Therapies

I am totally posting out of order. I still want to post about our camping trip, court, and Halloween from earlier this month. But those posts are going to take some time to write, and I want to quickly post something more positive after the previous downer posts.

As you know if you've read some of my previous posts, I’ve been stressed and upset a lot over the past 3 weeks, mostly thanks to nurses. But I got through court, I had a fun Halloween, and other than the nurse-induced stress, I’ve started to feel pretty good. I started taking walks when I had to load up on carbs for the 3-hour glucose test, and I have continued with walking either at lunch or with Aaron after work several times a week. Since walking doesn’t really have an immediate impact on my blood pressure, I decided to look into yoga. I picked up a pregnancy yoga book at the library in order to try it out before investing money and embarrassing myself in classes. I tried some sitting stretches and breathing exercises from the book this past Friday and Saturday. Aaron took my blood pressure right after, and I had readings of 118/83 and 113/79! That’s actually really good for me. On Sunday, Aaron and I stopped at a sporting good store and picked up two yoga mats. Mine came with a DVD. On Tuesday I had the day off so in the morning I tried some yoga from the DVD, and finished with some yoga from the book. I’m looking forward to trying some drop-in yoga classes on Fridays at lunch and Monday evenings. 

On Saturday Aaron and I went to the archery range. There was another guy at the range who appears to be into serious competition archery. He had set up at the center target, and had marked off at least three different shooting distances. When we arrived he was shooting from the farthest distance. There was no way we could shoot from that far back. So we picked the end target that was separated a little farther from the rest of the targets by a paved path. Aaron and I both shot 6 arrows each and went up to fetch our arrows. As we returned, the guy appeared to have stopped shooting and waited for us to return from the target. I think he was glaring at us. But what else are we supposed to do? We’re already far enough down range from him that we could be shot anyway, and he hadn’t finished his set in the time that it took both of us to set up and finish ours. He was hitting the target every time, and had a tight grouping in the middle, so I wasn’t too worried about him accidentally shooting us. But we decided to try to shoot slower, and waited for him to finish before approaching the targets again. Unfortunately, we’re not very good, and Aaron’s bow is strong enough to bury the arrow into the wood frame around the target. We had to spend some extra time at the target trying to get with arrows out, and eventually I gave up and snapped an arrow off, leaving the tip in the frame. After a few sets, Aaron switched from the recurve to compound. Of course he sailed a few arrows over the target while I was taking pictures. So we had no idea where the arrows had landed. I think the other guy got the hint at this point, and stopped waiting for us while we search the field for Aaron’s arrows. While we were shooting, we got to see two different bucks wander by in the woods beside us. I guess those “No Hunting” signs made sense after all. Overall, it was a fun afternoon, and we only lost one arrow and broke one or two others.

After work on Monday, I headed to Alexandria to meet up with the beading ladies for beading therapy. I made good progress on a necklace I’ve been working on for over a year, and had a great time chatting with the ladies. They were really supportive, and one even had her own “bad nurse” story to commiserate with me.

With walking, yoga, archery, and beading, I was feeling good on Tuesday. It was my day off and I had a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. I already mentioned that I spent part of the morning doing yoga. The other half I spent finally finishing my beaded necklace - yay!

I was hoping my blood pressure would stay down for the doctor’s appointment. I even did a couple minutes of yoga breathing in the bathroom before getting my blood pressure taken at the doctors. Of course it was still higher than the doctor would like. I met with the back-up doctor, Doctor S. and she was great. She listened to all the troubles that I had with the nurses, and she understood why I was so upset. But I finally said I’d be willing to take blood pressure medicine so that it would be one less thing for the nurses to freak out about and cause me more stress. So the doctor prescribed a low dose of beta blocker. I didn’t care. She also wasn’t concerned about my low placenta. She said it was low or partially covering, but nothing to worry about yet because it could move up as my uterus expands. This was completely different than what the nurse had told me over the phone - partially or completely blocking, and a serious problem. Doc also said my ultrasound was incomplete because baby wouldn’t cooperate. So because of the incomplete ultrasound and my low placenta, I just have to get another ultrasound. No big deal. Doc was even persistent, and for the first time, found baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler. And when I asked not to have any further contact with Nurse T., Doc told me that Nurse T. was transferring to a different office. The only bad thing was that Doc told me not to have sex until we get the results from the ultrasound, just as a precaution. But this coming weekend is our wedding anniversary. Oops. 

