But here I am, ready to update you. I have about 2 hours free, and I plan on using the time to give you all the wonderful (and some not-so-wonderful) details about the last couple weeks!!
So, I left off the week before my first baby shower... I think? Oh gosh, I can't remember. I could look, but that would take up precious time, and really... does it matter? I know I haven't updated since... So that's where I shall start!!
So... My big baby shower, with tons of family and friends, was May 11th. It was held at my old high school (thanks to Pammy-Pam who arranged that for us!!), and boy has it changed!! I walked in and was in awe at the differences... It took me a bit to get into the "help get stuff done" mode because I just couldn't stop looking around. But, I got snapped out of that and started helping. We got the tables set up and decorated, the food set out, and people started showing up. And showing up. And showing up. It seemed like every time I looked up there were more people there I needed to talk to. And I didn't feel like I really had much of a chance to talk to ANYONE for more than a quick hello and thanks for coming. Did I mention there were a ton of people there?
We had SO MUCH FOOD. Sandwiches, chips, dips, roll-ups, fruit kabobs, cupcakes, cake, chocolate treats... I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting to mention. SO MUCH FOOD. Food is important to my family, haha.
We passed out the baby shower games, which were fun ones! And I got started opening gifts. I'm not exactly the fastest gift-opener in the world. As a matter of fact, it's well known in my family that I'm the slowest. So I made it a point to try to speed that up... And despite my best effort, I just couldn't. I just could NOT go any faster than I did. Each gift needed attention, each gift giver needed a special thank-you at the time. And of course, each gift needed to be recorded on a neat list for thank you notes!
So you know what that means? People got bored. I heard less and less "oooohs" and "aawwws." And you know what? That made me happy!! People were chatting and eating and having a good time doing whatever it was they wanted to do, and I was no longer the clown at the center of the circus. Being the center of attention isn't something I'm good at. I had the freedom to touch every item in every gift, rub on all the soft blankets, fight back the tears that came with the special gifts... And I was able to say a quick thank you to the giver of each gift (if they were still there) when I opened their gift. It was just the way I like it. If you're reading this and you were there and you are thinking "Oh man I was so bored," I am sorry. You totally could've spent the time googling the game answers though ;)
So... We got a TON of stuff. A ton of absolutely adorable stuff. So many things that were much needed. And every single thing was something we love and are thankful for. We are beyond grateful. And SO SO blessed!!
Mother's Day was the next day, and I woke up to cards from both Faith and Danny... And three of the most adorable onesies for Baby ever. They were quite obviously picked out by Danny. And so of course I bawled like the hormonal pregnant lady I am (and yes, I am a crier even when I'm not hormonal... shhhh).
We then went to lunch with Danny's mom, grandma, aunt, sister and nieces. We of course then had to go see my mom, and while we were there we went through everything from the shower. We laid everything out and took pictures. My mom counted all the onesies (over 60, ha! But a wonderful range of sizes!) and got a close look at each gift. And I made a plan for getting the other items we needed, with the amazing gift cards and money we were gifted.
That week went by super fast, and soon it was the next Friday... And two of my online-group friends made it into town for a little gathering/shower. The three of us had never met (although we've all met other girls from our online group), but it was like we'd been around each other for years... Not from different parts of the country!
Friday night we went to dinner and just talked and talked and talked. It was absolutely fabulous!!
Saturday we went to my parents' house, where we held our little shower. The online girls had sent some gifts there for me and for one of the girls who was visiting (who is just a couple weeks behind me, pregnancy wise!!). We spent a few hours just chatting. And we skyped with another friend who couldn't be there. SO MUCH FUN. She was on the computer with us as we unwrapped our gifts. Danny and I are beyond blessed, have I mentioned that?? We got amazing gifts at that shower, too.
That night the three of us (Danny wasn't interested lol) went to Mosley Street Melodrama which was hilarious! They were doing a show mocking the Food Network challenge shows (namely Chopped, my favorite!!). And then did a sort of Name That Tune with food items in the song title or artist name. It was a blast!!!
