Warning: this post was written on an iTouch. I don't have the patience nor the skill to fix typos.
I am surprised it came this soon but I believe this may be the lowpoint. Writing this post is keeping me from crying which is the only reason I writing it a la hunt and peck on a device the size of a cAlculator. The docs told me yesterday, after they said I am here till the baby comes, that they would pit me on do not disturb at night which means no vitals checks from 10 to 6. I am awake because the nurse just left after checking my vitals. I asked why and she said the docs wanted to. Goody for them. I hVe not slept more than 2-3 hours at a stretch since I arrived and never once have my vitals or the baby's changed even a little. They are taking a healthy woman, in no pain, and put her in a pressure cooker, all under the banner of "we need to be safe" and I fear that my compliance and morale are soon going to be in jeopardy. I plan to tell them this tomorrow.
My healthy environment has all but disappeared and I don't see how increasing my stress, taking away sleep, taking away comfort, depriving me of fresh air and forcing everyone I care about to watch it all helplessly is going to keep me safe for another 3 weeks. I'll see if they can explain that in the morning.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Highs and Lows
Since the last time I posted, Bill and I have been bombarded with highs and lows. I thought I would outline them for you all here. Drumroll please.
High #1: End of school. The end of the year couldn't come fast enough for me this year and I think we all know why. The excitement of the arrival of our little girl and knowing that I won't return to school till the end of January because I'll be taking care of her gave me an intense feeling of "senioritis". So many things to do this summer and the hope that the weather would turn somewhat summery kept the anticipation going.
Low #1: End of school. The end of school this year unfortunately meant the governor announcing a need for a 9% budget reduction across the board. Here we go again. This time my job wasn't on the line, but we were faced with cutting days and salaries and possibly colleagues. Our district cut 3 days off the end of this year and 5 days off the calendar next year. This added to the budget stress for us since I'm taking some time unpaid for maternity leave. Plus kids were really sad to have some of their favorite end-of-the-year activities cut, like a field trip to Oaks Park and the 8th Grade Celebration.
High #2: Sunriver. Bill and I and some good friends trooped off to Sunriver for 3 days to rest up, kick off summer, and get in one more trip before the baby comes. We were blessed with some great weather and good times, including a trip to the pool (yea, exercise) and some shopping downtown Bend (yea, yummy lunch!)
Low #2: The morning of our last day in Sunriver I woke up to discover that had started spotting. We jumped in the car and raced home, called the doctor, and I checked into OHSU for 2 nights. I really thought I was leaving Friday morning, but the bleeding started again and they told me to get comfy for the next week. I've been up here with no more incidences and am doing my best to be compliant and follow the rules. It is not hard to follow the rules when you're in the hospital because, seriously, what are you going to do? I'm on strict bedrest, only allowed to use the bathroom.
High #3: Our placenta. Bill was talking to his cousin on the phone and I overheard him refer to "our placenta". It reminded me that we are in this together. It isn't my body causing this problem, or Baby Girl's, it is just a little bump on the road to having our family complete. I was surprised at how much that reference meant to me. We all have to do our parts right now, including Baby Girl. Her job is to continue being perfect. Every time she is on the monitor they comment about how great she is and how easy to track. She is showing no signs of wanting to come early. I'm sure her cooperation in the womb is an indicator of how lovely she'll be when she is finally here!
High #4: First shower. I didn't shower on Wednesday because we left Sunriver so quickly. By the time they let me shower it was Saturday. Yuck. That was the best shower, though. I've had another since but it wasn't nearly as spectacular as the one after four days. The CNA came in afterwards to check my vitals and we were talking about how great a shower is after you can't have one. She pointed out that she remembered not getting to shower when she was in the war and water and electricity was scarce. They also had to gather enough water in order to shower which made it really challenging. That was a good reminder that maybe I don't have it so bad.
Low #3: Missed shower. My baby shower had to be cancelled because I was in the hospital which was really disappointing. My sister came into town for it and we had friends and family traveling in for the event. The host and hostess are two of the most gracious people I know and took care of everything. And really, what are you going to do? But I was still bummed to missed another opportunity to welcome Baby Burel.
High #5: Missing the baby shower meant mini-showers in the hospital. I may have been here but at least I got to see my sister and I've had visitors and tons of love and more than my share of the cookies that were for the shower. Cookies make everything better.
