April 30, 2004
people who really have no idea about online community protocol
whew, it's hot
Yesterday we had glorious sunshine and it was 80 degrees with a nice breeze. Perfect weather. After school D and I went for a stroll and bumped into a bazillion of his school friends playing on the other end of the street, their mothers sitting watching enjoying the sun. Had a nice chat, met the lady who lives directly behind my house, and generally enjoyed a bit of summertime socialising. The winter is so long and tedious and you never see anyone from week to week, so it's great when everyone starts hanging outside again.
Today it's not so great, and perhaps a taste for me of what's to come. It's hot, cloudy, humid and airless. You know that kind of weather you get in the summer right before a big downpour of rain? It feels a bit like that. I have suddenly had an insight into what it is going to be like to be HOT AND ENORMOUS during the next 2 months +.
April 29, 2004
LARD
I'm officially lardy. I have gained 5 POUNDS IN THE LAST 2 WEEKS. How is it possible to gain 5lb in two weeks!?!? Especially as I'm not even eating any sugar or nice food! The Nurse says she's not worried, that the baby goes through a growth spurt now anyway, but she's not the one who is going to end up looking like a baby elephant in July! The Endocrin (funny guy) said I am a big balloon and pointed out my weight in stones which horrified me even further so I told him I'm not coming to see him again ;)
There's glorious sunshine outside today so perhaps I'll go and sit out there and attempt to sweat out some of this excess weight... gawd!
April 28, 2004
New Look Blog
Cool huh? Cheers G, who fixed it for me exactly how I wanted it, despite having Anthrax in his eyes :)
Well, obviously he hasn't REALLY got Anthrax in his eyes, but he does now have 2 very scary red ones, and the DR gave him some new drops which are the same drug they give for Anthrax, so ...lol.
Im off out now.
gas prices which randomly go up and down several times per day
April 27, 2004
ah ha, moblogging is working
The software I bought for the phone turned out not to be broken after all, but infact my config of MT was a bit broken. A quick fiddle by Andy and all is now up and running, hurrah! Now just need for Mr Neil to wake up and help me with the other bits I want to do lol.
Went for a massage this afternoon which was great. Ever since I had the PE 5 yrs ago I've been getting, on and off, pain in my left shoulder blade. Apparently it's referred pain from the part of my lung that I lost and quite common. It's also a weak spot in my body which means that whenever I'm getting a cold or virus, or even if there's a big change in the weather, it is the first place to complain and hurt even before any other symptoms appear (in the case of illness).
Anyway, it's been hurting since yesterday due to an impending cold, so I explained the situation to her today and she worked hard on that area and it feels alot better. She also recommended, if it happens at home at a time when I can't get to a massage, lie down on my back and put a tennis ball under me on that spot and the pressure should relieve the pain.
April 26, 2004
26 Weeks
26 wks today.
Things to ask my Doc at the next visit:
1. Is there a link between clotting disorders and premature delivery?
2. Are you SURE it's safe to take Fragmin up to 24 hours before a c-section?
3. I filled out my registration paperwork wrongly, can I do it again?
Today I've been mostly working on this stupid blog. I want to add a moblog side bar & some categories which I can do some of, but it needs Neil to do the rest and he's busy. I downloaded some software to send pics automagically from my phone which took forever to figure out as I needed some special URL to do with an API (yeah like I know what that is about) so much research was necessary. Anyway, once I got that and got it all working it then refused to send the photo's properly which seems to be a bug in the software. Seeing as I just paid $8.99 US for it, I'm not impressed and have written to the author asking for it to be either fixed or the money refunded.
April 25, 2004
I feel poorly
I woke up in a less than sunshiney mood this morning. After an hour or so of being awake, it became clear that this was due to coming down with some kind of bug. Suddenly there was lots of coughing, sneezing, and feeling crappy with a bit of a fever. Took a trip out to the DIY store for some crap or other and almost puked as I opened up the door to the garage and caught a whiff of grass cuttings which have been in there only since yesterday. Things went downhill from there. Got to the DIY store, felt awful as though I was going to pass out, came home, went to bed, slept for 3 hours, woke up, felt a little better, had a bath, had some food, now feel crappy again. Blah.
