Good lord, rumor has it that Britney Spears is pregnant for the third time, this time by who-knows-whom, since she's divorced from K-Fed.
You know, I worry about being a good mother, about doing or saying the right things, modeling the right behaviors, etc. And then I look at Britney. And my worries fade away. The poor dear -- it would be hard to be a worse mother than she is.
FYI, the arm brace did work last night, and today I visited the CVS in the town where I work and got a second one for my other arm, so I think we're good to go! I also looked up some carpal tunnel exercises on ye olde internet.
Mom and I went to Wal-Mart tonight (I needed cheap saline and a bottle of cheap shower spray refill, among other things). I am so proud of myself for working a full day and then coming home and not just flopping on the couch! Tomorrow night will have to be Night of a Thousand Thank-You Notes, though... Perhaps I will get some pizza for the occasion. It's the little things.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Blob
I'm swollen.
My hands are swollen. My ankles are swollen. My face is fat.
In the mornings, I can barely make a fist because of the carpal tunnel symptoms, and my fingers are very numb. Tonight Mom and I went to the pharmacy and bought one of these to try:
It's very cushy and doesn't tear away at my skin like the one I borrowed from a coworker does. Let's see how the hands feel in the morning.
My nights look something like this:
Midnight: Wake up with searing heartburn (let's see if the old wives' tale holds true and the baby is born with lots of hair).
2:00 a.m. Wake up to pee.
3:30 a.m. Wake up because my hands are numb.
5:00 a.m. Wake up because my back hurts.
6:00 a.m. Wake up to pee.
MDad and I just had our nightly "computer date" -- we were talking about how scary it is that we'll be having a baby right around the time of the writers' guild strike -- omigod! No new TV shows!
Tonight I managed to vacuum the living room and even heat up some dinner, in addition to making the above-mentioned trip to the drugstore with Mom. I wish I'd had the energy to dust, too, and I must say that I can't stand looking at my dirty kitchen floor. I want everything cleeeeannnnnnn...yet I feel like such a failure because I can barely even drag my ass out of bed in the morning to go to work, much less come home at night and do all the chores that need to be done. What happened to the "old me?" I guess she's gone, or she's got to change her priorities now, at least.
Murky is poking something (an elbow? a knee? a foot?) straight out in the middle of my abdomen. I really hope he stays head-down and decides to come out facing backwards (so as to avoid back labor).
Oh lord. How am I going to manage to write 25-odd thank-you notes to my coworkers for Sunday's shower if I can't feel my fingers???
My hands are swollen. My ankles are swollen. My face is fat.
In the mornings, I can barely make a fist because of the carpal tunnel symptoms, and my fingers are very numb. Tonight Mom and I went to the pharmacy and bought one of these to try:
It's very cushy and doesn't tear away at my skin like the one I borrowed from a coworker does. Let's see how the hands feel in the morning.
My nights look something like this:
Midnight: Wake up with searing heartburn (let's see if the old wives' tale holds true and the baby is born with lots of hair).
2:00 a.m. Wake up to pee.
3:30 a.m. Wake up because my hands are numb.
5:00 a.m. Wake up because my back hurts.
6:00 a.m. Wake up to pee.
MDad and I just had our nightly "computer date" -- we were talking about how scary it is that we'll be having a baby right around the time of the writers' guild strike -- omigod! No new TV shows!
Tonight I managed to vacuum the living room and even heat up some dinner, in addition to making the above-mentioned trip to the drugstore with Mom. I wish I'd had the energy to dust, too, and I must say that I can't stand looking at my dirty kitchen floor. I want everything cleeeeannnnnnn...yet I feel like such a failure because I can barely even drag my ass out of bed in the morning to go to work, much less come home at night and do all the chores that need to be done. What happened to the "old me?" I guess she's gone, or she's got to change her priorities now, at least.
Murky is poking something (an elbow? a knee? a foot?) straight out in the middle of my abdomen. I really hope he stays head-down and decides to come out facing backwards (so as to avoid back labor).
Oh lord. How am I going to manage to write 25-odd thank-you notes to my coworkers for Sunday's shower if I can't feel my fingers???
The Year of Boys
Just got an email from friends of ours from childbirth class -- they had a boy. Everyone we know is having or has had a boy. Weird!
