7:15 am:
I am up. Feed baby, burp baby, change baby. Repeat.
8:30 am:
Husband takes shower. Continued feeding/burping/changing, tried to sleep. Heh.
8:45 am:
I take shower.
9:00 am:
Husband cleans and re-packs my c-section wound.
9:20 am:
Feed/water dogs while continuing to feed/burp baby.
10:00 am:
Prep baby bag, purse. Put on maternity bra and clean t-shirt. Feed/burp baby.
10:20 am:
Kick dogs outside. Dry hair. Cuddle fussy baby. Brush teeth. Put on pants.
10:35 am:
Change baby diaper. Logan poops onto the changing table. Manage to chase the runny, newborn, breast-fed poop such that it doesn't coat Logan or his t-shirt. Finish changing him, and sterilize changing table. Put on outside clothes. Re-run bottle sterilizer. Put nipple on bottle of breast milk that was stored in the refrigerator.
10:55 am:
Ignore baby's crying so can run to bathroom and have upset stomach.
11:05 am:
Carry baby (in car seat), baby bag, purse, jacket, and car seat base to car.
11:10 am:
Install car seat base in MY car. For first time. With less than 3 hours sleep. And empty stomach, as was fasting for a blood test. First try to put it behind driver's side because instructions don't say it's ok to put in the middle. Fight with it, curse hands (which still have barely any feeling/strength due to gestationally-induced carpal tunnel syndrome), curse back (which keeps spasming at the odd angles I'm leaning over at while in the back of the car), and finally get a clue. Install son-of-a-b*tch/fraking/piece-of-crap base in middle of back seat, realizing that just because I didn't see that the instructions said I could put it there didn't mean it wasn't allowed. Installed beautifully.
When I later described my fight with the car base, Husband had to add "So easy, even a sleep deprived new Mother can do it". :)
Car starts. Yea! Last person to drive it was Husband on December 4th, when he rescued it for me from one of my doctor's offices. [On December 3rd, I got walked over to the hospital from my doctor's office, and admitted to have induction started.]
I haven't driven a car since December 3rd. Just feeling the steering wheel in my hands again... Happy Sigh. I have my freedom back. :)
11:30 am:
Drive to clinic for BLOOD TEST, which I was FASTING for since midnight.
12:00 pm:
Get blood drawn.
12:15 pm:
Stand in line at clinic to ensure they had current insurance info.
12:25 pm:
Realized that people who would have let me cut ahead in line when I was 8+ months pregnant will NOT do me any favors while trying to carry 10+ pound baby in 5+ pound car seat, plus baby bag plus purse. Logan starts to cry... but is ok once we're driving again.
12:45 pm:
Scarfing McDonald's drive-through while sitting at bank. HUSBAND drives up and parks next to me!!! He saw me 5 cars ahead at McDonald's, and once he got his food, assumed I was headed for the bank, and tracked me down. And got to be very amused hearing about my adventures so far. :) Gave me hug, told me he was proud of me, LOL! Logan thankfully stays asleep.
1:10 pm:
I finish preparing checks for deposit. Drive car around to drive through... and the bloody bank has changed it's drive-thru ATM's. And in the process, has forgotten to fill up the cool new deposit envelope holder. Shit. Drive back around bank, and wake poor Logan up taking car seat out with me to walk-up ATM. Deposit 3 maternity leave checks that I've accumulated, as I haven't had a chance to deposit anything since before I was admitted to the hospital to be induced back on December 3rd.
1:20 pm:
Drive around for a while looking for where the phone store is. [Know it's near the bank.] Ahah! There it is! Oh, crap! Wrong cell provider. Logan's crying.
1:25 pm:
Park. Get into back seat. Try to cuddle Logan. No, he's probably hungry. Give him bottle. Shit! Can't give him cold breast milk, and have no way to warm it up in the car. But why can't you give baby's cold milk? Ok, nevermind... he only got a few swallows. Pull him back out of car seat, and pull out a boob, and start breast feeding.
1:30 pm:
Guy parked to my right walks back with his Subway Sandwiches lunch. And proceeds to eat it there in the car. Whenever I look at him, he's NOT looking at me. Still, I do my best to cover my boob!!!
1:45 pm:
Stop by work with Logan's birth certificate so HR can photocopy it and file it away as proof that I genuinely have a son that warranted adding a name to our insurance. Bring son in as well, LOL! [Talk about physical proof. Although I suppose I could have pulled down my pants and removed the bandage to show off the c-section scar, just so they could be sure.] Hear again how the 8 weeks for c-section + 6 weeks for bonding really is only allowed to total 12 weeks for maternity leave from the date of delivery. Which doesn't agree with what ObGyn said. So maybe I have until mid March, maybe I have until end of February. Still not sure.
Well, 2 weeks more or less... still have all of January and definitely most if not all of February.
Various co-workers get to see Logan and go ooh and aah. :)
Sigh. Logan starts crying again.
2:30 pm:
Arrive at other cell phone store. Purchase new phone to replace the dead one I got wet when I answered it twice in the hospital bathroom, with an ear wet from the shower. Pull Logan out of car seat and hold him when he starts crying again.
Yea! All my phone numbers were stored on the sim card, and it survived the wetting of the cell phone!
3:00 pm:
We're both home. Bring Logan inside, and all the crap from the car. Let dogs in. Clean off hospital germs. Run through bathroom. Remove Logan's outside clothes, change him. Crawl into recliner and feed Logan. Wonder how the hell people do this.
I'd intended to also visit my in-laws, and go grocery shopping. HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!
Showing posts with label blood tests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blood tests. Show all posts
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Worst Nightmare
I have a bunch of different dreams that would be considered nightmares. Well, some aren't as bad as others.
There's a certain set of repeating themes.
(1) I have to pee, but all the toilets are either filthy, don't have stall doors for privacy, or are physically impossible to reach. I end up searching for that one, clean toilet in a HUGE bathroom full of filthy ones. Or I end up wishing I'd taken gymnastics, as I try to get my butt over some toilet that is bizarrely placed high up in some impossible alcove.
Sometimes these toilets are in a public restroom. Sometimes they are scattered in some house.
(2) I'm running late for work, but all the shower stalls don't have walls for privacy, or there's some other issue with them that makes it difficult to take a shower and get cleaned up prior to work.
Sometimes these showers are in a public shower, like a gym or a dormitory, and sometimes they are in different bathrooms in a house.
(3) I have an apartment separate from the home my husband and I share. For some reason I spend alot of time there. My husband comes to visit. I keep wondering why the heck I'm spending this extra money on this apartment when I have a perfectly good house. It just feels really weird and wrong.
(4) I am living with my parents, even though my husband and I have our own house. My husband comes to visit sometimes. I'm in my old bedroom from when I was a teenager. This one makes me truly shudder.
(5) The place I'm living has rodents and/or cockroaches. The wood is rotting away or eaten away by termites. Cleaning up the mess is nearly impossible. Trying to clean it up w/o wearing a HAZMAT suit is inadvisable.
(6) I forgot I was taking some classes at college. I don't even know the schedule in order to try to attend those classes, and catch up on homework. Not even sure where the final exam is or when.
