It's that time again

So, my task for this weekend is to capture a photo of my children for our Christmas card.... sounds easy, right? Ummmmm No

I'm not sure how exactly I'm going to accomplish this -- getting the 'lil man to sit still for a photo is difficult enough, but throw in the 'lil lady at a ripe old age of 11 days and I'm not sure what the hell this photo is going to look like.

Last year, I took well over 100 snaps of the 'lil man (thank God for digital cameras) in various poses before I found one that was somewhat decent -- the project took 6 days!

This year, I've got to try to get a photo of the two of them together -- a bonus would be if the 'lil man wasn't trying to squish the 'lil lady's head..... his version of a hug.

If anyone has any clever posing ideas..... bring 'em on. Last year, I wrapped a Crate & Barrel box and placed the 'lil man in it with blankets & tissue paper...... this was very helpful as he couldn't 100% sit up on his own yet -- man, the difference a year makes!

To increase the pressure.... hubby is doing his blogsphere holiday mantle again..... how bad would it look if we have a crappy card???? now I've got performance anxiety.... UGHHH

Wish me luck

Special Guest Blogger

The following is an email I received from Aunt P.......

From:  Aunt P
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 2:53 PM
To: Mrs Big Dubya
Subject:Damn them!

So I have two weaknesses.... Peanut butter and brownies....   I'm
walking by the vending machines at work and what do I see but the new
Reese's Brownie -"with Reese's Peanut Butter and Hershey's Chocolate
Chips Topped with a drizzle of Reese's Peanut Butter icing"

So I'm screwed. I Don't even think about walking by it.  Immediately
go into my back pocket for a dollar.   I go get myself a cup of tea
looking forward to the decadency - not even giving a second thought
that I can't manage to stay on a diet for more than 3 seconds...

The only saving grace?  My only redemption?  It's not very good.  It's
actually not good at all.  I'm going to throw it out.  I just threw it
out and for me, throwing out a brownie is huge.  This was probably the
best .90 cents I've ever spent because you now I'd be dreaming about
it all day if I didn't get it.  Ok.  Crisis averted.

Somehow it makes me feel better about still having baby weight to lose!

Did you hear something?

The Big Dubya's going to post about this..... he's got a much larger audience (especially here) and will likely be far wittier than I, but..... in the off chance someone out there reads me.... and not him..... and can offer up a suggestion..... here it goes.

Many moons ago, I posted this -- about our struggles with finding a baby monitor that would A) work and B) would not require us to mortgage our house in order to buy.

The monitor we have has been working pretty well -- but, now we need a monitor with two monitors and at least 2 (preferably 3) receivers. Princess Dubyette (still not sure what I'm going to be calling her here) is currently sleeping in a bassinette in our room.... but at some point, she'll be in her own room and the 'lil man is still in his room -- hence, we need two monitors in order to eavesdrop on both of them and receivers for our room, the kitchen and ideally for the basement (assuming we get around to finishing it).

I thought a workable solution would be to purchase another monitor (same model) and set it to the same channel to the set we already have -- but no..... rather than working together in harmony, they interfere with each other and emit a high pitched tone that brings the neighbors' dogs running.

The Big Dubya says that his internet research indicates that the only product out there that will meet our needs are video monitors -- this seems a bit crazy to me.

Does anyone have a monitor that they'd like to recommend???

As you may have heard.....

Yes, we have a perfect little girl.....

Thanks so much to everyone who's commented on the Big Dubya's site or sent us messages -- the kindness shown to us by people we hardly know has been overwhelming and heartwarming.

The delivery on Friday went really well -- such a different experience from the last time! The whole day produced lots material for future posts -- if you are itching for a preview...... let's just say that our pediatrician is a die-hard Yankees fan, whereas the Dubyas and the OB/GYN are RedSox fans...... the O.R. banter was lively!

The 'lil Dubya is adjusting well so far..... he's having more trouble with the fact that I can't pick him up than he is with having a little sister -- so far, he thinks she's pretty cool -- shrieking out BAAAYYYYBEEEEEE whenever he sees her.

