Stormy Skies

Fall came blowing in like a bat out of a wet and windy hell. I am loving it. The stormy weather gets me amped up. This may stem from a youth spent on the coast.

 

While the jet stream raged on this weekend we kept fairly busy.

 

Saturday morning and early afternoon was spent visiting family (exhausting) and friends (energizing!). Not all the family visiting was bad; mostly it was the visit with my mother that took it out of me.

 

I hadn't seen her since before I got pregnant, which in turn means before I had my teeth completed. So yea, it had been a while, and she had been dropping mommy guilt all over the place about how she hoped to feel the little one moving/kicking before I have her and so on. So I decide to bite the headache inducing bullet and stopping by to see her. I made it perfectly clear the night before that we would not have a lot of time to visit and that, no, we could not take her for a drive, nor did we have room to take her to LC. 

That in mind, she proceeded to ask not once but THREE times during our twenty minute visit that dragged on forever if we would take her to the coast. And after the THIRD NO, she then asked if I had any money... -_- Seriously. 

And as for her getting to feel the baby kick, it's really fucking difficult when the person wanting to feel the baby is apparently terrified of pushing hard enough... I managed to wake her up and get her moving around in there and my mom was barely touching my t shirt, let alone applying enough pressure to feel the baby move. I had to hold her hand down hard enough. The baby gave a really good kick and I ask her if she felt it, she responds, "No, not the kick but I feel her moving." I just looked at her for half a second and then told her that was the baby kicking.  Sigh. o.O 

And to top it off, while trying to antagonize the baby into moving about (yes, I like to call it antagonizing) my mom freaked out (for lack of better terms) and told me not to poke. I told her it is actually good for the baby and developing her reflexes. It's been over a quarter century since she had a baby and I know a lot has changed so I was trying to be understanding, but come on!

 

The whole time I swear I could hear Collin's teeth grinding. I had asked him on our way there to try not to stare at my mother the way Spaz stares at him when he is touching my bump. I know he tried, but I now know where Spaz gets that look.

 

The rest of the day breezed by (quite literally). My sister gave us two more bags of baby clothes (always welcome!). My dad was super stoked when we gave him his DVD of Iron Man 3. The deli was closed, which was kind of nice. It gave us a chance to catch up with G & K and not have to worry about customers interrupting the visit.

 

We met for lunch at Sambo's. The food was a disappointment. I should have ordered off the breakfast menu, but I opted for the chicken strips which were just bleh. It seemed like the chicken was precooked and THEN breaded and fried. The breading was greasy and did not stay on the meat and the meat was overcooked and tough. The fries were okay...

 

When we got home, I was exhausted so we opted to take a nap... We slept from 2:45 until almost 5pm... It felt great.

 

Yesterday was spent doing laundry and baking/cooking. I made cookies for a couple of the gals Collin works with. Okay, so maybe I also made them for us, but at least by giving away over half of them I am less likely to go all Cookie Monster on them... LOL. 

I then started the sausage marinara for the lasagna I made last night. I let the sauce simmer for about three hours. It turned out amazing. 

Another meal that is plenty big to freeze half of it for a future dinner. I am working to stock pile casseroles and sauce; like lasagna, meatloaf, enchiladas, and tikka masala, for use when I just don't want to cook. I am hoping not to suffer too much pre-packaged food during the last weeks of the pregnancy and the first weeks being home with baby. I know one of my friends recently dealt with this and that (combined with advice from another new momma) inspired me to start working on filling the freezer with homemade dinners now while I have the energy. 

This is actually pretty easy as we are entering cooler weather and I love making soups, stews, and casserole type dishes that store and freeze well (and I have a hard time limiting to make only four servings). I'm sure I will still end up eating some pre-packaged meals, but I hope to curtail it as much as possible.

 

I also completed the sign for the baby's room yesterday, and must say I am quite pleased with the outcome. I was going to do the traditional individual letters, but couldn't find any in the typeface I wanted. We opted to print, stencil, and paint her name on a piece of crafting plywood. It turned out bold and bright and EXACTLY what I wanted for it.

