Health Concerns...

Tuesday (yesterday) was crazy busy! First we had an OB appointment. Then it was down to the lab for the 1-hour glucose tolerance test to see if I am at risk for gestational diabetes. Then, finally, from 6 to 8:30, we had our very first childbirth education/lamaaz class! We did not even get back home until around ten last night!

Today (Wednesday) I get a phone call from my OB nurse telling me that my sugar was high. It was 163 and should have been 130 or under. So. Tomorrow (Thursday) I have to go and get my blood taken 4 times for the 3-hour glucose tolerance test. No eating or drinking (not even water!) after midnight tonight! I am not even allowed to leave the lab area tomorrow. I am going to be SO bored. Sick out of my gourd from dumping syndrome (related to gastric bypass surgery and it happens to a LOT of people when they eat/drink something sweet) and I have to sit there for 3 stupid hours? I am sooooooo not looking forward to that. I was going to hop over to the hospital and pre-admit myself in labor and delivery so that we would not have to bother with it when the time actually gets here to deliver but as I said, they will not even allow you to leave the lab area.

Anyway, people tell me that I could pass the 3-hour test just fine, but I am afraid that I have the full blown GD. They told me today that I also have anemia and have to take iron pills, starting NOW. Happy, happy, joy, joy. I swear, if it’s not one thing it is another.

So, STRESSED OUT is how I’m feeling. I know I shouldn’t stress, of course, but it’s hard when something upsets your life like that! I do NOT want to be on meds and I do NOT want to have to take insulin shots!! And quite honestly, I do not know if I have the willpower it will take to follow a diabetic diet. Perhaps THAT is what worries me the most out of this whole experience.

Want to hear something funny? Well. After I got the call from the OB’s office I got sooooo scared and nervous and freaked out. I needed to wax my eyebrows, and that usually really relaxes me. So. I go into the bathroom, remove my glasses and apply the warm wax to my brows, put a brow paper on them, wait a few seconds and smooth the area, and then decided to pull it off. WELL! I gasped out loud when I pulled the paper off…OMG, I have taken off HALF of my left brow!!! I am completely mortified now. I look like a boxer or something. ONLY HALF AN EYEBROW. Now, how’s that for a little stress relief??? So then I had to get into the HOT, HOT shower just to relax myself from THAT whole experience.

Yee gads, what a day.

On a happier note, my Aunt Penny left me this beautiful rose today. I was SO surprised and it pleased me a lot. It’s the most perfect rose I think I have ever seen!

I don’t know when she brought it, or if she had the flower shop deliver it or what because I never heard the doorbell ring and the dogs never barked, so I don’t know. Anyway, it really brightened my day. The past 2 days have been pretty crappy and stressful. I’m hoping the rest of the week will be better! I should know by Friday the results of my 3-hour GTT and I will keep ya’ll posted…

Another Update!

Last week I had a couple of different doctor’s appointments. See, I’ve been having major trouble with my ears since March. My PCP wouldn’t do anything due to me being preggers, and just dismissed it and told me to take Claritin or Benadryl or something. Well, I’ve BEEN taking Benadryl and it has done absolutely no good. My OB recommended Sudafed, but we bought the Sudafed and then read the insert and I can’t take that due to other medicines I’m on. He recommended seeing an ENT.

Sooooo…last week I finally got in to see Dr. Welch in Claremore. To make a long story short, he basically told me my ear drums have a lot of scarring (duh) from all the ear infections I had as a baby/child/adolescent and that the only thing he suggested (since there isn’t any fluid behind the drum) is an MRI of the brain to rule out an unruptured cerebral aneurism. Oh, great!

He says he has no explanation for the echoing in my left ear and the pain in my right ear. The drums are clear, they are not bulging or erythematous. They did tympanograms on me and a series of hearing tests and both were slightly abnormal. Seriously, both of my ears have given me problems since March and it’s so painful and annoying! I can literally hear my heartbeat and the blood rising in the jugular vein in my neck. It’s kind of disgusting really and a lot of times I don’t know how loudly I am really talking because I can’t discern that because, to tell you the truth, I hear EVERYTHING about 10 times louder in that left ear. I can hear myself breathing. It’s really weird. And my right ear has consistently hurt and given me problems. I see spots. The other night I got kind of worried because I couldn’t see out of my right eye!! It was just all black and spotted. I couldn’t see the words I was typing, so I quit working for a while and went and took a nap. I lose my balance a lot, and have since my ear trouble began, but I just chalked it up to gaining weight and just being naturally unbalanced because of the pregnancy. I’ve been really dizzy at times, too, even stumbling into walls and almost falling backward on a few occasions. I’m not normally a clumsy person but I have been since March!! LOL. And like I said, I really wasn’t TOO concerned because I know you can get dizzy when you’re pregnant.