Freaking out a little about having this big needle in my spine on July 23rd. I wasn't, but after reading some threads on this it seems to be a standard elsewhere that people are switched from LMWHeparin's to regular Heparin a few weeks before the birth. My Haematologist said it would be OK to stop the Fragmin 24 hrs in advance, but apparently most people (ie everyone else who has this damn problem!!) stop much sooner and switch because it still hangs around in your system and then you risk being permanently paralyzed from bleeding in the spine when the needle goes in. Joy. It's on the list of things to discuss with my Haematology Doc, but I don't see him till June and I WANT TO KNOW NOW!
April 24, 2004
Green Fingers
Spent today tidying up the flower beds at the front of the house. Plenty of weeding and digging was done, followed by the planting of lots of flowers for the Spring / Summer. The Cherry Tree we planted last spring is about to come out into blossom and the Orange Blossom also planted last spring, is also budding so it should look fairly lovely out there soon. Although G did most of the 'hard labour', I did quite a bit myself and I'm now exhausted.
Rather than cook we had take-out from Mandarin tonight, then ice-cream from Baskin Robbins (sugar -free mint choc chip for me!). Yum.
D is late to bed and I just helped him get into the shower. Was overcome by one of those frequent 'I love him so much I want to eat him up' moments of emotion which was then closely followed 'how can we do this to him?' moments of panic about having another baby. Without going into all the obvious positive reasons for having a baby (not least, we really want one!), I do sometimes feel really heart wrenching pangs of sadness for how it'll affect D to begin with. He's so loving, so considerate, and so much my boy.... and he's so excited and positive about the baby coming. He talks about it every day, he knows everything that's going on, he is constantly being considerate of the fact that mummy can't do as much as usual. He feels the baby kick, and several times per day flings his arms around my belly and kisses it and talks about July coming non stop. But the upsetting thing is, when it happens he's NOT GOING TO LIKE IT AT ALL. He's going to feel upset and sad and confused and displaced .. he's going to think we don't love him as much anymore, or that he's not as important to us anymore. He's had our undivided attention for so long that he knows he's the complete focus of the household and that we love him SO much.... he has never had to doubt that, and it's going to happen in July. I really wish I could spare him the hurt :( The only thing I can do is make every single effort to let him know how much I do love him, give him lots of attention, and hope and pray that it's enough not to damage him.
Just as I finished writing this D came down to kiss me goodnight. I said to him 'I love you, my best boy in the whole wide world'. "But what about the baby?" he said..."OK best BOYS in the whole wide world" I replied. "That's better Mom, because you know what? When the baby is born our hearts will get bigger and fill up with more love for him and we'll still love each other the same'
OMG HE IS SO CUTE AND AHHHHHHHHHHH I AM SO CRYING!
April 23, 2004
Eye Eye...
G has now come down with D's conjunctivitis. I am amused to hear Canadians refer to it as 'Pink Eye'. This is a very common thing in N. America, people referring to various illnesses / diseases in simplistic terms instead of their actual title (mostly I think they don't even know the actual names!). Babies are taken for 'a needle' (with the parent not knowing what it's even for), there're also non specific 'allergies' (hayfever, pollen allergies in the Summer), and many others whose names obviously now I'm writing about them, escape my useless pregnant brain.
I popped out this afternoon to get some maternity t-shirts, and successfully came home with 3 nice new ones. I think if I can find 1 more pair of decent Capri's I should be sorted for the duration.
It's about 10c outside today and I'm dressed for summer, despite a chill in the air. If I am in the car, outside of the wind, I need the air conditioning on. I think this internal heater of mine is making me several degrees hotter than everyone else.
I managed to sleep very well last night without the aid of the anti-histamines. I went to bed quite late after a busy day, and slept in until 10.30am this morning. Fanntastic. Hopefully I can break that bad habit of taking those pills because they're certainly not helping my arm stop itching.
April 22, 2004
I finally got a date!
Baby Boy will be born on Friday 23rd July :)
Sunshine
It's beautiful outside today, with sunny clear skies. G took D to school this morning which enabled me to have a lie in, not to mention enjoy my first morning of peace and tranquility in the last week and a half!
I left a message with the nurse at the High Risk clinic this morning to chase up on this OR date for the c/section. No response as yet. Dad's keen to book his flight as if he leaves it much longer the price will go up dramatically, which adds pressure to the situation so I really want to get it arranged.