Now I am going to go curl up on the couch and watch this stupid teen drama I got sucked into... 

Words Of Others

I try very hard to avoid posting about work stuff beyond the generic random oddities, but today there was an “encounter" that left me both amused and mildly puzzled.

 

Two co-workers were discussing the weather when I commented that as of this morning the weekend forecast isn't looking as nice. One co-worker said that's not what he saw, he saw good weather until next week. I asked him where he saw his forecast, to which he replied he reads it in the paper. Before I could speak further the second co-worker breezes past me and says to the first (as though I wasn't there) "Oh, the weather will be great. Trust in God."

 

The amusement of this encounter is that the party in question has been treating me as though I am invisible, which is actually quite nice. I have no problem with people not wanting to talk to me; makes my life easier. I am not much of a people person these days, and especially not with people who will go out of their way to cause drama (which I sadly witness all too often in this "adult" world).

 

The mild puzzlement stems from the person's necessity to site a deity having the time and energy to give two craps about the weather for the weekend for such a tiny segment of the world. It's rain, and it's not like we aren't use to it here. Also, (not that I openly share my religious preferences at work; that's a whole 'nother nightmare post) I can't help but wonder what this person must think of me to need to throw that into the conversation. So, in this person's honor I plan to do a heathenistic pagan rain dance for the weekend, and possibly sacrifice a chicken breast to the great earth spirit in the form of some gnocchi soup tomorrow night... Sheesh. Not really, it takes too much energy to treat people in kind with negativity and vengeance.

 

I will truly never understand human behavior, and every time I utter or think that I'm actually grateful for that fact. Humans are beyond weird and scare the crap out of me.

 

And in it just being one of those days at work there was another fun twist in the day.

 

I believe I mentioned previously that I bit the bullet and posted an announcement/open invite to my baby shower about two and a half weeks ago. The only reason I posted the stupid thing was to alleviate the pressure I was getting from people (that I had not meant to be aware of my pregnancy yet anyways) about whether I would host an open shower or if I wanted to host a private shower and then let them throw one for me at work. The last thing I want is to have a work shower and have ANYONE there feel obligated to care about the fact I have a tiny human growing inside me. Though it may seem contrary considering how much I share on here, I do not crave direct attention from people. I post this blog because it is a healthy and fun outlet for sharing the odd things that churn around my mind at any given moment. And if you think I share 100% you will be disappointed, I do have some couth after all.

 

Anyways, back to the work thing; I post the announcement at work right where I had previously posted the open invite for my co-worker's shower that I hosted. After posting I heard someone was complaining about it. Yea, seriously. Probably because I wouldn't let them touch my fucking belly. So, nothing was ever said directly to me about it (though I would have been glad to take the effing thing down earlier) so I left it. Well today, since someone else had posted their own thing about needing a room to rent they decided that all personal notices needed to be separate from any other notices. I just took the opportunity to take mine down. If someone wants to be there they will RSVP and I will give them a copy of the invite. And if ANYONE dares state I was discriminating them by taking it down they can take it up with the person who had an issue with it being posted in the first place.

 

Wow, I think this is the most open rant I have had about work for a while. I try not to post too much about work place crud because this is a publicly read blog, and lord only knows who may or may not read it. Plus, the ultimate goal of my blog is to share experience, not create drama or trash talk. This post is honestly very borderline for me. But both of these instances are anonymous enough I feel safe sharing them. And it also illustrates WHY I get so freaking frustrated with people's childish actions at work.  And keep in mind as you ponder these tidbits of my workday; I am once again the youngest person in my company... So sad.

 

Now on a lighter note, because all that seems to read too effing serious for my tastes:

 

I think babies are like puffer fish. I swear it feels like she puffs up to twice her size sometimes. I know in reality it's all about how she is positioned, but seriously she can go from just kind of being there to making me feel like I put on fifty pounds and I can't bend in the middle. It's yet another odd and weird observation in this whole "Growing A Tiny Person" thing.

And now I shall go and consume my dinner! 

