I want a beautiful paddleboat, just like this one!!

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day, even after all the computer craziness.  Yes, computer is fine.  My RAM went bad, but it wasn’t my fault and I lost NOTHING.  YAHOO!

Over lunch, I had a meeting with a co-worker to hammer out the outline/structure/basics of an article we’re writing on working with people with Autism or Asperger’s in the library setting.  Seems there is a bit of a gap between some of the suggestions in the psychology literature and library literature.  In the psychology lit, it is often suggested that libraries would be ideal environments for AS (autism spectrum) individuals, but there seems to be nothing in library literature to support that or to even say “Hey, we tried it!” There are some articles about serving that population, but not on including them in the workforce.  We’re writing a “we tried it” article.  It’s super exciting to be working toward being published, especially since I’m not even a librarian .  And it’s even more exciting that it seems that no one else is doing it.  It’s been fascinating and really enriching to work with my volunteer.  I hope we’re able to continue the program. 

After that was a meeting regarding the arrangement of spaces in the building.  The discussion lead to some really exciting ideas about creating faculty space & collections on the entry level.  I think it will be a huge improvement to the library in general–making some things more accessible, allowing space for information sharing, etc..  It’s amazing, because lots of other aspects of the meeting went really poorly.  Dominance and queen bee issues were creeping up and there wasn’t much that was able to mitigate it.  So I find it surprising that something really good came out of something really sketchy.

After work was a quick trip to Target for Hospital Pillows.  Hospital Pillows?  You may remember that birth class started last night.  I determined I wanted some cheap, almost disposable, new pillows to take to class and the birth.  First, I HATE those odd hospital pillows that seem to be made of failed Nerf balls.  Second, all my pillows at home are kinda old and grungy (but I still love them…).  Third, I think it might be one aspect of nesting that is starting to turn on inside me.  I picked up some cheap pillow cases too, in a dark color.  I felt so clever!!

So…birth class…we had talked about all our options as far as what kind of class to go with.  Around here there didn’t seem to be much in the way of middleground.  There were 12 week Bradley courses, but we missed the start of the earliest one in town and would have had to travel to Peoria or Champaign to attend one.  And while I know a lot of people who have had great success with Bradley, there are a number of aspects of it that didn’t line up with our personalities. Hypnobirthing/babies seems to only be offered in more metro areas than here.  We weren’t really up for the doula option.  What we settled on was the hospital’s class with our own suplimental reading on Bradley and Hypnobirthing. 

My thought was that the hospital course would be very medically based in a “here’s what we’ll be doing to you” way, but that hasn’t been the case at all. 

First of all, the presenter, Kara, was REALLY FUNNY.  Not general presenter funny where people chuckle quietly, but actually quite hilarious.  Very relateable, not stodgey, quirky, honest, open, knowledgeable, welcoming.  I have never been to a class where everyone was so engaged.  The course is a good overview of all the options available and possible, some of the complications that could occur, a request for everyone to be flexible, focused, relaxed.  Very choice centered.  Very accepting of those who are hoping to go natural and those planning on the drugs.  All about the options… 

I have to say I’m terribly surprised.  I expected it to be a 3 week waste of time, but we’ve already gotten quite a lot out of it, including the disgusting, yet apt and funny, inside joke that the delivered placenta looks a lot like the chocolate pudding filled gourds in the Chocolate Room of Willy Wonka’s factory.   

Today is off to a better start, with the exceptions of a giant spider in the toilet, Max litter box surfing, getting a Mountain Dew from the Diet Mountain Dew button on the vending machine, having to talk to HR today, super ginormous swollen feet and tummy grumbliness.  Meh.  All little inconveniences in comparison to the big thing…Pinchy seems to be hanging out up and down.  He’s moved away from his upper right to lower left bandolier position.  Doubt he’ll stay where he is, but it is kinda exciting.  And a wee bit terrifying.  And really cool.

But technology is permanent?!?!?!?

Andi’s Morning:

Get up bright and early after a good night’s sleep.
Wonder when I will have time to talk to a friend who lives far away since I missed him again last night.
Brush hair, teeth, get dressed.
Check bloodsugar (104–no matter what I can’t seem to get it back down under 100–meds. Crap.).
Talk to my sweetie.
Get out the door a little late, but still very early for me to make up time from Monday’s doctor visit.
Stop by McDonalds for a GD friendly breakfast (yes, it’s possible).
Drive to work, marveling at how much better the drivers are at 7 opposed to 8.
Think about what a total waste of time Car Seat Class was last night and how I hope that the Birth Class tonight is better.
Know in my heart of hearts that it probably won’t be.
Get to work.
Juggle my rations to restock my desk (high protein granola bars, nuts, PB, Apples) and carry in my drinks.
Realize that despite my best efforts to cover my belly, my under tank has ridden up and my belly is showing.
Set everything down to readjust.
Manage to grab the side of my underwear instead of my jeans, pulling that up and out as a car goes by.