(7) I have an argument with my Sister. Pretty simple, but that's a big one. I can wake up crying from that. Ditto if it's an argument with my husband, although that dream is much less frequent.
I usually have a strange combination of the above. Usually (1) plus (2) plus (4), with (6) tossed in for good measure. Then, with (2) and (6), there's the knowledge that not only will I have to stay late at work to make up the hours, but I will also have to take time out of the day to go to the classes, whose schedule I don't even have on me, and then work even later after I return from those classes.
Sometimes it's (3) plus (5), and the rodents or roaches could be at both home and the apartment.
I don't understand the whole apartment thing. I think it's more a remembering what it's like to live in my apartment alone, and then, in the dream, remembering I'm happily married and have a home... what the heck am I doing HERE???
I understand the whole living with my parents thing: it's like a failure, like I majorly screwed up if I'm back at home in my old bedroom. No offense to my parents, but that's exactly it.
I moved back home with my parents once in real life. It was ok, but it was a major ego-hit. I did it because I wasn't feeling confident at my job at the time, was in the middle of a difficult project at work, and felt like I should move home and try to pay off some credit card debt. I also was thus able to give my folks a little rent money, which helped them as well. But it was still just not right. I moved out after 6 months. My parents were really cool, both about me moving back home and moving out, but moving back home just wasn't the right thing for me to have done. There are less ego-destroying ways to save money!
If my husband isn't even in the dream at all, where I'm stuck with my family again, it's a REALLY bad dream. Because then, on some subconscious level, I know things are REALLY screwed up if my husband isn't in my life.
Ok, quick side-step into real life here:
I failed the 1 hour Gestational Diabetes test, getting a score of 164 when I needed to have below 140. My ObGyn thinks it was because I had some sugar a few days prior to the test. I've barely gained any weight while pregnant... it seems I'm replacing fat with this kid! I.E., the kid is getting bigger, and my overall weight is only slowly getting larger. So I'm losing fat and gaining baby. I consider this a good deal! Anyway, the fact that I'm not gaining weight like a mad fool makes my ObGyn think that I'm probably ok.
But, just to be sure, on Monday I had to take a second test, the 3 hour Gestational Diabetes test.
Now, the 3 hour Gestational Diabetes test involves the following:
(1) 3 days prior to the test, go on an Atkins-like diet. Avoid all processed/added sugars. But also do carb loading, where you eat 5 servings of GOOD carbs. Apples count, as does wheat bread. And cereal. Not sure I did a good job on the carb loading thing... I re-read that part of the instructions last minute while I was sitting for the test, and started worrying. :P
(2) Fast for 8 to 12 hours prior to the test. Other than swallowing phlegm, did a great job on that.
(3) Get first blood test.
(4) Drink sugary drink.
(5) Get 3 more blood tests, each an hour apart from the last.
(6) Pass out due to not having had food, giving blood 4 times, and having had a sugar spike and then an insulin spike on an empty stomach. While 6 months pregnant. And that baby inside you is HUNGRY, and making you HUNGRIER.
They can never find the veins on me. I figured out I have a vein underneath this pockmarked area of my right arm. I advised the first guy to drill there. He said he had to drill where he felt the vein, and went to the right of that first. No blood. He took my advice the 2nd time and voila: blood.
Everyone else thankfully either took my advice, or felt the vein in the pockmarked area. So, 5 pricks of the needle for 4 vials of blood. Whew! That's the most blood tests in the shortest span of time that I've ever had.
Unfortunately, just found out today that I do have Gestational Diabetes. But it's not so bad that I'll have to be pricking my fingers, or taking insulin. Just need to go on a special diet. Well, if that's the worst thing that happens with this pregnancy, my husband and I will be truly blessed.
So, I get to see a dietician. Weeee.
I started sniffling Monday morning, and it only got worse throughout the day. At first I thought I was allergic to something in the waiting room where I had blood drawn. But now I think I caught a relative's cold.
Trying to continue working Monday afternoon after that blood test and with the sniffles was just hell. I SO badly wanted to lay my head on the desk and just go to sleep.
I spent Tuesday sleeping all day, and also ended up staying home today, Wednesday. Just feeling wiped out. Mostly just a little stuffed up today, and drained. Bleah.
But oh, yeah. The reason I even posted about nightmares in the first place:
So I had a doozy of a nightmare Sunday night, the night before the lovely blood tests.
I was staying with my parents and my sister (and not my husband... automatic nightmare formula right there, due to being surrounded by family, whom I love, but where the heck is my husband??), in Nevada, in one of my co-workers' houses (and no, I don't know which of my co-workers has a house in Nevada), and it's the night before the Gestational Diabetes test.
FYI, I don't live in Nevada.
The dogs are with me.
I arrive late to my co-worker's house. My Sister and Dad are already asleep. Mom is still up, watching tv in bed. I can't find the dogs. I assume someone fed them, after they figured out I was going to be really late. I crash.
Friends of my co-worker wake me up by their talking loudly in the patio area. At 5am. I try to go back to sleep, but can't. I get up, and hunt down the dogs. They are locked up in some strange room, and are very glad to see me. I talk to my family as they wake up, and find out that they were not fed dinner last night!!!! I freak out. Then I figure out I forgot to pack any dog food for this trip, so no-one could have fed them in the first place!
My Sister drives me around town to pick up some dog food. We bring it back. I'm getting hungrier and hungrier, but I'm supposed to be fasting before this blood test. I realize I don't even know where I should go for this blood test in Nevada... will the form I'm carrying even be understood by the local clinics? [I had a situation back home where I went to the place I was used to getting blood drawn, and they couldn't take the form my ObGyn had given me! Not kidding. True story. I had changed ObGyn's, and found out from now on, I could only get blood drawn from such-and-such clinics.]
I'm freaking out. There's some donuts on the breakfast table. I'm soaking the dog food in preparation for feeding it to my poor hungry mutts, and I absentmindedly take a bite of a donut.
I then panic, spitting out the piece of donut into the sink, trying to wipe all the sugar frosting off my tongue, and worrying that I had swallowed some of it, and therefore would not be able to take the test today! But would instead have to redo the 3 day preparational diet prior to the test.
Augh!!!!!
It was at that point that I woke up in real life and started wimpering!!!
I'm honestly surprised that just having blood drawn is not a nightmare for me anymore. But I've had so many blood tests since getting pregnant, and had a bunch back in 1995 when I had mono, that I just can't get the anxiety levels up for it anymore. The childhood trauma I underwent when I was really little has, thank God, finally been overwritten by too many normal, if unpleasant, blood test experiences.
When I was a kid, between the ages of 0 and 5, those lovely formative years, I was in the hospital every year for one or two weeks while they checked to see how I was handling this genetic disease they thought I had. [I don't think I ever truly had it anymore... long story. I was a sick little kid, but I just don't think that was the reason anymore. Either that, or God healed me of it.] Often, they would draw blood in the middle of the night, holding me down to do it. My parents weren't there during the night, and didn't know it was happening, and couldn't comfort me before or after, therefore.
