forced-fed dessert and potatoes! For those of you who know be well, you'll know that this is probably not something you ever thought you'd hear me say:
ENOUGH WITH THE POTATOES!!!
And since I'm complaining... Enough with the needles too! My arm is now bruised from all the pokes!
So... how did the test go? Well I don't know official results until today or tomorrow, but I'll be honest and say that I wouldn't be surprised if the results come back too high. Why? Simply because of the fact that when I drank the orange goo, I nearly passed out from being so tired! I couldn't read my book because I was so tired, nor could I take a nap between needle stabs because I felt too nauseous.
I'm not sure if that's a normal reaction or not, but Michael was able to point out the bright side of the situation and reminded me that if I do have gestational diabetes, chances are I'll have another ultrasound! Woohoo!
On a happier note... I actually did have a good Valentine's Day. It was nice spending the day with my Michael. I'll try to post some pictures soon!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Baby Back Baby Back Ribs
I want my baby back baby back baby back ribs...
I couldn't help myself - when I decided that I wanted to write to complain about my ribs, that song instantly jumped into my head. And has been there since. BBQ sauce!
Anyway, recently I've had two major complaints.
1. My back is killing me! Strangely enough, it seems to be centralized at one location, instead of across my entire back. If Michael just presses his finger in one spot, it's obvious that's where my pain is. And it's up in my middle back, not my lower back like you'd think. Just one spot, but damn does it hurt!
2. My ribs feel like they're being pulled apart! Well, actually it's closer to feeling like someone is ripping my muscles away from my ribs, and then stretching the ribs apart. Ironically, this is kind of what's happening. As my uterus grows (yes, it's reached my ribs), my skin gets pulled away from my ribs and the cartilage between my ribs gets stretched. The end result is chest pain like I've never experienced before, not to mention a constant feeling of bruising all along my lower ribs.
Hmmm... now I'm in the mood for Chili's. BBQ Sauce!
I couldn't help myself - when I decided that I wanted to write to complain about my ribs, that song instantly jumped into my head. And has been there since. BBQ sauce!
Anyway, recently I've had two major complaints.
1. My back is killing me! Strangely enough, it seems to be centralized at one location, instead of across my entire back. If Michael just presses his finger in one spot, it's obvious that's where my pain is. And it's up in my middle back, not my lower back like you'd think. Just one spot, but damn does it hurt!
2. My ribs feel like they're being pulled apart! Well, actually it's closer to feeling like someone is ripping my muscles away from my ribs, and then stretching the ribs apart. Ironically, this is kind of what's happening. As my uterus grows (yes, it's reached my ribs), my skin gets pulled away from my ribs and the cartilage between my ribs gets stretched. The end result is chest pain like I've never experienced before, not to mention a constant feeling of bruising all along my lower ribs.
Hmmm... now I'm in the mood for Chili's. BBQ Sauce!
Monday, February 12, 2007
Pixels Schmixels
It all started out on a cold winter afternoon...
...when my USB drive (aka thumb drive) stopped working. Oh $#!T!! Forget about any work-related documents I had on the drive, I instantly started freaking about the tummy-related stuff I had on it! Who knows how many tummy pictures could be lost for good?*
Michael tried to calm me down by saying he always does the right thing by copying them onto our computer at home before deleting them from the camera. He's so sweet. He just assumed that I did the same. Nope. I could remember there being a time or two where I copied the pictures directly off of the camera and onto my thumb drive, only to delete them from the camera afterwards. Silly me.
When we finally got home, I wasted no time in seeing just what pictures I'm missing from our computer. It turns out that we were in better shape than I thought we were because I was only missing one set of "tummy growing" pictures and my "overalls" pictures.
Then I got a brilliant idea! Maybe I could download them from my blog! However, when I did this, I sadly discovered that the files on my blog were not very large, though luckily they may be large enough to suit my needs (I just need small printouts for a page in my scrapbook).
Well bummer. But wait... what's going on? I see that many of my other pictures are also small files! How can that be?! I know we take pictures with high resolution unless we think we're going to be taking a lot of pictures at one time.
Well it turns out that indeed, we have been taking larger pictures. Good. The bad part is that i tend to open them in Microsoft Photo and have the "viewer" set to 25% so that I can see the entire picture on the monitor. Sometimes I have to rotate the picture, and when I go to close the file I am asked "would you like to save the changes". I'm no idiot, of course I'd like to save them! That way I don't have to rotate the picture again, right?