Cold Hands

Also: The Pros and Cons of Maternity Pants

 

Around the week fourteen mark (so almost fourteen weeks ago now) I ditched the hair tie bound jeans of pre-pregnancy for the inevitable maternity pants. In hindsight, after pulling some of my old "fat clothes" out that I had saved specifically for maternity shirts, I realize I probably could have waited even longer to begin wearing the pants if I wore some of the jeans I have from two to three sizes ago. The only downside? My "fat pants" are too big when I am standing or walking around and I would CONSTANTLY be hitching them up. But I still like them for wearing around the house.

 

Okay, back on track here. One thing I have found quite interesting in this, my first pregnancy, is that I am almost always cold, or on the verge of being cold. This was abnormal for me even before I got knocked up, but with the significant weight loss action prior to the pregnancy I was noticing that I was cold more often than ever before. Now, (naturally) everyone I tell that I am cold 85% of the time I am awake tells me that it's weird or not normal especially since I am with child... But that is yet again one of a million things I have been told that makes me weird.

 

With this inevitable coldness my hands get colder as my blood pressure gets lower through the pregnancy. Now, if you have never worn maternity pants, or anything highwaisted such as Spanx, or similar undergarments I will give you fair warning:

If your hands are cold having to pull these types of garments down or up becomes a chilling nightmare.

 

Even just hooking with my thumbs, there is the inevitable brush of FREEZING cold skin to nice warm torso. That or snapping the material against my skin... Not fun.

 

So we shall begin the Pros and Cons list!

 

Pro - Super comfy with lots of give for those days where there seems to be more of you than there should be.

Pro - Next to impossible to have plumber's crack.

Pro - You feel like you can do yoga in them; well most of them...

Pro - As long as only your midsection grows you can wear the same couple pairs from the first trimester until you are ready to squeeze back into your pre-pregger pants.

Con - (maybe it's just me) I miss having pants with a waist band.

 

Con - If it is warm/hot out you have an extra layer of material suffocating your skin.

 

Con - I am always terrified I am going to get a tear in the belly band much like you would see in stockings.

 

Con - If your underpants try to fall down it's nearly impossible to pull said underpants back up discreetly.

 

Con - There are no belt loops or other sort of thing you can use to pull the pants themselves up (not that preggos have a need for belts, but the loops serve multiple purposes).

 

Obviously, I have listed more cons than pros and that's because I really miss my regular pants... I just keep reminding myself I can start working back towards them in about three or four months. Especially since I had just bought a new pair in my next size down when I found out I was pregnant so I only got to enjoy that feeling for a few weeks before I went back to wearing the size I had been in before then, and then a few more weeks later and I was sporting the maternity pants. -Sigh-

 

Soon.

I Am Me

What a week it has been, this is my first opportunity to be able to use my computer in over a week. I had a horrible fatal error in the OS boot sector of my hard drive and had to replace it. With the wedding last weekend, we weren't able to pick up a new hard drive until Monday when we got back. Then this week has been a whirlwind of activity so Collin has only had minutes here and there to spend getting everything back where it belongs and getting all the five million Windows updates installed on my machine. Now that I have a functioning computer I can FINALLY go through all the pictures from K & G's wedding, and also start editing the video for burning to DVD.

 

Speaking of, it was a beautiful wedding. I am so happy for the two of them. Not sure how, but I managed not to shed a single freaking tear! There were a couple moments when I thought I would; like when K walked down the aisle, and watching the emotions play across G's face. It was just awesome. The reception went great. I even gave a little speech, not what I had originally planned on saying but still something. I might have to post my original speech on here. With how emotionally charged it already was I didn't want to go too sappy, which was a good thing since the best man went full tilt.

 

The entire wedding party looked gorgeous (K looked like a princess and G had his pants pulled up!LOL). My super talented hair stylist was able to be in the area and did all of our hair. I had forty four bobby pins in my hair. She managed to make my A-line bob look like I had long hair. She is truly gifted. I will try to get a picture of that on here too.