This trauma wasn't my parent's fault, and the hospital felt the blood tests were necessary, so it technically wasn't their fault, either. But it messed with me pretty badly at the time. Has that whole "torture" feel to it. And little kids don't always understand why things are being done to them. I just knew I was powerless to fight back, had no choice in the matter, didn't know why they were doing it to me, and I knew that it was going to hurt.
I think most things are more awful if they happen to you when you are a helpless child. When you're an adult, and you know you could kick the ass of the person currently drawing blood from you, it's just not as traumatic anymore! :)
Hmph. Maybe I'll make sure my son takes karate at a young age. If he knows he can kick the phlebotomist's ass, maybe he won't be as afraid of needles as I used to be. :)
That, and knowing what can happen to children at night alone in the hospital... well... I don't think I'll let my son be alone at night in a hospital until he's old enough to do some ass kicking.
He's probably not going to have similar experiences. He'll probably have a whole new set of traumatic experiences that I can't prepare him for, as I won't be expecting them. Sigh. Guess that's how life works for most of us.
Ok, and on that note, what are the formula's for your recurring nightmares?
Wow. This is a much darker post than I'd intended. Sorry, guys. Maybe I can blame Anne Rice? I just finished rereading Interview with the Vampire, LOL! :)
There's a certain set of repeating themes.
(1) I have to pee, but all the toilets are either filthy, don't have stall doors for privacy, or are physically impossible to reach. I end up searching for that one, clean toilet in a HUGE bathroom full of filthy ones. Or I end up wishing I'd taken gymnastics, as I try to get my butt over some toilet that is bizarrely placed high up in some impossible alcove.
Sometimes these toilets are in a public restroom. Sometimes they are scattered in some house.
(2) I'm running late for work, but all the shower stalls don't have walls for privacy, or there's some other issue with them that makes it difficult to take a shower and get cleaned up prior to work.
Sometimes these showers are in a public shower, like a gym or a dormitory, and sometimes they are in different bathrooms in a house.
(3) I have an apartment separate from the home my husband and I share. For some reason I spend alot of time there. My husband comes to visit. I keep wondering why the heck I'm spending this extra money on this apartment when I have a perfectly good house. It just feels really weird and wrong.
(4) I am living with my parents, even though my husband and I have our own house. My husband comes to visit sometimes. I'm in my old bedroom from when I was a teenager. This one makes me truly shudder.
(5) The place I'm living has rodents and/or cockroaches. The wood is rotting away or eaten away by termites. Cleaning up the mess is nearly impossible. Trying to clean it up w/o wearing a HAZMAT suit is inadvisable.
(6) I forgot I was taking some classes at college. I don't even know the schedule in order to try to attend those classes, and catch up on homework. Not even sure where the final exam is or when.
(7) I have an argument with my Sister. Pretty simple, but that's a big one. I can wake up crying from that. Ditto if it's an argument with my husband, although that dream is much less frequent.
I usually have a strange combination of the above. Usually (1) plus (2) plus (4), with (6) tossed in for good measure. Then, with (2) and (6), there's the knowledge that not only will I have to stay late at work to make up the hours, but I will also have to take time out of the day to go to the classes, whose schedule I don't even have on me, and then work even later after I return from those classes.
Sometimes it's (3) plus (5), and the rodents or roaches could be at both home and the apartment.
I don't understand the whole apartment thing. I think it's more a remembering what it's like to live in my apartment alone, and then, in the dream, remembering I'm happily married and have a home... what the heck am I doing HERE???
I understand the whole living with my parents thing: it's like a failure, like I majorly screwed up if I'm back at home in my old bedroom. No offense to my parents, but that's exactly it.
I moved back home with my parents once in real life. It was ok, but it was a major ego-hit. I did it because I wasn't feeling confident at my job at the time, was in the middle of a difficult project at work, and felt like I should move home and try to pay off some credit card debt. I also was thus able to give my folks a little rent money, which helped them as well. But it was still just not right. I moved out after 6 months. My parents were really cool, both about me moving back home and moving out, but moving back home just wasn't the right thing for me to have done. There are less ego-destroying ways to save money!
If my husband isn't even in the dream at all, where I'm stuck with my family again, it's a REALLY bad dream. Because then, on some subconscious level, I know things are REALLY screwed up if my husband isn't in my life.
Ok, quick side-step into real life here:
I failed the 1 hour Gestational Diabetes test, getting a score of 164 when I needed to have below 140. My ObGyn thinks it was because I had some sugar a few days prior to the test. I've barely gained any weight while pregnant... it seems I'm replacing fat with this kid! I.E., the kid is getting bigger, and my overall weight is only slowly getting larger. So I'm losing fat and gaining baby. I consider this a good deal! Anyway, the fact that I'm not gaining weight like a mad fool makes my ObGyn think that I'm probably ok.
But, just to be sure, on Monday I had to take a second test, the 3 hour Gestational Diabetes test.
Now, the 3 hour Gestational Diabetes test involves the following:
(1) 3 days prior to the test, go on an Atkins-like diet. Avoid all processed/added sugars. But also do carb loading, where you eat 5 servings of GOOD carbs. Apples count, as does wheat bread. And cereal. Not sure I did a good job on the carb loading thing... I re-read that part of the instructions last minute while I was sitting for the test, and started worrying. :P
(2) Fast for 8 to 12 hours prior to the test. Other than swallowing phlegm, did a great job on that.
(3) Get first blood test.
(4) Drink sugary drink.
(5) Get 3 more blood tests, each an hour apart from the last.
(6) Pass out due to not having had food, giving blood 4 times, and having had a sugar spike and then an insulin spike on an empty stomach. While 6 months pregnant. And that baby inside you is HUNGRY, and making you HUNGRIER.
They can never find the veins on me. I figured out I have a vein underneath this pockmarked area of my right arm. I advised the first guy to drill there. He said he had to drill where he felt the vein, and went to the right of that first. No blood. He took my advice the 2nd time and voila: blood.
Everyone else thankfully either took my advice, or felt the vein in the pockmarked area. So, 5 pricks of the needle for 4 vials of blood. Whew! That's the most blood tests in the shortest span of time that I've ever had.
Unfortunately, just found out today that I do have Gestational Diabetes. But it's not so bad that I'll have to be pricking my fingers, or taking insulin. Just need to go on a special diet. Well, if that's the worst thing that happens with this pregnancy, my husband and I will be truly blessed.
So, I get to see a dietician. Weeee.
I started sniffling Monday morning, and it only got worse throughout the day. At first I thought I was allergic to something in the waiting room where I had blood drawn. But now I think I caught a relative's cold.
Trying to continue working Monday afternoon after that blood test and with the sniffles was just hell. I SO badly wanted to lay my head on the desk and just go to sleep.
I spent Tuesday sleeping all day, and also ended up staying home today, Wednesday. Just feeling wiped out. Mostly just a little stuffed up today, and drained. Bleah.
But oh, yeah. The reason I even posted about nightmares in the first place:
So I had a doozy of a nightmare Sunday night, the night before the lovely blood tests.
