A Naked Five-Month-Old

A friend told me about a sale they're having a JCPenney for infant clothes, 60% off, so I headed over there at lunch. Jonah got a lot of clothes before he was born, but oddly enough we're very short on 3-6 month clothing. I planned to buy him four or five outfits to wear to church and on outings and then pick up some onesies at Walmart later.

Unfortunately, about 75% of the baby/infant section of JCPenney is girl clothes. This seems to be a trend, because every time I go to Walmart, Target, the mall, etc., the girl clothes WAY outnumber the boy clothes. Now, I get that girls like shopping and care more about clothes, but babies don't, and all babies NEED clothing! I don't understand it. It's very, very frustrating to look at racks upon racks of clothing and only find dresses and outfits covered in pink and ruffles. I adore little girl clothes, but it's very irritating when I can only find one section of shirts with trucks and dinosaurs and airplanes with matching pants. I got one outfit.

Luckily Jonah hasn't outgrown his 0-3 month clothes yet, and he just turned three months yesterday, but it won't be long until we have a naked five-month-old.

Updates!

Lots has been going on, and I have lots of updates! First, Jonah had his two-month appointment a few weeks ago. He was 9lbs. 6oz. this time! He moved up from the 3rd percentile to the 5th, and he's in the 25th percentile for his length and head circumference. Such great news! He got his first round of vaccinations and screamed bloody murder. It look him about five minutes to calm down, but he was fine after that. He did run a fever the next day, so we gave him a few rounds of baby Tylenol and the fever came down.

He's had some new developments too, especially since he started going to the babysitter with two twin boys who are a few months older. Jonah is smiling and "talking" like crazy, starting to laugh, sitting up in a Bumbo(!), and he loves playing under his activity mat. He even liked bath time last night! Our little man is growing up.

We took Jonah to his first Springfield Cardinals game Friday night. A big group from work went, and Jonah did so great. He watched the game for a while and loved the Jumbotron (we don't let him watch TV, so this was a big treat!), and then he fell asleep. He woke up at the seventh inning stretch when we were singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and he was ready to eat, so I fed him his bottle. This took a while, and John was talking to a coworker about computers, so neither one of us were paying much attention to the game at this point. When Jonah was finished eating, I got up to take him to the bathroom to change his diaper, and as I was making my way through the aisle the crowd started cheering. I thought, "Oh, we must've scored a run," and walked up the steps towards the bathroom. Well, then the lights went off, and I realized that the game was over, and the Friday Night Fireworks were about to start. Jonah and I stopped and watched, and Jonah LOVED it. He rested his head on my shoulder at first, but then they started getting high in the sky, so he picked his head up and leaned back to see them. He kept looking at me like he wanted to make sure I was still there, but he wasn't afraid at all. I figured the noise at least would bother him, but it didn't. The only sad part was that John missed Jonah's first fireworks show. I'm still really bummed about that.

After the game, John put Jonah in the Snugli and we walked back to the car. We always park at Dillions, so it was a pretty long walk (John dropped us off before the game), but Jonah did great and was smiling and cooing when we got to the car. It was a great night.

Grammy and Grandpa are coming this weekend, and I think they're going to be very surprised when they see how big Jonah has gotten. I got a development email the other day that said "Your newborn has officially graduated to infant status." I'm glad Jonah is doing so well and getting so big, but it kinda makes me sad too. Oh well. That's motherhood, right? :)

I'll post some pictures of Jonah at the game later. I can't upload them at work. But stay tuned...

Happy Wednesday!

Back Among the Living!

When I was on bedrest, one of the things I missed most was going to the park. Earlier in my pregnancy I went to the park every day during my lunch break, especially during the fall when the leaves were changing. Today, on the cusp of Memorial Day weekend with the sun in the sky (because of course it's supposed to start raining tonight!), I went back to the park. My favorite one has a huge, beautiful pond and a short hiking trail. I didn't risk doing the trail back when I was pregnant, but I've been wanting to, so today was the day.

When I got to the top overlooking the pond, I saw one of these.

I stood and watched him as he climbed over the rocks. Then these started emerging.
The big lizard with the orange head started chasing the small lizards with the blue tails. Then the big lizard disappeared under a rock. I watched the small lizards for a minute and was about to leave when the big lizard reappeared with one of the small lizards in his mouth! I tried to scare him to "save" the small lizard, but he just kept dragging it back under the rock. When I got back to the office, I googled and found that Missouri lizards only eat insects, so maybe this was some kind of mating ritual? As disgusting as that is, I'd rather it be that than lizard cannibalism!

After the trail I walked along the pond, looking for turtles. I counted five of them floating and swimming around. Then as I reached the end of the pond, I spotted a snake that looked something like this.
The snake was much smaller and slightly different from this one in color. He was swimming along the edge of the pond, and he was really cool. I kneeled down beside him and watched as he slithered through the water. After a while he disappeared, so I got up and watched the fish swimming for a few minutes.

There were tons of families at the park, many of them feeding bread to the geese. The geese have gotten so friendly that they'll actually catch the bread in their beaks. I can't wait until Jonah is big enough to go to the park and understand what he sees. Those will be really fun days.

Happy Memorial Day!

Daycare = Sick Baby :(

As I mentioned in the last post, Jonah started going to a babysitter this past week. There are only two other babies, twin boys, at the babysitter's house, but Jonah still managed to get sick after his first week. He officially has his first baby cold, and the doctor this morning said it's just something that happens when babies are away from home. Unfortunately, my baby is no normal little boy. While he's growing, his weight is still an issue, and that makes the common cold a bigger deal for us.

Jonah is sneezing, coughing, and congested, and since babies only breathe out of their noses, it makes it really difficult for him to eat. He hasn't been doing well with it this week, and he went from 9 lbs. to 8 lbs. 6 oz. :( The doctor gave us instructions for doing nasal washes before feedings and bedtime, and Jonah has to sleep in his car seat until he's feeling better. That should be interesting.

He goes back to the doctor for his two-month wellness checkup next Thursday, so they'll check his weight again and see if we need to take additional measures. The doctor is hoping he'll have gained some weight by then.

In the meantime, Jonah doesn't have a fever, so he's still at the babysitter's house today. Here is a picture she sent me last week. I can't believe how big our little man is getting!