Monday, November 5, 2007
37 Weeks Today
Amniotic fluid holding steady at "9.2" -- whatever that means. 50th percentile, which is good.
Baby's heartbeat was 152 this morning.
Weight gain: 31 lbs (was 32 lbs last week, so I'm assuming that means I'm holding steady, and the fluctuation is due to fluid retention, etc. Some women actually lose weight in the last few weeks of pregnancy).
Blood pressure: 110/60. Woo hoo!
Group B Strep test results: Negative. Yay, no penicillin I.V. during labor!
This morning I had an ultrasound and got to see The Boy making hand movements and lots of breathing movements. The tech said this means his lungs are probably mature, which makes sense, because the baby is officially considered "full term" today. Oy! We could have a baby any day now -- but please, not until after this Thursday.
Most of my fingers are numb and/or tingly now. I never heard back from the physical therapist's office about my carpal tunnel, and I don't necessarily care to. What are they going to do, tell me to do the stretches that I already know how to do? To ice my wrists and hands at night, which I already do? To give me a wrist brace, which I've actually already borrowed from a coworker? All that just to burn up more sick time, of which I have precious little to spend right now? No thanks. I'll just bitch about it continuously instead.
This is what's frustrating. I thought a few weeks ago that I had no motivation to be at work. Now, I have about 100 times less motivation than a few weeks ago. I can't sleep at night, so I wake up exhausted. My hands bother me, and I have a desk job, so writing or typing are very uncomfortable. I am hungry all the time. I am cranky most of the time. I just want to stay home and clean my house and get ready for Murky.
A couple of interesting pregnancy-related observations:
1. The ice packs I've been using for my wrists were actually included in the free "goodie bag" that was given to us at our first prenatal visit, lo those many months ago. They're industrial-strength ice packs...are they for my boobs? Because they're from Enfamil. Is Enfamil trying to tell me that breastfeeding will hurt? Or am I supposed to keep bottles of formula cool with them? Mental note: buy a head of cabbage soon; cabbage leaves from the fridge are supposed to soothe painful nursing boobs. But will it make my milk taste like cabbage?
2. My belly button sticks out (along with most of the rest of me -- my boobs, my ass, my stomach, etc.). But hey, the upside of this is that, since it's now convex instead of concave, the inside of my navel has never been cleaner!
As usual when I lie down in bed at night, Murky has the hiccups :-) Tonight at dinner I made the dog bark (by scolding the cat -- this dog has a hyped-up sense of justice when it comes to cats). My hand happened to be on my belly, and I felt the baby jump. So I made the dog bark again -- and there was another itty bitty baby startle jump. Then I put Mom's hand on my belly and made the dog bark -- another jump! We could go on the road with this show, I swear! It's nice right now, because the dog can startle the baby all he wants, but the baby can't cry yet.
Yesterday was my "coworkers" shower at a colleague's beautiful home. We ate, we talked, we shared stories, and, of course, I opened presents. I can't even begin to say how much baby stuff we've received over the past couple of months -- people are way too generous and sweet. I would have been happy just getting together and eating food and talking to people!
I must say that (knock wood) we've pretty much been "textbook" thus far in the pregnancy...*WARNING: "TOO MUCH INFORMATION" ALERT* -- right down to today's helpful reminder on babycenter.com that I "may be experiencing increased vaginal discharge." Yeah; that's definitely true. (And sorry if that's too much information, but there's really not a lot of dignity involved in the whole pregnancy/childbirth process anyway).
I have several "profile" shots of Murky from the past few weeks, but they are all sucky pictures. They're like when you're lying on the grass in the summertime looking up at clouds, and all of a sudden someone is like, "Hey, look, it's President Lincoln on a unicorn wearing an apron and playing the bassoon!" Yeah, right. Today the ultrasound tech said "See, he just moved his hand!" That's his hand??? Or, "that's the bottom of his foot." WTF? Is he a duck?? All I can say is that ultrasound technicians are either extremely underpaid or extremely overpaid for what they do.
Baby's heartbeat was 152 this morning.
Weight gain: 31 lbs (was 32 lbs last week, so I'm assuming that means I'm holding steady, and the fluctuation is due to fluid retention, etc. Some women actually lose weight in the last few weeks of pregnancy).
Blood pressure: 110/60. Woo hoo!
Group B Strep test results: Negative. Yay, no penicillin I.V. during labor!