So even my doctor’s appointment went pretty well, and I followed it up with a nice walk around the lake in my neighborhood. I am nervous about taking the blood pressure medicine, but a lot of pregnant women say they’ve been on it during pregnancy and while breast feeding. I took my first dose yesterday morning and was a bit shaky in the morning then tired in the afternoon. I avoided the nurses at work, and checked my blood pressure using a self-serve machine. It was 130-something/69! Today I haven’t felt as bad after taking the medicine, so I am hopeful that it will work out fine. 

Looking forward to a long weekend of anniversary cuddles with Aaron in the Poconos!

More pictures are posted at http://hooppics.shutterfly.com/12368. 

 

Registries

If you are reading this and are planning to look over my baby registries, then this post is for you. The main point: I’m sorry our registries aren't very good.

I had no idea that creating a registry would be this hard. The wedding registry was actually fun. We just picked out stuff we needed and stuff we thought would be useful and fun. And since our household was already established, there weren’t any big choices like furniture. 

A baby registry is a whole other animal. Besides what looks cool, useful, and/or fun, we have to worry about safety, comfort, and fit. I’m a bit overwhelmed. In fact, the first time we walked though Buy Buy Baby, we literally walked once around the main level of the store without leaving the main aisle, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I didn’t even realize there was a second level!

A good friend recommended the book “Baby Bargains” which discusses ways to save money, and discusses the pros, cons, and costs of baby items based on feedback from real moms and dads. I snatched it up, and it is a good book, but I am having trouble reading it. The book is so dense with information, that it is impossible to process it all. For example, a couple months ago I glanced through the section on cribs and read the article on co-sleeping.  Since I am interested in this concept, I was pretty excited to find that there is an alternative to the Arms Reach Co-sleeper. Now that I’m trying to register, I completely forgot about that article. So I’ve been getting frustrated because the store didn’t even have a floor model of the Arms Reach Co-sleeper to look at, it gets some bad reviews, and my only other option for co-sleeping appears to be to rig a crib as a sidecar to the bed. Unfortunately we don’t have a real bed frame, so I’m uneasy about trying to rig a crib safely. Today I turned back to the cribs section of the Baby Bargains book to see what they had to say about Arms Reach, and I found the article on co-sleeping again.  Oh look, I have another choice, even if I can’t put it on my registry. Of course I still don’t know if a Baby Bunk will work with our bed either, but it seems more likely than rigging a crib. And that’s just part of the crib debate. So the verdict is still out on the cribs and sleeping arrangements.

I am really trying to make some progress and get some items listed on my registry. But it is slow going. I actually turned over the research for infant car seat to Aaron. He came up with the expensive Chicco Travel System. It gets really good reviews. I was hesitant, because of some of the cons, so that was another item we went to see at Buy Buy Baby yesterday. Luckily they had a floor model. The sales guy was really helpful, pointed out all of the features, and helped me figure out how it worked. The most awesome moment was when I asked how we’d know if it would fit in the car. “We can take it out to your car and check.” Awesome! He radioed that he was going outside to do a car check, picked up the infant car seat, and headed outside. We didn’t actually strap it in, but he did check the location of my car’s LATCH system. Too bad for the budget, we liked the Chicco travel system, and it fits in our car.

Have you looked at high chairs lately? They all look like car seats on a stick, alien pods, or torture devices. We’re leaning towards an expensive torture device.  I was not amused when I read “wipe clean” on a cloth, padded, car-seat looking high chair. Really? As adults, we can’t even keep our stain guarded couch stain free, and we’re expected to wipe clean a padded cloth high chair that has been food bombed by small child. What a joke.

Hopefully you can see why I am so overwhelmed and confused with picking out baby items for my registry. To make matters worse, you can probably find that most items are less expensive at other retailers (*cough* Amazon.com *cough*). But I’m going to be selfish and stick with the registries I’ve set up. I like having the ability to go to Buy Buy Baby and see the item in person, even if they only have half the items in stock. Plus Buy Buy Baby gives parents a discount on their registry items after the baby’s due date. Did you notice I haven’t mentioned my other registry at Think Geek? That’s the silly registry of cool geek baby stuff that we want but probably don’t need. It was easy and fun to set up, but probably not very useful.

