The Good, The Bad...

The Good:

Miles is almost crawling! I was told that I had not updated this knowledge to the internets yet. He is getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth (The Humpty.Dance as I refer to it). When he does get moving, he goes backwards! His arms push instead of pull and he ends up 5 feet away from whatever thing he was trying to get! Sometimes his knees do go forward, but when the arms don't move - FACEPLANT!

The Bad:

Dean and the sitter yesterday:
D: "Are you going to continue to keep Miles?"
S: "I don't think so. But I can if you can't find anyone else..."

HUH? She has a doctor appointment next week with whoever she is seeing for her high BP to find out the status since she's been on the BP meds. So she "probably" will not be watching him anymore, but we still don't have a specific DATE! BAH!. The search for a new one begins.... I guess when we do find someone, we'll just tell current lady when her last day is. That is, if she doesn't quit on us before then!

Side note of the bad: Yesterday she also says she "forgot" she was to take her mom to a doctor appointment tomorrow (Thurs) so now Dean is going to keep him while working...again. Gotta love those workin' from home jobs sometimes! Love you Deano! You are such a great Daddy!

Why

1. Why does it feel like all of my internal organs are revolting on me? I am already having to remove 1 of the beasts....
2. Why does my left ovary hurt? And hurt more when I stand?
3. Why am I getting flashbacks of round ligament pain?
4. Why am I even thinking about round ligament pain?
5. Why did the ER nurse say "That doesn't matter" when I told her I hadn't had a cycle since July 2008... because I am BFing? Don't all medical books say as much? Isn't that a "benefit" of breastfeeding?
6. Why can I not give away Miles' clothes that are too small for him?
7. Why can I not give away the gear that he has outgrown?
8. Why do I stare longingly at pregnant bellies?
9. Why do I weigh more now than I did before I got pregnant?**
10. Why am I eating so many calories? For the milk production...**
11. Why can't I lose weight while BF'ing? Probably isn't recommended...**

**updated to add

Damn You!

Damn you gall.stones!

UGH - I had a gall.bladder attack this morning around 2:30AM. When I got up in my sleepiness, I took 2 T.ums instead of 2 Ty.lenol. This didn't help my pain any (obviously) so I was squirmy wormy/in the fetal position until 4:30...coincidentally Miles' nursing time before work. I would have skipped it to squirm some more, but then I remembered I didn't take Ty.lenol after all, just heartburn medication, DUMB.ASS.... UGH - get up, take better med, feed Miles, both of us cuddle and fall asleep in the "nursing.papasan.chair" (that I just can't let go of). I don't know how I fell asleep like that because my shit was still killing me. I put him back to bed, emailed my work peeps, and resumed the fetal position.

By the time I woke up at 7:30, the pain had subsided. I got up, pumped, showered and made it to work by 9:15. It is actually fall-like weather here in the Lone.Star.State - 53 degrees and GORGEOUS blue skies - not a cloud in the sky (at least that I can see from my 2nd-story-cubicle-window-blocked-by-the-world's-largest-crepe-myrtle-and-5-story-parking-garage.) I so don't want to be sitting here... I could be playing with BooBoo or organizing a cabinet or something (don't ask)...

Anyway, back to the gall.stone saga. I have known I have had them since 2006 when my old PCP ordered an u/s. Flash to 2007, new PCP, (didn't like old one in the least bit) and she said I should have it taken care of before getting PG. Really lady...I am going to be 30 this (that) year. I don't have time for surgery, recovery time, etc, etc. I wanted a baby before I was in menopause! So I opted to put that aside and work on TTC, knowing that if I had an attack while PG, there would be nothing they could do about it.

So now I have had my 2nd attack since Miles was born. BLECH. You don't need your gall.bladder, or at least can live without it. So mine is being removed in 2010!

FREAK OUT

As I type this, I am waiting for my husband to come and pick me up from work. I started to get some sinus crap this weekend and this morning I could barely breathe through my nose. Took some Clarit.tin and Muci.nex (scrares me because its a decongestant and can dry up my boobs AND my nose). I have blown my nose 12 times already and now a little cough.

Of course I asked Dr. Google what he thought of my symptoms, including tiredness and a headache for 2 days, and he told me they were "flu-like symptoms."

How f'ing fabulous...

During flu season, H1N1 season....I develop flu-like symptoms. Can you say scrared shitless? I have tons of friends of friends or family of friends that have either the flu or H1N1. Haven't taken my flu shot this season because work's vendor has been delaying them for a month and a half in shipment. As of yesterday, the clinic has a sign posted "no flu shots until further notice."