We said our goodbyes that night, and Danny got lots of hugs from the ladies when he picked me up. We got in the car to leave and I told him how awesome it was to have them here, and he told me how lucky WE are to have them in our lives. And he is so right.
So many people don't understand the whole online friends thing. But, oh well. I met these ladies while planning our wedding in 08 and 09. They were all on the Brides forum. I think we've all (or mostly all) left those boards, but we stay connected through Facebook. These ladies helped me through Danny's cancer battle. Especially his diagnosis. I wasn't alone "in real life," of course, but I still needed support, and they were there. Over the years some of us have divorced, gotten remarried, started planning their wedding, lost loved ones, been dealt blow after blow... And we are all still there for each other. We know who we can count on, who we can vent to. And who will help pick us up when we are down. Those are my Bride girls. And they've helped us SO VERY MUCH over these last years. And they still are helping us.
And now that I'm crying, I will move on with how things went after they left! ;)
Sunday Laura got on a plane and Janice got in her car to head back South... Both trying to beat the storms. I moped around a bit because I missed them already (and yes I know I hadn't even MET them in person before then, do not judge me!). And then the storms started to roll in... And boy did they! We went to my parents' house, because it's about the safest place for us... When, really, their house was right in the path of a tornado! The tornado lifted and turned JUST SLIGHTLY, and we were safe. But it was scary and I was not a happy camper. I was thankful, though, that we made it through just fine.
Then we get to this past week. Monday. I was about to leave for my dr appt when I got a call from the office. I had evidently failed my 1 hour glucose test. OH JOY. I freaked the heck out, and just NEEDED to talk to my doctor about it. Thank goodness I already had an appointment, otherwise I would've driven myself crazy waiting to see her.
At my appointment I stepped on the scale, FULLY INTENDING TO SEE A BIGGER NUMBER than the time before.... And.... nope. That number was exactly the flippin' same. How is that even possible when I am quite obviously getting bigger? I am moving up in sizes in clothes. My belly is stretching beyond belief... And yet there is no weight gain? Not even .1 of a pound?? Seriously?
I saw my doctor and we talked about my failing the glucose test. Danny had some questions that she answered... And she told me I definitely needed to do the 3 hour test. Did I want to? No. But I made it through the 1 hour... How much worse could the 3 hour be? Really...
After leaving the appointment, I checked my phone. A tornado was in South OKC.
South OKC?? What?! That's where our fertility doc is. THAT'S WHERE OUR FROZEN EMBRYOS ARE!!!! Our popsicle babies. Our beautiful little chances at life. They are there!! Were they safe? Was the med center getting destroyed?!
The radio was no help. They weren't talking about it. So, I had to get a hold of my friend down there. We had discussed earlier in the day that they were supposed to get severe weather, and that she'd left work because of it... And she assured me that the tornado had passed through, and had stayed south of the city itself. But it had hit Moore. Moore, a city we had driven through multiple times. Eaten at. A really nice area... Devastated.
We picked Faith up and went home where we turned on the tv.. and lo and behold there was finally coverage. Coverage I probably shouldn't have watched. I cried as I watched the firefighters and other first responders search through the rubble at the school for the kids they knew were trapped. Cried as I watched the dog pick up a scent and lead them where they needed to be...
My heart broke for Moore. And it also broke for the other Oklahoma cities and towns hit by the tornadoes the night before...
The rest of the week went by pretty fast. I was sick one day. And Thursday I had to do my 3 hour glucose test, which was... well... It just was.
I got to my primary care doc's office and they pricked my finger to check my fasting blood sugar. Anything below 95 was passing, 80 was the goal. My level? 62. Yeah, super low. I was feeling dehydrated, because they said I couldn't have water. And the nurse proved that I was, because she couldn't get a vein. Rollin' rollin' rolling. That's what my veins were doing. She used the smallest needle they had, and dove into my forearm. Ouch! But it worked. All the pokes and stabs and roaming around with the needle seriously set off my nausea though. So did the fact that it was about a billion degrees in that lab! I said I was feeling hot and the nurse said she could tell I was flushing. She got me a fan... And smelling salts. Smelling salts? I didn't even know those were REAL. She said they smell like rotten pee (oh lovely!) so she didn't want to have to use them... I didn't want her to, either!