Sigh deeply.

Grab all my stuff and get into the building.
Set everything down and turn on the lights.
Marvel at my messy desk and how motivated I feel to clear it off.
Start jotting down things on my To-Do list.
Hit the power button on my monitor.
Am met with a frozen screen, a million lines, general wrongness.
Try to shut down with a ctrl/alt/delete. Nothing.
Try to shut down with the power button. Nothing.
Try unplugging, waiting 10 seconds, plugging back in.  Nothing.
Again. Nothing.
Call computer guru.
Leave message.
Try not to cry.
Realize all the stuff I wanted to do first thing requires my computer.  Not just A computer.  Mine.
Start a second list–stuff I should back up when I have the chance.
Talk to guru.  She has no more success than I.
Set up shop at the crappy cube next to mine.
Start trying to work on stuff.
Create a non-computer based To-Do list.
Tech guru shows up.
Reassures me that my hard drive is probably fine, it’s likely just a RAM problem.
Whew.
But it may take a day or two to fix.
Crap.

Table for Cassidy? Hopalong Cassidy?

The weekend was soggy.  Saturday was a cavelcade of driving and furniture shopping and buying apples and other shopping and wearing out my maternity jeans (actually had to buy a new pair.  ARGH.)  Sunday was full of hanging out with good friends and eating much good food.  All through the raindrops.  We don’t have anything stored in our basement, so neither of us have even checked if we got water, but our neighbors on the downhill side didn’t have any, so I’m certain we we’re fine.

The week at work is going well.  My blood sugar isn’t fairing as well.  My fasting numbers seem to climb by the day.  I have gone from the low to mid 90s to 110-120.  I’ve been eating well and my breakfast and lunch numbers are still good, but my dinner numbers continue to climb, too.  I don’t have an appointment this week, but I was told to call in my numbers. No word yet on if I’m starting meds…

While I had them on the phone, I did mention that I was having a lot of pain in my right calf.  I can’t recall injuring it in any way.  Last night, Ray rubbed it, I took a hot whirlpool bath, used a heating pad, took tylenol…and nothing.  I can point it, but flexing it in any way (even walking) hurts.  My left foot I can flex fifteen degrees or so.  My right I can barely get past the midpoint.  I am limping for the first several steps when I get up and climbing stairs is unpleasant at best.  It even felt warm to the touch.  Strange….but it was different enough and persistent enough that I thought it best to let the doc know and let her make the call if I should get tested for a clot or such.  I got a call back 5 minutes later to be at Radiology in an hour.  I made my calls, arranged to be off work, called Ray and asked if he could clear his schedule…

Anyway, the test went fine.  I don’t have a clot.  Felt a little foolish for even mentioning it, but the fact is it COULD have been something.  And it isn’t as though I’m imagining the tightness or pain in my leg.  It is still bothering me.  I’ll continue with all the stuff I tried before and work on getting my flexibility back to normal.  I still have no idea what I did, but it’s one tiny part of my health I seem to have a minute amount of control over, so I’m going with it. 

Meh. Tomorrow will be better.

Max the Banana Thief

Last night I was walking into the kitchen for my mandatory night time snack.  (Yes.  Mandatory.  It keeps my fasting blood sugar lower in the morning.  For many people, ice cream works.  Not for me.  I tried it last night and Wowsers! my sugar was bad this morning.)

Ok…got sidetracked…

Last night I was walking into the kitchen for my mandatory night time snack.  As I was about to step over the threshold, I noticed something dark and vaguely slimey looking underfoot.  I flipped on a light and discovered bits and pieces of a banana peel.  Wha?  My sleepy, rainyday mind started whirring.  Hmmm….

It could be only one culprit.  Max.  Banana Thief.  Well, thief of any kind of food.  One day I thought my farmers market zuccini were safe.  Nope.  Into the dog they went like crunchy green bones.  And there was the great cake debacle.  The August (and September!!) hot dog bun incidents.  But bananas?  In the skin?  And he left at least some of the peel?  Freak of monumental proportions.

Perhaps this will be my multimillion dollar children’s book idea.

Where is that rolled up newspaper when you need it???

Ok, so I’ve been a bad blogger (as several people have both gently and not-so-gently pointed out to me).  I mostly write this stuff down for me, so I don’t always remember that others are reading it.  I have no excuse other than I’ve been exhausted and working far more than usual.  So much so that I’ve been home the last few days to recover from a stomach bug/contraction craziness/overwork.  When I got home over the last few weeks, collapsing in a heap was the most I could manage.  Today I’m feeling much better, more like myself, more energy. 