Went out last night and drank a litre bottle of San Pellegrino at the bar due to overwhelming thirst from being deprived all evening. During the night and this morning I think I had to go to the loo about 10 times, so remind me not to do that again.
April 21, 2004
Morning Massage
All very well having a massage at 9am, but if you're barely awake anyway it makes it nearly impossible to get going at all. And of course I'm now addicted to the anti-histamines that my Doc gave me for my itchy arm and cannot sleep at night without them and wake up feeling very drowsy every day, great!
D is making me laugh sitting beside me using my other computer. He is chatting away on messenger to people, he can read perfectly what they write and answer them in short monosyllables 'yes', 'no', 'bye', etc. Then he pipes up 'OH NO'.... what????... I say. 'This is bad, there's a car on fire' he says, and I look up to see him reading an article on a bombing in Iraq on bbc news. Ahhh 5 yr olds!
April 20, 2004
Would you buy someone elses used underwear?
I was just browsing ebay to see if anyone was selling a job-lot of maternity t-shirts (unsuccessfully) and came across loads of people selling maternity underwear that is 'barely used'. Ewww!
As the weather approaches something resembling warmth I am in need of some summer apparel. Went down to Old Navy and bought some black Capri's today which are nice, but they had a serious lack of nice summer shirts. I'll check out the other two maternity stores that there are in Canada
April 19, 2004
And....breathe
They're gone, we have the house back to ourselves :-) It was a nice but strange visit really. It's always really good to see my Aunt & Uncle, and I've always loved the company of my Grandma too. Since my Grandpa died 6 months ago she seems to have changed dramatically. I don't know how much of this is due to the fact that I've only really spent odd Sundays for lunch with her in the past 15 years and not an entire week (meaning my perception was off originally), or whether she's really changed in the last 6 months. Either way, it is quite odd when your opinion of someone can be totally thrown out of the window in a short space of time and you realise they're nothing like the person you thought they were. Quite peculiar and hard to adjust!
At least I can now relax this week and not struggle around the various tourist spots on a daily basis. The gigantic-ness of my stomach yesterday seems to have gone, I think it was wind, something I've been suffering with rather badly this entire pregnancy!
Had to take D to the DR this afternoon as he has a red and runny right eye. He also has swollen glands on his neck. Turns out he has a throat and ear infection as well as eye. He's such a stoical child that he never complains, bless, so I had no idea his ear/throat were infected. Antibiotics should clear it up.... I was surprised to find out that this is his first prescription for them in the 3 years that we've been in Canada. I think he's only had them twice prior to that too, for ear infections when he was very small. Nice strong healthy boy! He's also got some eye drops for the eye infection, should be fun getting him to sit still to apply those - NOT!
Today makes 25 weeks pregnant. Seems to be a more respectable number of weeks than previously, for some reason. Makes me feel like I'm well on the way to due date. Apparently I'm now experiencing 'Vivid and Scary Dreams'. Unfortunately this is true, although at least I'm not suffering with insomnia - quite the opposite, I can't get enough sleep right now. But, my brain must be working overtime in there because I've been having the most peculiar dreams about all kinds of things in my past and present on a nightly basis.
My stomach has also, in the last week, begun to move on it's own quite visibly from the outside.
April 18, 2004
Touristic duties almost over....
Family go home tomorrow. Been lovely to see them but the tourist stuff has been exhausting so I won't miss that at all. BH contractions galore when I do too much. Yesterday ended up going to the mall because of bad weather, and then today to Niagara Falls. Weather was bizarre today - woke up to thunderstorms and pouring rain, then by this afternoon it was 75 degrees and humid (although cloudy / slightly foggy). It's still really warm outside now, 7.30pm.
I'm feeling absolutely enormous at the moment. I can't get comfortable because my stomach just seems to be taking over control of my body and there is no position which is relaxing.
April 16, 2004
more moaning about tiredness
God I am *knackered*. Endless days of sightseeing are really taking it out of me. Yesterday - downtown Toronto, today - St Jacobs, tomorrow Niagara bloody Falls. Arghhghhh.
April 15, 2004
A better appointment
This morning's visit to the High Risk Clinic went much better than the last. I saw the same OB that I'd originally seen on my first visit, and without my even prompting her she immediately crossed off the name of the [horrible] OB from last time and replaced it with the name of the incoming Perinatologist because he's much better qualified with high risk pregnancies like mine. So that's, apparently, who will be doing the c-section. Wonderful result.