So Tuesday I see my OB again. I swear, it feels like for the last 6 months I have done nothing but run to doctors. Anyway, we see the OB again Tuesday and I’m supposed to ask him if I should wait until Molly is born to have this MRI done, or what. I’m pretty sure he’ll want me to wait (and I hope to heck he DOES want me to wait…I’m really scared to have an MRI done) but I’m also afraid because what if I have an aneurysm during childbirth???!!! All that pushing and straining just CAN’T be good for the veins in your head, right?? So. Now I’ve got something ELSE to worry about.

Anyway.

After we left the ENT’s office we went to Choteau to eat at the Dutch Pantry. This is the second time we’ve been there in the last 2 weeks. Yum, it is sooooo good. It’s down home cookin’ and it’s all you can eat. For me, that really isn’t a bargain since I can’t really pig out, but oh Lord it is such good food! Amish women make all of it, too, and that place is ALWAYS busy. They’re really friendly people, and they have a very clean town, from what we have seen of it, anyway.

After we ate lunch we ventured to the Amish Cheese House. We bought a loaf of homemade wheat bread, a handmade candle, homemade jellies and jams. We’d taken along an ice chest with us so that Todd could get some lunch meats and cheeses to pack to work. Here are some pictures of him making his selections…

…I know, I know, I got a little camera happy!


From the Cheese House we ventured over to South Grand Lake and the Spavinaw area to look at the water. We climbed a HUGE flight of stairs and wound up overlooking the dam there. Here we are at the very top…

We were going to go to Dairy Queen in Grove but we were both still STUFFED from our lunch at The Dutch Pantry! Also, we were going to go by and see Dr. Teresa in Fairland but I called and her secretary said she wasn’t there. I found out later that she had taken the afternoon off to go home to can peaches and make yummies like peach jam, peach butter and peach jelly! She told me tonight how INDUSTRIOUS she has been all weekend. Girl, YOU ARE MY HERO!!! The most industrious thing I’ve done all weekend is load the dishwasher! Hahahaha

Saturday and Sunday, I didn’t leave the house. I worked a lot Saturday, but Sunday I just took it easy and napped with the doggies on the couch! Felt gooooood! Todd brought home Chinese food for dinner, so I didn’t even have to cook! J What an awesome hubby I have. I’m so thankful for him.

You know, I really try not to do a lot of griping on this blog because it’s my kid’s blog. But I’m about tired of the negative feedback/comments we’ve been getting on the name we have chosen for our baby! Seriously, folks: IT AIN’T YOUR KID!! Go have your own kid or grandkid and name it whatever you want, but don’t announce to me or my husband that you don’t like the name that WE have picked out for OUR BABY! This is really ticking me off lately. Maybe it’s hormones, but good grief!

When you have a child enter your life, it has been my experience that the naming (oh, and the shopping!) are a few of the funnest parts of the whole experience. Great care and a lot of thought goes into naming your children. After all, parents choose names they like, names that make THEM happy and names that make THEM smile. Some parents choose more common names, and hey, that’s great if that is what they want to do. And some names, like our selection of Molly Piper, are based solely on the facts that we know absolutely no one else with this name, and that the name (to us, anyway) makes us happy when we say it. WE think it has a nice ring to it. WE didn’t want to name our kid after someone else in our family, though for many parents this is what they choose to do and hey, that’s great for them…

When I think of the name Molly Piper, I think of this cute little redheaded girl (red on the head like her daddy!), a little ornery (like her mommy), a little daredevil (again, like mommy) but sweet and VERY down to Earth (like her daddy). I think of blue eyes, like Todd’s gray-blue eyes, fair skin (like both Todd and I have) and just a very outgoing girl (again, like mommy!). There are a LOT of other names I adore but Todd vetoed most all of them. Meredith, Audrey, Isabelle. Nope, nope and nope, said Todd. And don’t even get me started on the time we had choosing a boy’s name! I promise, if we end up delivering a boy instead of a girl (hey, you never know, it could ALWAYS happen to us and HAS in fact happened to a lot of people we know) then we are stumped because I don’t think we ever solidly agreed on a boy’s name. I guess that’s okay, though. We still have 12 weeks and then 2 days in the hospital to decide that, should it happen…

Anyway, my gripe of the day: If you don’t like my kid’s name, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. I wouldn’t dream of telling someone some of the things we’ve been told about Molly’s name. I think it’s just plain rude and pretty tacky. Like I said, you name your brat what you want and I’ll name my little brat what **I** want. Capishe??


