I have so many nice, pleasant things to write about, but neither time nor energy at the moment. The synopsis:
- as of 10:30 am tomorrow we will no longer be the proud owners of a 19-year-old volvo station wagon in absolutely pristine condition. It is being donated since you can't sell a car that doesn't start. And for the record, the garage said they'd never seen the 'main computer' part of a volvo die like that.
- JD's grandfather is in the hospital in China. It doesn't look good. JD was raised by this grandfather, but he starts a new job on Monday and probably can't get to China till Christmas (oh, and not like that's a great time for me ...) His family was going to help with the move, but obviously they're too busy now.
- We're moving tomorrow. I have packed about 40 boxes. I still have to pack the kitchen tonight plus another 5-10 boxes of books. JD is happy to help but I have physically packed every single item in the apartment.
- I have 2 grant applications due early next week.
- JD starts a new job on Monday.
- I think my co.rt.is.ol is probably sky high this week between everything. And that of course raises my blood sugar. Which is hovering a little too close to the 'safe' cut-off at the moment. Not helped by the fact that we'll be eating out till I pack and unpack our kitchen and the new doctor wants at least 4-5 blood-sugar readings a day.
- I am so tired I walked into the bedroom door at full speed this morning and then panicked that I'd hit the baby and spent all day trying to poke her into moving. For the record, I might have felt a slight movement tonight. But I feel much better since I confessed the awful truth to JD and he reminded me that she's still head down (from 16 weeks now, confirmed yesterday) and the part I might have hit is her butt. Poor baby.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
I'm getting an ultrasound!
And yes, I am very, very excited. My long-awaited (more than 3 weeks) official GD consult took place today. The day did not get off to a calm start.
I decided to call the garage about the car on the way into the hospital. Bad idea. They had given up on the car, but told me I still owed them over $400 for the diagnostic. There is no way I would pay $400 for a diagnostic that failed to, well, diagnose the problem (for a car at least, I'd gladly pay more to any RE who wants to look at my insides ...). We had a little chat. I was belligerent. I then had to pay $120 to get my car back from them, plus $102 to get it towed to a new garage. And we might still decide to scrap the car on Friday. After we rent one to move with, of course.
So that's all taking place at 9 am. At 9:10 am I walk into the office and am promptly told my appointment has been canceled because the office did not receive my GTT and referral. I was pissed (remember the 3-week wait? and the blood draws after every meal?). I paged my midwife. Who did not respond. I paged her again. She left a patient she was prepping for a C-Section to answer my page (and with a midwife you know that poor woman had been in labor forever already ...). She was pissed. She ran downstairs in her OR outfit to yell at the receptionist that she had already faxed over my labs and even called the doc to talk about my situation. My appointment was reinstated. Except that I saw the doctor for my 9:15 am appointment at 11:10 am. There were a lot of babies in the GD waiting room.
And shockingly, I really liked him. He said that I am technically a gestational diabetic, but a more accurate description was that I was a pre-diabetic pre-pregnancy and not much has changed. He thinks my blood sugar numbers are fine. He wants me to draw my blood even more. He was astounded that I went on a no-carb diet to get pregnant.
And then he asked me how big my baby is. And I told him that I hadn't had an ultrasound since 16 weeks, and, oh, she doesn't kick so much. There was a long silence. He stared. He raised his eyebrows. He asked me if my midwife had given me any explanation. He said we should schedule an ultrasound ASAP.
So I'm getting my ultrasound on Monday. And a follow up in 2 weeks, to alternate with my bi-weekly appointments with the midwife. And he said that as long as the wonderbaby is not humongous and my fasting blood sugars don't creep up, I can have a natural delivery. He said that otherwise they would induce to avoid a c-section. He did kind-of suggest that they might induce any day now, but I am completely and totally ignoring that comment.
