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.