I was staying with my parents and my sister (and not my husband... automatic nightmare formula right there, due to being surrounded by family, whom I love, but where the heck is my husband??), in Nevada, in one of my co-workers' houses (and no, I don't know which of my co-workers has a house in Nevada), and it's the night before the Gestational Diabetes test.
FYI, I don't live in Nevada.
The dogs are with me.
I arrive late to my co-worker's house. My Sister and Dad are already asleep. Mom is still up, watching tv in bed. I can't find the dogs. I assume someone fed them, after they figured out I was going to be really late. I crash.
Friends of my co-worker wake me up by their talking loudly in the patio area. At 5am. I try to go back to sleep, but can't. I get up, and hunt down the dogs. They are locked up in some strange room, and are very glad to see me. I talk to my family as they wake up, and find out that they were not fed dinner last night!!!! I freak out. Then I figure out I forgot to pack any dog food for this trip, so no-one could have fed them in the first place!
My Sister drives me around town to pick up some dog food. We bring it back. I'm getting hungrier and hungrier, but I'm supposed to be fasting before this blood test. I realize I don't even know where I should go for this blood test in Nevada... will the form I'm carrying even be understood by the local clinics? [I had a situation back home where I went to the place I was used to getting blood drawn, and they couldn't take the form my ObGyn had given me! Not kidding. True story. I had changed ObGyn's, and found out from now on, I could only get blood drawn from such-and-such clinics.]
I'm freaking out. There's some donuts on the breakfast table. I'm soaking the dog food in preparation for feeding it to my poor hungry mutts, and I absentmindedly take a bite of a donut.
I then panic, spitting out the piece of donut into the sink, trying to wipe all the sugar frosting off my tongue, and worrying that I had swallowed some of it, and therefore would not be able to take the test today! But would instead have to redo the 3 day preparational diet prior to the test.
Augh!!!!!
It was at that point that I woke up in real life and started wimpering!!!
I'm honestly surprised that just having blood drawn is not a nightmare for me anymore. But I've had so many blood tests since getting pregnant, and had a bunch back in 1995 when I had mono, that I just can't get the anxiety levels up for it anymore. The childhood trauma I underwent when I was really little has, thank God, finally been overwritten by too many normal, if unpleasant, blood test experiences.
When I was a kid, between the ages of 0 and 5, those lovely formative years, I was in the hospital every year for one or two weeks while they checked to see how I was handling this genetic disease they thought I had. [I don't think I ever truly had it anymore... long story. I was a sick little kid, but I just don't think that was the reason anymore. Either that, or God healed me of it.] Often, they would draw blood in the middle of the night, holding me down to do it. My parents weren't there during the night, and didn't know it was happening, and couldn't comfort me before or after, therefore.
This trauma wasn't my parent's fault, and the hospital felt the blood tests were necessary, so it technically wasn't their fault, either. But it messed with me pretty badly at the time. Has that whole "torture" feel to it. And little kids don't always understand why things are being done to them. I just knew I was powerless to fight back, had no choice in the matter, didn't know why they were doing it to me, and I knew that it was going to hurt.
I think most things are more awful if they happen to you when you are a helpless child. When you're an adult, and you know you could kick the ass of the person currently drawing blood from you, it's just not as traumatic anymore! :)
Hmph. Maybe I'll make sure my son takes karate at a young age. If he knows he can kick the phlebotomist's ass, maybe he won't be as afraid of needles as I used to be. :)
That, and knowing what can happen to children at night alone in the hospital... well... I don't think I'll let my son be alone at night in a hospital until he's old enough to do some ass kicking.
He's probably not going to have similar experiences. He'll probably have a whole new set of traumatic experiences that I can't prepare him for, as I won't be expecting them. Sigh. Guess that's how life works for most of us.
Ok, and on that note, what are the formula's for your recurring nightmares?
Wow. This is a much darker post than I'd intended. Sorry, guys. Maybe I can blame Anne Rice? I just finished rereading Interview with the Vampire, LOL! :)
Saturday, June 16, 2007
The good, the bad, and the stressful
On June 10th, I turned 39.
Whoa. Thirty-nine. That's 3 * 13.
Heh. That explains the past few weeks. :) No wonder so much weird crap has gone down.
Normally though, 13 is a lucky number for me. I got married on September 13. My parents live at 169... that's 13 squared. Shoot, 12 apostles + Jesus = 13. Or when you consider one of them had to be replaced, that's a total of 13 apostles, but the replacement was necessary as part of the plan of having Jesus die for our sins.
There were 12 tribes of Israel, but one was split in two tribes, to make the total 13, and one of the 13 was separated, the Levites, to administer to God. So, 12 tribes of Israel, but really kinda 13, you know?
So 13 has always been kinda cool in my book.
So, weird crap has gone down recently. But so has good crap.
Anyway, here we go:
Friday, May 18:
Got a high-power ultrasound of the baby. It no longer looks like an alien. Whoo-hoo! No clue on the sex yet. But what was really funny was the kid is definitely a morning person. The ultrasound occurred at 10am, and the baby kept squirming around like, "Get that THING out of my face! I'm trying to SLEEP here!"
Nice to know it's taking after Mom and Dad, LOL. :)
The ultrasound, and the first of 2 special blood tests, show so far that the odds of Down's Syndrome are really low. Thank God!
I'll post the newer pictures up on my flickr account, and then setup my blog to include my flickr pictures. :) My husband showed me that he'd done that on his blog. Very cool feature I didn't know about yet.
At around 12:30pm that same day, we took off for a 9+ hour drive to Arizona, to visit my husband's sister and her family. Part of the drive went through Los Angeles. It took about an hour to go 20 or 30 miles at one point, and we thought we were going to lose it. It was not one of the prettier parts of Los Angeles.
We stopped at Indio for a late lunch/early dinner. That was trippy. When I was between maybe 5 and 7, my parents and I lived there for about 1 or 2 years. I thought I recognized one of the schools, but couldn't be sure. Couldn't tell which apartment complex had been ours. It was weird, comparing childhood memories with the reality of the place. I remember it being kindof a fun place. But driving through there, it felt like one of those places that you'd try to escape from as soon as possible. [My apologies to those who think otherwise.]
We made it to our relatives after 9pm, got fed some leftover pizza, and crashed.
Saturday, May 19:
We went to a charity dog event Saturday morning. While there I was bitten by a cantakerous old beagle!!!
Yes, Snoopy was bitten by a beagle!
I was petting the beagle, and turned to talk to it's owner, when it turned and snapped at my hand. I'm not sure what Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer, would say about that. It didn't break the skin, and it had had all it's shots, so I told the owner not to worry about it. But in spite of the fact that we own 2 huge German Shepherds, I was a little flustered. I made a point of petting more dogs, and especially of petting these 2 HUGE Bull Mastiffs. The owner brought one out of it's crate and asked me to hold it while she went to wet down a towel for it -- it was hotter than hell in Arizona, and it was only May! Her poor dogs were baking, even in the shade of her tent. The female Mastiff, "Bling", wanted to go follow her master. I was able to keep her in place, but it was hysterical! She was maybe 120 pounds? And all muscle. But she was a gentle giant, and I fell in instant love with her.