Emily NOT From the Couch

My good friend and coworker, Nicole, has convinced me to revive my blog. Before I barely had time to check my email, but I started back to work this week, so that makes it easier. This week hasn't been to bad. I was super sick over the weekend, so I missed Monday. Tuesday was my first day back, and it was nice to see my friends again. It's definitely hard to leave Jonah though. Luckily John drops him off at the babysitter in the morning. My boss is letting me work 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and take four hours of PTO each week to make up the time, so it's nice to be able to leave and get Jonah early. His babysitter is in Battlefield, about half an hour from our house, so it's a bit of a commute. We're usually home around 4:00 though.

Jonah is doing great and gaining weight. He's nine pounds now, and is starting to get some meat on his bones. He's also starting to smile! John was lucky enough to catch a shot of one of his first ones. Isn't he cute?!


He's been "talking" a lot lately too. I can't believe he's already two months old!

So, we're all settling into our new routines. I'm happy for the weekend and lots of Jonah time. We should be able to bring him to church this week too, so I'm really looking forward to that!

Have a great weekend!

Daily Dose of Jonah

John went back to work this week part-time, so I've been sending him pictures of Jonah after I dress him in the mornings. Here is today's picture. Isn't he a cutie? :o)

Post-Partum Blogging

I'm sure I don't need to say that blogging is not the easiest thing to do with a newborn. Right now Jonah and I are on the couch; he has a crusty eye, a snotty nose, and traces of his breakfast on his cheeks. I stink and am trying to decide on a good time to brave the shower. But, the important things are covered. Jonah has a full belly and is clothed in something other than PJs (although he's still swimming in everything except the cute sleepers his Grammy bought him).

Okay, he's crying. Blog over. Happy Monday, everyone!

Jonah Alexander is Here!

We get to go home today...on my birthday! Yay!

We've posted pics and our birth story on CaringBridge. Follow the link below!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

www.caringbridge.org/visit/babymelnik

It's Here!

I had my pre-admission appointment this morning. I gave my medical history for the 19th time, met with the anesthesiologist about the spinal I'll get tomorrow, and for the most part got all my questions answered. My blood pressure was, of course, through the roof, and the nurses wouldn't let me leave. They really wanted me to call John to come pick me up (even after laying down on that table thing again and getting it back down to normal). The nurse finally called my OB nurse, who promptly told her that I had hypertension, which is why I was having the baby tomorrow, and that I could go home. Thank you, Nurse Gail!

I've let myself cheat and in turn worn myself out today. I figure the last day of bedrest shouldn't really count, right? So the baby swing is set up, the humidifier is ready to go, the nursery is clean and the closet is cleaned out, the stroller and car seat are out, the Pack n' Play with bassinet is set up, everything is washed, and the hospital bag is packed.

Tomorrow I'll be getting up at 3:30 a.m. to get ready, grab last minute things for the bags, and head to the hospital at 5:00. Who am I kidding though? I'm going to get zero sleep tonight. My c-section is scheduled for 7:30, and as long as it doesn't get bumped, the baby should be here by 8:00! Strangely, I'm not nervous at all. Just ready to not be pregnant, meet our little guy, and have a normal life again!

We're supposed to have Wi-Fi in the hospital, and we set up a CaringBridge site though the hospital's website, so we hope to post pictures and such while we're in the hospital. My recovery will be a little longer since I'm having the surgery, but hopefully we'll be home by Tuesday (my St. Patty's Day Birthday!). I'll post pics on here too when I can.

Wish me luck! :0)

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Six

Crip

We had tons of chickens growing up, and a lot of the time they ran loose around the field. At one point we started having trouble with predators (opossums, skunks, coyotes, etc.), so Dad built a huge chicken coup, and we kept them locked up in there. They had roosts and boxes filled with hay to lay eggs in. I think the chickens really liked their coup.

Unfortunately, it didn't always keep all the predators out. One weekend we were going on a trip, and Dad was worried about something getting in the coup and eating the chickens, so he set up one of those "bear claw" traps in the coup.


When we came back at the end of the weekend, the trap didn't hold any predators hostage, but instead it had the leg of one of our chickens clamped down.

Now, very few of our chickens were friendly. Sure, they followed us around when it was feeding time, but it wasn't like you could walk up and pick one up or pet them or anything. However, when the trapped chicken saw us coming, I guess she figured we were going to help her, because she sat calmly while Dad opened the trap and freed her leg.

Surprisingly, her leg wasn't broken. It had a huge gash in it where the trap had closed though, so Dad decided to put some ointment on it and wrap the gash with that tape that comes in first aid kits. He wrapped it tight, and the chicken hopped off with just a limp.

A week or so later, we noticed something strange laying in the dirt of the chicken coup. We looked closer and soon saw the chicken, who was hopping around the coup on one leg. That's when we realized that she no longer had two feet. The thing we saw laying in the dirt was her foot. The gash had rotted under the tape, the circulation was cut off, and eventually the lower part of her leg and her foot just fell off.

The chicken didn't seem to be in any pain, and she was getting along fine on her stump of a leg. Surprisingly, she became pretty tame and was one of our favorite chickens. After her unfortunate event, we named her Crip. She lived for a long time and appeared to have a very happy life, despite her disability.

Last Appointment Before D-Day!

I had my last appointment at the doctor today. The non-stress test went well, and the doctor decided to go ahead and schedule a c-section for Saturday. I'm totally okay with the c-section, and I'm excited to just get in there and meet the baby! As long as we don't get bumped for an emergency, we should be parents by 9:00 a.m. on Saturday! Visitors are welcome on Sunday! We can't wait!

It's Okay!

I just wanted to update today, because I know yesterday's post was quite the downer.

We had small group at our house last night, so John was home a little bit earlier. We (as in he) actually grilled hot dogs for dinner and we scarfed it down before our friends came over. After small group, John surprised me with root beer floats. It was a nice little treat, and it was great to get to spend a little extra time with him.

Today was a good day too. A friend came over early with a delicious vanilla latte and a blueberry scone (so good!) from Panera, and we had a good chat. It was a much better way to start out the day. It was nearly lunch time when she left, so I made a sandwich and let the kitties out of the basement early so I'd have some company (yes, cat company!).

My goal today was to finish my thank you cards, but I ended up emailing several friends back and forth a large part of the day. I enjoyed that a lot, and it made the day go by fast. Tomorrow is doctor day, and then I only have three days left before the baby is here and bedrest is officially over!

I think Wednesday I'll get the cards done, Thursday I'll finish the letters I painted for the nursery, and Friday I'll make sure my bag is packed and everything is ready to go. Now that I have goals for each day, I think the week is going to go fast and Saturday will be here before we know it.

