Visiting the doctor... again

Yesterday I went to the doctor. Now they don't think I'm going to need to induce, because they think I'm predisposition to high blood pressure because I was already heavy when I got pregnant. While I can't deny that, I did point out that prior to pregnancy my blood pressure was 110/70 according to the medical record they provided. "Well that was a year ago," yes... and I've been pregnant 9 months.

What's odd is that my bp spiked the minute I got pregnant. It went from being 110/70 to 127/85 which wasn't high enough for anyone to note in my first trimester, but looking back they can say "oh it was already high," now that my bp is 137/92. I don't know whether to hope they are right or wrong. On the one hand if my bp drops back to its 110/70 level after I have the baby it'll mean I don't have a health problem to worry about for now. I mean I'm overweight, but I'm healthy. My bp was good, my cholesterol is super low, my kidney and liver function are apparently "fantastic" when the doctors look at all those numbers they seem surprised at how good of shape I'm in... considering how bad of shape I'm in.

I think my body just likes to put on weight. I was a heavy kid, then 10th grade happened, and I randomly lost a lot of weight. I was the absolute lowest number for my weight range that I could be in a healthy way. Then I graduated, and the pounds slowly started to creep back on. My problem is I never change my habits. I went from being about 150 in the ninth grade, to 117 in the tenth, to nearly 200 a few years after high school. No change in diet, no change in exercise (mainly because I don't... diet or exercise) pregnancy made me drop weight (which means my blood pressure going up was double weird) and I've only just recently gotten past where I was when I started, and I'm not gaining anymore. I've gained about 18 pounds, but that's been consistent for my last several appointments.

I have this fantasy that when I have the baby my body will start doing whatever it did right in high school, since breast feeding is supposed to make you lose weight. I may never weigh what I did in High School again, but maybe I can get closer, and then actually start to diet and exercise. I mean I'll have a kid, I'm sure I'll be running around all day like crazy.

Anyhow, so now the doctor isn't as worried, and I don't know whether to be or not. On the one hand, if they are right my baby isn't in any danger, but my health is starting to decline, on the other, if they're wrong, I have good blood pressure on my own but my baby is in danger, and they aren't inducing.

To be fair, my doctors are awesome. Just because they aren't that concerned about my bp doesn't mean they aren't taking it seriously. I'm supposed to visit twice a week now to keep monitoring everything, and they keep taking my blood and checking my urine, and monitoring swelling and asking about any other potential symptoms. (No, I don't get headaches or blurry vision.) So I don't suppose it really matters what they think is causing the elevated bp, as long as they are being vigilant in checking.

So yesterday they checked my weight, bp, and temperature (same, high, it always runs a little low) then they checked my cervix (0 dilation, baby is head down, 35% effaced) then they did an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels, which were great, (anything less than 5 is low, 5-9 is in range, I'm at a 13, and I guess being high isn't a bad thing since the doctor was happy about it) then they put the baby on the heart rate monitor, which the baby happily kicked the crap out of for 20 minutes (internal bruising is fun! actually it was pretty funny so I don't mind) then they did lots of blood work to test my liver function, kidney function, and do a CBC. I'm still anemic, but everything else looks great.

I also got the flue shot, regular, not swine, swine flue shot may not be available until after I have the baby :(. Sad face due to fact that it means I may not get it since pregnant women have priority. I'd like to get it because then I'd pass immunity on to the baby and have one less thing to worry about, but at least I'm safe from the regular flue. My husband got his flue shot to, which he was less than thrilled about. For a future pharmacist, he hates medicine. Seriously, getting him to take a Tylenol when he has a headache is a very difficult task, and he's always so surprised when twenty minutes later he feels better.

I've got so much to do today to prepare for tommorow. We have to be at court to tie up the last bit of business stuff before taxes at 9:30 am tommorow. Court is about 2 hours away, so we're going to Atlanta to stay with friends tonight. After court I have yet another doctors appointment, and then its on our way home. So today I need to double up on work so I don't fall behind tommorow, make sure the house is clean in case they do induce me and my MIL comes over, and we need to get our tires aligned and balanced. Apparently my husband is nesting because he's REALLY worried about us getting into a wreck and dying if we don't align and balance our tires TODAY. Before we drive to Atlanta. I will most likely not post tommorow, but Thursday I'll have a new doctors appointment update.

Enough School Already!

So today I read this in the news, basically saying that Obama wants to extend the school day and the school year. Now, maybe I haven't been out of high school long enough to develop a "proper adult perspective" on the matter, (Have you noticed that the longer people have been out of school the more supportive they are of changes in the school system? They seem to forget that back when they were in school, high school math ended at Algebra.) but I am so sick of them trying to hack away at the school year.

