6 posts tagged “pregnancy”
Got a call from Jennifer, Dr. Balaloski’s nurse. My glucose test results are in… AND… she wants me to come in for further testing. *CRIES* This doesn’t say straight out that I’ve got Gestational Diabetes but they’d like to do the 3 hour test to make sure. *deep sigh*
I was so distraught Saturday and Sunday after listening to the voicemail. I had just bought myself a bag of bunny series M&M’s for a treat, because women always need chocolate, right? Well, that bag remains unopened since I got it home Saturday. It sits on the coffee table, all good looking and full of chocolate joy and I very nearly opened it yesterday. Self restraint can be a wonderful thing, no?
The Girl Scout Cookies that I ordered from a friend & neighbor’s daughter just came in Friday… I have two boxes each of Trefoils & Thin Mints waiting on me. Gah! Why???
Ate some oatmeal for breakfast yesterday, a bowl of spinach salad for lunch and a cup of cottage cheese. Made a moderately reasonable dinner last night, took the steaks from the fridge and trimmed ALL of the fat, seriously… there was a plate of fat trimmings that weighed half the total of the steaks! I used one of the sushi knives (if you want to do dainty work with meat, get yourself one and keep it sharp!) Marinated the steak bits in a sesame-ginger dressing mixed with an Asian dry-rub and some Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese 7 Spice Powder, kind of hot) Stir-fried in a little veggie oil mixed with dark sesame oil for good flavor. Added a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies and went to town. I have to remember to buy more brown rice. I’m getting lazy in my pregnancy… not chopping my own vegetables!!!
Just rereading that paragraph makes me want to jump back into bento making. I’ve got plenty of ingredients for proper Japanese cooking including the mirin/sake, shichimi togarashi, ground ginger, mustard powder, assorted sesame seeds, powders, oils, pastes, bases, nori and a ton of other stuff that I can’t remember just sitting up there collecting dust. In 3 months I’ll have all the time in the world to dream up lunches, so long as Kol is sleeping.
I hope that when Mei Mei comes back from Chengdu, she’ll have a little time to teach me some of my favorite Szechwan (Sichuan) style food, I’m so jaded on Americanized Chinese food now that I’ve had the REAL thing. Her hot pot is to die for. I’d like to incorporate some into my bento but she always tells me that “when it’s cold, it’s no good!” LIES, it’s still good! : )
I’m afraid that when Mei comes over to review my pantry she’ll throw all of my Japanese specific spices out. Many Chinese still dislike the Japanese for history reasons or otherwise. I happen to love both cultures, she’ll learn to deal. Older women & men have a harder time adjusting sometimes.
As I sip on my beloved orange juice, I wonder… If I fail the 3 hour test, will I have to give up one of my sweetest cravings?
Oops, I believe my ADHD kicked in again. Wish me luck in my 3 hour test!
We got home yesterday just in time to catch one of the Daryl balloon mollies popping out some fry. Now… this isn’t such a big deal for most people but when you see her pop out two and eat one before you can finish “OMG She just….” *gulp* It’s something that will stick with you till the end of time. Seriously. We doubled over with laughter but marveled at how she could have barely popped it out and turned around to eat it. This is part of the circle of life, I know… but whoa. Bitter.
“Hi ma! I’m your new--” *gulp*
She then proceeded to pop out another 25-30 fry over the course of a few hours. Darren and I diligently fishing out what we could to put in the breeder net and continuing to wonder about how we only saw 2 or 3 the last few times. Can they seriously eat THAT many???
About an hour in, I made the comment… “Well, if I had to give birth to that many kids… I’d probably eat a few too… if just to save myself some sanity in the long run.” ROFLMAO
So.
Now we’ve got 1 Orange Balloon Molly, 2 Black Balloon Mollies… 3 adolescent Black Balloon Mollies and about 25 baby Black Balloon Mollies. Anybody need some fish? I’ve got three happy adolescent Black Balloon Mollies ready to go to a good home and I’ll have at least 20 more ready in about 2 weeks! Any takers?
Also, tried “Flyers Pizza” last night. Talk about nice, they don’t skimp out on toppings and their veggies seem FRESH! Nice.
Lois & Rich were married yesterday a little after noon by the Rabbi Howard Apotheker, it was a simple ceremony from what I’m told it was a little abbreviated but as my first Jewish wedding, I thought it was very lovely and very meaningful. Temple Beth Shalom is as beautiful as ever. The Rabbi did a wonderful service and the group was moderate, closest family and friends.
We drove over to Easton for brunch at the Hilton which, by the way, had me peeking around corners in the bathroom looking for a bidet or a person offering to dry my hands and give me a breath mint (I’ve only been in ONE place that does that, a Club in L.A., but this looked close enough to it for me to wonder.) Hilarious bathroom, that.