I managed to drink the nastiest drink ever. And they put me in a cold room, in a bed. With a fan. Ahhhh, so much better.
I was then pricked in the finger and had a vial of blood taken at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours and 3 hours. I was in a lot of pain, and the nausea and flushing came back each time she had issues catching a vein. But, I made it through without passing out. Go, me!
My numbers needed to be:
Fasting: <95
1 hour: <180
2 hour: <155
3 hour: <140
I don't know my numbers FOR SURE because they go off of the actual vials they took. But I know what each finger prick showed... And those were:
Fasting: 62 PASSING
1 hour: 162 or 169, I don't know which... PASSING
2 hour: 153... Technically PASSING, but, the finger prick isn't exactly the same as what the vial will show. Will it actually be higher than that? Or lower than that? It's CLOSE... Too close for comfort. And we are depending on that number. Why? Well because I'm only allowed to FAIL one of the numbers... And...
3 hour: 151. MAJOR FAIL.
So, it all depends on that real number from hour two. If we are basing this off of finger pricks, then I passed. But, we aren't. So, we shall see. Who knows when.
This weekend has already flown by. I can't believe it's already Sunday night.
Saturday morning started out... rough. My dog peed on my foot because I couldn't get all the locks unlocked fast enough to let him outside. I slipped while stepping out of the tub (from washing my feet from the pee!!), but caught myself. I got water dumped on my head from the shower head while trying to clean the tub (because there were pee germs in there!!). And we were running a couple minutes late trying to get to our rescheduled 3D sonogram.
However, the day turned around!
Baby cooperated!! We got to see her gorgeous face. Her adorable feet. Her fingers (with fingernails!!). AND HER HAIR!!! She's got so much of it, according to the sono! I thought she would be bald, like I was as a baby. I've had heartburn but not nightly. Or even consistently. At the initial 3d sono weeks ago the tech said she had a "tiny bit of hair." And I figured that would be it. But a lot changes in 4 weeks I guess. Because the tech said that Baby has a lot more hair than most babies she sees at this point in the pregnancy!! YEA!! She's going to have her daddy's hair!!! :)
After the sono we went and picked up some last minute items for Faith's birthday party. And then surprised her with an inflatable slip n slide that we'd rented. She LOVED it. As did my nieces and nephews that were able to come. Even I enjoyed it (I was pushed down it, on my tush, don't worry!). Her party was a definite success :)
Today has been a pretty awful day. But hey, we've still got tomorrow, right?
Pregnancy brain has been messing with me for the past few weeks, but it's gotten pretty bad the last few days. I have been a source for entertainment for Danny, who gets a kick out of me being forgetful. I'm not used to feeling dumb. I'm usually organized and on top of things. But not lately. And he just thinks it's so funny.
Until today. Until HE had to suffer through my brain issues. Ha ha Danny, ha ha. Not so funny now, is it?
His day started out particularly bad. So he was grumpy. But, I had a 20% off coupon that was expiring in a couple days... And we had gift cards to use towards the crib. Danny was going to cover the rest of the cost and he had the money so I figured we should go get the crib.
Naturally, I assumed the crib would be in stock. Why? I don't know. I just assumed. Yeah. Dumb.
