Time Flies When Your Having... Fun?

Alright, so I realize it's been almost a full year since my last post but I make no apologies. I've been super busy. Actually I think busy is the wrong word. It's been more than that, I basically have taken on a whole new lifestyle and I feel like I'm always in a state of trying to catch up with my life and all the many changing aspects of it. Let me start at the beginning. A month after my last post I gave birth to a human being. So I think that gets me off the hook as far as this blog goes. I'm going to try as best as I can to sum up what's been going on since then. If it doesn't make sense or seems a bit out of order just keep in mind I have a nine month old that needs my constant attention so I'm pretty much writing this in between all my many mommy duties. Which reminds me... I'd like to give a shout out to Gerber Graduates baby snacks, without which this blog (not to mention all my housework) would never get done. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so I gave birth. Which I had always believed would be horribly painful with lots of blood everywhere and screaming and scary doctors with evil grins on their faces. Needless to say it was NOTHING like I had imagined. While pregnant I suffered from preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. I'm not going to go into the details of what those things are, if you really wanna know then look it up. Basically I had to be on bed rest and I also had to check my blood sugar levels fifty times a day (which involves pricking my own fingers and drawing blood, which I am not fond of). So by the time I reached 38 weeks of pregnancy I was more than ready to get that sucker out of me. My doctor had scheduled for me to be induced the day I reached 38 weeks and honestly it was the best thing ever. I showed up at the hospital at seven in the morning, they brought me to my room, gave me the inducing drugs and I basically just hung out until the baby was far enough down that I could start pushing. I only felt two contractions, which I'm not going to lie, felt like the worst menstrual cramps I had ever had, and then I asked for the epidural and around five in the evening I was ready to start pushing. I pushed for 45 minutes and then he just popped right out and it was over. Easy peasy. After that, me and baby hung out at the hospital for a few more days and then we went home. Little did I know the hardest part was yet to come. After we brought him home and it was just me and baby, I realized I had no idea what I was supposed to do with him. Lucky for me I have the best husband in the world and he was nice enough to take a whole week off from his job to teach me the right way to hold an infant, how to change a diaper, give baby a bath, figure out the snaps on all the little onesies and how to lay the baby down for a nap. He also woke up for all of the late night feedings with me and held me when I would break down and cry from all the pressure I put on myself about breastfeeding (eventually I would learn that not all women are cut out for breastfeeding and that formula would be my best friend). And then before I knew it that first week was over and my husband would go back to work and I would be on my own. It was scary and tiring at times but looking back I don't seem to recall any of the bad times at all. All I remember is holding that teeny tiny little thing in my arms with the realization that I had helped to create him. That I had helped to create life. It was wonderful and terrifying all at the same time. It was also wonderful to watch this little creature reach all his little baby milestones one at a time. Watching him learn new things and figure out how to use and maneuver this new body of his. I watched him learn hand eye coordination, how to sit up, how to eat baby food, how to crawl and pull himself up and how to play. He also learned some other things along the way that I wasn't particularly happy about like how funny it is to spit out his baby food in mommy's face or how to sneak little things he finds on the floor into his mouth when mommy isn't looking, or how much fun it is to slap mommy in the face every morning to wake her up. But despite all of that we somehow managed to make it all the way to nine months old with minimal damage and all ten fingers and toes still intact. So that brings me to where we are now.

So, what has been going on with us lately? Actually not too much. Tim is still out of a job. Him and the rest of the Northern Marine crew were laid off last March. At first we were under the impression that it would only be temporary but it is seven months later and still no job. We were hopeful last week when Tim got a call from his old boss saying that they wanted to hire him back. He was supposed to start yesterday but as soon as he got there they told him they were laying everyone off again. Apparently the company that was supposed to fund the Northern Marine company backed out. How have we survived for seven months without a real job you ask? Well, lucky for us Tim is a skilled carpenter who can do just about anything from putting up a fence to remodeling a house. He has managed to work several different jobs for random people and ended up making quite a bit more money than he did when he was employed. But now that summer is ending the side jobs are far and few in between and we are starting to get worried. He has applied for many different jobs in the area the last few months with no luck. There isn't much out there that pays enough to support a family of three so we have started to look in other areas. By other areas I mean in Oregon just in case we need to move back in with the parents for a while. Not our first choice but we have bills and a child and need to do whatever is necessary to make it work. It would be hard giving up our independence and privacy. I love keeping my own home and doing things my way but we need to do what is best for our family. But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that Tim will land a job here so we don't have to move and leave our home and our friends. I think my parents are secretly hoping that Tim won't find a job so that they get to be closer to their grandchild. I don't blame them. It's got to be hard not getting to see your only grandchild grow up. So I suppose that if we do have to move back at least someone will be happy.