I then said to her that of all the women with Protein S Deficiency that I know of, they're all having multiple scans to check growth / for blood clots. She asked me where they were, and I replied in the US & the UK. She said she'd asked because obviously in the USA you're more likely to be given multiple tests because then the DR can bill the insurance company for more money. I replied that I appreciated that, however given that some of these women are in the UK where you practically have to be dead before you're given any extra attention, I felt there may be some merit to these scans. She laughed and said she agreed, were these women anti-coagulated? Yep. So she said OK, therefore would (and did) schedule me for scans at 28, 32, and 36 wks. Hurrah! And all done without having to be even the slightest bit confrontational!
Lastly she did a swab for Group B Strep which I'm happy to have been tested for. They don't test you for that in the UK and I remember reading and thinking they should, as they do elsewhere by default, because it can be very damaging to the baby at birth.
Excellent result, came away feeling MUCH less stressed and concerned than I've been for the previous 2 wks since the last appointment!
Now, after a trip downtown with the rellies, I'm knackered so going for a snooze.
April 13, 2004
Exhaustion
After a weekend of hard work I'm absolutely exhausted. Family have arrived and I'm finding it hard to keep up, although I'm trying my best. We haven't even really done anything - I picked them up from the airport yesterday and an hour standing waiting was uncomfortable, to say the least. Then getting them settled, making dinner, sitting uncomfortably due to lack of sofa space, etc..... took a toll. Tried to go to bed early but got into a discussion which went on until 1am, so I then only had 6 hrs sleep last night. Today, up to take D to the school bus, back, get breakfast sorted for everyone, shower, get D from bus, make lunch for 6 people, take D to school, go shopping, walk around for ages, come home, fetch D, and collapse. K & K made dinner, at least, which was great! Tomorrow another trip somewhere, probably down to Oakville. I NEED SOME SLEEP!
In other news, got my car fixed, 500 bucks later. Needed new brake pads and discs.
Stomach has developed, on the site of a previous injection, a large unpleasant looking green/black lump. I can't see it very well unless I look in the mirror as it's on the underside of the 'bump', but I can feel it and it doesn't seem to be going away or improving. Must ask the DR on Thursday about it. Presuming it is a bruise but I guess it could be a blood clot, so it's worthwhile asking.
April 12, 2004
24 Weeks
24 Weeks apparently means I'll start to see the dreaded stretch marks soon. I got them with D and they faded away, I recall getting them earlier than this with him though, so maybe I'll be lucky this time? Here's hoping.
Feeling rather tired this morning - definitely over did it this weekend somewhat. Had to get up at the crack of dawn to take the car in to be fixed. Just called them (2 and a half hours later) to see if it is ready and apparently they haven't started it yet. WELL WHY DID YOU MAKE ME BRING IT IN AT 8 FREAKING AM THEN, GITS?!!!
April 11, 2004
Happy Easter
It turns out that in this country the 'Easter Bunny' comes, hides Easter Eggs around the house, and small boys get to look for them. Bring back English Easter! He had a good time though which is all that counts :) As for me & G, yet another (and thankfully, FINAL) day of cleaning. Lots of clearing out and chucking away of junk too. I'm shattered now, definitely overdone it this w/e, need to take it alot easier than I have been doing as stomach is protesting enormously about the amount of activity I've been having and Braxton Hicks contractions are plentiful. Very weird sensation when your stomach goes all tight and immobile for no apparent reason. Doesn't hurt, just stops behaving normally!
They (visitors) arrive tomorrow so hopefully we'll have a nice week, although it will inevitably include trips to Niagara Falls and such .... fun fun!
April 10, 2004
Hard Work
Spent yesterday sorting out the crap upstairs and making it presentable for visitors. G cleaned out the garage and tidied up the front lawn. Took my car in for the big clean and it came back looking like new, only the brakes have now gone so I have to take it on Monday to be fixed. Driving back from the car wash I could press the brake pedal down to the floor and still couldn't stop quickly, and then the brakes stuck on and it was very difficult to get the thing moving!
Also went, yesterday, over to some friends for a 'Fish n Chips' lunch. Apparently it's some kind of Good Friday tradition (not sure if it is just them, or Canadians generally!) but it was very nice and good company.