 

The hotel we stayed at was cute and very quirky; you could tell it is a really old building, but it still managed to be quite charming. The bathroom was really the biggest downside. It was all cramped together, poorly lit, and the shower was awkward at best. Beyond that one small disappointment it was fantastic. The hospitality was great; they had free fresh cookies in the lobby, a DVD library, and free popcorn (made in one of the poppers you see at an old timey theater). And their complimentary breakfast was amazing. I only wish we had time on Sunday to see what they had. Monday they had a choice of "Kip's Plate Size vanilla Buttermilk Pancakes" or breakfast enchilada with potatoes and toast. Collin had the enchilada and I tried the pancake; we each shared ours with one another for the full experience. It was delicious.

 

We had a great weekend the whole way around, which we truly needed. This weekend has been fantastic with only minimal errands and catching an AWESOME football game yesterday, and then getting ten hours of sleep last night. One of our really good friends is coaching seventh and eighth grade kids this year and he has a phenomenal team! With the 60-36 win over Clackamas yesterday they are now 3-0. I am also working on finishing the baby's sign for her room. 

Today after this quick interlude with my computer our goal is to veg out on the couch and watch movies. Should be pretty freaking sweet. I know we need to enjoy these little moments now before the little one arrives...

 

Crazy to think how close the baby's arrival is. We are as ready as we will ever be. The other day my 87 year old boss asked me when I was "going to pop," to which I replied December 19th, and he stated that it was still a long ways off. It most certainly doesn't feel that way to me with all the activities going on between now and then: our shower, Collin's birthday, and Thanksgiving being the major ones. And then BAM! Here's baby!

 

I have been craving change lately, which I equate to this blissful change in the seasons. In an effort to allay this craving I changed my hair color. From the purpley awesomeness it has been for almost a year, I am now sporting a more fall like palette of blond and deep red woven through my mostly natural colored hair. It made the wedding up do look amazing, and I am so glad I decided to change it!

 

There are other changes that I would like to make but they will have to wait until after baby; a big one being our running. I miss running so much, but after breaking my foot and being out of commission for six weeks as it healed it just didn't seem wise to pick it back up just yet. I am still walking daily, but it doesn't quite scratch this itch. Blame it on preggo brain but I can't remember if I have shared this next bit or not. Either way, our post pregnancy training goal is to not only get our running back on track but to really amp it up. By summer I want to be able to run (not run/walk) a 5k, and then by Thanksgiving next year I want to be back up to run/walking at least ten miles. The biggest thing that I will have to keep in mind during all of this is making sure I don't jeopardize my milk supply. Another thing I will have to talk to the doctor about after the baby is here.

 

This next year is bound to be not only exciting but super busy, and I hope that I can always find a few minutes to share all the big changes with whomever takes the time to read this little blog of mine. And I am fairly confident there are going to be many big changes in my future!

 

One of the biggest changes is moving around quite a bit at the moment. In the latter half of the day she really likes to shift so that it is more difficult for me to sit up straight. She LOVES doing this when I am at work. Lord knows it will only become more fun as she grows three fold in the next three months! Right now she is just kind of punching and kicking.

 

Another change that I have been able to (re)implement now (and is good for me and the baby) is to not let people get to me (as in not let their negative "issues" stress me out). Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but lately it had been getting really rough to maintain my positive feelings about people. It just took some meditating on being the person I want to be and not letting others shape me into a nasty negative person with their behavior. I would love to be able to just excise these people from my life entirely but that's just not a possibility. The best I can do is roll with it and not let their actions factor into my own. Some days it is harder than others to keep focused on this, especially when I am exhausted and altogether burnt out, but I have been fortunate enough to surround myself with a few select people who help me through the rough days. I have taught myself that just because someone has to have the last word over me doesn't discount my words in anyway. And if a person would rather argue than try something I suggested, that is fine by me. They will figure it out for themselves; there are too many people like this to take them all on. I know who I am, and there is an immense peace in that knowledge.

Now for some vegetative practice.

I Fixed My Eye!

Wow, I can't believe it's only been a week since I last posted... Feels like a crap ton longer than that.