GREAT

Did you remember that I have a 5 1/2 month old at home who is too young for the flu shot? And that my sister works in the PICU at Texas.Children's and has several patients on ventilators with the flu?

COMPLETE AND TOTAL FREAK OUT. That is what I am doing right now.

9/11/01

*Picture stolen from here.

Everyday is a New Day

So this is how this glorious Monday started….

-While riding in the van, start digging through purse to find badge.
-Can’t find badge, must have left it at home
-Walk to security desk to get badge. 1 person in line, wait for 5 minutes while security dude finishes with her.
-5 minutes later – finally have temp badge
-Walk to badge in. Try 4 times, not working badge.
-Walk back to security desk. Now there are 2 people in line.
-Wait 10 minutes – 5 minutes for each person.
-While waiting, security guy says “I’ll be right with you” like he hasn’t seen me before.
-Finally my turn again…hand bad badge to security dude. Security: “You’re turning in this badge?” Me: “No, it doesn’t work.” Security: “OK can I have your ID badge?” Me: (blank look on face) Security: (pulls out HIS ID badge)“You know, the one with your picture on it?” Me: “I left it at home. Remember, you just gave me this temp badge like 10 minutes ago?” Security: “Ok miss, I can get you a temp badge since you left yours at home.” Proceeds to reissue SAME NON-WORKING badge….Security: “Oh this one doesn’t seem to be working, it’s not in the system.” Me: (trying not to roll eyes or sigh aloud)
-Finally get to my desk 20 minutes after I got here with working temp badge.
-Completely empty out my purse…..and find my badge!

**BIG SIGH**

Blogger Bullshit & OnStar?

I am so flippin', flappin', flabbergasted!!! I CANNOT fix my blog code!!! I cannot get a picture to display as the header! Then I uploaded a new template and lost some of my "gadgets" particularly my blog list and my braces bunch list. UGH. I have copied all of the HTML for my other gadgets in the event they are erased too....

Just trying to spruce things up a bit. Found a FAB template on cutest.blog.on.the.block but it won't upload? I follow the instructions and put it in a HTML box, but when I click save it just hangs there forever and a day (have tried 4 times) and then I just have to cancel.

So in the meantime I have no header image, no title and no cutey background!!!

I am still tempted to go to wordpress for password protected anyways and I heard they have some really cute templates, but if all I am doing is importing my current HTML into their app, won't I have this same jacked up dilemma???

Wordpress people - tell me how much you love/hate it? I know you can't tinker with the code over there (not that it matters since this is obviously not my forte - WHAT I work in IT????)

On a completely other note, I had to call OnStar for the first time yesterday. I had picked up Maddie from the groomer and then went to get Miles. The truck was still hot from sitting in the parking lot all day, so I left her in it with the AC on. Went to get Miles and asked him if wanted to go see his puppy in the car... Sitter's girls were like, "Puppy? Puppy? Where's the puppy?" so we all went outside. On the way I say OUTLOUD - "I hope Maddie didn't lock the doors." She loves to stand on the arm rests to look outside (she's short) and always rolls down windows or turns on the seat heaters (why they put these in cars sold in the South is BEYOND me). Oh but this time....she locked the doors. (JINXED myself by saying it I guess!) So Maddie is in the truck, my keys are in the ignition, and my cell phone is in my purse - also in the truck....

Good thing I convinced Dean to put the OnStar stickers on the window - they have the phone number to call on them! Borrowed sitter's phone and within 5 minutes, it was open!!!

Next time remember to leave a window rolled down....

Bad News

I finally got my results back from my pee test. Only after calling again myself yesterday afternoon. Apparently the cutoff for protein levels in your urine is 299. And mine was.....you guessed it...300. ONE FRIGGIN' POINT TOO HIGH!!

Nice Nurse said this meant no more working. I am hoping they just don't remember or didn't look at my chart in regards to exactly what my "work" consists of. I work in IT, therefore am sitting at my desk all day long, working at a computer.

My regularly scheduled appointment is next Thursday, so I'm home until at least then. She wants me to do another pee test next week. Has anyone ever been put on rest just for a week and if the next pee test comes back ok, then you went back to work? I have to go to the office in a little bit to pick up more pee buckets. At that time, I hope to ask her exactly what "no work" means. Does this mean I am officially on bed rest or is it modified bed rest or is it just no working or what. I hope after I remind her what it is that I do, that she'll allow me to "work from home" i.e. work from my bed and/or couch. I can't and don't want to use my maternity leave and vacation all up before the baby is even here!!! I only get 6 weeks and using 3 weeks vacation. And I just don't think we could swing short term disability since it is unpaid. I wonder what people do who get put on bed rest this early who don't have the ability to work from home?

