Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Cravings

With all 3 of my girl pregnancies I have craved oranges. With this baby, the cravings started in December, but as I had no idea I was pregnant (otherwise known as avoiding reality) and I just assumed it was because of the mandarin oranges, which I normally eat plenty of in November and December. I think I tripled my intake this year.

With Taylor and Liam both I loved slushes and freezies. Oh, I could have had one everyday. And probably did most days, even on the coldest days of winter.

Aside from oranges, I do not recall any particular cravings with Saoirse.

However, with this baby I crave 2 things. Nibs and Nerds. The nibs I can live with, they are reasonably low fat, supposing you keep it in moderation. But the nerds. They are nothing but pure sugar. And really are quite disgusting if you think about it. Little balls of dyed sugar. Sorta gross.

But I could kill for a pack of nerds right about now.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Somebody slap me

I have spent so much time bitching over the last few days that it is no wonder Hoping left me a comment saying that she was sorry I wasn't enjoying my pregnancy right now.

Sometimes I'm a bit of a dolt. I am enjoying the pregnancy, but not the headaches and all!

Instead of focusing only on the negatives I could have pointed out that each time I feel her move I have such a thrill.

I love how sometimes when she realizes I have stopped talking she gives me a wee boot so that I say hello to her. At least, I like to assume that she knows I'm no longer talking and just wants to hear my voice!

I even love when she goes into a certain position and suddenly I have to go to the loo, even if I was only just there 10 minutes ago.

I love how when Liam pushes on my belly, she pushes back. He tortures her just like he used to do to Saoirse in utero.

I love the fact that in just 5 days, William is going to be able to experience all this with me (yep, even the downs- that man will suffer!) and that Saoirse will learn she is having a baby sister.

So there most definitely are positives, and seeing her in just over 3 months will be the greatest positive of all.

Monday, April 24, 2006

My doctor's office increases my blood pressure

I spent my entire day today ringing my doctors office only to get a busy signal everytime. I finally got through at 2.30, only to discover that they are totally booked up and can't get me in until next Monday. Jaysus, Mary and Joseph, says I, that's an awfully long wait when you have headaches so bad you can barely function on a civil level.

I think I may be forced to go visit my family doctor, even though he is a complete quack. Ah, maybe I'll just go to the medi-centre down the road. I'll wait for ages, but they are good.

But then I think what's the point? There's nothing they can do really. Other than make me pee in a cup. Which I suppose would let me know if I have protein in my urine 5 days earlier than my doctor's office. I did ask if there was any in my sample 2 weeks ago and I was told "trace amounts." Which I thought was no big deal, but according to my friend might turn into a big deal.

In good news, my bp was 130/80 on Sunday. I am assuming it is higher today as my headaches are worse, but who knows.

All I can say is August better get here soon.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Good God, I'm some sort of whinger

My headaches are getting worse. I was at work today and it was very busy so there was little time to put my feet up as my doctor suggests. I think she's forgotten I have a job, which we see each other almost everytime I am there. Saw her today actually, she must have had a D&C scheduled or something, because there was only one labour today and it wasn't hers. Suppose she could have been on call, of course.

Anyway, I digress. It was busy, the headaches were killing me and everytime I was in emergency they were to busy for me to interrupt and ask if they would take my blood pressure. And possibly allow me to bypass the waiting room and see a doctor who might send me home. Ah no, not for me. However, if I was an ER nurse you can bet that I would have been put right into a room. There are perks to being a bitch. (no offense to you Emmakirst, I am sure you are a lovely nurse, like most of ours are with the exception of those in ER!)

Again, I digress. I'm a bit bitchy myself you see. I was up on one of the units and I felt very faint (it may have had to do with the 2 Russian Orthodox priests chanting in a patients room, it brings back bad memories*) so I asked the nurse to take my blood pressure.

159/77! It has never been that high in my life! She suggested that I go down to ER, especially since I was having headaches but I only had an hour left to go so I didn't bother. When I went to pick up Taylor and Liam up from my mum's I slept for a bit and then slept again for an hour when I got home. I feel better, but for the dull thud in my head.

*Memory: About 6 or 7 years ago my ex husband and I went to a wedding at a Russian Orthodox church. It was a really hot hot hot day and as the bride's uncle was singing a song he had written for the couple which just happened to include the lyrics "Woman, obey your man" repeated over and over and just as he happened to be singing said lyrics for what felt like the thousandth time -and very well may have been, the song was about 15 minutes long- the maid of honour fainted. My ex not only laughed he snorted and those who bothered to turn away from the spectacle at the front of the church all turned to stare at him. That church service was the longest 21/2 hours of my life.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

I knew I'd figure out how to take my own blood pressure

...after I called a nurse of course. It is good to have friends with proper jobs, you know.