 

For starter's, here are the bumpers and sheets I made for the baby:

 

 

On to the super fun stuff: The glucose test! I passed that SOB like nobody's business! Realistically, I should have tried to take the one hour instead of the three hour, but when I had taken it before and failed by what I did I figured I wouldn't waste my time with it again and go straight to the torture test. So the premise, for those unaware, of a glucose tolerance test is to ensure that your insulin production is managing your blood glucose levels properly. If you blood sugar is too high it can not only be bad for you, but dangerous for the baby. There are a ton of negative side effects and if you want to check them out just google "Gestational Diabetes."

 

Anywhozit, the one hour test has you consume roughly six to eight ounces of syrupy fluid containing fifty GRAMS of sugar. After an hour has passed, they take a blood sample. In order to be passing your blood glucose needs to be under130 (or 140 depending on your medical provider).

 

The three hour test takes this mini hell to a whole other circle of torture. For the above test you don't HAVE to fast beforehand (but I think this sets people up for insta-failure), whereas you need to fast for twelve hours or more before the three hour. Yea, pretty torturous for a pregnant woman... And that's just the fasting. The fun really begins when, starving, you drag your ass to the lab and let someone jab at you with a needle (if you're lucky you can get in first thing in the morning). After they collect a sample of your blood, they run it to get your baseline or "fasting" blood sugar. If you are below the acceptable threshhold you then get to enjoy another bottle of roughly six to eight fluid ounces of horrendously flavored syrup like stuff (my provider only has lime.. Ick!) that contains ONE HUNDRED GRAMS OF SUGAR. This is roughly the sugar of FOUR twenty ounces sodas. You are given five minutes to chug the liquid; it took me four minutes in June, but I managed to take it like a shooter this time in about ninety seconds. After this they draw blood at the one, two and three hour marks.

 

The way they "grade" this torture test is as follows (I'm including both my sets of results for funnzies):

Time                Standard         Test#1(June)    Test#2(Sept)

Baseline           < 95                  93                    83

One Hour        < 179                178                  134

Two Hour        < 154                103                  80

Three Hour      < 139                72                    65

 

Pretty freaking clear I do not suffer from gestational diabetes, and as much as I hate the test I would take it again if I had to for my health and even more importantly my baby's health.

 

After the nightmare was over we headed to our favorite neighborhood pizza place and I pigged out on sweet delicious carbs and protein.

 

Saturday was K's bachelorette party. It was a blast! Even though I did not partake of any "adult" beverages it was still a great time. Most importantly the bride enjoyed herself plenty! We didn't get back to my place until two in the morning, at which point we both crashed. It took me about a half hour to fall asleep, and I woke up around 6:30 which sucked balls. I cuddled with the monster for about a half hour until my stomach (and the baby) reminded me I was hungry. I went downstairs and munched on a couple crackers before K and I went in search of breakfast. Later, after K had headed home, and Collin returned home from his night out we opted to take a much needed nap. Four hours is just not enough sleep for a pregnant woman. 

 

It just dawned on me I skipped Friday night here. Friday night I got all of our shower invites printed out and stuffed into envelopes. We mailed all of them Saturday morning except for the handful that I hand delivered to people at work. And now I remember why I hadn't got to this part yet.

 

So Monday I dropped the bomb at work. I posted my "open" shower invite by the time clock at my work, along with a cute little addendum requesting people respect boundaries and not touch the pregnant woman. Only one person so far has gone against this request, but I hear tell that others are itching to touch my belly. I really, truly do not understand this aspect of human behavior. I have worked here for almost three years and no one has craved physical contact with my abdomen UNTIL they found out I am growing a tiny human in there. It is one of the weirdest "social cues" out there: see pregnant woman, touch pregnant woman. Seriously?! If anyone can explain this to me comment below. Heck, when I was clocking out for lunch one of the women at my work stopped me as I was leaving the time clock area, circled her arms around me (without touching) and told me that she has wanted to touch my belly ever since I posted the sign. I laughed awkwardly and proceeded to go eat my lunch. I never had the desire to run up to a random pregnant person and touch them... But then again we all know I'm not human.