Trash or Treasure?

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! This month has been super busy for me and Tim. Well, mostly for Tim. He has been working his butt off lately taking on an extra side job, watching the neighbor's pets while they were out of town and working his regular forty hour a week job. Not to mention having to come home to an overly hormonal pregnant wife. Someone should give him an award or something.

Well, I went in for the three hour glucose test a couple weeks ago. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. The drink was carbonated this time and it was a lemon lime flavor instead of the fruit punch one I had to drink for the one hour test. The worst part wasn't even the five blood draws, the worst part was waiting for it to be over. Anyway, then they called me the next week to tell me that my blood sugar levels were still elevated after the test was over and that I needed to schedule an appointment with a nurse to go over what my diet should be. Then the next week I had a regular doctors appointment to check up on the baby and have a 3D ultrasound done. Well, we waited and waited but we never got to have our check up done because the doctor got called to the delivery room to deliver someones baby. So we rescheduled for the same day as the appointment to meet with the dietitian thinking we would kill two birds with one stone. Well, today was the day we were to have both appointments, the first being with the doctor, the second being with the dietitian. Once we got there we were directed to the ultrasound room and we waited and waited. Then after a very long time the nurse comes in to tell us that the doctor was still in surgery and it would still be a while. Then I happened to glance at the clock and realized that we had already missed our appointment with the dietitian. So I told the nurse and she said she would see if we might still be able to make that appointment. Well, we didn't because she was already on to her next appointment but she gave us the packets to read about gestational diabetes and the diet plan and food pyramid I should be following. Then the nurse tells us that the doctor is still going to be a while and suggested we go to lunch and have them call us when she gets out of surgery and since I don't have a life and Tim didn't mind playing hooky from work we agreed. So we go out to lunch and as soon as we order our food guess who calls! Yup, you guessed it! So I tell the nurse we just ordered our food and we will be there as soon as possible. So we eat fast and rush back to the hospital only to have to wait another fifteen minutes for our doctor. But finally she comes and we proceed with the check up. We still didn't get a good photo of the little guy because apparently he likes to lay with his arms up over his head and face. But the doctor said he looked very healthy and he was already doing the motions of breathing which is a good sign. She also said he weighs about four pounds which is in the lower part of the normal range and that from what she could tell she isn't very worried about my gestational diabetes because the baby is not on the large side and my fluids are at the right amount. So all is well with me and baby. Which is all I can ask for. I can't believe I've only got about seven more weeks left of pregnancy! It sure has gone by really fast. I wonder if I'll miss being pregnant. I sure am not going to miss all this extra weight! Hopefully it will come off fast.

So anyway, in other news... a week or so ago my husband calls me after he gets off work and says he has picked us up a couch and recliner. I asked him how and where he managed to do this and he replied by telling me that he found them for free on the side of the road. Now, if you know me at all you know that I'm not the kind of girl who picks things up off the side of the road. Mostly because for the most part the things people leave out on the side of the road are pretty nasty and not worth taking, otherwise they would have sold them. So I ask Tim if they were in good condition or not and he says yes they are and that in his opinion they were actually pretty nice looking. This did nothing to comfort me because I know Tim well enough to know that his idea of "nice looking" is not my idea of "nice looking". But what could I do? He was already on his way home with his find. So he gets home and unloads the furniture in our living room. Well, the couch and recliner were pretty large which I could live with, they were also made from this fake leather material and an awful shade of green, which I cannot live with. So of course we get in this big fight over whether it was a good idea for him to have gotten this stuff without even letting me look at it first. He tells me he doesn't think its "that bad" which is a step down from "nice looking" but I'm obviously not winning the battle yet. Anyway, we compromise and decide that I will sleep on it and give it another chance the next day and if I still hate it then he will get rid of it. So the next day while he is at work I stand in the living room for what seems like hours staring at the ugly furniture. Finally my feet get tired from all the standing and fuming and I sat down on the couch. And you know what? It really wasn't that bad, as long as I wasn't looking at it. So I start to think, what can I do to turn this situation around? And then it hits me... slipcovers. So we bought some comfy tan slipcovers for both the couch and recliner as well as some cute pillows I found at Ross. And I have to tell you, the living room has never looked better! So I guess what I learned is that one man's trash really is another man's treasure.