I ended up sitting on the grass or on my knees petting Bling, while her owner tied a wet towel to her. At one point Bling majorly LEANED into me, and my black jeans were soaked. :) I fed Bling popcorn from my hands... she was so gentle. But our relatives were a little nervous about directly feeding her. They threw her a popcorn piece on occasion. Most of our relatives pet Bling and other dogs... the kids especially. But I don't think they are big dog people, LOL!
I wanted to take Bling home with us. :)
That afternoon, I swam in their pool with their 2 kids. Chased the kids around a bit, and figured out 3 things: I'm old, I'm out of shape, and I'm pregnant. Quit trying to chase them around and kindof lazed around in the pool.
I think I wore myself out. Saturday night we went to one of the local Indian casino's to see some singer impersonators. I felt sick, and realized I was hungry, even though I hadn't felt hungry. My husband was really sweet and chased down some crackers for me. We sat for a while listening to some Elvis impersonator, but my husband's not really into this sortof thing. So we gave up, ate dinner there, and did a little gambling. My husband and his sister's husband went off to play cards. My Sister-in-law and I tried some Star Wars themed slot machines. They were fun, but ate our money. As did most of the other slots. We went off to find the card tables and watch our respective husbands. My brother-in-law was done losing money, so I sat in his place, and "borrowed" chips from my husband. We were playing black jack. My husband is really good at it, but I still managed to lose some more money.
My tolerance for losing money is about $20.00 to $40.00 bucks. When I'd go visit my Sister in Reno, even when I was of gambling age, I'd go play video games, and my Dad would watch me. Mom and Sister would go play slot machines. I figured, I was going to lose money anyway, I might as well as be well entertained. And go play Star Wars, or Centipede, or PacMan, or Asteroids. Or Arkanoid, or Galaga, etc. Something less mind-numbing and much more entertaining that slot machines.
In some things I have an addictive personality. But not in things that don't consistently pay out. My Vampire novels consistently provide awesome entertainment. Slot machines tease you and mostly take your money. Alcohol gives you a buzz but kills brain cells and makes you feel like crap the next day if you overdo it. So basically, I rarely gamble, although I found black jack to be alot of fun. I sometimes drink alcohol, but not while preggers. And I'll read Vampire novels by good authors until the cows come home. :)
Sunday, May 20th:
I got up. I had some coffee, and some breakfast. And then I went back to bed and slept until 1 or 2pm!
This whole pregnancy thing has me wiped out most of the time. Apparently, I overdid the excitement and activity levels on Saturday!
I pretty much just spent most of Sunday either resting or hanging out. No swimming, no doing much of anything until Sunday evening. And then, we did something really cool. We went to the Tempe Improv and saw Christopher Titus perform his latest comedy act. He's gone through a divorce, and his dad recently died. Only this guy can make misfortune SO funny! Still, I felt bad for what he'd been through so recently. But I was glad he could use it for his comedy routine.
Monday, May 21st:
We drove home. My husband has a new car. I volunteered to drive the last 3 or 4 hours of the trip. It was a little stressful until we hit 101, which I've lived off of for most of my life, it seems. So getting back onto 101 was a little like coming home.
Driving my husband's new car isn't quite second nature to me yet. It has alot more power than my 1996 Saturn. But I zip around in the Saturn like it's an extension of my body. Not so with my husband's more powerful, cooler car! So I guess the 3 or 4 hours of driving, after the 4 or 5 hours of riding, took it out of me. We got home, and I had what an eye doctor later told me was an ocular migraine. I.E., you have weird light disturbance in your eye, but you don't have the actual pain.
I did have a headache, but I wouldn't call it a migraine. I've had bad headaches before, but I've got friends who have had migraines before, and I just can't think that I've ever had a headache as bad as what they've experienced... even my worst headaches that were almost migraine-like. I had one as a kid where I just went to bed in a darkened room with no sound, trying not to barf. That might have been a true migraine...
Come to think of it, I think I'd had something weird with my eyes that time, too. I can't remember what the symptoms were, but...
Anyway, not counting when I was a child, I've therefore had 2 ocular migraines. The first one was about 9 to 12 months ago, and then there was this one. Since this was the second time, I wasn't quite as flustered about it. The first one went away after about 20 minutes. This one did too: I even watched a movie on my laptop.
The disturbance was like this weird, zig-zag, colorful pattern in the upper right hand peripheral vision part of my right eye. It was pretty trippy. It extended a little into my non-peripheral vision, making reading a little strange.
Tuesday, May 22nd:
I stayed home sick. My head still hurt, and I was wiped out. Heh: I needed a vacation from my vacation! I think riding/driving for 9 hours was a bit much for me.
While we were in Arizona, my husband's Dad took care of the dogs for us. He LOVES our dogs, and our dogs ADORE him. :) Ellie will kiss his face for minutes at a time, sometimes gently trying to groom his stubbly chin for him. Boss will lay on the floor next to him for hours. The dogs were happy to see us Monday night, but I think they missed my husband's Dad. :) I think they were happy to have me stay home with them Tuesday, although I wasn't very entertaining, LOL.
Wednesday May 23rd:
I met with my new ObGyn. My old ObGyn was awesome, but not on my health plan. Ghrrrr. Paying for a delivery out of pocket is not a financially wise move. My new ObGyn was awesome, as well, so I was down with that.
The place has a bunch of different doctor's who rotate being on call for baby deliveries. I got all their names down, and called my insurance. My new ObGyn is on my health plan. Not all the on-call doctors are! I need to call my insurance again: I now have FULL first and last names (before I just had last names), and I have the names of one or two more doctors that weren't on the sheet of paper they gave me. But I'm wondering: if they are all contracted to be on call with my ObGyn, does that mean I'm ok if one of them who isn't on my plan delivers the baby? Or do I need to, 'er, hold the baby in until the right doctor is on call???
STRESS. :P Changing doctors, and still in a mess. Ghrrrrr. I hate insurance.
Wednesday, May 30th:
Work was majorly stressful. I'd like to explain what happened, but I'm not sure I can do that w/o someone else recognizing where I work, and my getting in trouble for talking about work stuff. So let's just say I made some mistakes, but didn't see the consequences yet.
Thursday, May 31st:
Major consequences to the mistakes. Learned some good lessons from this. Was glad the lab was in a kind of dry spell, else the mistake would have caused alot of problems.
Friday, June 1st:
More consequences of the mistakes, much worse. Part of the mistakes were due to my doing something someone else said to do, w/o checking with yet another person. Part of the consequences were due to my mistake, and part were somewhat coincidental. But I didn't know that the coincidental part was mostly coincidental, so I pretty much went on a major, stressful guilt trip until I was told it was mostly coincidental.
I went home, still feeling sick to my stomach over the whole mess.
While trying to relax and eat dinner with my husband, I heard a loud snap coming from the kitchen. I got up, and discovered a dead mouse in the lower kitchen cabinet. The one I'd cleaned 1/2 of late last year from a mouse before. I'd cleaned the half that held the dishes, and ALL the dishes in that cabinet. I hadn't gotten to the other half that held food... I was wiped out. I looked at the mouse, closed the door, and went back and sat down. And greatly wished I could get roaring drunk!!!