I tried taking my blood pressure yesterday, but I believe I mentioned that the results I got would have meant I was dead.

I did it tonight, without the help of my lovely daughter, Taylor, who tried to cut off all blood flow below my elbow with how tightly she did up the cuff.

I got 142/88, which is slightly higher than what it was last week, and much higher than my normal. Shelley suggests that I head over to London Drugs tomorrow to have it taken again, where it will probably be more accurate. Is she saying she doubts my blood pressure reading abilities? I think she is. But they do have the funky little chair with the mechanical cuff so I guess I'll go do it. If it is anywhere close to what I have gotten then I am to call my doctor's office and tell them all about it and the headaches. Nurses sure can be bossy.

It's a good thing I didn't mention the pulsating in my nether regions that I have been having all afternoon and evening. I don't even want to get started on what that is.

Did I forget to mention the stress incontinence?

This may be the most humiliating post I ever write.

But I feel we have known each other long enough and I can tell you the truth. After all, most of you are mothers and therefore have once been pregnant (or are) and can deal with this sad reality of pregnancy.

I am peeing my pants.

Not totally peeing, it's not like I just stop and go where ever I may be. But you know, the odd dribble when I laugh really hard or cough. I fear that it may become a situation where I need to purchase Depends.

This really pisses me off. Let me tell you why. I do those Kegels like there is no tomorrow. In fact, it is the only part of my body that gets any regular exercise. So they should be strong and in fact, used to be very strong. I could tell you how strong, but then you might think I am a pervert. What has happened?

I just don't know. This is the first time this has happened during a pregnancy, and the third time in my life it has happened at all. It has all been within the last 2 years and a bit actually.

The first time it happened was a year before I had Saoirse. I was so sick all I could do was lay on the couch. My mother had to come over every night to make my kids dinner. I only got up to go to the bathroom and honestly, I don't know why I even bothered, because everytime I coughed (which was every 30 seconds) a little bit of pee would come out. It was so bad I had soaker pads stolen from the hospital under me, where ever I was. The second time was also when I was sick, after the arrival of Saoirse, It was nowhere near as bad as the first time, just the odd dribble when I had a particularly bad coughing fit.

And now it's now. I am pregnant, I am wetting myself. Is it not bad enough that I use the toilet every hour? Do I really need that final humiliation of feeling as though I am in the process of being toilet trained? Did I really need to write about it?

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

The headaches, the cramps and the forgetfulness

I am having extremely painful headaches. They are like contractions in that they come, last for a minute or so and go. 20 minutes later I have another one and so on and so on. I have never had this before.

I have plenty of headaches, very rarely are they enough to actually make me take some form of medication. This is because I despise swallowing pills. This is also the reason I am pregnant today, because I refused to go on birth control pills. Sometimes not liking to swallow pills is a good thing. Anyway, I don't like pills so unless is a headache is killing me I won't take anything.

The point of that spiel is to say that if it weren't for the fact that I am pregnant those headaches would have me running for the Tylenol with Codine. They are driving me crazy. The first one was last Wednesday, and it knocked me for six. If I hadn't have been holding onto the counter I am pretty sure I would have falled flat on my arse. It was like two drills on either side of my head, right behind my eyes, that made everything go black and left an odd ringing in my ears. It only lasted a minute or so and then that was it.

How strange I thought. Must take note of that. I was fine Thursday and then had a few on Friday. Saturday I was at work, and had about dozen of them. Sunday, the same thing, bothering me enough so that went to the ER and asked how long the waiting time was. Quite possibly I would have been there longer than the remainder of my shift, another 2 hours, so I chose not to wait.

They've been off and on all day today, nothing near as painful as they have been, but still enough to make me paranoid. With the high blood pressure at this month's appointment and now the headaches I am wondering if I might have pre-eclampsia. I don't really think it could be, but what's pregnancy without a little paranoia? I tried taking my blood pressure last night, but couldn't get the cuff around my arm tightly enough, and then couldn't even remember the proper way to take it. When do you listen for systolic and dystolic? Cannae remember for the life of me! I heard nothing, apparently I am dead.