I'm also looking forward to TV tonight. I am a huge reality TV fan, and since The Bachelor is officially over, I have to find something else to fill my Monday night. Lucky for me, tonight is the premiere of Dancing With the Stars, and I'm really looking forward to it. I especially like the two-hour episodes, like tonight's. So I'm going to cuddle up with the cats, some ice cream, and the remote, and try not to think about tomorrow's appointment. I'm so nervous! Wish me luck!

Weekend of Lame

Ugh. Okay, I've tried not to complain, but today I just can't help it. This weekend was been the worst one so far. Not that it's been different from the rest, but it's just getting old. Weekends should be the best part of the week. I don't know why I feel they're so much worse, but I do.

Most of you know that John has been working extremely hard to get our other house finished and ready to put on the market by Delivery Day. He's doing a really good job. He works all day at the insurance company, and then he eats something quick (usually Ramen noodles), goes over to the other house (which is five minutes away from the office), changes into work clothes, and does some project (painting, cleaning, taping, etc.) until 9:30 or 10:00 that night. Then he comes home, puts his stuff down, showers, eats a snack, and goes to bed. The next morning he's up (before I am, of course), leaves, and does it all again. He's very determined to get the house done, and I think he's going to. I am proud of him.

But on my end, life is not the best. My first month or so of bedrest, I would sit here on the couch like I always do and wait all day until John got off work. He'd come home, we'd have dinner together, and then he'd work on the nursery or some other household chore, and if I was lucky we'd get to watch an episode of one of our favorite shows together. The days were long, but at least I had something to look forward to at the end of the day. I don't have that anymore.

I'm glad that John is working so hard. It's going to be so good for us to get the house sold, and I think it will sell quickly once it's finished. It will also be great to be done with it and to not have to worry about doing projects over there anymore. John is taking a week off when the baby is born (next Saturday!), and he'll get to spend all his time with us. I don't wish that he were doing things differently, because he's doing great things for our little family. I just wish that I weren't alone all the time.

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Five

Note: This one may be a little hard to believe, but trust me. It really did happen.

Lonely Nuisance

We had two huge, 250-pound sheep growing up. They were, of course, pets. The oldest one, who we named Baby because he cried all the time, was a Mother's Day gift for my mom. A few years later, we took Baby back to the place we got him from so he could be sheared. As we were waiting, Mom and Dad started talking to the owner of the farm. He pointed out a lone sheep and told my parents, "See that one right there? He's such a nuisance! And he's a little orphan." Well, when Mom heard this, she knew she couldn't leave him at the farm, so they came home with two sheep that day. Appropriately, we named this new sheep Nuisance.

Baby and Nuisance were the best of friends. They grazed out in the field all day long, bleating back and forth to each other. As the years went on, the sheep got older, and Baby had a hard time tolerating the hot Oklahoma summers. We knew he wouldn't be with us much longer. We were all sad when he passed, and I think Nuisance was too.

One warm day, several long months later, we were sitting around with the windows open, and I heard a cow in the yard. This wasn't an unusual thing, as we were surrounded by cow fields, and sometimes the cows got out. I heard the mooing and ran out the back door to chase the cow back to it's own field. But when I got outside, I couldn't see a cow anywhere. I figured it must've just been one next door that sounded closer than it was. As I was going back inside, I heard the mooing again. I turned around and searched the yard and field one more time.

My eyes rested on Nuisance, and I shook my head. Surely not. Then I saw it. Nuisance opened his mouth and mooed. I couldn't believe it. I ran back into the house and called for Mom to come outside with me. We ran back out to the back deck and stared at Nuisance as he mooed again. Poor Nuisance had been without hearing other sheep sounds for so long that he'd begun mimicking the cows around him.

I loved going to school the next day and telling my friends this story. Not many people believed me, but I thought having a mooing sheep was the coolest thing ever.

One More to Go!

Well, I was supposed to have my last doctor's appointment today, but it didn't go so well, so I'll be back again for one last exam next Tuesday. I'm officially being induced next Saturday morning, so 11 days to go!

My tests went well. I had a few Braxton Hicks contractions on the NST monitor today, but Baby's heart rate was fine during them. His amniotic fluid looked good, although he's looking quite squished up in there and definitely running out of room. It's hard to get ultrasound pictures now, but we got a great one of his foot. :)

I had one of those end-of-pregnancy exams I've talked about in previous posts, and it was just too painful, so next week John will be driving me to the doctor, as I will be under the influence of strong pain meds and a tranquilizer. Ah yes, induction is going to be interesting. At least I know that a lovely epidural is waiting for me and an even lovelier baby at the end.

Yay and Nay

As has become the custom of the last week or so, we had a knock at the door earlier today. When we answered, we found a package from FedEx sitting on the front porch. Every time the FexEx or UPS people come, it's like a little mini Christmas for me. I get so excited! And today was the best, because John was actually here, so I didn't have to wait for him to get home to open the box.

I asked him who it was from, and he said Dillards, so I knew it was my shoes! That was so fast. John grabbed the scissors and cut through the packaging tape on the box. Then I ripped though the packing paper and carefully took the shoes out of the box. They look exactly like they did online, and I love them.

As promised, I had to try them on with my sweatpants. But as I tried to pry them onto my feet, I found that the swelling I've been having this week was more significant than I thought. I was able to get them on my feet, but there's no way I could actually stand up in them!

I'm confident that once the baby is born and this swelling goes down, they will fit perfectly, and I can't wait!

In the meantime, here is a picture of my poor feet squished into my beautiful new shoes. :)



Happy Saturday! Hope those of you locally are enjoying the snow!

Almost Time! (Nursery Pics Included)

I'm being induced two weeks from tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, one the next Tuesday, and then that Saturday is D-day. It's a little scary, but definitely exciting. We got our car seat, and we're ordering our swing tonight.

Graco Snugride Infant Car Seat, Tango in the Tongo
Graco Lovin' Hug Swing

The nursery is almost ready, save for a few of the smaller things. John's work is having a shower for him on Wednesday (so nice!). I think we're well on our way. Here are the pics of the nursery I promised. I think Baby will like it. :)

My belly at 36 weeks 2 days. I'm 37 weeks exactly today, and I swear my belly is twice as big. Seriously.