I am not for year round schooling, mostly because if we did year round schooling our camp and travel economy would be screwed. Children's summer camps would go out of business, people wouldn't be able to visit their families, and teenagers wouldn't be able to get summer jobs. All of those activities are great learning activities, and yes, you can learn outside of school. We had that opportunity, so did our parents, and their parents, why do we want to deny our children the opportunity to work if they want to buy their own car? Or the ability to go to band camp, or just enjoy time at home relaxing. Hey, maybe our obesity rate would go down? Who knows?

I had friends who took the bus to school that caught the bus at 5:45 to get to school at 7:30, and when school got out at 3:00 would then get on the bus and not get home until close to 5:00. What would happen to them if the school day was extended? Not getting home till 5:00, meant that they ate dinner and then spent two to three hours on homework a night, and then went straight to bed. Family time? Forget it. Time to socialize? Like hell. So now they would get home at 7:00, eat, do homework, and get to bed later? Yeah that's going to help their grades improve. Lack of sleep= success.

Parents seem to really be into this whole no time for kids to live thing. Something about kids being so busy that they don't have time to get into drugs, and negative influences. Caffeine is a drug people. One me and my friends desperately needed to get through high school. The drugs are just shifting. The kids who have a lot of pressure on them to do really well in school and do lots of after school activities take aderall, no doze, and steroids. The kids that don't either get into other things, drink because they are stressed, or just flat out skip school to do drugs. (Yes, children do drugs on campus, so maybe we shouldn't lock them on campus for 50 hours a week) Why do we want our kids to be at school longer than we are at work? 7:45-3:15 is a seven hour day already! Add homework to that and our kids are working overtime. Extending the day by two to three hours is not going to make it better.

Plus it won't actually help. Until they improve the seven hours they've got, adding more time is just going to make more stressed and angry children. If Obama really wants to help with education, and the economy, he'll create more jobs. Let's cut the student teacher ratio from 30:1, to 10:1. Of course to do that we'll need to build more schools, and add more faculty... hmm sounds like lot's of new jobs to me! What do you think would help more? Extending the school day, or giving your child 3 times more educational attention?

Ooh, another job opportunity that also addresses the health care issue. Clinics in schools. Sick kids can work on their assignments away from the student body, get their immunizations, be assessed for illnesses, and receive health care. Two birds, one stone. Lot's and lots more medical jobs, and health care for our children.

We could also keep technology in the schools current, and make sure their school books are up to date, and feed the kids better food in the cafeteria. Maybe include breakfast? Wow! More jobs. Of course that would cost lots of money, but our President has no qualms spending lots and lots of money.

Alright, end rant, it just sort of sucks that I'm going to have to either homeschool my daughter or send her to private school if I ever want to see her.

37 Weeks!

Ok, so I won't actually be 37 weeks pregnant until tommorow, but still. I can't believe I finally made it to term :D.

I went to the doctors yesterday, and they don't like my blood pressure, but they said it wasn't bad enough to induce :(. Ok, a frown there isn't a good idea... I shouldn't want to induce, I shouldn't want to have the baby before the baby is ready. And really, I don't, I want the baby to come at the best time for it, not for me. But I hate it when the doctors tease me like that. If I can be induced safely and need to be, do it, if not, don't mention it AT ALL, it just makes the weeks go by slower, and I didn't actually think that was possible.

I also got a flue shot, thanks Doc, point out how close I was to being done with this pregnancy, and then stick me with a needle. I love you to. Actually, I really do love my doctors, they're so great. They answer my email questions, and they don't mind when I call them at three in the morning (well call the health line) to ask about my latest weird pregnancy symptom.

Last night my hands and feet kept falling asleep. I was not laying on my back, and was not putting any weight on the affected hand or foot (it kept changing) I would wake up, move it around a little, and fall back to sleep. Also my joints are sore. My hands, feet, knees, everything is sore. I woke up this morning and couldn't unbend my middle finger.

According to the doctors, this means the baby is leaning on my nerves? And according to the great powers of google and ask yahoo, it could also have something to do with fluid retention. It should cure upon delivery, but man would it be nice for delivery to happen before I get full blown pregnancy induced arthritis (if that exists)

Also, most likely tmi, but getting LOTS of Brandon Hicks contractions, and in restroom very frequently for bm, and urinating frequently. It makes sleeping at night hard, but that's not new.

Later today I'm going shopping for a newborn baby picture outfit, and the final piece of baby proofing hardware we need to baby proof the storage closet door closed. I also have to grocery shop. I have this crazy idea that once everything is packed for the hospital, and the house is clean, and we have a fully stocked fridge my water will break... of course with the way the weather is looking now that will happen, and I'll deliver in the car because the roads will close...