The following week, I was a little shell-shocked when it came to going near the system I've been writing code for. Thankfully I spent most (or was it all?) of the week at my desk.
Thursday, June 7th:
I tried to go get a blood test. It's a special blood test that's part of the testing to ensure the baby doesn't have downs syndrome. If this 2nd blood test, plus another special sonogram go well, I can avoid the icky amnio needle thingy.
So I go to the place on Patterson that I typically go to to get blood drawn. It's really close to work, and so is very convenient. Well, on June 4th, they moved!!! I look at the address for where they moved to... it's only a little ways away. I misremembered it while driving there, and ended up going into another medical facility and asking them where they'd moved to. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was getting lost trying to figure out where they were now, as this gal handed me this piece of paper with the map printed on it, and gave me directions. I finally find the place, walk in, and the gal has no idea what the slip of paper I hand her is for. She ends up calling my new ObGyn, and out that this test has to be done downtown, about a 15 minute drive away. I look at my watch... I'd wasted half an hour already. I decide to try again tomorrow.
Friday, June 8th:
I get access to the test set, and am testing my code. I find out I have all day on the system, so I decide, after lunch, to go ahead and go get that blood test. I drive downtown. It's 1:30pm. The clinic closes at 1pm on Fridays.
Ghrrrrrrrr.
I drive back to work, and consider taking a knife to my arm, bleeding into a plastic bag, and mailing the damned thing.
Sunday, June 10th:
I am 39.
My husband and I go see Pirates of the Carribean. It was pretty cool, although the ending was a little too "Greek Tragedy" for my husband. But it was still funny, and the action was cool. I enjoyed it.
My husband and I, and our friends, their 6 year old daughter, and their newborn baby girl, all go out for sushi. We go to this special sushi place, Sakana, in Montecito. It is the BEST sushi I've ever had.
I search the menu, find about 3 rolls that sound good and all have cooked food in them. We have an awesome time. Sigh. :)
Our friend, R, the mother of the 2 girls, talks about how this is the first raw sushi, i.e., sashimi, she's had since before she got pregnant. Her baby girl is getting close to being weanable, and R's milk is drying up, anyway. She had an awesome time. :) But what cracked me up was that she said that she went out with friends for sushi while pregnant, and was miserable eating cooked sushi while they got to eat all the raw sushi! She said she wished she had never gone.
Heh. Then she looked up at me, while I ate my cooked sushi, and said, "Sorry...". I just cracked up. :) That was just priceless!!!
And no, I wasn't miserable. I was salivating heavily as their 6 year old ate raw salmon sashimi... ohhhh... my favorite. But I definitely wasn't miserable. :)
Tuesday, June 12th:
I go downtown to the clinic, the one that was closed on Friday afternoon. My ObGyn wanted me to get a heart monitor strapped to me. She wanted to verify if the diagnosis I'd had when I was a child, of having a heart murmer, was correct. I could have grown out of it, or it could have been a mistake. Considering I was pregnant, it was something that they wanted to keep an eye on.
I had 5 sensors taped to my chest, in places that would still allow me to remove my bra at night. I plunked the recorder into my jeans pocket. Then headed down to the basement and FINALLY got the damned blood drawn.
Over the course of the day, I realized I would have MUCH rather had 5 blood tests than spend another minute wearing those damned, sticky, itchy sensors. I kept checking to ensure they hadn't come loose. I ended up taping them over the course of the day. And every time I moved the wrong way, I felt them trying to pull loose. So by the end of the day, my back was a mess of knots. And I was having a hard time not scratching at all those itchy sensors.
I went to bed that night, and had a terrible time going to sleep. I had taped everything securely, but still... At 2am, I got up to go to the bathroom, and realized the recording unit had fallen out of my sweat-pants pocket. I plunked it back in, went to the bathroom (while bending over at a funny angle in order to not pull the cables, while the recorder still sat in my pocket), washed my hands, clipped the pocket closed with a binder clip, and went back to bed.
Wednesday, June 13th:
I drove down to the clinic, got the taped sensors removed, handed in the diary I was supposed to keep while wired up, and drove home. I gave up and crawled back into bed, trying to catch up on all the sleep I'd lost during the night. Got to work REALLY late. *SIGH*
Thursday, June 14th:
I got time on the system again. Part of the system had been worked on, but I didn't realize that. I did something, and saw water spilling onto the floor!
Not. Again.
After talking to the engineer who designed the system, I mopped up the water and kept testing my software.
Later that day, the engineer who designed the system, and I, heard something leaking. He made a note to go replace a valve. Then he went home. I later thought I heard other areas leaking, and made a note to let the engineer know.
Later that night, I worried that what I'd done had caused the leaks. I was wrong, but I didn't know it, and I lost alot of sleep over it.
Friday, June 15th:
The engineer who works on the system explained that I hadn't caused the leaks.
I got back on the bloody system, and continued testing software. And crawled home around 7pm.
I told my husband, "I am SO done."
I can't be doing this. I can't be this gun shy. I can't be stressing myself out like this. Thankfully, I'm almost done with this version of the software. I hope the next week will see it pass the final testing, after the final changes are made, and that if not the end of this week, maybe the start of the following week will see it installed and in use. And I won't have to go near that system for a while. It's too complex, and while I'm preggers, my brain is mush. :P And my ability to stress myself out seems to be amped up.
I just feel like I'm a jinx right now.
Well, sorry for the insane length of this post. But if you've wondered what's been happening in my life, well, now you know. :)
Oh. BTW. Happy Fathers Day. :)
Whoa. Thirty-nine. That's 3 * 13.
Heh. That explains the past few weeks. :) No wonder so much weird crap has gone down.
Normally though, 13 is a lucky number for me. I got married on September 13. My parents live at 169... that's 13 squared. Shoot, 12 apostles + Jesus = 13. Or when you consider one of them had to be replaced, that's a total of 13 apostles, but the replacement was necessary as part of the plan of having Jesus die for our sins.
There were 12 tribes of Israel, but one was split in two tribes, to make the total 13, and one of the 13 was separated, the Levites, to administer to God. So, 12 tribes of Israel, but really kinda 13, you know?
So 13 has always been kinda cool in my book.
So, weird crap has gone down recently. But so has good crap.
Anyway, here we go:
Friday, May 18:
Got a high-power ultrasound of the baby. It no longer looks like an alien. Whoo-hoo! No clue on the sex yet. But what was really funny was the kid is definitely a morning person. The ultrasound occurred at 10am, and the baby kept squirming around like, "Get that THING out of my face! I'm trying to SLEEP here!"
Nice to know it's taking after Mom and Dad, LOL. :)
The ultrasound, and the first of 2 special blood tests, show so far that the odds of Down's Syndrome are really low. Thank God!
I'll post the newer pictures up on my flickr account, and then setup my blog to include my flickr pictures. :) My husband showed me that he'd done that on his blog. Very cool feature I didn't know about yet.
At around 12:30pm that same day, we took off for a 9+ hour drive to Arizona, to visit my husband's sister and her family. Part of the drive went through Los Angeles. It took about an hour to go 20 or 30 miles at one point, and we thought we were going to lose it. It was not one of the prettier parts of Los Angeles.