Stimulating the Economy

As most of you know, my name is Emily, and I'm a shoe addict. I love shoes. Heels, flats, slippers, sandals...I love them all. In fact, I have quite a collection hanging in my closet right now, begging for attention. Before bedrest, John forbid me to wear my heels for fear I might take a tumble and harm the baby. Then once I was sentenced to the couch, it became silly for me to wear shoes at all. I mean come on, who needs to wear ballet flats with sweat pants? So for now I pull out a pair of flats for my doctor's appointments on Tuesdays, and other than that it's the occasional pair of flip flops.

Since I haven't even worn shoes in a while, there's no need to buy shoes, right? Well, I have to say that the bug has bitten again. A few weeks ago, Mom called and told me that she and Mindy were out shopping, and that Dillards was having one of their fabulous shoe sales. You know the ones. The sales where racks and racks of $100 shoes are marked down to ridiculously low prices? I love those sales! I also know that when those are going on in the store, it's a great time to find really good bargains at Dillards.com. Since I've been saving my "allowance," except for the ice cream I buy on my way home from the doctor's office, I had shoe money ready to go. And lucky for me too, because I found these beauties...

I think they're awesome. They were originally around $70, and they were marked down to...wait for it...$14.22! Woohoo! With tax and shipping, I only ended up paying around $20. You can't beat that, right? And yes, I will be wearing these on the couch with my sweatpants. :o)

Thanks!

I'm sure it's no secret that having a baby is expensive. There are big purchases to make, like furniture and car seats, strollers and swings. Luckily, people realize this, and people actually want to buy you things to help out. While I loved getting to see my friends and hang out and eat cake, I also put a lot of dependence on our baby shower for some essentials. I told my mom that I kind of felt bad, having such a party and making a list of things we wanted/needed, and then expecting people to go out and buy them for us. But she assured me that people wanted to do it, and I guess it's true. If people didn't want to, they didn't have to. But I am really, REALLY grateful that they did. I felt a huge burden lift when we were able to put things away in the nursery and know that we had the things we needed. So thanks to those people that were so unselfish to help us out and celebrate our baby.

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Four

Newt Jerky

Growing up, we had one of these cool fish aquariums that looked like a bubble gum machine. Unfortunately for the fish, none of us (okay, mostly me) were not so good with fish. The inhabitants of the aquarium were always rotating, but our favorite aquatic pets to have were fire-bellied newts.

These little guys were easy to take care of, fairly hardy, and pretty cute as far as lizard-y pets go. The only downside was that they were also crafty, apparently. You see, the bubble gum aquarium had a filter tube right down the middle of it, and it connected to a small hole in the top of the lid. One day, Mr. Newt decided it would be cool to crawl up the tube and climb out of that hole.

My memories are sketchy, but I'm pretty sure we noticed he was missing. We just didn't know what to do about it. If I recall correctly, Mom and I looked around for him, but we couldn't find him. Mindy was pretty young, so we didn't tell her that poor Mr. Newt was gone. Unfortunately, she found out anyway, and it was not pretty...

It was a few days later, or maybe even a week, and Mom and I were in the family room. We both looked up has Mindy walked in the room with something in her hand. Laughing, she said, "Okay, who's got the fake lizard?!" Mom and I looked at each other, and the realization suddenly hit Mindy that she was not holding a fake lizard (by the stiff tail, none-the-less), but was in fact holding our dearly departed Mr. Newt. Mindy screamed and threw the poor guy, and we didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I think we probably did some of both. Then we gave him a proper burial.

Rest in peace, Mr. Newt.

Another Long Doctor Day

I had my epidural interview today. We all decided that they'd have a wheelchair and the drugs waiting for me when I get to the hospital. Okay, maybe not. It was interesting though. I got checked in and the nurse started interviewing me, asking me about my health history.

We heard a knock on the door, and another nurse with a cart came in. She told me she was there to take my vitals. I warned her that I had high blood pressure and was on bedrest, but she was still quite concerned over my not-so-low reading. So concerned, actually, that she immediately pointed to a small bed/table and told me to hop to it. So I did the rest of my interview and watched the epidural video while laying down. The nurse actually had to rearrange the room so I could see the television. Fun stuff.

As the appointment was wrapping up, the nurses started talking about sending me over to Labor and Delivery. I was not happy about this, because 1) my doctor isn't concerned when my blood pressure is even higher than it was, and 2) going to L&D for my blood pressure has never been super productive. They usually hook me up to the monitors, tell me the baby looks great, wait until my BP goes down a little, and send me home. I told the nurses that I had an OB appointment when I was done there, and they agreed to let me go. Thank goodness (although I did have to talk the nurse out of pushing me out to my car in a wheelchair)!

After a delicious lunch of cold pizza eaten in my car in between appointments, I drove across the street to the OB office for my weekly non-stress test, ultrasound, and doctor's appointment. They hooked me up to the monitors for the NST, and the first 20 minutes did not go well. The baby's heartbeat was really slow, dipping down into the 11os, and he wasn't moving. The nurse came in to check the readings and started to panic a little bit. She said that we needed "a few more minutes" and left me to stare at the monitors and pray. After a while we finally got the movements and the heart rate spikes that we needed. The nurse told me I passed and sent me to the ultrasound room.

The ultrasound was perfect, just like always. My amniotic fluid is still really good, and we were able to see the baby "practice breathing." It was so cute. His little diaphragm was moving up and down like a champ's. Such a good baby!

My OB was sick, so the nurse measured me and checked the heartbeat again. My doctor came in for about 30 seconds and said everything looked too. And then the good news...she said we were going to schedule my induction for March 14th. This date is great, because it's a Saturday, and she's going to be on call the whole weekend. So unless something happens, I'm guaranteed that my doctor will deliver our baby. I'm so glad about that! March 14th is also three days before my own birthday and one day before Selection Sunday! I guess John and I will be filling out our brackets in the hospital this year. That will make a great story for the baby someday!

So it's been a long day. I was at the doctors' offices from 11:30 to 3:00. I think I've got my off-the-couch quota in for the week. All good news though. Only two and a half weeks to go!

Baby Shower!

I had my baby shower on Sunday. It was so much fun. Mom, Dad, and Mindy came up Saturday to help get the house(s) ready, and they got the nursery all finished (pictures coming soon). I feel so much more prepared now!

The shower was great, and I got to spend a good amount of time sitting up in a chair like a real person (although I paid for it later...confirmation that I really do need to be on bedrest). We had veggies and punch and chocolate and nuts and cupcakes and shower cake...it was great. I couldn't have asked for more. Lots of yummy food and good friends. I was worried we wouldn't have enough room for everyone, but the crowd was a perfect size, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves very much.