So I’m sorry that my registries are crappy. If you feel the need to buy us a gift, and find it cheaper elsewhere, go for it. If you feel the need to give us a gift and don’t like anything on our registry, then buy (or make) something else.  Because really, I don’t think you should be getting us gifts. So we’re going to be really appreciative of anything we get, even if it is just a card, a hug, or a prayer.        

Bad Day

“I’m not even supposed to be here today!” – Dante from Clerks

Yeah, it’s one of those days. I’ve been looking forward to my day off all week. With my doctor and back-up doctor both out of town, I didn’t make an appointment for my day off. Instead, I was going to have it all to myself. I was going to wash and sort Peter peppers, finish dehydrating our stevia, start dehydrating the lemon balm, put away Halloween decorations, do some yard work, go to the thrift store, do water changes on my fish tanks, and maybe even do some beading. Lately I haven’t been motivated to do most of that stuff. So I was excited to be motivated and have time to do it. Instead, I’m at work today.

Yesterday I felt good, and decided to be responsible. So on my way to go get breakfast, I stopped at the health unit to get my blood pressure checked. Unfortunately my blood pressure was high, and the nurse immediately called my doctors office, and then made me talk to them. Both nurses insisted that I got to the doctor’s office. I tried to explain that I was fine, and that it could wait until my next appointment on Tuesday or even the following day that I had off. But no. By the time I was allowed to leave the nurses office to go to the doctors, the cafeteria was closed. I grabbed a fruit cup and a muffin from the snack shop because I needed to eat something. Since I haven’t been to the doctor’s office from work before, I managed to make a wrong turn and found myself at the DC line before I could turn around. When I finally got to the office, I had to use the restroom. But I held it, in case I needed to pee in a cup. When I finally saw the nurse, it was Nurse T., who is the nurse that has upset me a few times already. She wanted to have me sit quietly for a few minutes before taking my blood pressure. I asked to use the bathroom first, and as I left the room, she turned the TV on to CNN or some other news channel. When I returned, there was some political crap on the TV. Yeah, I’m sure that’s really going to help my blood pressure. I called the nurse and told her to shut it off. When she finally checked my blood pressure, it was still high with readings similar to those taken at my work. Then she proceeded to ask me questions and picked a fight with me. As she switched cuffs on the machine, I’m already talking in a raised voice, and my anger is building. And she says, “You’ve never had high blood pressure before?” While my blood pressure was being taken, I gritted my teeth instead of answering. The reading was much better, but still high. Then instead of yelling, “Of course I have high blood pressure, why don’t you check my patient history!” I said calmly, “I have had borderline high blood pressure all of my life.” It went downhill from there. She continued to tell me how bad high blood pressure was, threatened me that I’d have to see a Perinatologist, and then argued with me for a bit. Then she shared the results with Doctor C, who I don’t like either. The nurse came back and told me I had to pee in a cup. So I had to chug some water and wait a while since I had just gone to the bathroom a few minutes earlier. After I used the restroom, Nurse T. brought the pee stick in to show me that I was starting to have protein in my urine, and lectured me some more. The she left to go tell the doctor. Finally Doctor C comes in and introduces himself, even though I’ve seen him twice before. He says that I don’t need meds yet, just to monitor my blood pressure a couple times a week. And, [pay close attention here] he told me to make sure the nurses at my work use a large cuff in order to get an accurate reading. It was after noon when I left the office, so in addition to missing breakfast, I was now late to eat lunch.

It took me awhile that afternoon to piece together what had happened. When Nurse T switched to a larger cuff, even though I was nearly yelling at her, my blood pressure was lower than it had been when taken with a smaller cuff after sitting quietly. I wasted a good chunk of my day being abused by nurses because some dumb nurse that I’ve never seen before didn’t think to use a large cuff, and then she made a big deal out of my blood pressure just because I was pregnant.