By the end of yesterday my stomach was tightening with Braxton Hicks contractions due to having done too much, so by the evening I flopped onto the couch and stayed there until 10.15pm when I could stay awake no longer and headed up to bed where I had 10 hours of glorious uninterrupted sleep.
Today am popping off to that hell hole known as IKEA to get some cushions for D's new 'couch' in his room (single bed in disguise), the supermarket, and then back to clear out my study... roll on Monday when all this dreadful tidying and cleaning will be over.
April 09, 2004
Productive
I did some of those things which are constantly in the back of your mind that you know you need to do but usually can't be bothered with yesterday.
First I called the Gas company to see what could be done about the hot water situation we have. When we moved in you could guarantee unlimited showers, laundry, dishwashering, etc during the course of a day. More recently the water has run cold by the 2nd shower of the morning. Turned out that the hot water heater was rented as part of our monthly bill and they sent someone over right away (amazing service from a Utility company!) to fix it. He said that the pipe which carries the cold water to the bottom of the tank had bust, and therefore the cold was mixing with the hot. He replaced it, and now we have hot water again!
Secondly I booked my car in for a complete valet inside and out. It resembles a travelling skip, my car, what with all D's spillages and treading in of dirt, so it's getting the seats shampoo'd and carpets as well as having all the surfaces polished and shined. Took it down there this morning, collect it later on today.
Lastly I finally worked out (excuse the boringness of this) why some clothes come out of the laundry with grease spots on the front. G has been complaining of this for a while, apparently all his black polo shirts have grease spots. I've been denying responsibility but it turns out that it's more than likely caused by the fabric softner in the washing machine, so I need to stop using that and use those sheets that go into the dryer instead.
Anyway, I am off to do more cleaning and tidying in preparation for Monday's visitors. It's thrill a minute round here.
April 08, 2004
Pill Popping
After a visit to the Doc yesterday I went to the pharmacy and came away with enough medication to open my own chemist store. The medication loot included a strong anti-histamine to relieve my arm of it's itchiness. Unfortunately it has a sedative effect so can only be taken at night, and although I slept very well & very heavily I feel extremely sluggish this morning. Not sure I like that. Also not convinced this is an allergy related itch, which means it probably won't work.
Coming down with some kind of cold and have been feeling very dehydrated. This morning my blood sugar was higher than usual. Not sure if this is related to the cold, or whether the dehydration is a sign of the oncoming blood-wobblies that GD can give you. Hopefully sniffle related. Need to be more diligent in testing my blood sugars, have become very lazy about it. Not cheating on my diet, but constantly forget to check for results then have to invent them to fill up my log book when I go to the HRC every fortnight!
Out last night and kept getting Braxton Hicks contractions while playing picc. Think the baby was protesting at the pressure my breathing was putting on him. Became quite uncomfortable.
April 07, 2004
Narcolepsy
I'm sure I've commented before on the fact that after we have a baby, something hormonal releases & makes us forget all that we went through during pregnancy.
Last night one particular thing came back to me that I'd completely forgotten about - and that's a sudden and desperate need to sleep RIGHT NOW which comes on without warning and cannot be ignored. I remember now, vaguely, getting this way when I was having D. I'd be fine, then suddenly crash out without warning. I remember wondering how anyone could hold down a job in late pregnancy if this happened to them. It happened to me last night for the first time. G came home and D wanted us to 'pretend to be asleep' to 'trick Daddy'. We lay on the sofa pretending, and the next thing I know I woke up an hour later. This is a big deal for me, I always take a minimum of half an hour to fall asleep once I set my mind to it, so suddenly dropping off without warning is unheard of. Except, as I said, I now remember it happened when I was having D.
Lots of discussion on chocolate on Haddock yesterday & today leaving my mouth watering, particularly after someone posted THIS URL which has me literally drooling over the keyboard. White Mice! Sherbert Pips! Shrimps! All those sweets of childhood that you can't get in Canada, and that I cannot eat even if I could. This site only delivers within the UK but I've emailed my old man and asked him to get me something to bring for after the baby is born :)
I'm getting a little concerned about potential clotting on the placenta or umbilical cord. According to the PSD forum, many women are being checked for this regularly during their pregnancies. I, however, am not because my OB didn't seem to know a thing about it. I am going to do a little more research so that I can go to my appointment next week armed and dangerous and demand answers.