I got tons of baby things that I desperately needed. The relief I feel is so great. I feel like Baby can come, and we can actually take care of him now.

Here are some pics of the shower. Thanks to everyone who made it possible! I loved it!

The treats
The cake
The loot
Look how cute these dino slippers are! (I'm huge, I know...)

Thanks again for a great day!

A Nice Little Off-the-Couch Treat

I had some friends over for lunch today. We had a great time. Visitors always make my day so much better. After they left, I decided to let the dogs outside. This is sort of my one chore of the day, and it usually sends my blood pressure through the roof.

After having really high readings the last few days, I decided to try taking a rest after I let the dogs out before trekking back up the stairs. So I went out, hooked everyone up, and then looked around, noticing what a nice day it was outside. The sun is out and the temperature is pretty warm.

I was thinking that it's a lovely day for the park, but since that is out of the question, I took a seat on our porch swing for a bit. That can't be a whole lot different that sitting on the couch, right? I sat and watched the doggies rolling around in the grass while the neighbor burned his trash in a barrel. It was nice. I think there is something to this whole Vitamin D from the sun thing I've been hearing about.

In other news, I think this weekend will prove to be an exciting one. At least it will be entertaining. My parents and sister are coming up tomorrow. I haven't seen them since Christmas, and I'm really looking forward to it. My sister has been talking all week about eating Andy's Frozen Custard, and I've been daydreaming about it, so I think they'll have to pick some up for me too.

The nursery should be pretty close to finished by Sunday, and I can't wait, because my church group is having a baby shower for me! I can't wait. We had one for family and friends planned in January, but I was put on bedrest three days after the invitations went out. This will be really fun. I haven't seen everyone in over a month.

After this weekend, it will just be a waiting game for Lil Bean ( as my mom likes to call the baby) gets here. Then the real fun begins!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Three

This is one of my favorite stories. It's one that comes up in our family often, and we always get a good laugh from it. (Warning: this story may not be suitable for young children.)

Quackie and the Turtle
Growing up, we always had ducks around. Our land was five acres with a pond in the back, so it was perfect for our various flocks. Ducks are kind of like rabbits; they're always reproducing. It was often that we'd see a mommy duck with a line of ducklings waddling behind her. Because of the near-constant stream of babies, we weren't able to keep track of all of them, but we had our favorites, and Quackie was one of them. Now, none of our ducks were tame, per say, but Quackie was one of our oldest ducks, and she was pretty friendly. She didn't run away if we were in the pen with her.

One warm day, Mom, my sister Mindy, and I were sitting in the house with the windows open, enjoying the breeze, when we heard loud, hysterical quacking. This wasn't the normal, "Hey, when are you going to come feed me" quacking. This was more of a "I'm in big trouble" quacking. Mindy and I rushed down to the pond with Mom following close behind. When we got there, we found Quackie desperately trying to make it to the bank. She was trying with all her might, and when she saw us, she tried even harder. She somehow knew that if she could make it to us, she would be alright.

After a few minutes, Quackie got close enough that we could pull her in. As we grabbed a hold of her, we clearly saw our problem: a huge, ugly, mean snapping turtle had grasped her leg, and he wasn't letting go. We knew we had a problem, because once snapping turtles clasp onto something, they're in it for good. We knew that if we pulled Quackie up, that turtle was coming too.

Quickly, Mom turned around and grabbed a fence post that had been laying in the weeds. She picked that fence post up and slammed the turtle as hard as she could, but to no avail. After hitting him several times and making no progress, Mom turned to Mindy and me. "Girls, wait right here, and don't let Quackie go!" she said, as she ran back towards the house. Mindy and I waited, and soon Mom returned, pistol in her hand.

I can't recall how we got Quackie to stay on the shore as we backed away and Mom took her aim, but we all remember clearly that Mom shot the turtle, point blank, with that pistol. That got him to let go, as she'd aimed for his head, and Quackie's relief was immediate. She took off waddling towards the house without even showing the pain in her leg and rejoined her fellow ducklings.

We couldn't wait for my dad to get home from work that night. We told him how brave Quackie was and how heroic Mom had been as she saved Quackie's life. Dad was quite proud of all of us, and it's silly, but I think Quackie looked at us differently from then on...her human heroes.

All Is Well

Today was doctor day, and I was a little anxious because of my visit to Labor and Delivery this weekend. The non-stress test went okay. Baby was feeling sluggish and sleepy, so it took about 45 minutes for him to get a "good enough" reading.

Next was the ultrasound, and we got a full growth study today. She measured the fluid, which was still good (whew!), and then she measured the baby's head, stomach, heart, kidneys, and other various body parts. At the end she told me I was measuring 36 weeks and 6 days (I don't even turn 36 weeks officially until Thursday!), and our little one is weighing 6 lbs. 4 oz. so far. She made sure I knew that ultrasound weight estimations are not always on target, so he may be a little bigger or smaller, but I still feel like he's big! My OB said he was in average range though, so she wasn't worried about it.

He still looked perfect in the ultrasound, so we got good news today. Still on target for induction in a little over three weeks! I was also able to talk with the doctor about my anxiety for the pain of some of the upcoming tests and such, and she was very understanding and comforting. I'm feeling a little better about those as well, but your prayers are still very much appreciated!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Three!

Another L & D Scare!

Some of you who follow my Twitter (still trying to figure out what that's all about) may have noticed that I spent another afternoon in Labor and Delivery yesterday. It was by far my scariest trip to the hospital yet. I won't give you the specific details of what happened, because they're a little too personal for the Internet, but I will tell you that around 1:00p.m. yesterday we were almost sure we'd be having a baby by the end of the day. Luckily, the test the nurse did to confirm was inconclusive, and we left the hospital with several nurses and at least one doctor completely baffled.

The nice thing is that, for now, our little one is still nestled safely inside his mama. The not-so-nice thing is that no one is sure what happened, and I'm still have a bit of the "symptoms" today. I go to my regular OB tomorrow (actually, I guess I can stop saying that, since I'm not seeing the Perinatologist anymore...yay!), and they're going to do a full ultrasound to check the growth of the baby. I'm hoping that if anything looks fishy in there, they'll be able to tell.

Also, please do some heavy praying, because I think from here on out things are going to get painful. End-of-pregnancy tests are not the most pleasant, and I'm not a good patient when it comes to them. I'll keep you all updated about the appointment tomorrow. Let's hope this little guy continues baking for another few weeks!