And then I spent the afternoon playing with a beautiful, adorable 9 month old baby who just happens to be vacating my new apartment tomorrow so that we can start our move on Friday morning. I brought her to our place and she smiled and cooed at JD and then promptly fell asleep. It is however definitely getting harder to hold a baby that big nowadays. I'm off to try and get some work done. And thank you for all your sweet comments on Monday.
I decided to call the garage about the car on the way into the hospital. Bad idea. They had given up on the car, but told me I still owed them over $400 for the diagnostic. There is no way I would pay $400 for a diagnostic that failed to, well, diagnose the problem (for a car at least, I'd gladly pay more to any RE who wants to look at my insides ...). We had a little chat. I was belligerent. I then had to pay $120 to get my car back from them, plus $102 to get it towed to a new garage. And we might still decide to scrap the car on Friday. After we rent one to move with, of course.
So that's all taking place at 9 am. At 9:10 am I walk into the office and am promptly told my appointment has been canceled because the office did not receive my GTT and referral. I was pissed (remember the 3-week wait? and the blood draws after every meal?). I paged my midwife. Who did not respond. I paged her again. She left a patient she was prepping for a C-Section to answer my page (and with a midwife you know that poor woman had been in labor forever already ...). She was pissed. She ran downstairs in her OR outfit to yell at the receptionist that she had already faxed over my labs and even called the doc to talk about my situation. My appointment was reinstated. Except that I saw the doctor for my 9:15 am appointment at 11:10 am. There were a lot of babies in the GD waiting room.
And shockingly, I really liked him. He said that I am technically a gestational diabetic, but a more accurate description was that I was a pre-diabetic pre-pregnancy and not much has changed. He thinks my blood sugar numbers are fine. He wants me to draw my blood even more. He was astounded that I went on a no-carb diet to get pregnant.
And then he asked me how big my baby is. And I told him that I hadn't had an ultrasound since 16 weeks, and, oh, she doesn't kick so much. There was a long silence. He stared. He raised his eyebrows. He asked me if my midwife had given me any explanation. He said we should schedule an ultrasound ASAP.
So I'm getting my ultrasound on Monday. And a follow up in 2 weeks, to alternate with my bi-weekly appointments with the midwife. And he said that as long as the wonderbaby is not humongous and my fasting blood sugars don't creep up, I can have a natural delivery. He said that otherwise they would induce to avoid a c-section. He did kind-of suggest that they might induce any day now, but I am completely and totally ignoring that comment.
And then I spent the afternoon playing with a beautiful, adorable 9 month old baby who just happens to be vacating my new apartment tomorrow so that we can start our move on Friday morning. I brought her to our place and she smiled and cooed at JD and then promptly fell asleep. It is however definitely getting harder to hold a baby that big nowadays. I'm off to try and get some work done. And thank you for all your sweet comments on Monday.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Good news
Well, the big news today is that I am finally and officially A.B.D. (all but dissertation, for those of you outside of academia). I passed the last of my exams at 9 am this morning (see why I was a bit stressed yesterday night when the car broke?).
No update on the car. I am distracting myself by packing, and all the other work I put off. Weekend updates coming tomorrow.
No update on the car. I am distracting myself by packing, and all the other work I put off. Weekend updates coming tomorrow.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
argh
I was going to write about what a lovely weekend I had at home and the Bar- and Bat- Mitzvah and my baby shower and everything else except my car broke tonight.
To be precise, it dead stopped in the middle of a busy road and the engine will not start (and it's not the battery). Oh, and it's NYC so we can't have it towed to any repairshop we trust (or even any near us) because they lock their gates at night and there's no place to leave a car. So as I write Triple-A is towing our car to their 'lot' from which we can pay to have it towed to a repair shop tomorrow.
And we're moving this week. And JD doesn't start work till next week, which probably means no paycheck for another month. And car repairs in NYC cost a fortune. Probably more than it's worth it, so I'll probably have to decide tomorrow to scrap my beloved car.