Right. But it turns out that I'm still an idiot because since I was viewing the picture at 25%, I just saved the picture at 25% resolution. So now, many of my pictures are small pixel-ated pictures, but not all of them! Just the ones I like! UGH!
Well that just plain sucks.
* FYI, for most cases, when a thumb drive stops working, you can pay a $75 fee to get a company to recover the files for you. If they're not successful (though they claim to be 95% of the time), you're not charged anything. However, since I can not say exactly what work-related files are on the drive, I do not have that option. Silly government for trying to control the mass-distribution of FOUO (For Official Use Only) files.
...when my USB drive (aka thumb drive) stopped working. Oh $#!T!! Forget about any work-related documents I had on the drive, I instantly started freaking about the tummy-related stuff I had on it! Who knows how many tummy pictures could be lost for good?*
Michael tried to calm me down by saying he always does the right thing by copying them onto our computer at home before deleting them from the camera. He's so sweet. He just assumed that I did the same. Nope. I could remember there being a time or two where I copied the pictures directly off of the camera and onto my thumb drive, only to delete them from the camera afterwards. Silly me.
When we finally got home, I wasted no time in seeing just what pictures I'm missing from our computer. It turns out that we were in better shape than I thought we were because I was only missing one set of "tummy growing" pictures and my "overalls" pictures.
Then I got a brilliant idea! Maybe I could download them from my blog! However, when I did this, I sadly discovered that the files on my blog were not very large, though luckily they may be large enough to suit my needs (I just need small printouts for a page in my scrapbook).
Well bummer. But wait... what's going on? I see that many of my other pictures are also small files! How can that be?! I know we take pictures with high resolution unless we think we're going to be taking a lot of pictures at one time.
Well it turns out that indeed, we have been taking larger pictures. Good. The bad part is that i tend to open them in Microsoft Photo and have the "viewer" set to 25% so that I can see the entire picture on the monitor. Sometimes I have to rotate the picture, and when I go to close the file I am asked "would you like to save the changes". I'm no idiot, of course I'd like to save them! That way I don't have to rotate the picture again, right?
Right. But it turns out that I'm still an idiot because since I was viewing the picture at 25%, I just saved the picture at 25% resolution. So now, many of my pictures are small pixel-ated pictures, but not all of them! Just the ones I like! UGH!
Well that just plain sucks.
* FYI, for most cases, when a thumb drive stops working, you can pay a $75 fee to get a company to recover the files for you. If they're not successful (though they claim to be 95% of the time), you're not charged anything. However, since I can not say exactly what work-related files are on the drive, I do not have that option. Silly government for trying to control the mass-distribution of FOUO (For Official Use Only) files.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
It's a diet, I swear!
An update from my last appointment:
- Baby's vital signs are normal (heartbeat in 140s)
- I'm anemic (must start bombarding myself with iron)
- Got diabetes? Who knows?
So it turns out that there is still a bit of confusion on whether or not I need to take the next series of tests to see if I have gestational diabetes. Apparently the American Association of Diabetes and the American Association of Obstetricians have recently recommended that the cutoff for normal glucose levels during pregnancy is 30 or below (instead of 39 or below). The lab I went to changed to this number on Jan 10 (just a couple weeks ago) and my result came back 35.
We're told that this recommendation is so new and controversial that no one really knows what to do. My midwife office is meeting with the high risk specialist at Johns Hopkins next Tuesday and they're going to ask them what number they're using and then they are going to let me know if I should take the next series of tests. Yes, this is the one I mentioned last week, where they poke me 4 more times with a needle. Ugh.
Part of me just wants to say "just let me take the damn test, just to be on the safe side" but the other part of me thinks that it's silly because if I had taken the test just a couple weeks earlier, none of this would be an issue.
Anyway, in the mean-time, I'm going to start my 3-day diet so that I'm ready to take the test on Wednesday, if need-be.
Directions:
Eat the food listed each day for 3 days PLUS anything else you desire -
Breakfast: Fruit (1 banana, 1 orange, 1/2 grapefruit, or 1/2 cup juice)
Lunch: Meat, cheese or egg (as desired) plus bread (2 slices) or spaghetti, macaroni, rice or noodles (1 cup). Also dessert (fruit, cake, pie or cookies). Milk.