Happy Valentine's Day!

John got up and made my favorite heart biscuits for Valentine's Day.

Then he surprised me with tulips. My favorite! I love these, because it will be another month or two before the ones I planted outside start to poke their heads up. Aren't they pretty?


Hope you all have a great day!

Off for a few days...

Hey all,

Sorry for missing the Tales From the Funny Farm Installment yesterday. I've been pretty sick this week with a terrible, lingering cold. I think I'm gonna take a few days off. Stay tuned...

Appointment Update: With Illustration!

Well, it's doctor day again, and I had a pretty good appointment. I learned that eating fudge-covered chocolate chip granola bars on the way to a non-stress test is a bad idea. I arrived at the doctor's office and was taken back to the NST room. They were excited to tell me about a new recliner they had just received. Instead of the hard, uncomfortable chair they used to have, they had a plush, cushy, Lazyboy-type chair. The seat had a terry cloth-like cover on it "in case someone's water breaks while they're sitting in it," the nurse told me. Needless to say, this new chair made the NST much more comfortable. Which is good, because it took 45 minutes to get a good reading. Last week the nurse had to come in and shake my belly to wake the baby up, but this week he was moving so much that the monitor couldn't pick up his heart rate consistently. The nurse was finally able to move the monitor and tighten it down so the baby couldn't move away, and we got the good readings we were looking for.

Next was the ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid. I couldn't wait for this part, because as I mentioned previously, the baby felt like he was in some strange position. I was even more sure of it when the NST nurse had to move the monitor to my side to get the heartbeat reading. To my surprise though, the baby was head down. The rest of his body, however, was stretched out all over the place. I pointed below my ribs and asked, "So what's that?" The ultrasound tech said it was my baby's big stomach (okay, she didn't say big. I just added that part because it feels big). "But, his feet have been kicking way over here, by my kidney," I said. "Yeah, he's kind of stretched out in this position, " she said, while making a big "C" with the ultrasound wand. This was weird to me, so I decided to include this illustration for a better view.

After the ultrasound I went to be weighed (haven't gained any weight the last few weeks...yay!), and then saw the doctor. She measured my belly with the tape measure and said I was still on target. We discussed my induction the week before my due date, and she talked to me about going into labor before then. She agreed that I probably wouldn't deliver early, but at least I know when to go to Labor and Delivery if that happens. She also said that I don't need to go to the Perinatologist any more. We'll continue my testing at her office, and the bedrest is working for keeping my blood pressure down, so there's really no need to see the specialist. This is very good news. I'm starting to feel like this is a "normal" pregnancy, even though I only get out of the house once a week.

Things are starting to come together for the baby. We have the crib and dresser put together, so we just need to assemble the changing table, and then we can arrange the furniture and start putting things away (pictures coming soon). I've received several gifts and clothes and such, so I want to get those sorted out and put away. Baby will be here before we know it!

My big belly at 35 weeks

Random Musings

I haven't been posting a lot, as some of you have noticed. I'm having trouble coming up with interesting things to post about. There's not a whole lot of inspiration when your days are so similar. I had a good weekend though. Two of my friends from high school came all the way up here to visit. We had a great time. One of my friends is pregnant with her first baby too, and the other just had her second baby last May, so she had tons of good advice for us. She also left me with several boxes of little boy clothes, which I'm so excited about. Our kid isn't going to be naked after all!

Another friend of ours had a beautiful baby girl on Friday night. Congrats, guys! I can't wait to meet her. We've kind of journeyed though our pregnancies together, so it's really exciting for their baby to finally be here.

In other baby news (isn't it all baby news?), I woke up this morning with strong hiccups...under my ribs. Uh oh. Tomorrow is doctor appointment day, so we'll see what odd position my little guy is in. At this point I'm expecting him to be doing the splits or something equally strange. We'll see. I'm not going to be worried though, because this kid seems like he's not going to choose a permanent position. That's fine; I like surprises. :0)

Hope everyone's having a good day!

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment Two

A friend and I were discussing various pets we've had, and I was inspired to write today's installment of Tales From the Funny Farm.

This particular story takes place on yet another family vacation. My sister, Mindy, was around nine years old, making me around 12 or 13. We were on a trip to somewhere in the western U.S., and we'd stopped at a campground in Kansas to stay for the night.

One of our favorite things to do when we got to a new campground was to unload our bikes and check things out while Dad set up the camper. This campground was not very full and all of the roads and paths were dirt, so Mindy and I hopped on our bikes and took off exploring. We road around the perimeter of the camp sites, and as we were heading back to our spot, we heard a high-pitched chirp.

We put our bikes down and followed the sound, looking for the source of the tweeting. Finally we found a tiny, newborn bird at the base of a tree. We looked up and saw that the bird had fallen out of it's nest above, and we knew that the bird's mother would reject it if we put it back in the nest.

We road back to our camper and reported our findings to Mom. Knowing we were animal lovers, Mom was sure that we couldn't just leave the little bird, so she gathered up a shoe box and some newspaper and headed to that tree with us.

The bird was still there when we got back, tweeting and chirping. When we approached him, we put his head back and opened his beak, wanting to be fed. When Mom saw how young this bird was, I think she knew that his chances for survival were not good, but she carefully scooped him up and put him in the shoe box.

When we got back to the camper we pulled out a slice of white bread and ran it under the water faucet. Then we tore it apart and made tiny balls. We took them to the little bird, and he immediately opened his beak, so we dropped a ball in. No matter how much we fed him, he always opened his beak when he was approached.

The night went on, and we carried on our camping tradition -- eating dinner and then gathering around the table for a family game night. We sat the box with the little bird on the table as we played, each of us taking turns dropping little bread balls into his beak. The bird chirped and tweeted all night. Finally it was time for bed, and we hoped that the bird would rest as well. Turns out he just wanted to chirp, so sometime during the night one of us moved his box into the bathroom.

The next morning, Mom got up to brush her teeth, and I noticed from my top bunk that no tweeting was coming from the bathroom. I looked at Mom, and she shook her head. I was sad, but we all knew that Mindy was going to be devastated. She was younger and didn't understand that wild baby birds did not do well in captivity. We all waited quietly when we saw Mindy get up from her bed and go into the bathroom. We held our breaths and expected tears. After a few minutes, the bathroom door opened and Mindy came out. We looked at her. She looked at us. And then she said in a sing-song voice, "He's deeeeeaaaaaaad."