I am getting way nervous that this baby is going to come way sooner than I am ready for. Just last night, D and I went through all the shower stuff. Because I still had company through Sunday and Monday was the L&D visit, we haven't done crap around here, especially with the baby stuff. We rechecked the gift lists before taking everything out of their bags, removed the tags from the washables, and put away (kind of) everything else. Now I need someone to get some detergent so we can wash everything and put it away. Mom said she was willing to do that, so holler when you can. We also have to return a few things to a couple of stores. I think if I send D with what to exchange everything for, he could manage that?? I think I mentioned before that we got tons of washcloths and towels? We ended up with 17 towels and about 60 washcloths! Can you believe it? We are actually keeping most of them since I hear some of them wear out so fast.

We have our FastTrack childbirth class tomorrow. Obviously we need to be in attendance for this, but I guess I have to ask the doctor to make for sure it is something I can do.

Please keep us all in your prayers while we go through this. And let me know of any tips you know of on how to remain calm and not get so anxious and nervous about something going wrong.

24 Hour Pee Bucket & High BP

So Dr. S had told me because the BP has been high the past 2 appointments (even though it lowers after laying on my side for 10 minutes) that if I get another headache that Tylenol can't cure, to call the office immediately.

So on the way home yesterday, I started getting one. I took 2 Tylenol when I got home and took a nap. When I woke up at 6, the headache was still there. Dean had 2 teeth extracted yesterday also (a piece of a lower filled molar broke off on Saturday exposing the nerves) so he wasn't feeling up to par either. We laid around on the couch waiting for our pain to go away. Ate a late dinner and by 8:00, the headache was still there.

I didn't want to be a nervous patient, so I wanted to check my BP before calling the after hours line. Nobody in my neighborhood had a BP cuff available, so we drove to to CVS to use theirs. It was 139/83 both times we took it. So I called the office and the on-call doc said to go to L&D at the hospital for some monitoring and bloodwork...

The experience was totally NOT what I was expecting. I was expecting to lay on a bed with my clothes on with a BP cuff and have them take it every 10 minutes or so for a couple of hours. I was NOT expecting to have to completely undress and put on a hospital gown. I also had to pee like nobody's business, but the doctor wanted a urine sample via catheter. EEK - WHAT? So she used a catheter to get the sample and drain the rest of my bladder.

Next up was the fetal heart rate monitors strapped to my belly to monitor Peanut's HR. Then the BP cuff for me which read my BP every 10 minutes. After a couple of hours, the print outs were taken to the doctor and all is well - both Peanut and my BP. Of course it was high when I got there, but since I was laying down the rest of time, it was low.

So here I sit, at home on the couch with the laptop and Maddie, watching Deliver Me and Bringing Home Baby (yes, at the same time) so I can do a 24 hour urine collection in the comfort of my own home. I am sure my co-workers appreciate me not lugging a pee jug between my cube and the ladies' room. The pee jug is chilling in an ice bucket. That is so weird to me that it has to be cold when it comes out hot? Anyone? Mrs. Martha RN I know you know why I have to "chill" my pee bucket...

Checking Account Fraud...

Look at me - 3 posts in one day....


See I told you that this started out being a crappy day....

Looks like I have been the victim of identity theft. Ok, not really my identity per se, but someone has my debit card number AND PIN - which everyone knows is a direct line into your checking/savings accounts...

Hubby found a $165 charge for an HCA Hospital in Nashville.TN last Thursday. I called the bank and answered many questions. Including: did you see a doctor on 2/5? I said coincidentally yes (the OB) but not in Nashville! And there was no charge (because its a f/u OB visit). Anyway, they have started the claims process and because it hasn't actually posted (still a pending charge as of today) they can't issue a credit just yet. My debit card has been canceled and a new one should arrive in 5-7 business days. UGH. This means I have to be Cashola Kim this week....and for those that know me IRL, this will be a challenge as I am usually known as No Cash Kim.


At least we caught it now and am able to get a stop to it. AND thank God it was only $165. We could have been really screwed as the mortgage was paid today!!!