 

To my eyeball, at last. Whether it was something completely random, or some weird preggo side effect; for the last three weeks or so my right eye would water at random. Think crocodile tears. It was insanely annoying and I have no idea what brought it on. It typically happened around the same times each day. There was no itching, burning, or other indicator of an irritant or allergen. I was finally reaching the point of actually WANTING to talk to my doctor about it. Sunday was like any other watery eyed day, but one difference was the slight pressure I felt in the tear duct of my right eye. "Great!" I thought, "Not only does this bastard water uncontrollably at random but now I am developing a stye a week before my best friend's wedding!" I checked the mirror repeatedly throughout the day awaiting the red and swelling action but it never came. I don't know what sparked my next action, but that evening as my eye was doing its water feature impression and I was gently dabbing away the excess moisture I decided to apply light pressure to my tear duct. There was no additional pain, and as I pushed a little harder the pain disappated all together. I pulled the tissue away (WARNING: This next part may be TMI) there was a decent sized glob of healthy looking mucus. Super gross I know, but since then? My eye has not watered beyond the normal, I yawned too hard, or I poked myself in the eye type moments. It's been three days now, and I am loving it!

 

Now to go mow down on this dreamy salad I am making for dinner and then it's off to pick up my bridesmaid's dress.

 

Here's to hoping it cools down fast tonight! It made it into the mid nineties here today!

Here's To Oatmeal!

Just so you know I am alive and well, and have yet to be kidnapped by robots or zombies. This past week I was so wrapped up in my crafty projects and other events I hadn't had time to write anything up.

 

I truly hope that after tomorrow I can still eat oatmeal. It has become a staple part of my snack routine. At roughly 150 calories it is so freaking packed with nommy nutrients and fills me up.

 

Tomorrow morning I will be subjected to my SECOND (and last) three hour glucose tolerance test for this pregnancy. Due to my voluptuousness they are testing me twice, once early and once now as I get ready to roll into my third trimester. Better safe than sorry, but this doesn't mean I am going to enjoy the torture test... At all. I can only imagine how my little parasite is going to take this.

 

After my torture test I get to go and have lunch at the pizza place right behind the hopsital, so there's a positive. Also, I am taking the day off from work since by the time the test is done it will be around noon, and I will need to eat and such. Later in the afternoon I get to have my teeth cleaned. Go oral hygiene!

 

I have been trying all day to ignore this mild sinus headache... That's the pits of the approaching season change, my sinuses are like hyper aware to this shit. In case you aren't familiar with Oregon weather patterns throughout the year, it's around this point that the weather gets a little more wackadoodle than normal. In late summer/early fall we start to see summerfallwinter weather where it can go from sunny and eighty to rainy, windy, and fifty five in a matter of about ten minutes. These weather changes wreak havoc upon any one who is sensitive to pressure changes.

 

We typically have one of the best fall seasons, where it's sunny and comfortable by day and chilly at night; which perfectly encourages crockpots, stews, and ample snuggling. Also fall is home to some of my favorite things:

-Halloween

-Thanksgiving (and the TurkeyTrot 5k/10k which I will sadly miss this year as I will be thirty seven weeks pregnant Thanksgiving day)

-The warms scents of pumpkin (or apples) and cinnamon, and other warming sweet scents

-Baking. I know it can be done year round, but I typically abstain in the summer to keep the house cool. And I'm not just talking any baking, I'm talking about pumpkin breads and muffins, apple everything, and any cookie you can imagine (granted the cookies are typically closer to Christmas, but still).

 

Well, I have done enough drooling over fall goodies... Not a good idea since as of six pm I am not eating anything until after my test tomorrow. Also, should I not pass this test there will be no baking until after this little monster of mine is born. I am confident I will pass okay, and I will make sure to post my results. If they are anything like the first one, it's going to be a rocky (well shaky) morning. Ugh.

 

Now I am off to pin the final panel of the bumpers and sew them all together. I will try and post pictures of them and the sheets I made over Labor Day weekend in one of the next few posts.