Something I am really beginning to get excited about is Molly’s baby shower. I’m going to be kind of embarrassed, everybody looking at me while I open gifts and stuff, but I’m still really excited about it. People keep asking what we need and the answer is NOTHING! We have absolutely EVERYTHING we need already. It just has to be put together and set up but there is really nothing that we are in need of. My friend Traci, whose little Ainsley just turned 3 months old, she has this brilliant organization system going on in the baby’s closet and I’m totally going to be a copy cat and do the same thing. In fact, I’m hoping to hit Target or Babies R Us sometime this week to buy the stuff so I can start working on Molly’s closet. Right now, it’s a disaster! It’s piled high with baby clothes, toys, bedding, baby gear, and what’s been started of our Christmas shopping for our families. I still have two huge bags of baby clothes my friend Rhonda gave me that I need to go through and sort out. I promise, we are in need of NOTHING, and what we do need is pretty much just a long-range baby monitor, a big cushy glider rocker with an ottoman and a breast pump. LOL. But, these are all things we are buying ourselves, and I’m not even thinking about getting a pump until the baby has been home a week or so and I’m sure I can breastfeed. I don’t want to throw away good money (and they can get pretty expensive!) if I am unable to breastfeed and I don’t feel comfortable at this point renting one from the hospital. And the monitor is something we feel we need to pick out ourselves because Todd wants one with a long range on it, and we want a monitor with 2 listeners (I forgot what that part’s called) and I would even like to find one with a waterproof listener so it can go in the shower with me. And the rocker? That’s a big ticket item and I’m kind of picky about the style because I want a nice one with padded arm rests and pockets on the side to hold stuff.

This is going to be another busy week for me. I need to get the items for Molly’s closet, first and foremost. Tuesday we have another doctor’s appointment and I also have to take my glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes. After that test, we have our first Childbirthing class (lamaze, labor & delivery, whatever it’s called!) and I’m excited about that. On Wednesday, I have a La Leche League meeting in Owasso and HOPEFULLY I’ll be able to go get this Pottery Barn book case for Molly Piper's room...

I don't know, though. It's so big I'd probably have to drive Todd's truck and I've never driven it because it's so big and I'm scared I'll smack into something backing out or whatever!!! But I don't know if this dollhouse book shelf will fit in the Toyota or not, unless it's in pieces. Todd works on Wednesday so he can't go with me, and Friday (his next day off) he's got plans of his own and more than likely won't want to go all the way to Tulsa to fetch a book case. I'm sure he WOULD, but I know he's got stuff to do and I don't want to take him away from that. Saturday, we're going to a party of some friends of ours, and I can't wait! I have to think of a dish to make and bring and buy the groceries for that this week.

I'm also supposed to be starting class on August 18 but haven't decided what to do about that yet. I don't handle stress very well at all and I'm afraid if I do go back to school this semester I'll be flipping out before too long, what with working AND preparing for baby AND studying. Just thinking about all that together makes me tired!

Soooo...I think I'll call it a night. Good night! :)

WoW, turned upside down, spells MoM!! :)

Wow! That’s all I can say. Wow!!

This week marks my 28th week of pregnancy, meaning I’m getting ready to enter the third trimester. Wow! It has really gone by very quickly for me and now we’re really getting down to the wire. Only 12 weeks left, if Molly Piper Watts doesn’t decide to make an earlier appearance. I hope she’s not late, though. I don’t want to be miserably pregnant but at least it’ll be November and not hot like it has been the last few weeks.

My body is really changing. Sometime over the last few weeks it seems like I’ve grown this huge belly! I’m up to a 15-pound weight gain and trying not to fret or worry about it! But back to the belly: Some days it’s really huge! Then other days (like today) you really can’t even tell I have a baby in there! She has REALLY been kicking a lot and it feels like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. I’m in awe, truly. My boobs are bigger, of course, LOL, along with my ankles, but again, on days like today, there is absolutely no lower extremity swelling. Could it be because I’ve been resting all day today? Maybe! Todd had to work this weekend so I camped out on the couch most of the day and watched TV and snoozed. It felt sooooooooooo good!