This morning I had an ultrasound and got to see The Boy making hand movements and lots of breathing movements. The tech said this means his lungs are probably mature, which makes sense, because the baby is officially considered "full term" today. Oy! We could have a baby any day now -- but please, not until after this Thursday.
Most of my fingers are numb and/or tingly now. I never heard back from the physical therapist's office about my carpal tunnel, and I don't necessarily care to. What are they going to do, tell me to do the stretches that I already know how to do? To ice my wrists and hands at night, which I already do? To give me a wrist brace, which I've actually already borrowed from a coworker? All that just to burn up more sick time, of which I have precious little to spend right now? No thanks. I'll just bitch about it continuously instead.
This is what's frustrating. I thought a few weeks ago that I had no motivation to be at work. Now, I have about 100 times less motivation than a few weeks ago. I can't sleep at night, so I wake up exhausted. My hands bother me, and I have a desk job, so writing or typing are very uncomfortable. I am hungry all the time. I am cranky most of the time. I just want to stay home and clean my house and get ready for Murky.
A couple of interesting pregnancy-related observations:
1. The ice packs I've been using for my wrists were actually included in the free "goodie bag" that was given to us at our first prenatal visit, lo those many months ago. They're industrial-strength ice packs...are they for my boobs? Because they're from Enfamil. Is Enfamil trying to tell me that breastfeeding will hurt? Or am I supposed to keep bottles of formula cool with them? Mental note: buy a head of cabbage soon; cabbage leaves from the fridge are supposed to soothe painful nursing boobs. But will it make my milk taste like cabbage?
2. My belly button sticks out (along with most of the rest of me -- my boobs, my ass, my stomach, etc.). But hey, the upside of this is that, since it's now convex instead of concave, the inside of my navel has never been cleaner!
As usual when I lie down in bed at night, Murky has the hiccups :-) Tonight at dinner I made the dog bark (by scolding the cat -- this dog has a hyped-up sense of justice when it comes to cats). My hand happened to be on my belly, and I felt the baby jump. So I made the dog bark again -- and there was another itty bitty baby startle jump. Then I put Mom's hand on my belly and made the dog bark -- another jump! We could go on the road with this show, I swear! It's nice right now, because the dog can startle the baby all he wants, but the baby can't cry yet.
Yesterday was my "coworkers" shower at a colleague's beautiful home. We ate, we talked, we shared stories, and, of course, I opened presents. I can't even begin to say how much baby stuff we've received over the past couple of months -- people are way too generous and sweet. I would have been happy just getting together and eating food and talking to people!
I must say that (knock wood) we've pretty much been "textbook" thus far in the pregnancy...*WARNING: "TOO MUCH INFORMATION" ALERT* -- right down to today's helpful reminder on babycenter.com that I "may be experiencing increased vaginal discharge." Yeah; that's definitely true. (And sorry if that's too much information, but there's really not a lot of dignity involved in the whole pregnancy/childbirth process anyway).
I have several "profile" shots of Murky from the past few weeks, but they are all sucky pictures. They're like when you're lying on the grass in the summertime looking up at clouds, and all of a sudden someone is like, "Hey, look, it's President Lincoln on a unicorn wearing an apron and playing the bassoon!" Yeah, right. Today the ultrasound tech said "See, he just moved his hand!" That's his hand??? Or, "that's the bottom of his foot." WTF? Is he a duck?? All I can say is that ultrasound technicians are either extremely underpaid or extremely overpaid for what they do.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Rainy (Un)productive Day
This morning I slept in (hallelujah) until 8:30 a.m., made a quick bowl of oatmeal with Craisins, which I ate with a banana and a huge glass of milk, put in some mommy laundry (baby laundry came later), and tidied up the living room a bit. I made a grocery list. I took the cat to the vet (she had a gross ingrown dewclaw).
My friend D came down for a visit; theoretically he was supposed to help move Mom to her new apartment today, but for various reasons we're going to wait until next weekend: the maintenance man is still finishing up some projects and the place needs a thorough scrubbing; D didn't have his pickup truck today; MurkyDad is away at a conference and he's going to get one of the two business ends of Mom's couch, bed, etc. when the time comes to move; and, finally, I'd really like Mom to stay with me until MDad gets back from the conference. We all did take a trip down to see the progress on the apartment, though, and I'm happier with it than I was when I first saw it. The maintenance man has painted, replaced linoleum, replaced switchplates and the medicine cabinet and the lighting fixture, replaced the stove and vent, and replaced the mini-blinds and all the interior doors. Like I said, all the place needs right now is a thorough cleaning (and a shower head that doesn't spray water all over the bathroom when you turn it on ...)
