Cocoa Butter is awesome

After holding on to my belly for a fruitless five minutes trying to feel the baby kick, Andy takes his hands away and asks...

Why do my hands smell of chocolate?

Fun at the lab

Yesterday was just as fun as a barrel full of monkeys. I went in for my extended glucose screening which started the night before with nothing to eat or drink.

I had to wait in line to sign in at the lab, which was unusual until I realized it was Rosh Hashanah and kids were out of school. So every kid that needed a sports physical or blood drawn for any reason was there.

They took my initial baseline blood about 20 mins. after my appointment time. Which, considering how busy they were was impressive.

After about another 20 mins. I still hadn't been given the flat soda stuff to drink so I went up and asked. They had to get my baseline back from the hospital first before they gave me the stuff to drink. Just sit down, they'll call me.

Another 20 mins. and they call me up. "We're trying to find your lab slip." After seeing the tape on my arm..."Oh, they've already taken the first one and I guess we're waiting for the hospital now. Sorry, we'll call you when we hear from the hospital."

Another 20 mins. I went back up and asked if they'd heard anything at all. It was now 10 AM, my appointment was for 8:30, I haven't eaten anything since 8:30 the night before. I'm pregnant and just a little bit cranky. "No, we haven't heard from them. We'll call them since they haven't called us."

5 mins. later "They're running the test right now, we should have the results in a few minutes."

10 mins. later I get my bottle of flat, syrupy fruit punch. It was delicious.

Now my three hours begin, with a brief break every hour when they draw another vial of blood. I've already been at the lab for two hours at this point. I'm actually cheering in my head every time they call someone else back. One less person in the waiting room.

I brought a book with me, thankfully. And there was always the TV in the room. I have never tuned in on purpose to Regis & Kelly, or The View, or Martha Stewart. I certainly never will again.

Between my book and people-watching, the day passed, albeit slowly. I noticed a few particular people and one general sort of trend.

The particular ones:
A trio of women came in together. Only one had an appointment. All three took turns filling out and verifying the paperwork. All three were dressed oddly, as in kelly green t-shirt dress with pink Ugg boots, pink canvas bag, bright blue cardigan. All three were in their early 30s.

An entire family came in. Mom, dad, two sons. Dad and one son needed to have blood drawn. Son would not stay in the waiting room. He kept slipping away down the hall. When dad got called in, mom tried to take son in to watch. Presumably to see that it wasn't a big deal. As soon as dad was done, son took off. Son got called about 2 mins later. He was no where to be found. Mom chased him around the hall for a while. We all heard the tantrum. Son was about 11 years old, by the way. Dad went out to try and help. Entire family never reappeared. Son lost his turn in line.

Another mom came in with a 3 year old girl. Wasn't clear who the appointment was for until they went back. And the screams started. Heartbreaking screams. Especially when the "Mommy what are they doing to me?" turned into "Mommy don't do this to me!!"

The trend:
Mothers with girls in high school tended come with them to the appointment. The girls had on t-shirts with their high school on it. The moms all had a variant of a Vera Bradley bag, and so did the girls. Mom's was usually the big carryall, daughter's was the beensy clutch with just enough of a strap to slip up onto their shoulder.

I finally got to leave a little before 2. Five hours packed full of fun.

The result? My sugar's still too high. On to the special diet I go.

Stuck? Stuck!? STUCK!

I'm feeling a bit jealous. My grandmother and sister just returned from a two week road trip to Canada. My parents are on week two of their four week tour of Australia. My in-laws have been around the country in general, mom has been to Scotland, and Kit has just gotten home from Puerto Rico.

And I'm not allowed to go farther away than an hours drive as per strict instructions from my OB. Well, technically what he said was "I don't want you going anywhere that you can't get to us quickly." Which to me translates to if you can't get there in an hour, it's not "quickly."

For the most part I don't mind, and I truly appreciate how careful they're being with me. But this is the time of the year when I get itchy feet. I want to go somewhere, do something, see the world!

Diabeetus, you say?



I went for my glucose screening and apparently I'm slightly above the approved cutoff. So back I go to the lab next week for the 3 hour version of what I did this week.

Fingers crossed that I pass my test this time!