It’s been a pretty relaxing day and evening, actually. I just climbed out of the tub, where I spent over an hour, soaking and reading this month’s Women’s Health. I should have lit some pretty candles and made a cup of hot tea but didn’t think about doing so until I was already in the water. Oh well! There’s always tomorrow night! Hahaha

Something that kept entering my mind: Will I get to take a relaxing soak here and there after the baby gets here? I know Todd will take care of her while I’m indulging in this relaxing ritual, but still…I just wonder sometimes JUST HOW dramatically our lives will change. I know, I know: It’s GONNA change, no doubt about that…

Gone will be the days when we can just steal away to Wal-Mart in the middle of the day. Babies need naps, and they need a schedule. And we’ve been in the store at midnight before and some parent will have their toddler out and the kid’s all fussy and whiny and I just shake my head and think “That poor baby needs to be in bed asleep!”

Gone will be the days of the last minute night out. What are we gonna do tonight? Oh, I don’t know, how about bowling? How about a movie? Well, not after the baby gets here. Sure, we can still do things, but it’s going to take planning ahead and securing a sitter, pumping so she’ll be able to eat while we’re away from her, packing the diaper bag, blah blah blah…

While I know that there ARE inevitable changes on the horizon, I’m very excited about these changes. After all, I’ve wanted to have a baby for what seems like SO long now! And, good grief, I’m 31. I will be the first to admit that the focus of my life has taken an entire shift because it is NOT about me anymore. It’s not even about Todd anymore. It’s about our baby who’ll be here in just 12 short weeks! Everything that I have done so far has been for her. My mind is always on the baby and my desire to make sure she is happy and healthy both before she arrives and after she gets here. The direction of my life has taken a sharp turn for what I feel is the better! And I’m excited about that.

I have to admit, it blows my mind just a bit that I’ll soon be someone’s mother. I don’t know how to be a mother, not really. I don’t have siblings. Sure, I babysat and stuff like that, but it’s not like I was around other kids 24/7 and assumed a motherly or sisterly role. Todd is in the same boat as me, too, bless his heart. I know he feels he doesn’t know how to be a father. He has no siblings either, and he didn’t grow up with a father figure just like I didn’t grow up with a mother figure. We are both TOTALLY clueless! But while we may be clueless, we are content in knowing that we have each other and WE get to make the family that WE never had!! And while we haven’t discussed this aspect of parenthood a great deal, I think it is an unspoken truth between us. We understand it because we each know where the other is coming from. And with that, we can take our pasts and what we’ve learned to do (or NOT to do, in our case) and just like every other new parent, go forward armed only with the best intentions and the unconditional love that we know we already have for Molly, our little one. I think all of this will only serve to make us a stronger, happier family. WE will not make the choice to leave our child, not ever. WE are choosing to break that cycle.

13 Weeks, Waiting for Her...

Well, it looks like everything is coming up roses! Life is great, home is great, Todd is great and I am great! Work rocks and I am very blessed with having time to get ready for BABY GIRL WATTS...

Folks, I am OFFICIALLY almost 27 weeks pregant, and I'm doing GREAT! I've had a few contractions, and have had trouble breathing, but according to my doctor and others, this is completly normal. Having never had a baby before, I was concerned about the tummy pains but the more I've been reading, I'm finding that it is just my body adjusting to all these changes and getting ready for childbirth....Speaking of which, we start our labor/lamaze classes next week! I'm excited! Well, I start back to school AND we start our L&D classes next week...so for the next 3 months or so, life is gonna be crazy...or, well...for the next 3 months and 18 years??!! :)
I am gaining more weight, and kind of flipping out about that a little bit but I know, I know I'm being foolish. I've gained around 14 pounds so far. The doctor is pleased. Wish I could say the same, but I just have this huge fear of being huge again. HA! Anyway, I know some of the weight comes from water, which I have been holding PLENTY OF THAT. Seriously, my feet and ankles, all the way up to my kness, well, there are plenty of days when they are so swollen and painful I don't know what to do. Again, the doctor says this is normal but jee whiz...it sure is a LOT of SWELLING for only being in the end of the second trimester! I had a health scare last week sometime, but that resolved itself, thank God! I thought I had blood clots in my left leg but it turned out that I didn't, and I am sooooooo relieved and so thankful for that. Anyway, right now nothing is fitting me right. I bought a few new shirts at Gap but I'm STILL trying to hold off on buying maternity pants...I just hate to spend all that money on pants I won't be able to wear but for another few months! So, I've been utilizing the BellyBands that I bought several months ago, but have not needed until now. I'm finding the most comfortable attire right now to be DRESSES! They keep me cooler and make me feel feminine, not like I feel like I just swallowed a watermelon! LOL.