We went to the store, and I made sure I had my coupon IN HAND. I reminded myself about a million times to GRAB THAT COUPON. So. I had the coupon. Yea. First things first, I wanted to go grab two bibs. Well, three. But they didn't have one of them. So I got the other two. One says "I'm the little sister" and the other says "I love my uncle." I need to add an S to the uncle one... Because Baby is going to love all of her uncles :)
I grabbed the two bibs and we started to walk over to the cribs. I reminded myself about the coupon and I checked for the millionth time to be sure I had it... And then I realized... I had the coupon, BUT NOT THE GIFT CARDS. Those gift cards were important. They needed to be used for THIS purchase. I told Danny, who just looked at me. He laughed for a second, but he knew I was upset. He wasn't entirely happy, since we'd driven the truck and it eats gas like crazy. He said he wanted to look at the cribs again anyway because he had changed his mind. So, we went over and what he was saying made sense... And we decided on a different crib. A crib I LOVE, and that will look absolutely fabulous with the rug we'd gotten for the nursery. The sign on the crib said "IN STOCK" so we decided to run home and get the gift cards and come back...
So that's what we did.
We showed BACK UP, with coupon AND GIFT CARDS, and ask to buy the crib. The employee flips the sign to "Order now and it will get here in 7-10 days" and I thought that meant we were getting the last one... Woohooo!!!
Except... nope... The sign had just been wrong and he was fixing it. So. We had to order it. Order it? My coupon says no special orders. Would it still work? I discussed it with Danny and he said with the way his day was going, it probably wouldn't work. But oh well, we need the crib. So, okay.
We went to pay for it, and the coupon DID work. SCORE. I pulled out the gift cards... Started taking them off of the little cardboard things... handing them over... And then I realized one of the cards had to be activated. Ugh. Danny asked which one and it was a $25 visa, so he told me to just put it away and he'd pay that difference. Okay. The lady told him the total and he swiped his card and typed in his number. It happened too fast. My brain wasn't functioning at normal capacity. Everything takes me a few seconds longer to process right now. I HEARD the lady tell him the total and I thought to myself "did she not scan the cards right?? That's just not right. That's $100 more than we were planning." And that's when it hits me.... There was another gift card. The $100 visa gift card. I KNEW that one didn't have to be activated. I dug through my purse pocket and sure enough, I hadn't grabbed it when I grabbed the other ones. But it was already too late. Danny's card had already been charged. There are no refunds on orders. They could have done it, but it would've taken a long time to figure it out, and time wasn't something we had because we'd already wasted so much because of my slow brain... Danny said it was fine, we could just use that gift card on the mattress later. There are things that need to be purchased and that was a Visa so it wasn't necessary that we use it at that store... So. We signed for the order and left... Me feeling like a complete and utter FOOL... And him with the resolve that his day just can't seem to change directions...
So... As the title of this entry states... Prego brain really stinks!!
I will make an entry just of pics from the past few weeks tomorrow (hopefully). But I think this post is long enough for now. I will leave you with a weekly quiz update for this week. And just know that the last couple weeks have been identical to this week ;)
How Far Along: 31 weeks
Total Weight Gain: Zero..
Maternity Clothes: I love my cozy pants and my maxi dresses and skirts and tanks... And I borrowed some maternity clothes from my sister in law :)
Stretch Marks: So far so good!
Sleep: I'm knocking on wood... But sleep is still good!
Best Moment This Week: Hmm... Seeing Baby in 3d, with her cooperation!!
Miss Anything: I miss not worrying constantly about how Baby is doing. But, I don't think that will ever go away. Even once she's born. So. I better get used to it!
Movement: In the ribs mostly, because she's head down now. Whew she likes the ribs!
Food Cravings: Ice cream
Anything Making You Queasy or Sick: Cheese :( How awful is that??!!?!
Gender: A wonderfully amazing baby GIRL... That we have named Ryssa!! Pronounced like Marissa, without the Ma. And spelled the way I fell in love with it. <3 I call her Miss Rys.
Labor Signs: Nope, unless you count Braxton Hicks?
Symptoms: A growing baby bump ;)
Belly Button In or Out: Depends on where Rys is... If she's near my belly button it's really close to pushing out lol
Wedding Rings On or Off: On and still loose unless I am hot and swollen
Happy or Moody Most of the Time: Happy unless you tick me off. Then I stay mad at you for... ever. >>same
Looking Forward To: Maternity pics :)