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So, updates:

* The Gestational diabetes has been mostly under control.  I had one bad/crazy meal at Olive Garden (who knew that soup, salad and breadstick (singular) would eff up my blood sugar so much???).  My concern now is that my fasting numbers are starting to climb.  After meals, I’m doing OK, but I’ve been slipping in some carbs that seem to impact me more than others.  For example, I’ll have an appropriate sized portion of M&Ms and I’ll see crazy numbers, even though according to the dietician’s plan it should be an even swap between that and a slice of whole wheat bread.  Clearly I need to eat the healthier options.  Bleh.  Not fun when what I want is the M&Ms.

*Baby seems to be growing and growing.  He’s turned in such a way that his feet fit NICELY under my ribs.  He seems content to nap much of the day and then kick me like a soccer star for the rest of the time.  That also means that his head/hands are positioned right on top of my bladder, which has made for a few close calls.  For those of you who will ask me in person, yes, I am doing them.  Yes.  They help a lot.  If you don’t know what I’m referring to, you don’t need to.

* The study is done!! (YAY!!) Ray did a miraculous job of getting the room all set up.  The carpet/bookcases/furniture look teriffic and it has us both excited about the next projects.  The nursery is up next, but since we’re rooming in at first, it’s not vital it gets done on any time line.  Quite frankly, I’d rather hang out with him than have him work on house stuff.

* We’ve washed and sorted and put away all the baby clothes.  I love the smell of Dreft.

* I’m feeling great today.  I feel physically good for the first time in weeks.  I’ve been having lots and lots of hip and sciatic pain lately.  I hate hobbling around. Especially in the middle of the night when I have to get out of bed.  At night, when I’m having trouble sleeping, I debate which I hate more.  In the middle of the night, the hip pain is what wakes me and I hate that most, but then the sciatic pain travels down both sides of my behind when I get up, so I change my mind.  When I finally climb back into bed, I’m of two minds. 

* Speaking of getting out of bed—I have to say I didn’t realize how hard it would be to move around and get up.  I have a nest of pillows (that Ray claims push him out of bed–I’ve offered to sleep in the guest room, but he prefers to complain), but I have to use my arms to push myself into a sitting position and then swing my legs off.  If I don’t, I get shooting pains in the lower abdomen–nothing to worry about, but just some muscle strain. 

*And speaking of muscle strain, over the last week, things have shifted downward.  My few little stretch marks have blossomed into a  faint little road map on my lower belly.  And there will be times when it feels like it would feel better for me to actually hold my hands laced under my belly to hold it up.  I suppose I could get a support belt or something, but meh.  It isn’t so bad.  If it gets worse, I’ll do something about it.

* I’m 33 weeks along.  47 days to go.  I’m only mostly freaked out.  At the moment, birth is a little more overwhelming a thought than the fact that my entire life is about to change.  Until I wrote that sentence.  That clarified things quite a lot.  Now I’m absolutley more freaked out about the whole entire-life-changing thing.  And I’m sure that will continue until I start thinking about birth again…

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OK…I’ll be better now that I have my regular life balance back again.

Most wonderful time of the year…

It’s asounding, but I actually have 5 minutes to string together to post a brief, brief, brief post.

This is my busiest work week of the year and I’m exhausted.  I’ve been at work late every night, things that should be set in stone have gone crazy, I’ve hired 100,000 students, and on top of it I’ve had one OB appointment, one emergency dental appointment and an appointment with the dietician. 

I’ll catch you all up on everything shortly…as for now, I’m headed to bed to sleep (I hope and pray…)

TGI…paid for.

Random Story from Ray and Andi’s world:

So the other night Ray and I decided to splurge.  I’d been eating really well on the diet all week, so we decided to go to Fridays.  We didn’t feel like cooking and most of my favorite places are A) a little pricy (Lucca is fantastic, but pizza and wings adds up, especially with a Smithwicks of two for Ray) and B) sure to send my bloodsugar spinning (no curried chick peas on rice with a side of naan for me right now!).  Since we rarely head to the chain places, we were even a little giddy at the idea of eating at one.

We picked Fridays because we’d had a few good experiences there and no bad ones. 

Um….let me rephrase…

We picked Fridays because up to that point we hadn’t had a BAD experience there.  We’d even had a few really good meals.  Up until that point.

We actually ordered an appetizer (BBQ Pork Toasted Ravioli…pretty good!)  and I had a salad (Caesar with TOO much dressing, but it tasted good).  Service was quick and pleasant without being too familiar, drinks flowed freely. 

We both ordered the same thing, a petit sirloin with jalepeno mac and cheese.  When it arrived on the table, I could see from the outside that neither was cooked to medium well.  Hmm.  Send it back? I opted not to…I’d rather have a medium rare steak anyway.  So I cut into it.  A shade less done than even I like it.  Ray’s too.  Hmm.