We've had LOTS of excitement the last month or so. Buttons got VERY sick and had to have bladder surgery, like, pronto, so we were dealing with a very sick girl for about 3 weeks. She got sprayed by a skunk the night before we took her in for surgery, the little turkey! I was up bathing her at 2 AM but unfortunately couldn't get the smell out of her fur. EW! I like skunk smell, but only in passing...not on the dog! ;-) Anyway, then we had a big gas leak here at our house and Charlotte (kitty) got sick, I think, from the fumes. She is all right now, though, thank goodness. Todd fixed the leak and we're good as new. Hopefully. LOL. Now we're gearing up to repair the roof, put a new bathroom floor and toilet in, get these screendoors made and hung, call the cable company to re-route my Internet to the kitchen (a corner of which will soon become my new office/study). I have to make a curtain for our bedroom and get all the baby stuff in order after the nursery is painted and the picket fence is hung on the walls. Todd has some trees in our yard that he is wanting to cut down and take out, but whether he is able to get to THAT right now or not is the question...my, oh, my....we have a LOT of other things to get done before that happens, but we simply cannot afford to have another huge ice storm like we did last year and risk a tree falling over on our house. Last year's storm killed 2 of our trees and they just really need to be out of here. In between all of that, Todd goes up and mows his mom's and grandma's yards because they simply don't need to be out in this heat doing it themselves. Plus, I think he likes using his new toy, the mower, so I never complain.

We have had several new adventures in the past few weeks. We bought a truck one week, Todd bought a new Cub Cadet zero turn mower the next, and then finally we broke down and bought a trailer to haul it on. The trailer was the hardest to find; ya'll know I'm a bargain shopper! Anyway, we had to go to Broken Arrow to get it, and we ended up spending most of the day there. Todd bought it from a retired man who makes them, and it's perfect for Todd. I keep joking that this week we need to buy a boat, and then NEXT week we'll buy an RV, and then we'll be ALLLlllllll set, and we'll even be able to take the baby camping in comfort next year instead of having her be all cooped up in a hot tent. Of course, my wise-about-money hubby just laughs! :) And when one of us laughs, we are usually laughing together! LOL.

Alright, the one you've probably all been waiting for....pictures of our little girl!

Her name is going to be Molly Piper and we're expecting her on November 6th! Hopefullyy, she'll not arrive a day sooner because we have SO much stuff to do.

Todd is working on the screen doors for the nursery tomorrow (Monday). We want to keep all 7 of our furry children OUT of the baby's room and off her stuff! The kitties all pretty much believe they own the place, and they act like it, too. So, to avoid any dangers where the animals are concerned, we're just hanging screen doors on both doors of Molly's room.

We are having the nursery painted this month, then we'll hang the picket fence on the walls.

After that, Todd can start putting all the furniture and the stroller combo together and I can start decorating her room. We have everything, absolutely EVERYTHING we need, but cannot seem to find a baby monitor we both like. Todd thinks it needs to have a long range on it and we can't find one with a long enough range. Babies 'R Us, if I remember correctly, was out of them the last time we checked.

She already has a TON of clothes...and my good friend Dr. T keeps sending the CUTEST things. Every week, she sends us a package. It's like Christmas comes once a week and it's so much fun to open the little packages! Sometimes I try to wait for Todd to get home so he can open some, too, but usually curiosity gets the best of me and I have to rip into it the minute I bring it in from the mailbox! Thanks Teresa! YOU ARE THE BEST!!! :)

We recently celebrated our 3rd anniversary, and I have to say that I am sooo blessed with such an awesome husband. I know GOD was involved when He led us to each other because Todd's presence in my life has answered every prayer I've ever had. He is my rock and he's SUCH a good-hearted man. Genuine, kind, loving...OMG, I could blab on and on and on about him, but I won't, in case he is reading this! LOL. It would just make his face turn RED! LOL. Anyway, we are happy and he makes me happy every single day of our lives together. Sure, there have been a few patchy spots but we got through 'em and have been over 'em for a while now. The first year and a half was the hardest, but now I can't imagine my world without the Love of My Life in it. He is going to be SUCH an awesome daddy to Molly Piper.