Ok, and awful as it is to say (and petty and small-minded and mean-spirited and everything else), I'm pissed because although I used to own this car I gifted it to JD's family last year and my strong suspicion is that they did not do any routine maintenance on the car which is why it died like that. Either that or it's a serious engine problem (rather unusal in volvos, I must say, this being my 2nd), in which case we are now semi-permanently without a car because it's really not worth spending a fortune to repair a 19-year-old volvo. But of course we'll have to rent one this week to move ...
To be precise, it dead stopped in the middle of a busy road and the engine will not start (and it's not the battery). Oh, and it's NYC so we can't have it towed to any repairshop we trust (or even any near us) because they lock their gates at night and there's no place to leave a car. So as I write Triple-A is towing our car to their 'lot' from which we can pay to have it towed to a repair shop tomorrow.
And we're moving this week. And JD doesn't start work till next week, which probably means no paycheck for another month. And car repairs in NYC cost a fortune. Probably more than it's worth it, so I'll probably have to decide tomorrow to scrap my beloved car.
Ok, and awful as it is to say (and petty and small-minded and mean-spirited and everything else), I'm pissed because although I used to own this car I gifted it to JD's family last year and my strong suspicion is that they did not do any routine maintenance on the car which is why it died like that. Either that or it's a serious engine problem (rather unusal in volvos, I must say, this being my 2nd), in which case we are now semi-permanently without a car because it's really not worth spending a fortune to repair a 19-year-old volvo. But of course we'll have to rent one this week to move ...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Moving
Well, we're moving. And not even till next Friday, which is quite luxurious around here. Thus far I have packed every box, but JD has been helpful in stacking them and lugging packing supplies into the apartment. I am sure that this is the right decision for the long-term and our new place is quite luxurious by graduate student standards, but the idea of packing our apartment and moving into a place that needs a bit of work at 32+ weeks pregnant when I just finished unpacking about 2 weeks ago is more than a bit frustrating.
I wish I could say that it was a fabulous day and we're both excited about the move, but it was an awful, miserable day and I spent hours of it in bed crying. Nothing serious and I'm sure I'll get over it - hopefully before tomorrow when I head home for the weekend, which is always a bit stressful. And as for the blood sugar, with a sample size of only 5, it seems that my level is well within the normal range if I don't eat after 7 pm and high if I eat any later. Which shouldn't be a big deal at all, except it just makes it even more tempting to skip dinner now that there is absolutely nothing that I can eat that I want to eat (and as I write I am sitting in the library at 7:20 pm eating yogurt and peanut butter for dinner, same as yesterday. Actually yesterday I had a handful of nuts instead of the peanut butter - such variety).
I'll be away for the weekend, so I won't post again till Monday.
I wish I could say that it was a fabulous day and we're both excited about the move, but it was an awful, miserable day and I spent hours of it in bed crying. Nothing serious and I'm sure I'll get over it - hopefully before tomorrow when I head home for the weekend, which is always a bit stressful. And as for the blood sugar, with a sample size of only 5, it seems that my level is well within the normal range if I don't eat after 7 pm and high if I eat any later. Which shouldn't be a big deal at all, except it just makes it even more tempting to skip dinner now that there is absolutely nothing that I can eat that I want to eat (and as I write I am sitting in the library at 7:20 pm eating yogurt and peanut butter for dinner, same as yesterday. Actually yesterday I had a handful of nuts instead of the peanut butter - such variety).
I'll be away for the weekend, so I won't post again till Monday.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
I think we'll get to test my completely unscientific medical theories
in the morning. I think that my fasting blood sugar is high because I eat dinner late at night. My midwife is as ever unconcerned. My mother thinks it's stress (which most definitely can increase your blood sugar level).
We'll find out if we're moving tomorrow midday. It should be 100% guaranteed (I can't explain all the technical details but it's a very convoluted lottery with lots of gambling and thus far we are coming out ahead) but I just found out someone else may be gaming the system against the rules. And now I am stressed. Way, way too stressed to go to bed. Stressed looking at the stack of 30+ empty boxes sitting in the living room. Stressed thinking about the work I need to finish tomorrow if we're moving early next week.