Super Sized

I went to the doctor's yesterday for my monthly checkup. Usually I am pretty excited about these visits because it means the doc gets to check on the little bub and tell me he is okay. He is still doing great, don't get me wrong, I on the other hand am not. First the nurse tells me I have gained nine whole pounds since my last visit which is enough to bum me out to the max all by itself. Not that I'm a total chunker, it's just not something any girl wants to hear, ever. Then they tell me I am slightly anemic and have to take daily iron pills to get what I am obviously lacking in my diet. It didn't sound so bad until they told me that the pills tend to cause nausea and constipation. Great! My fave! Then on top of that I didn't pass the one hour glucose screening test for gestational diabetes so I have to go in for a three hour test in which they will draw blood five times within those three hours. My arms are gonna be hurtin! I'm really worried that I wont pass that test either. I don't keep up the best diet in the world. Anyway, back to the doctor's visit... So then we had an ultrasound to get some 3D pictures of the little tyke. Unfortunately we didn't get any because he was in there with his arm up over his face. Like he knew we were watching and he just couldn't be bothered. I am pretty sure he was taking a nap though because he wasn't moving and by the looks of his profile his eyes were closed. So the doctor decided to take matters into her own hands and tried to get him to wake up and move by jabbing me in the belly with the ultrasound wand. That was a fun little treat for me and the baby. Well, it made him move but not in the direction we wanted. It also did not succeed in getting him to lower his arm. I don't blame him. If was being ambushed by the outside with an unknown weapon I would be shielding my face too. So the doctor gave up and said we would try again next month. She did say though that by what she could see he had no noticeable facial defects. So that's always nice to know. She measured him and told us that he weighs about 2lbs and 15oz. I'm not sure if that is normal or not because she didn't say. But the book said that during the third trimester he is supposed to gain about a pound a week. I really hope he doesn't though because that would mean I might end up with a thirteen pound baby. I really think I would die. So maybe I should stop eating all the carbohydrates and junk I usually eat and start eating my meats and veggies so that I don't end up with some monster sized baby.

Close Encounter

So today was an interesting day. I set out to get some much needed grocery shopping done with the help of my friend Dave. I like to get the shopping done when Tim isn't around for two reasons... 1. So he doesn't try to buy every single junk food item in the store and 2. so he isn't complaining the whole time that he just got off work and he doesn't feel like walking around the store. So me and Dave set off around two in the afternoon. We hit the Costco and then the regular grocery store in town. Then we decided to go back to the house to drop off the stuff that needed to be refrigerated before we went out to lunch and then finished the rest of the shopping at Walmart. So after we bring all of the crap back to the house we drive out through this little neighborhood to get to the main road that goes back into town. As I am driving I notice that there are middle school aged kids walking up the sidewalks with their backpacks and books. Obviously school was out so I slowed down to about twenty miles per hour, which is five miles an hour under the speed limit in that area, so as not to hit any of the kiddies walking around. Anyway, so as we are driving on this road, I notice we are about to pass the last of the kids, what I do not notice is that they have a dog with them. I didn't notice this because they were passing behind one of those community mail boxes that take up the whole sidewalk so my view of their canine companion was obstructed. If I had been able to see him then I probably would have noticed that he was walking along side these kids without a leash on. But since I didn't even know he was there you can imagine my surprise when the dog decided to run at full speed across the road to get to a little critter that was on the other side. He just seemed to come out of nowhere. But since I was going so slow anyway it was pretty easy for me to slam on my breaks but the dog still hit my car a little. Don't worry, he was fine. Just a little shook up. Then again so was I. So after that happened the kids that I guess own the dog ran out into the street to see if he was okay, which he was. I still asked them if he was okay and if they needed any help but they wouldn't talk to me. They just glared at me like I was some kind of murderer. Like I had WANTED to hit their dog. So I finaly just gave up and drove away. The moral of the story: DON'T LET YOUR DOG OUT WITHOUT A LEASH!! Or else I just might hit him.