Do you think I could go back to work after that? Nope. And if I did go back to work, I would have had to take at least 4 hours of sick leave. Instead, I decided it was best to sacrifice my day off for this debacle. The thrift store was nearby and it was the last day for the 50% off sale on Halloween items. Still upset, I forgot lunch and headed there. I didn’t find any Halloween items that I wanted. So I went to the baby section. I had previously avoided this section since I didn’t know the gender yet. I still don’t know the gender, but I didn’t care. I picked out a Hawaiian shirt and a Hawaiian dress (for when my work has Hawaiian shirt day) and bought them both. I picked up a few other unisex onesies, some sleepwear for myself, and a cute snowman themed tissue box cover. But thrift shopping didn’t help.

It was 2pm when I finally stopped for lunch. I really don’t think I have to tell you the rest of my day in blow-by-blow detail. I tried to do a few chores on my list, but they no longer interested me. I cried, I ate leftover Halloween candy, and I fought with Aaron. I seriously wanted to call my mom and have her cancel the 3D ultrasound and the baby shower, both scheduled during my visit over Thanksgiving. After all, the way Nurse T. talks, I’m not likely to even have this baby. I thought I would be stronger than this, but I guess I’m not.

Crap. I wanted to end this post a little bit lighter, but now I’m upset again. I’m not even supposed to be here today.

Ultrasound Pics

Yesterday I had a full ultrasound, where the tech took measurements of the baby. We were supposed to also find out the gender, but the tech couldn't tell. I'll have to go back for a follow-up. It was the first ultrasound that Aaron got to see in person. We had to laugh when the tech was trying to image a foot, and baby decided to move it out of the picture. Here are the pics that the tech gave us. In each set, the first pic is the original, and the second is a copy of the first with the face or feet circled in red. 

Face, pic1

Face, pic 2

Feet

Predictions

Monday is the big day. Aaron is so excited. When I got home from work he eagerly asked, “Guess what Monday is?” It took me a few seconds to realize why he was so excited for Monday. I am looking forward to Monday as well, so I can start thinking of baby as a “he” or “she” instead of an “it.”

So does anyone want to make a prediction? As Aaron says, “the odds are good, 50/50.” Actually, the odds aren’t quite 50/50, because there is another possible outcome. Baby may not cooperate and might hide the gender. I certainly hope not, because we aren’t the only people excited to find out. However, baby has not cooperated for my doctor when trying to find the heartbeat. I had another appointment today where doc had to get out the ultrasound machine again because the Doppler didn’t work. Luckily the ultrasound machine had been fixed so I got the belly kind, but it still took my doctor a bit of time to find the heartbeat on it.

The Ancient Chinese Birth Chart says I’m having a boy but the Chinese Fortune Calendar says I’m having a girl. Aaron thinks we are having a girl. He says he has had more dreams with our baby being a girl than a boy. In most of my baby dreams, I don’t get to know what it is. But I think I have had one dream for each. I have to guess that it is a boy though, due to an experience garage sale shopping...

In July I figured out that we wouldn’t find out the baby’s gender until the end of October. Since the baby is due in March, I decided that I couldn’t wait until the end of October to do some shopping. After all, the garage sale season ends in October, and doesn’t start again until spring after the baby is born. I spent a few weekends this summer hitting the garage sales. In hindsight, it was probably very good for my wallet that I didn’t know the gender yet. Usually I ended up with just a couple unisex items at each sale. One Friday I managed to find several good garage sales and a thrift store across town. I came home with a pretty good haul. I showed Aaron each piece as I took off tags and put them in the laundry. As I held up one baby bib to show Aaron, I was surprised to see large writing across the back of the bib that I hadn’t noticed when I bought it. The bib had belonged to a boy, and his first name was written in sharpie. It happens to be the same name that we’ve picked out for a boy. “I guess we’re having a boy,” I told Aaron, and flipped the bib around so he could see the back.  

I tried really hard to purchase only items that were unisex, so as not to jinx us into having one or the other. However, one garage sale was all girls clothes, and I would have felt bad for not buying anything. So I picked out a cute shirt. Of course, I then had to even it up. At this point we now have a couple gender-specific items for either a girl or a boy. We’ll be happy with whatever baby turns out to be.