Brunch was very nice, the Juniper Room was pretty and the staff wore white gloves for the occasion. Tons of food around and I went after the selection of hot teas like I was dying of thirst. Pictures were taken… this one isn’t all that flattering but it’s the first I’ve gotten.
Got home, relaxed a little and then pre-ordered Girl Scout Cookies from Michael’s daughter, Cheryl. She’s such a good girl, how could I resist? So now I’ll have another 2 boxes of Thin Mints to add to my collection in the freezer and 2 boxes of Trefoils. Cookies anyone?
Did some shopping last night and watched Pirates 3. I happened to like it more than I thought I would but they left it clearly open to a 4th. Oh well.
Oh, how embarrassing. Twice in one day yesterday I made a major FUBAR. It’s embarrassing as hell but kind of painfully funny because of the stupid mistakes I’ve been making. Absentmindedness has never been so bad for the workplace.
So here’s what happened…
First, one of our vendors that we pay twice a month (for discounts) had a statement that was sent for the second half of December. I thought it was for the first half of January and used the discount at the bottom of the statement. Lois came back and asked why… the discount due date was clearly printed at the bottom “December 26th“ or something and I cut the check on January 3rd. Should have been NO discount. They’ll bill us for it later, I assume… but that was a highly embarrassing accounting error and should never have been made. : (
Second and most recently… I cost a labor bill for an installer yesterday to the WRONG installer AND wrong Job completely. It’s as if I didn’t think at all when I was doing it and reused the same form data over again. So now, we have an installer who was OVERPAID and an installer that was UNDERPAID and a job that doesn’t have a proper receipt for work done. *sigh* Another very embarrassing error that will no doubt cause headaches for HR for the next day or two.
I’m making a bloody mess of things, I don’t mean to… absentmindedness is killing me inside and out. Not thinking clearly though I think that I am at any given moment is going to get me fired. I’ve never made so many drastically stupid mistakes in a row in my life.
I think I’d operate better if I were impaired by drugs or alcohol at this moment than this damn preggy brain.
Oh well, back to delivering disaster... only 4.5 months left...
Oooookeee…
Well, I’m back. Ta-da!
Update time.
On October 2nd I had my first positive pregnancy test, on October 3rd I had my second. (Just to be on the safe side.) Of course, October 3rd was the “Shiny Toy Guns” concert at Promo West so we did a little rock-out and left right after the set.
Note about pregnancy tests: I know they tell you to wait 2 or 3 minutes or whatever before you read it but I swear that I had barely set it down and finished up peeing before it came up with that + with the control line lighter than the result line on both occasions. Silent shock took over.
On October 9th we went in for our first “confirmation” (where they do an in office pregnancy test) appointment with Dr. Balaloski who came highly recommended for personality and knowledge… later to find out that our good friends (and old neighbors) Zach & Lisa also had Dr. B. as their OB for their daughter Mekenna. Unfortunately for Dr. B. (Very fortunately for Lisa) he didn’t make it to the hospital in time for the delivery as the labor was very fast.
On October 19th we went in for our second “consultation” visit plus first ultrasound! This is where it gets interesting… the Doctor and Nurses thought I was 13 or so weeks along because my last recorded menstrual cycle was July 7th. I assured them that THIS particular information could be very misleading as I have never had a regular cycle and it was highly possible that I simply did not bleed in August when my cycle came around. It was no surprise to me that this held true. I was in fact 8 weeks and a few days along, not 13 as would have been right if they counted from my last CONFIRMED cycle.
The ultrasound shows the womb, the black mass inside said womb is the placenta… the shape inside is my bean. The live feed of the encounter showed a steady fluttering heartbeat in the middle of that bean shape. Wow. It hit home. Nothing can prepare you for the wonder of seeing this mythological thing that you hear of other people having, you know you once were but never really believed would be happening TO you but THERE IT IS!!! It does exist!
We have MiniKam! (For lack of a proper gender name) BTW, it's either Kol or Ivy.
Another note: The technician found a rather large cyst on one of my ovaries. Apparently this is not uncommon after taking Clomid. BTW, I had stopped Clomid in May… she’s still trying to credit it for the pregnancy. I’m not 100% sure on that myself but she seems to think so.
I had been having occasional morning sickness off and on, “Preggie Pops” and “Preggie Pop Drops” work beautifully. It’s basically sugar with flavoring. They sell the same thing under another label for motion sickness and nausea so that people who AREN’T preggers can take them without having people look at them funny. Morning sickness has pretty much gone away, now I just cough myself sick… ungh.