***UPDATED 02/10/09....Response from Shell:

Please accept our apology for any inconvenience you experienced at one of our locations. Delivering world-class customer service is a high priority for Shell. We are disappointed when we fail to meet your expectations, and we believe the experience you had is an exception to the way Shell branded retailers typically operate.
Our review indicates your experience occurred at one of our independently owned and operated locations. Please be assured that we have formally recorded your feedback and the appropriate party will be notified. Customer feedback helps us to identify opportunities for improvement.
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. We value your patronage and hope you will continue to choose Shell's quality products. If you have additional questions, please contact Shell Customer Care toll-free at 1-888-GO-SHELL (1-888-467-4355) or send an e-mail to shellcustomercare@shell.com.

Sincerely,
Shell Solutions Center
Customer Care

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Thanks for the pat answer that you send everyone that has a complaint. Makes me feel like a real important customer.***

I should have stayed home today...

I am already feeling very emotional/hormonal today and since I have another u/s and b/w at 8:30, this means I had to drive in to work again (vs the van pool). I was on a 2 lane road going 45 and this stupid Civic pulls out from a neighborhood and doesn't speed up...continues about 20 so of course, I have to slam the brakes to avoid hitting him. Then what does he do? Oh, he puts his blinker on to turn left onto the first street past where he just came from! OMG! Thanks alot you a**hole!

A few BLOCKS later, I pulled up to a light next to a Corvette and he decided he wanted to race when the light turned green. So I did.... and I won. Yeah for Zoe! But then as we are slowing down (a little) through the next intersection (Don't worry kids, it was 6:15AM so not too many people out and about) this little Nissan pickup turns right, right in front of me! Again with the brakes...

A few BLOCKS after that, I am in the right lane singing with the radio driving the speed limit and there's a school bus beside me. Suddenly he puts on his blinker and starts to come over! I was almost a school bus/curb sandwich. So I lay on the horn and slam the brakes yet again and he moved back over...

So this is a fair warning to those of you I will come in contact with today, and especially this morning.... I am NOT in a good mood.

***UPDATE***
I REALLY should have stayed home today. How can, in only 5 miles, 3 different cars cut me off, put on their brakes and their blinkers because they want into another lane? This happened on a 2 way road and the FREEWAY for crying outloud!! Since when is it OK to drive 40 with your brakes on because you need to get over? OMG

This was the only weekend we had available in May to do the IUI. After that its family reunion in LA, Family camping trip for Memorial Day, and the Cruise starts on 5/31 - 6/8.... Dr. H did say that if this one didn't take then we would take rest cycle before trying something else. But I don't want to rest...

U/s was again with me doing the inserting. Just weird if you ask me. The lining was still 8 and the follies were still 8.

• What does this mean will happen to this cycle?
• Will it be canceled?
• Is it my fault the follies are not growing because of Drunk Fest 2008?

To Ovulate or Not to Ovulate....

So hopefully not too many of you read the previous post for today. If so... sorry, it's been permanently deleted.

I called the clinic to get my prog.ester.one b/w results. From what I've read, if I was pg without medication, it would be 10. With medication, it would be close to 15. Are you ready for my number?.......................................................... 0.9
Seriously. I suck at prog.ester.one. I didn't even know you could have less than 1.0. She said this means that I did not ovulate and that Dr. H wants me to start on Pro.metri.um again. We hung up after I gave her my pharmacy number. And then I started thinking, well what the hell did that mean? Did that mean this cycle was a bust? Does that mean I am not pg? Does that mean I have to start a different treatment?

So I called again. She said that Dr. H seemed concerned as it visually appeared that I had ovulated because after the insem. he did an u/s. This showed CLEAR AS DAY the mature eggie and the collapsed follicle it had come from. He said "oh look you ovulated right on time." And yet the prog. level is 0.9? Doesn't this seem conflicting? So I asked the nurse what to do going forward. Is this a bust? Am I pg or not? Her reply was I MIGHT be, but probably not. Oh, thanks for clearing that up, you freak show.

I have an appointment next week for the blood pg test. Do I need to keep it? Well, it's up to you. WTH? So, I was going to have a bottle of wine with dinner tonight due to this report. Does this mean I continue as if I am pg and not partake in the beverages? GRRRR

So I will continue on...obviously buy a ton of HPT's on the way home tonight and obsess over them for the next 6 days until the beta. Then hopefully that will confirm in a more clear and precise manner exactly what is going on inside my very confused body.

If it turns out that I am not, which I probably am not, then she said we will continue with a different treatment since clo.mid didn't work its magic like it should have. Great - sign me up to be the next Human Pincushion. I have heard/read that those injections are the biggest bitches of all...

Grateful for:

• HPT's to get me through this indecisiveness