Disappearing Act

Lately I've been noticing that every day my belly button gets smaller and smaller. It's pretty bizarre. I wonder if it will actually disappear. My sister in law's belly button went from being an innie to an outie when she was pregnant. Hopefully mine doesn't come completely out. Something about a belly button sticking out kind of makes me a little sick. But then again a lot of things have been happening during my pregnancy that I would have thought was really sick pre-pregnancy.

This last Friday I took a trip to Island Hospital to get my glucose screening test done. I arrived there at four thirty in the afternoon, checked in, waited for an hour to be called and then after I was called the lady tells me that the test takes an hour and I didn't have time to do it since they close in twenty minutes. In the back of my mind I was thinking, "why didn't you just give me the damn drink when I first got here so that all she would have to do at that point was take my freaking blood sample and be done with it?" But I didn't say anything. I wasn't even a little bit rude. Strange huh? It seems that being pregnant has taught me how to be patient. I never would have thought that was possible. So I will be going back to the hospital next Friday. The lady gave me the glucose coctail to take home with me so I could refrigerate it before I have to drink it. I really hope it doesn't taste like caugh syrup or we are going to have a major problem.

So I don't know if this is common with other pregnant women but lately I have been having major trouble sleeping. It's just not comfortable anymore. The night before last I had major heart burn and last night my baby wouldn't stop jabbing me in the side. I had to lay on my back until he settled down. Even then he seemed to get irritated when I rolled back onto my side. With him getting heavier and stronger by the minute I don't know how I am going to survive the next couple of months. But even with him annoying the crap out of me at night and killing my back slowly during the day I still can't help but feel an overwhelming amount of love for the little guy. I guess that's why it's called unconditional.

Last night I had another weird dream. It wasn't as freaky as the last one I wrote about but it was still weird. I dreamed I was pregnant and all that good stuff but that I had agreed in my early stages of pregnancy to give the baby up for adoption to my uncle and that I would be compensated three thousand dollars. But in my dream when I was as far along as I am in real life I had a change of heart and I was trying everything to get out of the arrangement I had agreed to. But there was a lot of legal paperwork involved not to mention the awkwardness of telling a family member you don't want to give them your child. Then the whole family and I had to sit down to dinner to a meal of meat loaf. I don't know why meat loaf, probably because in real life I hate the stuff and my subconscious wanted to punish my dream self for giving up her own baby. I never did get around to letting my uncle know he would not in fact be recieving my baby. Instead my dream ended with a midnight car race down the side of a mountain where a state trooper was waiting with one of those speeding radar guns. Needless to say I woke up feeling very confused and a little paranoid. So anyway, I guess I should lay off the sweets before bed.

S'more Please

I'm now in my twenty seventh week of pregnancy! Only thirteen more weeks to go! I really cannot believe how fast this is happening. I am really loving being pregnant though. It's so strange how I can love the little guy so much and we have never even met face to face! And he is getting stronger and stronger every day. The other day Tim wanted to see if he put his ear up to my belly if he might be able to hear the baby moving around. Well, right after he set his head on my stomach the baby gave him a giant kick in the head! It was the funniest thing I had seen all week! I wonder how much the little guy is aware of in there. I wonder if the kick was more a reflex or if he just really was irritated that something heavy was sitting on top of him. Either way it sure surprised Tim!

The baby is still continuing to wake up around four thirty every morning despite my best efforts to stay asleep myself. I really feel I'm starting to recognize his sleep and wake patterns now. I guess it's a good thing. I better get used to this because once he is born I won't have time to get cranky.

So last night I was really craving chocolate. I know it's probably not the best thing to be craving but I couldn't help it! So I sent Tim to the store to pick up the ingredients to make s'mores. And boy were they good! The only bad thing was that I ate them while sitting in bed and got melted chocolate on my favorite blanket. And on top of that I couldn't even wash it because the washer and dryer are still broken. So my blanket is stuck with this awful brown stain on it until the end of the week. But I'm not sorry, it was worth it.