So, instead of working, D and Mom and I made Maine-style Italian sandwiches, ate fudge cake, and shot the shit for a few hours. D and I investigated 1080p LCD TV reviews. You see, Mom is planning on taking the TV when she moves, so I just have to buy a new TV. And why buy something sub-par? After all, if we're up with a newborn at 3:00 a.m., we want to be able to watch QVC on the best possible set, right???
I'm finishing up the second of two loads of baby laundry now. Murky's dresser and armoire are now officially full of newborn/0-3 months, 3-6 month, 6-9 month, and even some 9-12 month duds. It is scary how many clothes he has -- many have been purchased by family or friends, and many have been donated by a coworker who's done having kids. What they all have in common is that they are Too Damn Cute for Words.
The cord blood collection kit is ensconced in the hospital bag, as is the Boppy pillow, as is virtually everything else we'll need (I hope). But seeing as how the house is literally 2 minutes away from the hospital, it's not such a huge deal if we forget something.
The last load of laundry just stopped, and I have to get ready for a video chat with MDad at 9:00, so TTFN...
My friend D came down for a visit; theoretically he was supposed to help move Mom to her new apartment today, but for various reasons we're going to wait until next weekend: the maintenance man is still finishing up some projects and the place needs a thorough scrubbing; D didn't have his pickup truck today; MurkyDad is away at a conference and he's going to get one of the two business ends of Mom's couch, bed, etc. when the time comes to move; and, finally, I'd really like Mom to stay with me until MDad gets back from the conference. We all did take a trip down to see the progress on the apartment, though, and I'm happier with it than I was when I first saw it. The maintenance man has painted, replaced linoleum, replaced switchplates and the medicine cabinet and the lighting fixture, replaced the stove and vent, and replaced the mini-blinds and all the interior doors. Like I said, all the place needs right now is a thorough cleaning (and a shower head that doesn't spray water all over the bathroom when you turn it on ...)
So, instead of working, D and Mom and I made Maine-style Italian sandwiches, ate fudge cake, and shot the shit for a few hours. D and I investigated 1080p LCD TV reviews. You see, Mom is planning on taking the TV when she moves, so I just have to buy a new TV. And why buy something sub-par? After all, if we're up with a newborn at 3:00 a.m., we want to be able to watch QVC on the best possible set, right???
I'm finishing up the second of two loads of baby laundry now. Murky's dresser and armoire are now officially full of newborn/0-3 months, 3-6 month, 6-9 month, and even some 9-12 month duds. It is scary how many clothes he has -- many have been purchased by family or friends, and many have been donated by a coworker who's done having kids. What they all have in common is that they are Too Damn Cute for Words.
The cord blood collection kit is ensconced in the hospital bag, as is the Boppy pillow, as is virtually everything else we'll need (I hope). But seeing as how the house is literally 2 minutes away from the hospital, it's not such a huge deal if we forget something.
The last load of laundry just stopped, and I have to get ready for a video chat with MDad at 9:00, so TTFN...
Friday, November 2, 2007
Baby hiccups
Murky gets the hiccups quite often these days, sometimes for 10 minutes or more. From what I've read and been told, it's actually a good sign -- it means he's practicing breathing and swallowing. Good baby!
I miss MDad. I love how I can be bopping along through my day, preoccupied with work and other crap, and then suddenly I'll think of MDad, and as though by magic, up will pop a text message from him on my cell phone. It happened just now -- a "good night" text, just as I was texting him, from all the way across the country.
I miss MDad. I love how I can be bopping along through my day, preoccupied with work and other crap, and then suddenly I'll think of MDad, and as though by magic, up will pop a text message from him on my cell phone. It happened just now -- a "good night" text, just as I was texting him, from all the way across the country.
36 and 4/7 - week checkup
Today's non-stress test went fine. I have gained 32 lbs. My doctor would make no predictions as to when I might deliver, which was frustrating, because MurkyDad will be at a conference from now until next Thursday. So let's hope Murky decides to stay put until at least next Friday!
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