Well stocked

We went to BJ's Warehouse over the weekend. I got a deal on a membership through work, and with baby on the way I figured being able to buy diapers in bulk was not a bad idea.

I used to go to warehouse stores with my grandmother when I was younger and I HATED it. They were SO borrrrrringgggg, and who cares about all this stuff? I had similar feelings about going to the hardware store with my dad. There were no toys, why was he so thrilled to be here?

I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing that my perceptions have changed. We walked into the building and the massive quantities of things was very appealing although, I must admit, still overwhelming. I know there will be more people in our house to start using things, but for just the two of us it's a little hard to adjust your mentality. Buying in bulk is good, but why don't they just make a four-pack instead of a tenner?

I'm happy to say we managed to adjust well and that we now have enough toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, razor blades, and facial cleanser to last us through the apocalypse. And we were forward-thinking enough to make a gift purchase for an upcoming festive occasion.

Buying in bulk and selflessness! Amazing!

And the point is...

So, I'm trying to understand the logic behind this question:

"Are you bigger this time than you were last time, or am I just imagining it?"

This question has now been posed to me by two family members and several co-workers.

I think that this is motivated by care and concern. Which would be nice if that is the case. For the record, I am bigger, because the baby is bigger, which has been the best news we've gotten so far.

But on the whole, does it really matter??

Cravings

Ok, see I've been telling people I haven't had any bizarre cravings. Which is strictly true. But if I've decided I want something to eat, I must have this thing to eat. The world will soon come to an end if I cannot have this one thing. The thing is never bizarre in and of itself, but I must have it.

I didn't quite realize how strong of an urge this was until Andy discovered my stash of turkey in the fridge.

I'd been wanting a turkey sandwich. So when I went to the grocery store last time I picked up some turkey. Two packs of turkey. One deli sliced, and one of turkey breast sliced into strips.

Oh and I picked up some ham too. I bought it because it was on sale. But quite possibly, as Andy suggests, it was to cover up the fact that I bought so much turkey.

And some cranberry sauce to go with the turkey.

And some cranberry gingerale.

BUT, I didn't buy any stuffing! Aren't you all proud of me?

Hmmm stuffing....that sounds awfully good....

This makes me laugh. EVERY time.

My node is stubbed up

Can I just say that of all things that have to be sacrificed during pregnancy, cold medicine is by far the hardest to give up. No alcohol, ok, fine. I don't drink much of anything anyway. No unpasteurized cheese, well, that brie will still be waiting for me in a few months. A little harder is eating meat cooked medium when I prefer it close to bloody (sorry T, I'll never be a convert). But, having a miserable head cold and not being able to take the medicine that would offer a bit of comfort is by far the worst.

I know there are medicines that I can take, but they're the kind that never give me any relief even when I'm not 5 months pregnant. So if they don't work normally, why add the extra chemicals to my body now when I'm being so careful about everything else?

So if you happen to run in to me, I apologize. If the hormones weren't enough to make anyone cranky, that combined with the cold...well, maybe I should stay out of the public domain for the next day or so anyway.

My child, the exhibitionist

I had my third sonogram this morning. I will actually wind up having 4-5 more before this baby is born. Have I mentioned they're being extra special careful with me this time? Nothing like good pre-natal care folks!

During both the previous scans, the baby was too small to have made any sort of guess at gender so there was no chance of finding out what we were having. We both prefer it this way. You don't get too many surprises in life like finding out what your child is while it's being handed to you. So we had no intention of finding out this time.

Now, given our situation and that we were going to wind up having so many pictures of this little one before it's even born, I thought we might find out somewhere along the line by accident.

This morning started out very well, the tech promised to keep the secret for us and did a fantastic job of getting all the right measurements while managing to avoid the baby's nether regions. Almost the entire time she scanned, our little one kept both hands over it's face almost as if we were paparazzi desperately trying snap Brittney doing something else foolish. "No pictures please!"

The doctor came in shortly after the tech finished up and was scanning here, there, everywhere to make sure everything looked good to him. As this was happening I got a smack on my elbow from Andy.

Sure enough, clear as day, no denying anything, the baby was laying pretty much spread-eagle in front of us. Both hands still covering HIS face.