We stopped at Indio for a late lunch/early dinner. That was trippy. When I was between maybe 5 and 7, my parents and I lived there for about 1 or 2 years. I thought I recognized one of the schools, but couldn't be sure. Couldn't tell which apartment complex had been ours. It was weird, comparing childhood memories with the reality of the place. I remember it being kindof a fun place. But driving through there, it felt like one of those places that you'd try to escape from as soon as possible. [My apologies to those who think otherwise.]
We made it to our relatives after 9pm, got fed some leftover pizza, and crashed.
Saturday, May 19:
We went to a charity dog event Saturday morning. While there I was bitten by a cantakerous old beagle!!!
Yes, Snoopy was bitten by a beagle!
I was petting the beagle, and turned to talk to it's owner, when it turned and snapped at my hand. I'm not sure what Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer, would say about that. It didn't break the skin, and it had had all it's shots, so I told the owner not to worry about it. But in spite of the fact that we own 2 huge German Shepherds, I was a little flustered. I made a point of petting more dogs, and especially of petting these 2 HUGE Bull Mastiffs. The owner brought one out of it's crate and asked me to hold it while she went to wet down a towel for it -- it was hotter than hell in Arizona, and it was only May! Her poor dogs were baking, even in the shade of her tent. The female Mastiff, "Bling", wanted to go follow her master. I was able to keep her in place, but it was hysterical! She was maybe 120 pounds? And all muscle. But she was a gentle giant, and I fell in instant love with her.
I ended up sitting on the grass or on my knees petting Bling, while her owner tied a wet towel to her. At one point Bling majorly LEANED into me, and my black jeans were soaked. :) I fed Bling popcorn from my hands... she was so gentle. But our relatives were a little nervous about directly feeding her. They threw her a popcorn piece on occasion. Most of our relatives pet Bling and other dogs... the kids especially. But I don't think they are big dog people, LOL!
I wanted to take Bling home with us. :)
That afternoon, I swam in their pool with their 2 kids. Chased the kids around a bit, and figured out 3 things: I'm old, I'm out of shape, and I'm pregnant. Quit trying to chase them around and kindof lazed around in the pool.
I think I wore myself out. Saturday night we went to one of the local Indian casino's to see some singer impersonators. I felt sick, and realized I was hungry, even though I hadn't felt hungry. My husband was really sweet and chased down some crackers for me. We sat for a while listening to some Elvis impersonator, but my husband's not really into this sortof thing. So we gave up, ate dinner there, and did a little gambling. My husband and his sister's husband went off to play cards. My Sister-in-law and I tried some Star Wars themed slot machines. They were fun, but ate our money. As did most of the other slots. We went off to find the card tables and watch our respective husbands. My brother-in-law was done losing money, so I sat in his place, and "borrowed" chips from my husband. We were playing black jack. My husband is really good at it, but I still managed to lose some more money.
My tolerance for losing money is about $20.00 to $40.00 bucks. When I'd go visit my Sister in Reno, even when I was of gambling age, I'd go play video games, and my Dad would watch me. Mom and Sister would go play slot machines. I figured, I was going to lose money anyway, I might as well as be well entertained. And go play Star Wars, or Centipede, or PacMan, or Asteroids. Or Arkanoid, or Galaga, etc. Something less mind-numbing and much more entertaining that slot machines.
In some things I have an addictive personality. But not in things that don't consistently pay out. My Vampire novels consistently provide awesome entertainment. Slot machines tease you and mostly take your money. Alcohol gives you a buzz but kills brain cells and makes you feel like crap the next day if you overdo it. So basically, I rarely gamble, although I found black jack to be alot of fun. I sometimes drink alcohol, but not while preggers. And I'll read Vampire novels by good authors until the cows come home. :)
Sunday, May 20th:
I got up. I had some coffee, and some breakfast. And then I went back to bed and slept until 1 or 2pm!
This whole pregnancy thing has me wiped out most of the time. Apparently, I overdid the excitement and activity levels on Saturday!
I pretty much just spent most of Sunday either resting or hanging out. No swimming, no doing much of anything until Sunday evening. And then, we did something really cool. We went to the Tempe Improv and saw Christopher Titus perform his latest comedy act. He's gone through a divorce, and his dad recently died. Only this guy can make misfortune SO funny! Still, I felt bad for what he'd been through so recently. But I was glad he could use it for his comedy routine.
Monday, May 21st:
We drove home. My husband has a new car. I volunteered to drive the last 3 or 4 hours of the trip. It was a little stressful until we hit 101, which I've lived off of for most of my life, it seems. So getting back onto 101 was a little like coming home.
Driving my husband's new car isn't quite second nature to me yet. It has alot more power than my 1996 Saturn. But I zip around in the Saturn like it's an extension of my body. Not so with my husband's more powerful, cooler car! So I guess the 3 or 4 hours of driving, after the 4 or 5 hours of riding, took it out of me. We got home, and I had what an eye doctor later told me was an ocular migraine. I.E., you have weird light disturbance in your eye, but you don't have the actual pain.
I did have a headache, but I wouldn't call it a migraine. I've had bad headaches before, but I've got friends who have had migraines before, and I just can't think that I've ever had a headache as bad as what they've experienced... even my worst headaches that were almost migraine-like. I had one as a kid where I just went to bed in a darkened room with no sound, trying not to barf. That might have been a true migraine...
Come to think of it, I think I'd had something weird with my eyes that time, too. I can't remember what the symptoms were, but...
Anyway, not counting when I was a child, I've therefore had 2 ocular migraines. The first one was about 9 to 12 months ago, and then there was this one. Since this was the second time, I wasn't quite as flustered about it. The first one went away after about 20 minutes. This one did too: I even watched a movie on my laptop.
The disturbance was like this weird, zig-zag, colorful pattern in the upper right hand peripheral vision part of my right eye. It was pretty trippy. It extended a little into my non-peripheral vision, making reading a little strange.
Tuesday, May 22nd:
I stayed home sick. My head still hurt, and I was wiped out. Heh: I needed a vacation from my vacation! I think riding/driving for 9 hours was a bit much for me.
While we were in Arizona, my husband's Dad took care of the dogs for us. He LOVES our dogs, and our dogs ADORE him. :) Ellie will kiss his face for minutes at a time, sometimes gently trying to groom his stubbly chin for him. Boss will lay on the floor next to him for hours. The dogs were happy to see us Monday night, but I think they missed my husband's Dad. :) I think they were happy to have me stay home with them Tuesday, although I wasn't very entertaining, LOL.
Wednesday May 23rd:
I met with my new ObGyn. My old ObGyn was awesome, but not on my health plan. Ghrrrr. Paying for a delivery out of pocket is not a financially wise move. My new ObGyn was awesome, as well, so I was down with that.
The place has a bunch of different doctor's who rotate being on call for baby deliveries. I got all their names down, and called my insurance. My new ObGyn is on my health plan. Not all the on-call doctors are! I need to call my insurance again: I now have FULL first and last names (before I just had last names), and I have the names of one or two more doctors that weren't on the sheet of paper they gave me. But I'm wondering: if they are all contracted to be on call with my ObGyn, does that mean I'm ok if one of them who isn't on my plan delivers the baby? Or do I need to, 'er, hold the baby in until the right doctor is on call???