Not sure if it is a high or a low so I'm going to call it a "ho". Bill and I toured the neonatal ICU today. Staff wanted us to see how it worked in case the baby has to spend some time there. If she has to be born early, she would need to be there for awhile but there is also a chance that she'll have to be there if I need to be in ICU after her delivery. Either way, touring that part of the hospital was emotional for me and huge incentive to follow the rules and do exactly what they say. Baby Girl is 33 1/2 weeks, which is far enough along that she should do fine if she has to arrive early, but I'd really like her to hang out at least a few more weeks.
So there you have it. The best case scenario right now is extreme boredom. If there are no more "episodes" I should be able to go home the end of the week. If there is any more bleeding, I'm likely here for the duration. We're definitely hoping for boredom!
High #1: End of school. The end of the year couldn't come fast enough for me this year and I think we all know why. The excitement of the arrival of our little girl and knowing that I won't return to school till the end of January because I'll be taking care of her gave me an intense feeling of "senioritis". So many things to do this summer and the hope that the weather would turn somewhat summery kept the anticipation going.
Low #1: End of school. The end of school this year unfortunately meant the governor announcing a need for a 9% budget reduction across the board. Here we go again. This time my job wasn't on the line, but we were faced with cutting days and salaries and possibly colleagues. Our district cut 3 days off the end of this year and 5 days off the calendar next year. This added to the budget stress for us since I'm taking some time unpaid for maternity leave. Plus kids were really sad to have some of their favorite end-of-the-year activities cut, like a field trip to Oaks Park and the 8th Grade Celebration.
High #2: Sunriver. Bill and I and some good friends trooped off to Sunriver for 3 days to rest up, kick off summer, and get in one more trip before the baby comes. We were blessed with some great weather and good times, including a trip to the pool (yea, exercise) and some shopping downtown Bend (yea, yummy lunch!)
Low #2: The morning of our last day in Sunriver I woke up to discover that had started spotting. We jumped in the car and raced home, called the doctor, and I checked into OHSU for 2 nights. I really thought I was leaving Friday morning, but the bleeding started again and they told me to get comfy for the next week. I've been up here with no more incidences and am doing my best to be compliant and follow the rules. It is not hard to follow the rules when you're in the hospital because, seriously, what are you going to do? I'm on strict bedrest, only allowed to use the bathroom.
High #3: Our placenta. Bill was talking to his cousin on the phone and I overheard him refer to "our placenta". It reminded me that we are in this together. It isn't my body causing this problem, or Baby Girl's, it is just a little bump on the road to having our family complete. I was surprised at how much that reference meant to me. We all have to do our parts right now, including Baby Girl. Her job is to continue being perfect. Every time she is on the monitor they comment about how great she is and how easy to track. She is showing no signs of wanting to come early. I'm sure her cooperation in the womb is an indicator of how lovely she'll be when she is finally here!
High #4: First shower. I didn't shower on Wednesday because we left Sunriver so quickly. By the time they let me shower it was Saturday. Yuck. That was the best shower, though. I've had another since but it wasn't nearly as spectacular as the one after four days. The CNA came in afterwards to check my vitals and we were talking about how great a shower is after you can't have one. She pointed out that she remembered not getting to shower when she was in the war and water and electricity was scarce. They also had to gather enough water in order to shower which made it really challenging. That was a good reminder that maybe I don't have it so bad.
Low #3: Missed shower. My baby shower had to be cancelled because I was in the hospital which was really disappointing. My sister came into town for it and we had friends and family traveling in for the event. The host and hostess are two of the most gracious people I know and took care of everything. And really, what are you going to do? But I was still bummed to missed another opportunity to welcome Baby Burel.
High #5: Missing the baby shower meant mini-showers in the hospital. I may have been here but at least I got to see my sister and I've had visitors and tons of love and more than my share of the cookies that were for the shower. Cookies make everything better.
Not sure if it is a high or a low so I'm going to call it a "ho". Bill and I toured the neonatal ICU today. Staff wanted us to see how it worked in case the baby has to spend some time there. If she has to be born early, she would need to be there for awhile but there is also a chance that she'll have to be there if I need to be in ICU after her delivery. Either way, touring that part of the hospital was emotional for me and huge incentive to follow the rules and do exactly what they say. Baby Girl is 33 1/2 weeks, which is far enough along that she should do fine if she has to arrive early, but I'd really like her to hang out at least a few more weeks.
So there you have it. The best case scenario right now is extreme boredom. If there are no more "episodes" I should be able to go home the end of the week. If there is any more bleeding, I'm likely here for the duration. We're definitely hoping for boredom!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
28 Weeks!
I think we both look really weary in this picture.
Maybe because we are anticipating severe sleep deprivation in only 12 weeks!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
23 1/2 weeks
If anyone has any suggestions for how you are supposed to stand when
posing for pregnancy pictures, please let me know.