If we all play by the rules, we will be moving to a real 2-bedroom. With a walk in closet (ok, and a fatal shooting in front of it a few months ago, but it's NYC). If this person beats us to it, we'll be moving to a dismal (no light ever) tiny apartment overlooking an even more dismal nursing home. Oh, and option 2 is directly next to a fire station - sounds quiet, right? And of course there happens to be some big baseball game tonight so JD is out and I'm sitting home alone (hungry) stressing.
We'll find out if we're moving tomorrow midday. It should be 100% guaranteed (I can't explain all the technical details but it's a very convoluted lottery with lots of gambling and thus far we are coming out ahead) but I just found out someone else may be gaming the system against the rules. And now I am stressed. Way, way too stressed to go to bed. Stressed looking at the stack of 30+ empty boxes sitting in the living room. Stressed thinking about the work I need to finish tomorrow if we're moving early next week.
If we all play by the rules, we will be moving to a real 2-bedroom. With a walk in closet (ok, and a fatal shooting in front of it a few months ago, but it's NYC). If this person beats us to it, we'll be moving to a dismal (no light ever) tiny apartment overlooking an even more dismal nursing home. Oh, and option 2 is directly next to a fire station - sounds quiet, right? And of course there happens to be some big baseball game tonight so JD is out and I'm sitting home alone (hungry) stressing.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Hearts and rainbows and kittens
Except it really doesn't take much to distract me. Or make me happy at this point. I had a long list of questions to ask my midwife, frustration to express over feeling hungry all the time, questions about Group Strep B, etc. and ...
Well, it always seems that my midwife appointments always come at a good time. Hadn't felt the baby move in at least 2 days, so as soon as she put on the doppler and found the heartbeat (which took about 2 minutes - I was not happy) the world switched back to hearts and rainbows and kittens and I was just so happy about the dopplering that I told her I had no questions, no complaints about the diet, that everything was really just perfect.
So there we have it. It really does seem odd to me that the baby moves so very, very little. I don't think that combined I would have gotten through a single kick count last week (i.e. I did not feel 10 distinct movements all week) but my belly is measuring exactly on size, she says the baby feels normal-sized, and I did manage to gain 3 lbs in 2 weeks (which is great since I was down 6 last appointment, back up to 24 lbs total which seems nice), so no worries (at least on her side).
And I finally have a specialist appointment for GD next week, so hopefully they'll have a doppler and I'll leave feeling just as warm and fuzzy as I did today. And for the record, should I ever be in this precarious state again in the future, I am buying a doppler. On day 1. Because if I'd ever imagined I would still want a doppler at 31.5 weeks, I definitely would have splurged.
Well, it always seems that my midwife appointments always come at a good time. Hadn't felt the baby move in at least 2 days, so as soon as she put on the doppler and found the heartbeat (which took about 2 minutes - I was not happy) the world switched back to hearts and rainbows and kittens and I was just so happy about the dopplering that I told her I had no questions, no complaints about the diet, that everything was really just perfect.
So there we have it. It really does seem odd to me that the baby moves so very, very little. I don't think that combined I would have gotten through a single kick count last week (i.e. I did not feel 10 distinct movements all week) but my belly is measuring exactly on size, she says the baby feels normal-sized, and I did manage to gain 3 lbs in 2 weeks (which is great since I was down 6 last appointment, back up to 24 lbs total which seems nice), so no worries (at least on her side).
And I finally have a specialist appointment for GD next week, so hopefully they'll have a doppler and I'll leave feeling just as warm and fuzzy as I did today. And for the record, should I ever be in this precarious state again in the future, I am buying a doppler. On day 1. Because if I'd ever imagined I would still want a doppler at 31.5 weeks, I definitely would have splurged.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)