STRESS. :P Changing doctors, and still in a mess. Ghrrrrr. I hate insurance.
Wednesday, May 30th:
Work was majorly stressful. I'd like to explain what happened, but I'm not sure I can do that w/o someone else recognizing where I work, and my getting in trouble for talking about work stuff. So let's just say I made some mistakes, but didn't see the consequences yet.
Thursday, May 31st:
Major consequences to the mistakes. Learned some good lessons from this. Was glad the lab was in a kind of dry spell, else the mistake would have caused alot of problems.
Friday, June 1st:
More consequences of the mistakes, much worse. Part of the mistakes were due to my doing something someone else said to do, w/o checking with yet another person. Part of the consequences were due to my mistake, and part were somewhat coincidental. But I didn't know that the coincidental part was mostly coincidental, so I pretty much went on a major, stressful guilt trip until I was told it was mostly coincidental.
I went home, still feeling sick to my stomach over the whole mess.
While trying to relax and eat dinner with my husband, I heard a loud snap coming from the kitchen. I got up, and discovered a dead mouse in the lower kitchen cabinet. The one I'd cleaned 1/2 of late last year from a mouse before. I'd cleaned the half that held the dishes, and ALL the dishes in that cabinet. I hadn't gotten to the other half that held food... I was wiped out. I looked at the mouse, closed the door, and went back and sat down. And greatly wished I could get roaring drunk!!!
The following week, I was a little shell-shocked when it came to going near the system I've been writing code for. Thankfully I spent most (or was it all?) of the week at my desk.
Thursday, June 7th:
I tried to go get a blood test. It's a special blood test that's part of the testing to ensure the baby doesn't have downs syndrome. If this 2nd blood test, plus another special sonogram go well, I can avoid the icky amnio needle thingy.
So I go to the place on Patterson that I typically go to to get blood drawn. It's really close to work, and so is very convenient. Well, on June 4th, they moved!!! I look at the address for where they moved to... it's only a little ways away. I misremembered it while driving there, and ended up going into another medical facility and asking them where they'd moved to. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was getting lost trying to figure out where they were now, as this gal handed me this piece of paper with the map printed on it, and gave me directions. I finally find the place, walk in, and the gal has no idea what the slip of paper I hand her is for. She ends up calling my new ObGyn, and out that this test has to be done downtown, about a 15 minute drive away. I look at my watch... I'd wasted half an hour already. I decide to try again tomorrow.
Friday, June 8th:
I get access to the test set, and am testing my code. I find out I have all day on the system, so I decide, after lunch, to go ahead and go get that blood test. I drive downtown. It's 1:30pm. The clinic closes at 1pm on Fridays.
Ghrrrrrrrr.
I drive back to work, and consider taking a knife to my arm, bleeding into a plastic bag, and mailing the damned thing.
Sunday, June 10th:
I am 39.
My husband and I go see Pirates of the Carribean. It was pretty cool, although the ending was a little too "Greek Tragedy" for my husband. But it was still funny, and the action was cool. I enjoyed it.
My husband and I, and our friends, their 6 year old daughter, and their newborn baby girl, all go out for sushi. We go to this special sushi place, Sakana, in Montecito. It is the BEST sushi I've ever had.
I search the menu, find about 3 rolls that sound good and all have cooked food in them. We have an awesome time. Sigh. :)
Our friend, R, the mother of the 2 girls, talks about how this is the first raw sushi, i.e., sashimi, she's had since before she got pregnant. Her baby girl is getting close to being weanable, and R's milk is drying up, anyway. She had an awesome time. :) But what cracked me up was that she said that she went out with friends for sushi while pregnant, and was miserable eating cooked sushi while they got to eat all the raw sushi! She said she wished she had never gone.
Heh. Then she looked up at me, while I ate my cooked sushi, and said, "Sorry...". I just cracked up. :) That was just priceless!!!
And no, I wasn't miserable. I was salivating heavily as their 6 year old ate raw salmon sashimi... ohhhh... my favorite. But I definitely wasn't miserable. :)
Tuesday, June 12th:
I go downtown to the clinic, the one that was closed on Friday afternoon. My ObGyn wanted me to get a heart monitor strapped to me. She wanted to verify if the diagnosis I'd had when I was a child, of having a heart murmer, was correct. I could have grown out of it, or it could have been a mistake. Considering I was pregnant, it was something that they wanted to keep an eye on.
I had 5 sensors taped to my chest, in places that would still allow me to remove my bra at night. I plunked the recorder into my jeans pocket. Then headed down to the basement and FINALLY got the damned blood drawn.
Over the course of the day, I realized I would have MUCH rather had 5 blood tests than spend another minute wearing those damned, sticky, itchy sensors. I kept checking to ensure they hadn't come loose. I ended up taping them over the course of the day. And every time I moved the wrong way, I felt them trying to pull loose. So by the end of the day, my back was a mess of knots. And I was having a hard time not scratching at all those itchy sensors.
I went to bed that night, and had a terrible time going to sleep. I had taped everything securely, but still... At 2am, I got up to go to the bathroom, and realized the recording unit had fallen out of my sweat-pants pocket. I plunked it back in, went to the bathroom (while bending over at a funny angle in order to not pull the cables, while the recorder still sat in my pocket), washed my hands, clipped the pocket closed with a binder clip, and went back to bed.
Wednesday, June 13th:
I drove down to the clinic, got the taped sensors removed, handed in the diary I was supposed to keep while wired up, and drove home. I gave up and crawled back into bed, trying to catch up on all the sleep I'd lost during the night. Got to work REALLY late. *SIGH*
Thursday, June 14th:
I got time on the system again. Part of the system had been worked on, but I didn't realize that. I did something, and saw water spilling onto the floor!
Not. Again.
After talking to the engineer who designed the system, I mopped up the water and kept testing my software.
Later that day, the engineer who designed the system, and I, heard something leaking. He made a note to go replace a valve. Then he went home. I later thought I heard other areas leaking, and made a note to let the engineer know.
Later that night, I worried that what I'd done had caused the leaks. I was wrong, but I didn't know it, and I lost alot of sleep over it.
Friday, June 15th:
The engineer who works on the system explained that I hadn't caused the leaks.
I got back on the bloody system, and continued testing software. And crawled home around 7pm.
I told my husband, "I am SO done."
I can't be doing this. I can't be this gun shy. I can't be stressing myself out like this. Thankfully, I'm almost done with this version of the software. I hope the next week will see it pass the final testing, after the final changes are made, and that if not the end of this week, maybe the start of the following week will see it installed and in use. And I won't have to go near that system for a while. It's too complex, and while I'm preggers, my brain is mush. :P And my ability to stress myself out seems to be amped up.
I just feel like I'm a jinx right now.
Well, sorry for the insane length of this post. But if you've wondered what's been happening in my life, well, now you know. :)
Oh. BTW. Happy Fathers Day. :)
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