One more shot for ol' times sake

Got my Rh shot yesterday because, lucky me, I am O Negative. I can give blood to anyone who desires...but can only take O-. Crazy the things you learn.
The shot was fantastic. I had actually missed dropping my drawers for people. A shot! In my rear! This I can relate to.

After said shot, the nurse, whom I just love, said, "and just think! You get to have these every time you're pregnant from now on!" It was fun to just giggle and believe for a moment that I was a "normal" woman who would have more pregnancies down the road and would have to think about such things.

This goes hand-in-hand with the question that my OB-GYN asked at my appointment last week. She said, "so...now's the time to be thinking about birth control - what you want to use after the baby's born." Whaaaaaa? Why would I want to use birth control? I suppose "normal" women contemplate such things, but me? Heck no. I want to know what I gotta do to get pregnant again. Pills? Shots? Temp charts? Fasting?

I guess we don't really hold out much hope for getting pregnant again. We certainly can't afford another IVF. And countless IUI's only resulted in MC. So, what type of birth control we would want certainly isn't in our vocabulary - because if it happened, we would be ecstatic. BigB doesn't even want to entertain the idea of talking about fertility stuff post-baby. He wants to "enjoy the moment." I totally agree, but there is this pressing deadline - like my 40th birthday - that is looming in the distance. It's hard not to get caught up in the future and what may or may not happen.

What has been fun is feeling the baby's head (or rump?). I still can't really figure out which end is which, but I can definitely feel something round and hard (like an orange) that moves around. Crazy!

Letting Go

In the spirit of spring cleaning and purging, what are a few things you just cannot seem to get rid of? And why?

Here's a few of mine (believe me, there are lots more):

The Lemonader - a machine that makes lemonade. Got it as a wedding present. Used it once and it left a nice sticky film all over my kitchen floor after it erupted. Made some darn good lemonade, though. Who knows when we'll have a plethora of lemons and might need to make some.

2 sets of hot rollers and 4 curling irons (including a crimper) - ya never know when my hair might grow long enough to use them and styles might come back where I'll need a LOT of these. In every shape and size.

Underwear - somehow I've accumulated enough underwear to clothe a small city of women. They just never seem to wear out. Some don't fit, but I don't want to get rid of them because I WILL lose weight. Plus, they never really go out of style, do they?

Grade School/High School/College memorabilia - how much is too much? I can't bear to let go of the little wooden name plates my campers made me one summer when I was a counselor. Nor all the diaries. Lord - there was a lot of drama back then. I can't just forget about all those boys I had crushes on!

Exercise Machine - it never actually made it out of the box. But I swear, someday I'll use that machine that attaches to a door a becomes a virtual gym. Really, I will. I mean, I ordered off an infomercial...it's GOT to be good.

Spring Purging, and Cleaning, and Sorting.

I've missed ICLW. I'm so bummed. It's the one time each month when I get more than 5 or 6 comments. For that one week I feel like a total rock star! Plus its a great motivator to visit all the other blogs out there. Owell...I guess there's always next month.

This weekend we spent pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday going through all the stuff in the "office" that will shortly become the "nursery." It has been quite a task. That little room has also been the emergency storage - whenever someone comes over and we can't quite get everything clean and organized as we like we just shove it all in the office and shut the door. There was a lot of crap in there that wasn't remotely related to an office. Pulling everything out and trying to find a new home for it has created a brand new chaos that's consumed the entire house.

I was raised by a mom who is totally anal about cleaning. She didn't let me have leg.os or any other toy with little parts because she didn't want me "making messes" all over the house. There were no posters allowed on my bedroom wall, and everything, and I mean everything had to be put away before we went to bed. To this day, her house is always perfectly clean (almost sterile) - if you put your water glass down, it'll be in the dishwasher by the time you go for another drink.