So I cut off a piece and placed it in my mouth.  And chewed.  And began running through the list of animals I have stored in my brain to try and identify the type of meat this was.  Possum?  Gopher?  Horse? Certainly it was like no beef I had ever encountered in my life.  I began to think there was something exceptionally wrong with it.  Maybe this is what listeria tastes like??!!??  I began to feel the well of guilt in me for indulging in the one bite of undercooked meat, but I realized the taste wasn’t spoiled.  It just was what it was.

Beef isn’t really supposed to be gamey, is it? 

As I chewed, I looked up at Ray, who was wearing an identical expression of disgust on his face.  We swallowed and sat in stunned silence.  Now, I understand that I will not get a Ruth’s Chris steak in a burger joint like this, but I’ve had some pretty good ones at this ilk of dining establishment.   And this….well…this…it was…just terrible.  Awful.  Almost not recognizeable as meat.  The plate looked lovely, the char marks were perfect and the food was awful.

We both turned toward the mac and cheese.  But it wasn’t.  It was overcooked, bloated, flabby penne under that top layer of rubbery cheese.  We each speared a mushy tube and took a bite.  Ok, so we had already established it WASN’T actually macaroni…and now we discovered that it didn’t seem to be cheese either.  It was a watery beschamel sauce with barely a hint of salt, let alone something as wild and crazy as jalepeno.  Gak.

Quick conference.  Neither of us were going to eat another bite.  We called over the waiter and just said that the food was terrible.  The manager came over and apologized and basically told us we ordered poorly.  But he said it in a really nice way.  And then said that the whole meal was covered and he’d send over some boxes for us to take it home.  Our waiter came back with styrofoam boxes, which we declined, and said it was all covered, but that he hoped we’d be back another time to try them again.  Perfect customer service all around.

We left a tip that would have covered the appetizer and salad and tip…and then went for ice cream.  Fortunately, that went well…

3…2…1…Blast Off!

30 weeks.

30. weeks.

10 to go.

Maybe less.

Maybe more.

I don’t know how to process it.

So much to do.  So long to wait.  And still it’s only 10 weeks.

Which do you want first??

29 weeks 4 days

Friday’s doctor’s appointment went well.  We had gotten bumped up to a two week rotation since the diabetes diagnosis.  Dr. D was great as always, telling me things she knew I needed to know without freaking me out in any way.  There was some good news and some bad news…

* Good/bad news= We’ll be on a 10 day visit cycle for the next little while.  She didn’t want to wait a full 2 weeks before seeing me again.  Any chance to hear baby and check in is good, but not when it lines up with the start of school.  Overwhelming.

* Bad news=It is starting to sound like there is a very good chance that I’ll either need to be induced early or have a c-section.  She’s great about having a “wait and see” attitude, but she’s very concerned about baby size and growth.  Add to that a study I heard that women who know their conception date within a 24 hour period (through early ultrasound or IUI or IVF) rarely go past their due dates.  I’m fine with whatever happens as long as there is a happy, healthy baby at the end, but the rest of me wants to exert some control soooo badly.  It helps me understand my friends who INSIST they won’t deliver before their due dates or are SO EMPHATIC they won’t need to do this or that to go through labor.

* Bad news=My fasting blood sugars have been under 100, which is what the dietician said is the goal.  Dr. D said that when she was going through school, the threshold was lower and she was hoping to see numbers in the 80s or even 70s.  She’s thinking of having me go on insulin.  I’ve been adjusting my diet and have been hitting in the 80s the last couple of days, so I might be able to keep off the insulin.

* Good news=Sounds like I’m going to get an additional ultrasound, likely two.  While they aren’t spectacularly accurate, it will give us an estimate of baby size.  The last thing we want is to be delivering baby only to discover that the head will fit out, but the shoulders won’t.  I shudder to think…

That’s it for now.  I have no energy today and found myself in a rotten mood everytime I heard my dear husband’s voice…fortunately that’s improved a great deal since this morning when I was wishing I had a fork around to stick into his arm.  For no reason at all.  He just bugged.

Ok, I’m off to clean up the bedroom and do some laundry.  And find some way to destinkify two of the three cats.  I don’t know if it’s a dietary thing or a warm weather thing, but they are RANK.  Perhaps I’ll attempt a bath for them if I’m feeling brave.  Or maybe just break into my diaper wipe stash.  Something MUST be done!!

Attack of the Charlie Horses

Last night I had 4 separate charlie horse incidents. 

The first was the worst, resulting in a cramp so bad that my foot was curled into a hideous claw at the bottom of my leg. 

I’m sure that there is some sort of lesson to be learned here.  Freaking out only makes them hurt more.  My only choice is to just breathe, remind myself they pass quickly and try to relax.  Hmmm…