TV Rant

I didn’t have a chance to write yesterday. Not because I was in labor or anything exciting, but because my husband had a major test to study for a needed the computer. So I napped, and watched TV.
I’ve always gotten a little over involved in my television shows. I think it’s the consequence of having that English: Creative Writing degree. I know too much about plots and character development not to pick it apart. My common complaint is “I could have written it better.” Of course it’s unlikely I could have come up with the idea in the first place, but if the writers came to me I would stop them from screwing everything up.
I’m not full of myself at all ;).
Being pregnant has not cured this tendency. It has made it worse. I am now over involved with television shows, and commercials. Commercials bother me more than ever before. Like the e-harmony commercials where some forty year old talks about how his mom told him about the site. Who would think that was good marketing? Or the Olive Garden commercial where the mom and son go out to dinner and the son looks like a dear caught in the headlights the entire time. Of course there are happy commercials to. I have to watch the new windows 7 commercial every time it comes on, you know, the one with the little girl and the slide show?
But shows… that’s where I get way too over involved. I’m upset with Supernatural. I love that show, I’ve watched every episode, recently thanks to DVD’s, and I’m so angry with the character progression.
Dean is not being a consistent character. He’s all holier-than-thou about Sam’s psychic powers, when in reality his character is so Machiavellian that he would just be happy for a useful weapon against demons. It irritates me, and the writers of the show knew something was wrong, but they either couldn’t figure out what, or really wanted Dean to be right because then they wrote the psychic powers as a drug addiction metaphor. WTF? When has this ever been a good metaphor? Buffy? Nope… it sucks, I hate drugs in television anyway, and that’s why I watch this genre as opposed to say soap operas or high school drama. It’s why I lost patience with House.
So anyway, now Dean was right, and Sam’s a jerk, and “can’t be forgiven.” Um… why? So he used demon drug laced powers… Dean started the apocalypse. Their father had major parental issues, and their mother made a bargain with a demon. Every single character in the show has done something unforgivable, yet it’s no big deal. Sam kills a demon and now he’s a jerk? The forces of heaven, hell, and humanity were all gun-ho for killing Lillith, even Dean.
Since when was Supernatural so black and white anyway? The show was written in the gray. The main characters commit crimes and steal identities, but they’re doing good things, so it’s a gray area. The things they kill are all either human or were human once, but it’s a gray area because of mitigating factors. Why is this different?
I loved the new episode of House. My only nitpicking thing with that is House is too full of himself and too smart to fall for a woman who gave a mental patient here keys and got in the car with him. Lady! WTH? I could believe the whole affair, I didn’t like it, and thought it was kind of dumb, but the “Hi, we just met, why yes you can take my car.” Thing, I can’t. Women are trained from birth not to do something that stupid.
Anyhow, that is my tv/commercial rant.

So ready to have this baby

I am so ready to have this baby. I know it’s not ready yet, and it’s better for the baby if I wait until I’m forty weeks, and yadayadayada. I’m not going to intentionally induce or anything. My doctors may induce for high blood pressure, but that would be a legitimate medical reason. I’m just ready. My house is clean, my nursery is ready, I’m ready, and I’m tired of being pregnant.
I’ve had a good pregnancy, I have no right to complain, and I just want it to be over. I want to meet my daughter. I’ve never been a very patient person. Honestly the symptom I dislike the most at the moment is fatigue, and that’s not going to get better once I have the baby.
My breasts have started leaking, I think it’s gross. I’m going to breastfeed assuming there are no problems, but the whole idea of breastfeeding freaks me out. I’ve never thought twice about other people breastfeeding, that seemed natural, but liquid coming out of my breasts, it bothers me on a level that surprised me. I didn’t think it would, but go figure. Maybe when there’s a baby attached to my boob I’ll feel better about it, for now it’s just gross.
I’ve just been feeling so lousy today. I can’t sleep at night, and end up catching cat-naps throughout the day, and I have a constant sleep headache. I’m hungry all the time, but nothing is very appealing to me, and I swear everything tastes like salt. I’ve begun using pasteurized eggs, and I’m wondering if that is why. Meh, what can I do. At the absolute most I have four weeks left. My doctor isn’t going to let me get past forty weeks, they seemed hesitant to let me get as far as I am now. Could be any day now…

Irritability

I think my husband and I have done a fairly good job managing the emotional roller coaster of pregnancy. We quickly learned that certain movies and television shows aren't safe to watch right now. Oddly, The Twilight Zone, falls into this category. Seriously, try to find an episode that doesn't have a sad ending.