This probably isn't the ideal way to raise a family (rugs must be vacuumed in the same directions so the lines are parallel, bath towels must be folded and put in the linen closet with folded side facing out, etc), but, it has shaped my sense of what a house should be: clean and orderly. However, I'm just not as good as my mom. When I look around my house and see piles of crap or things laying around it drives me insane, but I just don't have the time to deal with it all (I work full-time unlike my mom who didn't work).

Our little house has become maxed to capacity. There is no room for anything. Every cupboard and closet is overflowing - one wrong move and "boobytrap!" (remember that game?). I get a little overwhelmed when I think about adding one more person to the mix, not to mention all the accoutrement that goes along with her.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

It doesn't help that BigB comes from a family where orderlineness isn't next to godliness. He doesn't "see" that pile of tools on the kitchen counter that belong in the garage. He'll let them sit until I ask him to move them. Getting him to throw things out is like pulling teeth.

More deep breaths.

I think I've relaxed a lot since we got married. But now without the fallback crap room/office being eliminated? What to do? I have this relentless urge to purge. Must make more room! Friends say that it's the nesting instinct and that it'll ease up once the little girl is here. I dunno. Will it? Maybe that's why my mom has a little supply of Valium in her bathroom drawer. I shouldn't be so quick to judge. Right? Eleven weeks and counting. So much to do...so little time.

Random Thoughts

I love daylight savings. It means a world of difference in the Pacific Northwest. All winter we go to work in the dark, and then by the time work is over, its dark again. With daylight savings it feels like we have a whole extra day when we get home from work. Although...it also makes me feel a lot more guilty about plopping my big bottom on the couch as soon as I get home.

I finished our taxes last night. Ugh. Do you know that you only "get back" about 15% of your out-of-pocket medical expenses? I guess its better than nothing. Although more would be better.

St. Pat's is really no fun without the beer. Why be Irish if you can't celebrate by getting smashed? This is my first National Ireland day without hitchin up me knickers and doin' a little jig. It was spent, instead, watching Idol. What is with that weird Adam dude? He pretty much creeps me out.

I passed my sugar test. No gestational diabetes for me. That actually came as a big surprise seeing as 40-50% of PCOSers get it. I thought for sure the writing was on the wall. Especially as I gained four pounds in one week. Now I can only blame it on eating relentlessly.

We spent the weekend with four other couples at a big house on Whidbey Island (San Juans). Even though the weather was totally bi-polar (sunny one minute, literally snowing the next) it was a great weekend with friends. We made a big St Pats feast and shared all our meals at one huge dining table. I made my "meat lovers" lasagna (four kinds of meat) one night. Mmmmm. It was a relaxing weekend and we hope to make it an annual event.

Drop and Roll

It's one of my favorite new past times. It's called, "See How Far You Can Get Without Your Pants Falling Down." This morning was a perfect example, I'm in the office parking lot, hands full, and as I walk toward the office, my wonderful, stretchy-panel pants start inching their way down my hips. I know good and well it will just be a matter of moments before said pants are around my ankles.
What to do? What to do? Do I chance it and see if I can get all the way to the entrance? Or, do I put all of my stuff on the wet ground, wrestle my pants up as high as I can wedge them while office mates possibly watch manoeuvres from office window? If my luck runs out, I also risk everyone seeing my lovely granny panties and blindingly white chicken legs. Nothing hotter.

What makes it worse is the black trench coat I wear. Sans pants, I look like a pregnant flasher. Ga-ross. So lies the dilemma. I usually go for it, holding my thighs together as tightly as I can (which looks like a 3 yr old having to pee badly) while making a dash for it. Other times I just know that no amount thigh control will save me which means I have to hitch up my coat, then grab the pants and wrestle them up along with the large-sized panties. None of this is attractive for a grown woman. It's just wrong.

There has GOT to be a better alternative for maternity pants. I've got the bell.aband. It works sometimes. But there are days when nothing helps and I spend my entire grocery or mall trip scanning for empty aisles where I can hitch without being spotted. Sometimes I have no choice but to inflict young children and old men with my antics invoking nightmares across the Pacific Northwest.