April 06, 2004
The Poop Dude
This geezer is coming around today to clean up dog shit from our back garden. What a job. He comes round, clears it all up, then takes it away. 'So...what do you do for a living?' ..... how would you answer that?? There's an entire Winter's worth of shit out the back for him to pick up, lovely! 50 bucks to do a 'Spring Clean' and if we want, he'll come around weekly for 10 bucks (tempting as G *never* does it although he is supposed to!).
Speaking of G not doing things, if he doesn't put away the clean laundry upstairs tonight I may not be responsible for my actions.
Baby had a 'hyperactive' day yesterday, I swear he did not stop moving once. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come. He's quieter today, just a few bumpings around in there, probably exhausted poor chap! I also had a hyperactive day yesterday in the end. I shampoo'd every carpet in the house. The previous owners, for some peculiar reason and despite having 2 children, decided it would be a good idea to have cream carpets throughout. Obviously they were much more anal about spillages than we are - as when we moved in they were still fairly immaculate. No longer, of course, so regular shampoo'ings are very much necessary.
Spent this morning responding to a journo about chat safety (again). It does annoy me when these people are out to do obvious scare-mongering and inaccurate reporting. No doubt my responses will be misquoted in Friday's paper which is a shame as it's the paper local to where I grew up, and where most of my family live, and where my Dad worked as a young reporter many years ago!
April 05, 2004
The 3D Ultrasound Video
I completely forgot to post a link to this. It's the 3d Ultrasound we had done last week. Alot of it is in 2D and then switches to 3D and 4D now & again to try to capture a good picture of the little boys face.
23 Weeks (and counting)
You'll notice the new anti-blog-spam measures in place to stop wankers posting nonsense advertising type comments which I spend far too much of my time deleting. Thank you Neil! Also thanks for making this blog a bit nicer looking!
I'm feeling a little exhausted today after a weekend of labouring over the Nursery, and not getting enough sleep last night due to my body clock being confused over the shift to daylight savings time. Along with exhaustion comes a slight feeling of nausea and a lethargy which prevents me doing anything useful. Actually, I did shampoo a square foot of carpet upstairs this morning, that'll do.
Keep seeing ads on TV for Dunkin' Donuts new latte's. Want one. Alot. Sadly cannot seem to establish whether they are in existence in this land, suspect probably not :-( After all, this is Canada, who needs variety, we have Tim Hortons for boring and tasteless filter coffee and stodgy donuts, why would we want a choice?.
I have a thing about cooking right now. I can't bring myself to do it. We've eaten out or had take-away for the last 5 days in a row as a result, for lunch and dinner both. I think it's due to a very serious aversion to the supermarket which I've developed for no apparent reason. I really must force myself there today.
Anyway - 23 weeks (and, as the subject says, counting). Apparently this is about the time my gums will start to get all sore. I went to the deathtist on Saturday though to see the hygenist and she said all is well and healthy. I've actually been taking more care than usual when brushing, particularly the gums, in order to try to prevent pregnancy induced gingivitis. The hygenist was quite nice too, she said I don't seem to have gained any weight anywhere except the bump.... not sure if this is true as it's hard to notice when you see yourself every day, but I hope it is!
April 04, 2004
More work in the Nursery
Spent a bunch more money on the necessary paint and equipment required in order to sponge fluffy white clouds onto the walls in the nursery today. Unfortunately, I seem incapable of anything so intricate, and despite following the instructions to the letter I ended up sponging weird looking white globs onto the walls. Thankfully I was able to wipe it all off with a wet cloth, so no harm done (except to the bank account).
Next step was to shampoo the carpet in there (and the rest of the upstairs carpets). Then clean all the solid encrusted 5 yr old blobs of sick from the bars of the crib.. fun. Must remember to do that sooner next time :-) G is now putting it back together, and I also polished up the woodwork on the rocking chair, and then we're practically done except for taking delivery of the wardrobe and drawers, buying some nice prints and pictures for the walls, and dressing up a single bed to look like a couch. Oh, and buying some shelving on which to put some baskets and stuff.
Although I say so myself, it's looking very swish and nice in there. It's a lovely sunny room which gets the sun all afternoon, and the colour scheme has worked a treat, particularly when combined with all the blue & white gingham bedding and stuff I have bought.