I wanted to wear the same outfit and stand in the same spot
as my last photo to really see the progress,
but I thought outside would be prettier.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
A Breakfast Story
Breakfast is tricky business at our place. Bill has an egg intolerance and gets severe stomach aches after he eats them. But he loves eggs so this is sad. I don't care for eggs unless they are hard boiled, though I'll eat them fried with the yolks broken on untoasted bread. Very few breakfast dishes are eggless and if they are, they are either meat-laden (yay for Bill, boo for me) or sweet sweet and covered in syrup and butter. So at our house, we eat a lot of cereal and toast.
But this morning I had a hankering for pancakes. I'd gotten up early and had some tea and kept arguing with myself about whether I should make some. Bill make eggless French toast last weekend, so it seemed fair that I make some pancakes and bacon. Decision made, I started cooking.
Mishap #1: We only had 3 strips of bacon. Everyone knows that is hardly a sharing amount, and Bill told me I could have them. We are a sharing family, though, so I figured Bill could have 2 strips and I'd have one, so I started cooking the bacon.
Mishap #2: Pancake mix must be 2 years old with no visible expiration date on package. Not too comfortable with that, so I found a recipe online and trudged on. Bacon is about a third of the way cooked.
Mishap #3: Recipe called for 8 servings which is a lot of pancakes. Luckily the website I get my recipes from has a feature where you can reset the servings and it recalculates the recipe.
Mishap #4: Halfway through preparing the batter I realized that by recalculating the recipe, it now called for half an egg. Being a college educated individual, I decided to beat the egg and spoon out half (2 tablespoons) into the batter. Problem is, beaten egg doesn't really spoon since it oozes off the spoon after you dip it in, making the measurement highly inaccurate. But I guesstimated and moved on.
Mishap #5: Being a college educated individual, I am able to read. Being a pregnant individual, processing is a little iffy. Recalculated recipe called for 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk. I carefully measured one cup plus 2 tablespoons milk into the batter. Batter is now soup.
Update on the bacon: 2 slices are slightly over crisp, but all are removed from pan and draining on paper towels.
Update on pancake batter: Even a college educated individual could figure out to double the other ingredients to repair the "pancake soup" but the pregnant individual could see no real purpose in going to the trouble so poured soup down the drain and offered Bill bacon and toast.
Update on Bill: Bill was watching TV in the other room and helpfully asked how I was doing throughout the whole process. Upon hearing the batter was now in the drain he offered to take me out to breakfast. Absolutely the right move, Babe. Frugal, college educated, pregnant individual could have been easily pushed to go out to eat but convinced self and totally agreeable Bill that bacon and toast were fine. Two pieces of toast went into the toaster for Bill.
Mishap #6: I'd carefully poured the bacon grease out of the cast iron skillet which was still extremely hot. No sense wasting a perfectly hot skillet, so I decided to fry an egg to accompany my toast and bacon.
Update on bacon: My slice of bacon had now been reduced to half a slice of bacon since I had been nibbling throughout the pancake charade.
I-saw-this-coming-and-went-ahead-anyway-Event #1: The cast iron skillet was VERY hot still and had a nice coating of bacon grease still in it. I never fry my eggs in this pan. I always fry my eggs in a non-stick egg pan. I never fry my eggs in bacon grease. I always fry my eggs with a drop of olive oil. Yet for some reason I did it differently. Even though I thought to myself, "Self. You should pull out the other pan. If you use that pan you're going to ruin the eggs." EVEN then, I put a touch of butter in the skillet and proceeded to crack the eggs.
Mishap #7: Duh. The pan was too hot and too large. The eggs popped and screamed and spread out to super-thin puddles of brown whites with bright yellow balls of yolk hanging on for dear life. I broke the yolks and for some reason, even though I could see this wasn't going to work, sprinkled pepper on top. I was in some sort of hazy denial.
Update on Bill: By this time, I'd removed Bill's toast and buttered it and delivered it with two strips of bacon.
Update on bacon: I think I had about a quarter of a strip of bacon left at this point.
I-saw-this-coming-and-went-ahead-anyway-Event #2: With the eggs in a very precarious position in the pan, I may have still been able to salvage them if I hadn't make the next error. I used the plastic spatula to turn the eggs. It is heat resistant, so that wasn't the problem. But the extreme heat of the pan and the insufficient grease to accommodate the eggs and the surface area the eggs now covered really required my metal spatula. It would have given me the ability to scrape underneath the eggs and still have the rigidity to actually get under them. But, I used the plastic one. And proceeded to smear the eggs all over the pan.