My husband has also mastered the fine art of avoiding me in the morning. I wake up, he gives me a kiss on the forehead, and then disappears, either to go to school, or to work out while I get ready and eat breakfast. I'm a friendlier person after breakfast. Mornings and I don't get along to well.

He's been doing great with the compliments to. I get thanked for making dinner, and cleaning the house, and carrying the baby. It's been nice, I hope he keeps this up after I have the baby. He's also mastered things that he didn't seem to get a few months ago. Like putting dishes in the dishwasher. He helps out around the house, does the laundry, and compliments me for every little thing I do.

Despite all of that, he still gets snapped at on occasion. Poor guy. I've fully freaked out on him about three times during this pregnancy. Once while we were grocery shopping (I hate grocery shopping!) he kept asking me if we needed more brown sugar, I didn't know, so he asked how much we had, I didn't remember, twenty questions about brown sugar later and I snapped that if he was that worried about brown sugar, spend the three bucks and shut up already. The argument that followed was so bad that we left without any groceries and didn't talk the rest of the day.

If he's done everything "right" he doesn't have a lot of patience for mood swings. He also has this annoying habit of blaming things on pregnancy hormones that are completely his fault. Like this other time we were grocery shopping (Notice a trend here? We should seriously not grocery shop together.) and he was taking his sweet time deciding between one type of soda or another, as he calculated calories, and caffeine intake, I lost my patience, and told him I was going to the baby aisle. He said he would meet me there in a few minutes, I agreed, and left to browse cute baby things. Ten minutes later he calls me from the car wondering where the heck I am. I got annoyed and told him I was exactly where I was supposed to meet him, he didn't remember we were supposed to meet, and got angry with me for "not knowing him well enough to know whether or not he was paying attention." Seriously? He did eventually apologize for that, but I still think in his head I was being irrational for being angry at him for being angry at me for not realizing when he looked right at me and said I'll meet you here, he wasn't paying attention.

I swear he has manms, he gets mood swings, gets irritable, the works. The thing that concerns me though, is that I'm so much less understanding about it than he is when I have mood swings. I mean granted, I am female, it is expected. But why does it irritate me so much when he gets annoyed at the computer because the printer isn't working. He's not angry at me. Sure he's yelling at an inanimate object, but why do I sigh and roll my eyes and make comments? Shouldn't I use the same common sense he does and avoid him while he's on the computer like he avoids me in the morning? Why can't I cut him the same slack I ask for (and get) every day?

So today as I stood staring at the kitchen he had trashed during his all night study session for a disease management class (the studying I get, the three am grilling of a steak, making of orange glaze sauce, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables puzzles me a little) I decided to cut him a break. I would not attack him the moment he walked in the door about how this one time he forgot to put the dishes in the dish washer, or wipe down the countertops. I simply cleaned, and when he got home asked him how his test went.

Wouldn't you know the next words out of his mouth were an apology for trashing the kitchen, and an offer to make dinner? I love my husband, and I'm so glad I gave him a chance to be sweet as opposed to attacking him. I know pregnancy is supposed to make you more emotional and crazy, but sometimes I wonder if it hasn't made me a little nicer? I feel more serene these days than I ever remember feeling before. We've had a happy marriage, but this last nine months we've both felt so much happier with each other than ever before. We've both been nicer and more understanding. I hope this isn't some weird baby euphoria that goes away after delivery.

Catching Up

Writing back in time is weird for so many reasons. I wish I actually had started my blog back in February, but frankly I was afraid to. What if something happened? I didn’t want my words haunting me forever, you know? I’m a lot more confident at 36 weeks pregnant than I was at five weeks pregnant, and I’m not afraid to write about it now.
Maybe the back in time posts weren’t a good way to start this blog, but I figure since I don’t have any readers at this point, they won’t hurt. Let me go ahead and get caught up to present day.

Personal Stuff:

At the beginning of my third trimester, I was still living with my in-laws, and would be for about two more weeks. I love my in-laws dearly, but I was ready to be in my own place. My MIL was sweet enough to throw me a baby shower before I moved to College Town USA with my husband. My friends came, and it was a lot of fun. I was sort of nervous about the whole baby shower games thing, but my friends and I are dorks, so we had a blast.
Our car was stolen… that was fun, thankfully insurance worked everything out, and we now don’t have a car payment, and had a little left over to buy a used car. Much to my husbands delight his grandfather sold him his mustang for our very very very very very low budget. I’m not very thrilled about our new car, cause um… car seat… mustang… it doesn’t work very well, oh and the minor fact that I can’t drive a stick shift, but I was unable to find a car in our price range that was an automatic at all, so my sweet husband decided to teach me the fine art of driving a stick shift.
Ten minutes later as I was sobbing in frustration because I couldn’t get the darn car to move forward in the parking lot we were practicing in, we decided attempting to teach me stick shift was not possible while I’m pregnant…. That’s the excuse I using anyhow, he still thinks he can teach me after the baby’s born… I’ve started putting away for a second car. I’m not a good driver; I’m not a confident driver, I have a difficult time in an automatic. It’s just not going to happen.
Then it was time to move! We packed everything up, collected our storage, and moved away to college town. Our new apartment isn’t anywhere as nice as our old one, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be either. My husband did all the heavy lifting, and I made everything organized and pretty. We’re home. J It’s such a nice feeling to be in your own place. My husband started his new year of pharmacy school, and everything’s going really well.

Pregnancy Stuff:

Alright… the third trimester isn’t as much fun as the second trimester. In fact it gets less fun every week. My seventh month, I was thrilled because I stupidly thought, hey, this isn’t that big of a deal, then came my eighth month. It’s still not terrible. Other mom’s have had way worse.

Weight

So far I’ve gained about eight pounds. I’m trying to tell myself this is a good thing, but I kind of liked how earlier in the pregnancy I didn’t gain weight. My arms got smaller and my tummy got bigger. Actually I was thrilled. Now I look like a marshmallow. I was never thin while pregnant, I’m chubby. I’m used to being chubby, but it’s amazing how terrible eight extra pounds makes you look, and I’m only going to gain more.

Food

Eating got tricky. The baby is pressed against my stomach most of the time. When it moves I’m starving and have to eat, and then I do, and then the baby moves back, and then I feel so full I’m sick. I’m also back to that point where I’m really particular about what I eat. I pretty much just want bread, and very bland things.

Breathing

Breathing was really hard up until last week. The baby presses against your lungs, and they don’t get full, I knew to expect this, what I didn’t know to expect was that my exponentially growing breasts would be pressing on my lungs from the other side, making it not possible to breath. I was a DD before I got pregnant, I don’t know what the hell I am now, but I don’t like it. I’ve never been proud of having large breasts, in fact its always sort of sucked. I’d take a pair of cute perky c’s anytime. Big boobs= middle school hell, high school drama, and now inability to breath. Thanks boobs.
Luckily breathing got a lot easier a few days ago. I’m not sure why since the baby hasn’t dropped all the way yet, but I’m not going to question it.

Headaches and nose bleeds

I’ve never had a nose bleed before, my husband gets them, and he says the tiny bits of blood that dot my tissues every day now don’t count. I agree they are not as bad as his, but they suck. I’ve already gotten used to looking like I have Ebola when I brush and floss in the morning, but nose bleeds? I’ve never had an aversion to blood before, but now it makes me queasy.
The headaches aren’t bad; they go away with Tylenol and half a glass of soda. I know, I’m a terrible and selfish mommy for drinking soda, but I only drink it for medicinal purposes… the doctor said the amount of drinking is negligible, so I’m ok. They don’t want me to be stressed and they really want to make sure my headaches are treatable cause of my next fun symptom.

High Blood Pressure

Prior to pregnancy my blood pressure was 110/70. It slowly crawled up throughout the pregnancy and is now about 137/89. Big scary words were thrown around, but for the most part they just advised me to take it easy, keep an eye on headaches, and come in any time I feel off. No bed rest (yet) and I’m now far enough along in the pregnancy that they could induce safely if the numbers get to high. In the meantime I have to report my bp to them every day, and come in once a week for visits.

Insomnia

I can’t sleep for long periods of a time. Don’t know why, but I’m not fighting it. If my body wants to get used to sleeping an hour or two, waking up, moving around, and then napping for an hour or two, awesome. I’ll be better prepared for a newborn.

Sweat

I’ve been very sweaty and very hot all the time, which has translated into a really high power bill. That’s ok though, I can deal with sweat.

This is kind of scary. The baby is facing down and towards my back now, so its movements are harder to feel, also its running out of room. Consequently it doesn’t move as much. I worry all week, and then go to the doctor, and then hear her heartbeat and get reassured that as long as she’s moving ten times every two hours she’s fine. I know this on an intellectual level, but it’s hard to grasp why my baby went from moving ten times in ten seconds to ten times every two hours.

Yay! I’m caught up. As of tomorrow I’ll be posting daily entries, at least for the week days, talking about different pregnancy things, and my new life up here in college town. I won’t be posting on weekends, and I’m not sure what will happen to my every day posting once the baby gets here, but I’ll do the best I can :).