April 03, 2004
Painting
Decided to have a go at painting the nursery today. There's a large wardrobe on order for the room and it makes sense to get the painting done before large pieces of furniture need to be moved and juggled in order to get to the walls. Also, we have someone coming to sleep in that room in a week's time so if we don't do it this w/e it'll be another 3 w/e's before we can get in there and the wardrobe is likely to show up within that time.
Buying paint in Canada is not easy. Something which should be so simple, is infact a complete nightmare. Firstly, no tester pots. All kinds of horror!!. How is one supposed to find the 'perfect' colour if one cannot apply various different shades in advance to see how they look in ones home? Choosing a colour from a piece of paper is less than ideal, to say the least. Secondly, paint is not pre-mixed. You have to choose your 'finish' from all these different types of white, go to the counter, and have them mix up your colour to order. So, once decided on your colour, instead of grabbing it from the shelf and heading out, you end up standing there for hours while you wait for a) your turn b) 5 mins while they mix your paint c) 10 mins while it all gets mixed. Then you get it home and of course, it's not *quite* right (except in this case it is, for once)! All in all, a generally unsatisfying experience.
This time we went for a different brand of paint than the rest of the house is done in. The house is painted with 'Benjamin Moore' paints & we were told originally they were 'really great'. I don't think they are, infact, because everywhere that was painted not all that long ago is beginning to wear off or chip off or be dirty and uncleanable (despite the advertising). Since having it painted in BM, lots of other people have said how bad the quality is too. Hopefully this paint will be better.
I should clarify, when I say 'we' are painting, of course I mean G is painting. I have helpfully supervised with comments like 'you missed a bit' or 'you don't have enough paint on the roller'. Eventually the fumes got a bit strong for me though so I retired downstairs with D (who was also 'helping') and G continues to labour!
April 02, 2004
and...relax
A little calmer than yesterday.
I got through to the nurse who runs the High Risk clinic and had a chat about my fears. She said that she figured the DR was having an off day (right). She's sent my form down to the OR for a booking and if it comes back with an unacceptably late date, she and I will 'sort it out' between us. OK, that makes me feel better. Also dad rang and said he will be here no matter when, which also makes me feel alot better.
Went out for dinner last night with some girl friends which was good fun. Went for Thai food and talked about lots of silly things and laughed alot. Much needed end-of-day 'Cheer Up'.
Had a couple of hours extra sleep last night due to D having no school this morning (teachers 'development day' or some such nonsense). Did, however, wake for an hour in the night with my itchy arm itching like mad... bah. Must ask Dr about it again, cuz the cream I have seems to be doing no good - must've used nearly half a tub of it last night alone.
April 01, 2004
Crappy OB appt..
Because of all my medical issues I've been told all along that I'll be having this baby by c-section at 38 wks. They don't want to risk me going into spontaneous labour. I've been trying to get a date out of them but without any luck yet due to their schedule not being done, but they kept saying 'count on it being 38 wks'.
Since I have to have another c-section this poses a problem with D in terms of who's going to look after him. I'm also a little scared of the whole thing and want some support.
My dad offered to fly over from the UK to be here to look after him and us which is an absolutely ideal solution, but my dad has a vacation booked at the end of July / beginning of August.
My 'real' due date is Aug 2nd but I've been told all along to count on around July 19th which is 38 wks. This works out with dad being able to come for 10 days or so, a couple days before the baby arrives, be there for the days I'm in hospital, and be there a couple of days after to help out. It'll be tight with him getting back but doable based on this 38 wk thing that EVERYONE has told me, OB's and Haeamatologists alike.
Anyway today I saw another of the OB team that I've not seen before and I asked, once again, about booking. I explained I need to get a date so that my dad can book his flight and she was very rude and dismissive of such trivialities, and also said that it would be 7-10 days before the due date!!!! This throws off ALL my plans and means Dad won't be able to be here because that makes it at the time he will need to be going home which means I'll have to be in the hospital ALONE while G takes care of D, and go through all this ALONE and be SCARED (of all the blood clotting issues I have) ALONE.
I'm really really upset and I don't know what to do. I think I am going to call the High Risk Clinic and complain but I don't know how to do it without being completely overly emotional, I'm really upset.