BigB presented me with a pair of bright red suspenders. He said he was worried about the neighbors calling the police. They work well, but hard to coordinate with most of outfits (except my lumberjack ensemble).

Gimme some more samoas

It's that time of year when little girls, dressed in vests adorned with a zillion patches, appear at every public venue, grocery store, and work place. They come across so sweet and innocent, with their cheerful grins and promise of great hope for the future. They pawn their goods so deceptively! They lure you in with tasty memories and the threat that what they've got won't last for long.

I'm weak. I cannot pass them up. I cannot turn my eye. Their swift little daggers hook me. What's worse is that one of my goddaughters is part of the clan. How can I deny those bright blue eyes coupled with chocolaty goodness paired with a thin layer of mint? Or shortbread layered with caramel, chocolate and toasted coconut?

Soon, I'm faced with 12 boxes of madness. I promise myself that I will put them in the freezer, and take them out for guests. But somehow I convince myself that I'll have "just one," which always turns into three or four, then soon, the whole box.

It's a destructive cycle that I look forward to each year.

Just Your Typical Monday Morning

Well...whatever was causing the crazy jackhammer jaw sleeping syndrome has gone. At least I've been jackhammer free for three nights.

BigB was out of town for the last week. I can admit openly here that I had the best sleep EVER! And, boom, as soon as he came back, I'm awake all night long. I wonder how it would affect our marriage if I asked him to sleep in the guest room. Juz kiddin'. Sorta. There's just all that room in the bed for me and my copious pillows! And no snoring! And no flinging arms whapping me in the face! No alarm clock going off at 4:45 in the a.m.! Ahhhhh. It was bliss. To bad he wasn't a pilot. Then I could count on him being gone for weeks at a time a LOT.

Seriously, though, I did miss him. He's my best friend and I really feel out of sorts when he's not around. When he left last week, he gave me a little teddy bear that was holding a bag of my favorite Pep.Farm cookies and a sweet card. Awwwwwwwww.

Over the weekend I started getting this really crazy aching in my, ahem, netherregions. The same regions that a ginormous bowling ball (I mean baby) will be traveling through in a few months. I also had this nagging pressure in same said netherregions. It just felt so weird. So, of course I put the question to Dr Google and my myriad of pg books till I found an answer that made me feel a bit better. "Pains" like these are apparently common and are not to be worried about unless they don't get better with rest.

Friday and Saturday, the ache and pressure seemed to disappear as soon as I was horizontal on my (spacious without the BigB) bed. Last night was a different story...the aching and the pressure didn't relieve with a little snooze time. It just kept on comin. On top of that, little Lady Bug decided to burrow down somewhere in the lowest part of my uterus (like right on top of my pubic bone) and give me some kicks. Usually she's everywhere, trying out her tennis star backhand and her black belt karate chop all over the place. But yesterday and last night, I could only feel little tiny kicks and movements and they were all down there.

As previously mentioned, I got no sleep last night cuz BigB was back in town. That gave way for the perfect Trifecta. I obsessed all night that I was going into preterm labor. All the signs were there: aching in the vag wall area, pressure on what I guess was the cervix, and my little lady making her way head down for a smooth ride into the real world. Bad thoughts gone wild.

Of course at 8:01 I'm on the horn with the nurse, trying to hold back the tears. They graciously squeezed me in "just to be on the safe side." After hooking me up to a fetal monitor, a uterus monitor (?), an ultrasound, a pelvic check, and some bloodwork. They think everything is just fine and they "don't know why" I'm having these pains. Which makes me feel slightly better. I'm glad everything points to nothing, but I want something rather than nothing for an explanation!

While I was there, they gave me the awesome GTT. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Orange syrup. It wasn't all that horrible other than the horrendous sugar headache and sweats. And nausea.

What a way to start the week! But, on the bright side, it is gorgeous out today. My car told me it was 59 outside. 59! That's like a tropical heat wave! I'll take it and be thankful for sunshine and some good news.