We were all so relieved that we burst out laughing. We buried that poor little bird before we left the campground that day and hoped that would be our only temporary pet encounter for the duration of the trip.

Doctor Day

Tuesday is doctor day, and it was a full day. John and I met our pediatrician this morning. She was very nice and informative. We enjoyed meeting her and feel good about the care our little guy will receive once he makes his debut.

This afternoon I had my weekly OB appointment. I had an NST (non-stress test) first, and Baby stayed on the monitor the whole time, so I only had to do it once. The doctor looked over his reading and said he was doing well. Then I had the AFI, which is the ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid. Baby was sucking his thumb and kicking me during the ultrasound. His fluid looked good, and we found out that he flipped again! So he's no longer breech. I didn't notice him flipping, but the ultrasound tech said he may have done it when I bent over or something. Hopefully he doesn't do cartwheels in there until delivery day! The past week I've been thinking that his big head has been jabbing me in the ribs, but apparently it was his big bum instead!

I measured 34 weeks on the measuring tape, and I'll turn 34 weeks on Thursday, so I'm right on target. In two weeks I'll have a full ultrasound and get a growth study, which will show how big Baby is, how much he weighs, and whether he's still in an average percentile.

For now we're still on target to be induced on March 10th. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Ordinary Weekend

This weekend hasn't been too exciting thus far, so I thought I'd share some pictures today. Enjoy!

Gretchen and Belle - Aww, they love each other

Winter scene out the back window

Gretchen found a dry patch

Cold, hungry bird

I'm Not Gonna Make It!

Okay, I'm feeling dramatic. I think I've been spending too much time watching A Baby Story, because suddenly another seven (SEVEN!) weeks seems SO long. I know it's almost February, my shower is in three weeks, and then I'll only have a few weeks left, but I'm tired of waiting. The days are long, and I've been staying in bed late because I know I'm just going to get up and move to the couch. I know, it sounds miserable, right? Everyone would just hate to sleep in late and spend the day watching TV and reading and surfing the internet. It's really not as great as it sounds. But it could be much, much worse, so I'm going to try and be grateful that the baby is healthy and I'm healthy. So no more complaining.

In other news, my days are running together, and I think I'm starting to hallucinate! Not really, but at least three times today I've turned around, looked at something, and thought, "Wait, did I dream that?" For instance, I was in the kitchen getting a glass of water. I opened the trash can to throw away a napkin and noticed that John had taken the trash out. Then I remembered him saying something like, "I sure hope the snow melts enough that we can put the trash out. It's getting full." But I can't remember if that actually happened. This is becoming a regular occurrence.

I hope I'm still sane by the time Baby arrives! Happy Thursday, everyone. One more day until the weekend!

Tales From the Funny Farm: Installment One

I have a notebook with a list of short non-fiction stories from when I was growing up. I've decided that each Wednesday (it is Wednesday, right?), I'll add one to this blog. So without further ado...

Where's Jake?!

Every summer from the time I was in third grade my family took a summer vacation. We loaded up the travel trailer with food, clothes, fishing gear, and bicycles, and headed off to some lovely place for two weeks of family fun.

This particular summer was scorchingly hot, and Mom and Dad had spend much of it working up a vegetable garden. We loved being able to go outside and pick fresh veggies for dinner, and we didn't want the garden to dry up while we were gone. So after we'd packed the camper, Mom took gallon milk jugs and cut the tops off of them. Then she poked small holes in the bottom and set them out among the rows of vegetables. She filled them up with water, and the water slowly seeped out and watered the garden. Satisfied with this homemade irrigation system, we said goodbye to our pets, loaded up the truck, and headed out of town.

As with all family vacations, we were sad to come home, but after two weeks we were also growing a little homesick. I remember pulling in the driveway and being thankful to be home. We had several dogs and cats, not to mention various livestock (all pets), so the first thing we wanted to do was check on them. We hadn't heard from our neighbor, who was taking care of them for us while we were gone, so we figured all was well.

The sun was just started to set, so we made our way around the house and started calling for the dogs. Our Norwegian Elkhound, Sheba, came barrelling around the corner, tail a-waggin', as we called, but our Australian Shepherd/Lab mix, Jake, was no where to be seen. We lived out in the country and our dogs roamed free, so it wasn't too unusual for him not to come when first called. He minded pretty well though, so we circled the house and kept calling for him. We called and called, and after a while our calls turned into more panicked cries.

Just when we were about to give us and us kids were about to collapse into tears, Dad came around the corner, cracking up laughing. "I found him!" he said. We all ran over and looked at poor Jake, who was walking around with one of those milk jugs stuck on his head! It covered his whole head down to his neck, and when Dad took it off, his head was all sweaty. Jake had lost some weight, so who knows how long the jug had been stuck. We all collapsed around him and laughed until we cried, filled with relief. Needless to say, Jake was more happy to see us that day than he probably ever had been.

R.I.P. Jake

Good news today!

I was supposed to have two doctor's appointments today - one at the perinatologist (high-risk doctor), and one at the OB's office. The peri called last night and cancelled due to this lovely, icy weather, but I still got to get out of the house and have the "fun stuff" at the OB. John came and picked me up, and it took us almost 45 minutes to get to the doctor. Apparently we got more ice out in our area than in Springfield, so it took us a good while to get to town. Once we got to the city limits there was more snow, and it was much easier to get around.

I started my appointment with a non-stress test (NST). This is where they place two monitors on my stomach. One is to measure contractions (still haven't had any yet) and one is to measure the baby's heartrate. They give me a button to squeeze when I feel the baby move, and the purpose is to see if his heartrate goes up when he's moving around. Well, of course my baby has to be stubborn and kept moving away from the monitor, so it took three tests to get a reading long enough to determine whether is was "good" or "bad." We finally got a good one, and then it was off to the ultrasound room for an AFI.

An AFI is an ultrasound to measure the amount of amniotic fluid around the baby. This is the one I was worried about, because high blood pressure can affect the amount of fluid. The measurements went quick though, and the ultrasound tech determined that there was still plenty of fluid! This was a huge relief! However...we also discovered the this baby is breech! He's supposed to be head down right now, and there he was on the monitor, having a good old time with his head up under my ribs. I knew I'd been feeling kicks in weird places, but I had no idea he'd be breech!