I'm a little bit nervous because at the end of the week I have to go to the doctor's for the glucose screening test. I hate sitting at the doctor's office so the idea of having to spend a whole hour there just makes me sick. I am also crossing my fingers that I pass the test. I would hate to have to be on a special diet for the rest of my pregnancy. Maybe I shouldn't have anymore s'mores! Anyway, wish me luck with that one!

Nightmares

Tomorrow will be the beginning of my twenty seventh week of pregnancy. That means that I will be entering the third and final trimester. Pretty scary huh? Apparently my subconscious thinks so also. I thought that I was keeping my nerves in check when it comes to thinking about giving birth but I must have just been repressing all those feelings because somehow they decided to come out in my dreams. I've heard of pregnant women having some pretty crazy pregnancy dreams but up until now I haven't really experienced it for myself. If you know me at all you know that I usually get pretty strange dreams when I'm not pregnant so I really didn't think it could get any stranger. But last night I had one that really freaked me out. It started out innocent enough, with me and Tim sitting in bed talking at night. Then I noticed that the little guy started moving so I turned to Tim so he could see. Then all of a sudden out of the side of my belly came this imprint of a foot! For some reason at this point in the dream I wasn't freaked out at all. I was more like "Hey look Tim how cute! A little foot sticking out!" In reality this has never happened so it would have probably been a strange sight to behold, but in the dream it was perfectly normal. So anyway, back to the dream. So this impression of a foot is sticking out of my belly so of course I touch it. Then it seemed like the baby liked me touching his foot because he tried to stick it out farther. Now if he had tried to stick it out farther in real life he wouldn't have gotten it out very far because my tummy would have been way too tight for that. But in the dream he was able to practically stick his whole foot out of the side of my tummy without causing me any pain or discomfort in the stretching of my skin. So anyway, while this is happening, my dream self is not freaking out. No, my dream self is just in awe and thinking how darn cute it is that this foot is sticking straight out of my tummy. Wait, it gets weirder. So then all of a sudden while I am holding this baby foot in my hand I notice that there is a blister on my skin where the foot is sticking out. So I ask Tim, "Do you see this? What is it?" And Tim says "I don't know, hold it up to the lamp so I can get a better look." So I do what I am told. Then under the light I notice that this blister is starting to leak. As in it is leaking water. And I am thinking how strange that is. Then all of a sudden I notice that my whole stomach is leaking this clear fluid. At first I am just dumbfounded. Then I look down and I notice that I not only still have this little foot in my hand but I also have the baby out in my arms. So I am holding this baby, not really sure how it got there and I notice that the umbilical chord is still in tact. So apparently I am holding the baby that was just INSIDE me a few seconds earlier. And I'm thinking, Holy Crap! How did this happen? Then I notice something else. That the baby is squirming around in my hands but not making a sound. And I also notice that he has this look of anguish on his face. It takes me a few more seconds to realize that he can't breath. Then I panicked. I didn't know what to do so I scream at Tim to call the hospital. Tim on the other hand doesn't seem phased at all by what has been going on and he proceeds to call someone. I don't know who he calls exactly but I knew it wasn't the doctor or the hospital or freaking 911. So I start screaming at Tim that something is wrong with the baby and I don't know what to do. Then I look down at the poor little suffocating baby and his eyes are wide open staring at me and his face is stuck in that same horrible anguished look trying to scream but he can't. And then he stops moving and dies. Just like that. With that same look on his face, with his lifeless eyes staring at me. And I didn't do anything to help him. Because I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do. Now in real life, I'm sure that I would have been smart enough to clear out his airways but in my dream that just never occurred to me. Anyway, so I woke up from this dream in the middle of the night sweating a very cold sweat and with my heart racing. It must have woken up my little guy too because he was inside rolling around like crazy. I'm glad he was though so that I could tell he was okay. But I tell you, that was the scariest dream I have ever had. I wonder if it means that I'm scared I can't handle a baby or something. Whatever the case, it's going to take a while for me to forget. I just can't wait til my real life baby can be born safely so I don't have to worry anymore. Anyway, hopefully getting the dream out in writing will help it get out of my head.