Dinner: Potato. Vegetable. Bread. Meet. Milk. Dessert.
The diet is going to be rough, let me tell you. I don't know how I'll get through.
- Baby's vital signs are normal (heartbeat in 140s)
- I'm anemic (must start bombarding myself with iron)
- Got diabetes? Who knows?
So it turns out that there is still a bit of confusion on whether or not I need to take the next series of tests to see if I have gestational diabetes. Apparently the American Association of Diabetes and the American Association of Obstetricians have recently recommended that the cutoff for normal glucose levels during pregnancy is 30 or below (instead of 39 or below). The lab I went to changed to this number on Jan 10 (just a couple weeks ago) and my result came back 35.
We're told that this recommendation is so new and controversial that no one really knows what to do. My midwife office is meeting with the high risk specialist at Johns Hopkins next Tuesday and they're going to ask them what number they're using and then they are going to let me know if I should take the next series of tests. Yes, this is the one I mentioned last week, where they poke me 4 more times with a needle. Ugh.
Part of me just wants to say "just let me take the damn test, just to be on the safe side" but the other part of me thinks that it's silly because if I had taken the test just a couple weeks earlier, none of this would be an issue.
Anyway, in the mean-time, I'm going to start my 3-day diet so that I'm ready to take the test on Wednesday, if need-be.
Directions:
Eat the food listed each day for 3 days PLUS anything else you desire -
Breakfast: Fruit (1 banana, 1 orange, 1/2 grapefruit, or 1/2 cup juice)
Lunch: Meat, cheese or egg (as desired) plus bread (2 slices) or spaghetti, macaroni, rice or noodles (1 cup). Also dessert (fruit, cake, pie or cookies). Milk.
Dinner: Potato. Vegetable. Bread. Meet. Milk. Dessert.
The diet is going to be rough, let me tell you. I don't know how I'll get through.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Pregnant Snowman
Ever wondered what a pregnant snowman would look like? Well I suppose it would be a pregnant snow woman, but that's not the point. Apparently I am one of the only people who wonder such things because try as I might, I was unable to find a Christmas ornament of a pregnant snowman, and just now I was unable to find a picture of one online. Why am I the only one with such deep thoughts?
I was reminded of this yesterday because I had to go down to a site for work. At the site, we're required to suit up in "bunny" suits. I'm sure you've seen similar things on TV. They're white, and big and bulky. Whenever I put one on, I feel like I'm magically transformed into a snowman.
OK, so that's putting a little bit more of a romantic twist to it than the experience really deserves, but we'll move on...
So today I'm working with my big white snow suit on and one of the girls comes up to me and asks if I'm pregnant. Well, more like motions if I'm pregnant, because it was really loud and it's difficult to understand what others are saying when their face is covered with a mask. So, she put her hand on her belly, rubbed it around a little in a "are you pregnant?" sort of manner.
I was shocked! Don't get me wrong, I know I look pregnant... but underneath a huge, bulky, baggy white suit? Come on! You've got to be kidding me?!
I was reminded of this yesterday because I had to go down to a site for work. At the site, we're required to suit up in "bunny" suits. I'm sure you've seen similar things on TV. They're white, and big and bulky. Whenever I put one on, I feel like I'm magically transformed into a snowman.
OK, so that's putting a little bit more of a romantic twist to it than the experience really deserves, but we'll move on...
So today I'm working with my big white snow suit on and one of the girls comes up to me and asks if I'm pregnant. Well, more like motions if I'm pregnant, because it was really loud and it's difficult to understand what others are saying when their face is covered with a mask. So, she put her hand on her belly, rubbed it around a little in a "are you pregnant?" sort of manner.
I was shocked! Don't get me wrong, I know I look pregnant... but underneath a huge, bulky, baggy white suit? Come on! You've got to be kidding me?!
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Meet Ms. Spunky Tummy
Ms. Gorgeous Tummy and Ms. Sexy Tummy have a new friend! This is Ms. Spunky Tummy. How cute is that? I think I could pull off a picture like this myself and just may do that.
And for those who are wondering, I still haven't been able to duplicate Ms. Sexy Tummy yet because my belly button is refusing to pop out. It is getting more and more shallow, though, so I still have high hopes!
And for those who are wondering, I still haven't been able to duplicate Ms. Sexy Tummy yet because my belly button is refusing to pop out. It is getting more and more shallow, though, so I still have high hopes!