The OB said he still had some time to flip, but she said knowing this baby he'd probably just make himself comfortable going the wrong way! She said if he didn't flip we'd schedule a c-section, which I'm actually okay with. Yeah, the recovery is not fun at all, but I'm not thrilled about being induced into labor either, and a scheduled c-section would mean that my family could be here. Anyway, we still have six or seven weeks to wait and see what happens, so who knows!

My blood pressure was high, of course, but it wasn't outrageous, and the doctor said I really don't need to worry about it much as long as I'm at home resting and the baby is doing good. She said she thought I would make it to the 39 weeks, so that was some good news to hear. Bed rest is working!

So this snow day turned out pretty good for us, and we rewarded ourselves with some Krispy Kremes afterwards. It was a nice day out for me. Hope you're all staying warm and safe!

Waiting, waiting...

We're supposed to get a big ice storm today. I've been watching out the window as the sky gets more and more dreary. The cats are lazy today. There are no birds to watch. It started lightly icing about an hour or so ago. Just waiting for the big stuff to hit. John is getting off work early today due to the weather, which NEVER happens, so I'm expecting this storm to be colossal.

I have two doctor's appointments tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to make it to them. I've been looking forward to them since I was put on bedrest, because I'm hoping to get a lot more information about what's going on. I hate the waiting and wondering. I see the perinatolgist (high-risk doctor) in the morning for an ultrasound. She'll measure the baby and make sure that he' s still growing like he's supposed to. The main concern with high blood pressure, other than it being unhealthy for the mom, is that it can stunt the baby's growth and lower the amniotic fluid. So I'll have that appointment in the morning to see if the baby is still growing on target, and then I have an OB appointment tomorrow afternoon. She'll do a non-stress test to measure the baby's heart rate and then what they call an AFI, which is a quick ultrasound to measure the amount of amniotic fluid. In the morning, the perinatologist will send her findings to the OB office.

I look forward to these appointments, but I also wonder if that will be the day that I get in there and they say, "It's no longer safe for Baby to be in there." I never know what is going to happen. It's just waiting. John keeps telling me that this is a lesson in trust, and that God knows what's happening, even when we don't. He's right of course, but it's still hard. Maybe it's a lesson in patience for me too.

On a lighter note, Autumn the giant kitty has decided that she's Cindy Crawford. Every time the heater comes on, she lays down in front of the vent, rolls around, and lets the air blow her fur all around. It's hilarious. I'll try to get a picture next time...

Stay safe!

If you were bedridden...

At my job, we have an informal email ring affectionately called SOTD, or Song of the Day. Our moderator, Adam, sends out a song of the day, a fact about this day in history, and a question to get conversation going. This is just a fun way to break up the monotony of the day, and often it results in wild rabbit trails. It also provides me a way to stay connected to my friends and coworkers. Social interaction, even through email, is very helpful.

So, much to my pleasant surprise, today's SOTD topic was something along the lines of "What would you do if you were bedridden for months?" You can imagine my excitement! The conversation started as expected, with the common answers like reading books, watching movies, that kind of thing. But oh, I knew it would get interesting. By the end of the day, it was suggested by a certain colleague that I hang up a Nerf basketball hoop and impersonate Dennis Rodman. I think the final verdict was that I should read Shakespeare by candlelight with a mug of green tea. Maybe not the most practical suggestion, but it was definitely a good time. Thanks, guys!

The Life of Squirrels

I joked with a friend today that I was going to blog about squirrels today, so here it is. This clever little guy was determined to get the seed out of our "squirrel-proof" feeder. I couldn't get it on camera, but at one point he was hanging upside-down by his back feet. I scared him off after I took the picture. We have a squirrel feeder, for gosh sakes!

I had an interesting day today. A friend was bringing lunch over, so after getting up, eating some cereal, and catching of bit of Live! With Regis and Kelly, I took my blood pressure and planned to hop in the shower. My BP reading was very high, so I called John to let him know I was getting in the shower and if he hadn't heard from me in an hour I might be in trouble.

I started feeling really bad in the shower, like I was going to faint. Then I started getting nauseous and out of breath. I finished my shower as fast as I could and sat down to take my blood pressure again. I took it four times, but my heart was beating so fast and irregularly that it wouldn't register on the monitor. Finally, after getting dressed and laying down for 10 minutes or so, it registered and my blood pressure was back to a low reading.

After that scary morning I was glad to be having company over. We had a great lunch and a good time discussing our pregnant bellies and aching bodies. I chilled out the rest of the day and just took it easy. It was a much better day than yesterday!

Welcome and Rant

Well, I'm on day six of my bedrest. As you may know, I've been struggling with high blood pressure since about 25 weeks. Last week, after a visit to Labor and Delivery for super-high readings, my doctor basically said "forget it." So she put me on bedrest until Baby is here (or until my induction date...whichever comes first). Next week I start weekly non-stress tests and AFIs, which is an ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid. This is to ensure that Baby is still growing like he's supposed to.

It's been going well so far, but today was definitely an off day. I woke up planning on watching part of the Inauguration. Little did I know I'd end up watching close to seven hours of it. Of course, I wasn't just watching it. I also spent a large chunk of the day hitting the refresh button on my email. This is because I've been really anxious about hearing from the Human Resources department of mycompany. A few weeks ago I was put on bedrest for the weekend due to severe swelling, and during that time I talked to the company that handles our short-term disability. I told the agent my last day of work could be January 5th, because I may be on bedrest the following week instead of going to work. He told me that he'd put January 5th as my last day, and if it changed I could just call and let them know. Seemed like no big deal, right? Well, the swelling went down, I went back to work, called the company back, and ended up talking to some rude guy who acted like it was a huge deal to change the date and that I'd done everything all wrong. He finally set up the paperwork for my maternity leave, beginning on March 10th (my induction date).

So, fast forward to last Friday...the doc tells me I'm done for, so I go straight home and email my HR lady, letting her know the situation and asking for guidance as to whether I call the disability company back. After no response from her, I copy another HR girl on the email, knowing I'd gotten quicker responses from her in the past. Still nothing. All this time I'm worrying about my pay, knowing that we really can't afford for me to not get paid for the last few days I've spent at home. So that's how I came to hitting the refresh button every few minutes.

Finally, at precisely 4:46 today, I saw that email I'd been waiting for. I read the email, called the disability company, had a three-minute conversation, and voila. Done. Of course, now after all that anxiousness and worry, I'm back horizontal trying to get my blood pressure down.

Tomorrow has to be better.