Update on the eggs: Eggs now look like scrambled yolks mixed with brown, crispy whites. Half went into a cup to cool off for Master Teddy, rest when into the garbage.
Update on bacon: Completely gone. Teddy got the last bite.
Update on my breakfast: After cleaning the whole mess up, I fixed myself a bowl of cereal.
But this morning I had a hankering for pancakes. I'd gotten up early and had some tea and kept arguing with myself about whether I should make some. Bill make eggless French toast last weekend, so it seemed fair that I make some pancakes and bacon. Decision made, I started cooking.
Mishap #1: We only had 3 strips of bacon. Everyone knows that is hardly a sharing amount, and Bill told me I could have them. We are a sharing family, though, so I figured Bill could have 2 strips and I'd have one, so I started cooking the bacon.
Mishap #2: Pancake mix must be 2 years old with no visible expiration date on package. Not too comfortable with that, so I found a recipe online and trudged on. Bacon is about a third of the way cooked.
Mishap #3: Recipe called for 8 servings which is a lot of pancakes. Luckily the website I get my recipes from has a feature where you can reset the servings and it recalculates the recipe.
Mishap #4: Halfway through preparing the batter I realized that by recalculating the recipe, it now called for half an egg. Being a college educated individual, I decided to beat the egg and spoon out half (2 tablespoons) into the batter. Problem is, beaten egg doesn't really spoon since it oozes off the spoon after you dip it in, making the measurement highly inaccurate. But I guesstimated and moved on.
Mishap #5: Being a college educated individual, I am able to read. Being a pregnant individual, processing is a little iffy. Recalculated recipe called for 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk. I carefully measured one cup plus 2 tablespoons milk into the batter. Batter is now soup.
Update on the bacon: 2 slices are slightly over crisp, but all are removed from pan and draining on paper towels.
Update on pancake batter: Even a college educated individual could figure out to double the other ingredients to repair the "pancake soup" but the pregnant individual could see no real purpose in going to the trouble so poured soup down the drain and offered Bill bacon and toast.
Update on Bill: Bill was watching TV in the other room and helpfully asked how I was doing throughout the whole process. Upon hearing the batter was now in the drain he offered to take me out to breakfast. Absolutely the right move, Babe. Frugal, college educated, pregnant individual could have been easily pushed to go out to eat but convinced self and totally agreeable Bill that bacon and toast were fine. Two pieces of toast went into the toaster for Bill.
Mishap #6: I'd carefully poured the bacon grease out of the cast iron skillet which was still extremely hot. No sense wasting a perfectly hot skillet, so I decided to fry an egg to accompany my toast and bacon.
Update on bacon: My slice of bacon had now been reduced to half a slice of bacon since I had been nibbling throughout the pancake charade.
I-saw-this-coming-and-went-ahead-anyway-Event #1: The cast iron skillet was VERY hot still and had a nice coating of bacon grease still in it. I never fry my eggs in this pan. I always fry my eggs in a non-stick egg pan. I never fry my eggs in bacon grease. I always fry my eggs with a drop of olive oil. Yet for some reason I did it differently. Even though I thought to myself, "Self. You should pull out the other pan. If you use that pan you're going to ruin the eggs." EVEN then, I put a touch of butter in the skillet and proceeded to crack the eggs.
Mishap #7: Duh. The pan was too hot and too large. The eggs popped and screamed and spread out to super-thin puddles of brown whites with bright yellow balls of yolk hanging on for dear life. I broke the yolks and for some reason, even though I could see this wasn't going to work, sprinkled pepper on top. I was in some sort of hazy denial.
Update on Bill: By this time, I'd removed Bill's toast and buttered it and delivered it with two strips of bacon.
Update on bacon: I think I had about a quarter of a strip of bacon left at this point.
I-saw-this-coming-and-went-ahead-anyway-Event #2: With the eggs in a very precarious position in the pan, I may have still been able to salvage them if I hadn't make the next error. I used the plastic spatula to turn the eggs. It is heat resistant, so that wasn't the problem. But the extreme heat of the pan and the insufficient grease to accommodate the eggs and the surface area the eggs now covered really required my metal spatula. It would have given me the ability to scrape underneath the eggs and still have the rigidity to actually get under them. But, I used the plastic one. And proceeded to smear the eggs all over the pan.
Update on the eggs: Eggs now look like scrambled yolks mixed with brown, crispy whites. Half went into a cup to cool off for Master Teddy, rest when into the garbage.
Update on bacon: Completely gone. Teddy got the last bite.
Update on my breakfast: After cleaning the whole mess up, I fixed myself a bowl of cereal.
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