On November 6th we had our first “social” visit where we went through some of the changes, voiced concerns and had questions answered. We told Dr. B. about my sinus/upper respiratory infection plus poison ivy. Neither are harmful to an unborn baby, for the record. It’s common for a cough to linger for pregnant women after a serious cold. As unfortunate as this is, there’s not much that you can do about it. No cold medicine, no Vicks Vapor Rub, no cough drops and no menthol in your vaporizer. *sigh* AFTER 13 weeks, it’s generally considered ok to take Sudafed.
I am currently 12 weeks and 2 days according to the due date that our ultrasound technician gave us. Interesting note on ultrasounds and babies… the earlier along you are the more accurate the predicted due date is within a couple of days because the fetus progresses and changes rapidly over those first 10 weeks. After that it looks about the same (save for changing size) though the rest of your pregnancy.
Our next appointment “social” visit is on December 11th. We will be 16 weeks pregnant (the earliest that they could possibly check gender with ultrasound. From there Dr. B. will schedule our next ultrasound which will hopefully be the “And our baby is…” day. It’s killing me to not know, the last thing I want in my nursery is pastel yellow and green. GROSS!!! I’d like to know if I can do blue or pink and I’ll like even more to not have to do it all the day after I deliver.
I’ve had a few people scoff at me for wanting to know the gender, my reply is “Why not?” and their reply is usually “because it’s supposed to be a surprise!!” To which I use my infinite logic and retort “It’s still a surprise, now or later, it’s still a surprise! You just choose when you want to receive it and I’m satisfied with knowing that the day that I deliver will still be a delight beyond delight, even knowing already what it will be.” After that, they usually shut up and go away because it is realized that not everybody shares a same viewpoint and it’s wrong to try to force yours on another person.
We imagine that the end of December or early January will be the telling date. If not, we’ll schedule a 4D with one of the clinics around town… It’s surprisingly less expensive than I thought. $260 for their most expensive package. Not bad, not bad at all… though I’m not going for that one, I’ll go for the $165 one methinks. Good balance in cost and included package things.
So that’s where I sit. Can’t wait for my pillow to show up on the 19th and I can get some decent sleep again. I’ve never been a sound sleeper but pregnancy is exhausting. Not being comfortable when you sleep makes it worse so I recommend taking early sleeping precautions, get used to pillows between the knees… avoid back sleeping (because you’re going to HAVE to shortly) Laying flat on your back restricts and can even STOP the flow of blood to your uterus. Bad thing. Also, if you’re a belly sleeper like myself, you better learn to like side sleeping and quick!
I joined a free site that has a lot of women who are trying to conceive, women who are already pregnant and women who are mothers. It’s been fun and educational… everyone is so nice. The forums are full of useful info on fertility and conception to what kind of sippy cup should your toddler use. If you’re reading and have an interest, send me a private message with an email and I’ll invite you. (Yes, I get referral points but it’s no big deal, it’s just for the leader boards in your Mommy Teams.)
Ok, I’m winded… sorry so much in a single post but I’m too lazy to break it down. : )
...as a pregnancy journal of sorts.
Not really a pregnancy journal, as I could make one on Stork.net or something. But maybe simply a journal of how I feel while I'm trying to conceive and so on and so forth.
Like today, I'm actually OK but Friday I was an emotional mess because I found another friend is pregnant... I assume by accident but I could be wrong, and I would certainly be sorry if I were wrong. In fact, I hope I AM wrong. I'm sure she'll be an awesome mother though...
I took a pregnancy test Friday. Came back negative. I knew it would. Bad timing and a waste of Clomid. Oh well. I have to take the infertility medication in hopes that it will spur on my hormones to produce eggs and such. With luck it won't be long before it works.
If, Doctor Portman says, it does not work in about 6 months or so... we'll move on to other options.
I hope my final option isn't adoption.
Burn me, I'm an awful person but I can't adopt. I have this primal need for my OWN children... and I have this sinking feeling that I would not treat an adopted child as my own and this would not be fair to the child!
If I can not have my own children... I will have none.
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike children or anything... I just don't think I'd be a good adoptive mother. Nor do I WANT to be an adoptive mother. Maybe that would change if it was my only choice, I don't know.
Going back to my girlfriend above, I also know that it is wrong of me to be angry at my friends for their current baby boom but I've really had enough. It wouldn't be so bad if it was one or two friends... but EVERYBODY has been getting pregnant or having babies lately and it's killing me.
I asked Darren if we could move away and start over. That's how much it hurts. I don't want to go to baby showers, I don't want to send congratulation cards.... I don't even want to talk to the new moms & dads. I want to be cut off from them. I know this is wrong... but that is truly how I feel.
I'm told that this jealousy is stupid, childish and inappropriate... in fact. I feel so guilty about it already that I don't want to have a baby shower when I DO get pregnant because I don't think it would be fair for anybody to be excited for me when I wasn't excited for anybody else.
Again, I'm told that I'm being stupid, childish & inappropriate.
Can't change the way I feel... sorry folks.