Monday, February 05, 2007
At least we know it's comfy
We usually keep the doors to the nursery and guest room closed so that they are as close to "cat free zones" as possible. However, it is always surprising how quickly the cats invade if the door is left open. Rascal snuck in without me noticing (we later heard her desperate cries for help from behind the closed door), and by looking at this picture you'd think Pounce had free-reign to the room... but no. This was taken only 5 minutes after the door was open. At least we can rest assured that the crib is comfortable!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Un-necessary worrying
I used to make fun of my mom for how much she would worry about us when there was nothing to worry about. A classic example would be how if she would have to slam on the brakes while driving, she would automatically fling up her arm to hold back the child in the passenger seat, as if her arm would save us when the seat belt alone would not. I even remember on one occasion how she knocked the wind out of me by trying to save my life in such a way. Mothers. They can be so silly.
I recently got my first real taste of this un-necessary worrying. I had convinced myself that I was not feeling the baby move much and that it was abnormal. Forget the fact that I was pretty active when this thought came to mind (usually I notice my baby move most when I'm not moving myself and everything around me is silent). Without going into too many details, let's just say that it was the first time I really thought about what it would be like as a parent to lose a child. And believe me, I did not like it one bit.
And just for you worry-ers, baby is moving around just fine now. =)
I recently got my first real taste of this un-necessary worrying. I had convinced myself that I was not feeling the baby move much and that it was abnormal. Forget the fact that I was pretty active when this thought came to mind (usually I notice my baby move most when I'm not moving myself and everything around me is silent). Without going into too many details, let's just say that it was the first time I really thought about what it would be like as a parent to lose a child. And believe me, I did not like it one bit.
And just for you worry-ers, baby is moving around just fine now. =)
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Pregnancy Spurts
Do you ever feel like you just got super-pregnant over night?
No? Maybe it's just me then.
I didn't want to say anything because I thought for sure it was my imagination, but then Michael asked me a couple nights ago "Do you ever feel like you reach a plateau when it comes to your pregnancy progress and then BAM! Overnight, you take a huge leap forward?" Apparently he, too, noticed that overnight I suddenly started sitting and standing up like a pregnant woman.
And I swear it was not a gradual change. Saturday I was sitting and standing just fine, but Sunday I was all about the reaching behind me for support and standing with my stomach first. Much like when I first got my tummy in November, it was an over-the-night change.
On the bright side of things... this weekend we went shopping for anther pair of pregnant jeans (sadly my first pair might have to go into early retirement). OK, OK, so that's the the bright side yet. The bright side is that I got a pair of overalls!
Yay! Yay! I LOVE OVERALLS!!! I used to have a pair in college and I quickly learned that it is nearly impossible to wear overalls and be upset! They're magical really! But now, I look super cute because not only can I wear cute overalls and get away with it (they're not widely accepted on the East Coast), but I look super cute AND pregnant! So much fun!
Don't believe me? Well just ask and I'll tell you just how much fun they are! I believe that there might even be studies that show it's nearly impossible to be in a bad mood when wearing overalls.
No? Maybe it's just me then.
I didn't want to say anything because I thought for sure it was my imagination, but then Michael asked me a couple nights ago "Do you ever feel like you reach a plateau when it comes to your pregnancy progress and then BAM! Overnight, you take a huge leap forward?" Apparently he, too, noticed that overnight I suddenly started sitting and standing up like a pregnant woman.
And I swear it was not a gradual change. Saturday I was sitting and standing just fine, but Sunday I was all about the reaching behind me for support and standing with my stomach first. Much like when I first got my tummy in November, it was an over-the-night change.
On the bright side of things... this weekend we went shopping for anther pair of pregnant jeans (sadly my first pair might have to go into early retirement). OK, OK, so that's the the bright side yet. The bright side is that I got a pair of overalls! 
Yay! Yay! I LOVE OVERALLS!!! I used to have a pair in college and I quickly learned that it is nearly impossible to wear overalls and be upset! They're magical really! But now, I look super cute because not only can I wear cute overalls and get away with it (they're not widely accepted on the East Coast), but I look super cute AND pregnant! So much fun!
Don't believe me? Well just ask and I'll tell you just how much fun they are! I believe that there might even be studies that show it's nearly impossible to be in a bad mood when wearing overalls.
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