And then there's the cramp in my calves. I have had these my whole life, ever since I was very little. I was away the other weekend and I was very much reminded of my childhood when I woke up screaming at about 5 in the morning. Nancy, my roomie, thought I was in labour. She hopped out of bed and I said no, no it's a cramp. She massaged my leg, which is just what my mum used to do when I was little. Twice she massaged it and it went away and as soon as I moved my leg it came back. The third time was the charm though. I ate about 6 bananas the next day to give myself a boost of calcium so that I didn't scream our wing down that night.

I now flex my toes everynight before I go to bed in the hopes of keeping the cramps at bay, it has worked so far. I flexed the wrong way this morning though, and got a cramp which I quickly flexed away.

And then there's the forgetfulness. Anyone who has read my other blog (yep, a shameful plug) knows that I am completely disorganized and can probably garner that I am slightly forgetful. I was supposed to book Saoirse's 18 month shots in March, but kept forgetting. It's hard when she's not right in front of you. I always think of it at inconvenient times like when I am in bed or at work. Anyway, I finally remembered this morning and made an appointment. I thought I wouldn't be able to get her in for ages, but I managed to get an appointment right on the 11th, her 18 month birthday. Happy birthday, babe, a shot in each leg for you. Welcome home too. They don't do mean things like that to her in Australia, she's fed enough chocolate to keep the Easter Bunny happy and let to run the house. It'll be a shock to her system when she gets home. No more sleeping in the bed, shots. What kind of mother does she have, she'll be wondering. Poor wee bugger.

12 days til they get home!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

A Name Change

I've changed my blog name. I didn't like the other one at all, and don't have the imagination for a good one now, so this is what I've got.

Conratulations to emmakirst who had a very lovely little girl on Thursday.

I wish August would hurry up and get here.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

5 month appointment

Number of weeks pregnant: 23 and 2 days
Weight gained this past month: 2 lbs (fantastic!)
Total weight gained in 2 months: 10 lbs
Blood pressure: 148/82
Blood pressure last month: 118/80
Uterus measuring: 30 weeks (ack!)
Baby's heartrate: 132
Behaviour of said baby: mischievous (kept swimming away from doctor)
Number of times I pee between 11pm and 7 am: 4
Number of hours a day I nap if not working: 2-5
Number of days until baby's father and sister arrive home: 19
Number of hours needed to collect EI: 600
Chance I will have needed hours: 85%
What I will do if I don't have needed hours: have a mental breakdown
Date of next appointment: May 10

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

I'm pregnant, I'm allowed to change my mind

I have changed my mind on a girl's name. I would like to call her Ruari, which is a name I like for either boy or girl. The only thing is that people might think she is named after Rory from the Gilmore Girls, which she would NOT be.

The only other thing is that William said no.

Bloody men. Honestly, what right do they have to have any say in the name at all? Is it not me that will have gone through 9 months of pregnancy plus untold hours of an unsuccessful labour only to have my stomach cut open? I think it is and therefore I think the name choice should be all mine.

He is however a lovely fella, and I suppose I should allow him some veto choice in the matter. He said to me last night "I thought you had already picked a name."
Well, I had, but as I say I'm allowed to change my mind. Or at least consider changing it.

He said no to it, because it is a boys name in his mind. Once upon a time so was Taylor, but she arrived in the days before we met so he really had no choice whatsoever in her name. Oddly enough, he once said to me that if he had had a boy he would have liked Liam as a name. Luckily, he ended up with my Liam as it appears that he may be the only son in William's life.

So I don't know what will happen, it may be that everyone thinks her name will be Sophie until she arrives and William just happens to maybe say "You can call her whatever you want!" I might get really lucky that way.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Sleep, sleep, I dream of sleep

All I want to do these days is sleep. I have been very lethargic this last week, and other than a 2 day turn cleaning Taylor's room, I have done virtually nothing in the house.

Today was the first day back to school after spring break. I had my alarm set for 6.40, but did not manage to drag myself out of bed until 7.05. This left Liam with 25 minutes to get up, washed, dressed and fed before his bus arrived. All I wanted to do was go back to bed. I stood outside Taylor's room, waiting for her to get herself out of bed. She's worse than I am, that one. Eventually she did. I reminded her to brush her hair and make sure she had breakfast and went back to sleep.

There was an incident with a spider inside her lamp that forced me to get out of bed. Once that was taken care of I climbed back into bed and slept until noon.

I suppose that I would prefer to be tired during pregnancy, rather than suffer from 9 months of morning sickness like my mum did. The drawback is that every once in awhile I actually have something I need to do, and sleeping can not always be a priority, no matter how much I might want it to be so.