I'll write more later..... but for now, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for all the kind wishes and support -- it's so very much appreciated.

Let's take a break from all the baby waiting posts....

Yeah, I've got a dr's apt this afternoon -- two of them actually, but..... for now, let's go on baby- waiting hiatus, shall we? I think we need the break...

I am not a "reality TV" fan..... I've never seen an episode of Survivor, I've never watched American Idol..... but for some reason, I find Dancing with the Stars to be very entertaining. I started watching one day when the 'lil man was small -- ABC Family ran a marathon of the first season and I got hooked -- I've even got the Big Dubya watching now -- granted, he's watching because of me.... and might not watch if I wasn't around, but as he puts it -- the women.... well, they aint hard to look at.

Anyway, lately the recently ousted contestant Monique Coleman has been on all the talk shows.... Larry King, The View, etc. I didn't care for Monique much when she was on the show -- I thought she was a bit too full of herself -- always going on and on about how her routines were harder and had more complexity than those of the other contestants and how the judges were harder on her than the others....Blah, blah, blah...... I mean, seriously -- you are 26 years old..... competing against 62 year old Jerry Springer..... give me a break! Even when she was given good feedback by the judges, she managed to be less than gracious.

On these talk shows, she got worse -- she went on to say that the hardest part of being on the show was protecting her image -- apparently she considers herself a "role model" to millions of young women and she needed to make sure she wasn't projecting anything negative.

HUH? a role model? I wanted to smack her and let her know that she's been famous for 4½ minutes..... a role model? Does she know she's sitting next to the legendary Emmitt Smith -- an actual role model, who managed to be a gentleman and a good sport without proclaiming himself a role model?

Is that how it works now.... you say you are a role model and POOF you become one?

Okay -- so let's move on..... because I'm kinda curious now.

What part of her image was she "protecting" -- HMMMMM,

She seemed like a sore loser to me when she complained that her dances were harder and that her scores didn't reflect that.....

She seemed like a show-off when she insisted on doing some sort of solo dance at the beginning of one of her numbers.....

She seemed a bit immodest when she donned really revealing costumes..... in fairness, all the costumes are on the skimpy side and that's fine, but...... if she was really worried about young girls, isn't that an area where she could choose to make a statement? -- maybe opt to cover-up a bit more than the others?

I'm wondering -- What exactly did ABC ask her to do that she felt wasn't consistent with this precious "image" she's dreamed up for herself.

Slip of the tongue?

So..... our pregnancy saga continues.

Thankfully, everything is okay. We went for an ultrasound yesterday (the doctor's office variety, not the Tom & Katie kind) and from what could be seen..... the 'liller Dubya is healthy and a good size -- indicating that my high blood pressure has not had any adverse effects.

Of course, this is a huge load off of our minds and now we just wait...... and wait...... and wait some more.

I go back to the doctor tomorrow for some more tests....... but, even if something happens..... we are past 37 weeks and it looks like the baby is fine to be delivered...... so, all together now.... PHEW!

I couldn't help but notice, the doctor saying "his" when showing us the tiny diaphragm pulsating...... the Big Dubya picked up on it too. He's a pretty "old school" type doctor -- so, he may have just been generalizing..... he's done that before, he's explained to me that he does that so as to not let the cat out of the bag -- but yesterday, there was no disclaimer, no explanation...... he just said "his" did he forget we don't konw what we are having?

In any event, I think this is the first time in weeks that I've even considered that this baby could be a boy. I mean, people have been telling me..... and I mean everybody from the woman at the cafeteria at work, the old ladies at Stop & Shop, Aunt P, everybody.... for months that this baby is a girl. I'm not sure if it's the power of persuasion or the constant repetition, but I had just kind of bought into the belief that this baby's a girl.... and now, the doctor says "his" at the ulatrasound..... is this anohter 'lil boy?

I've said it all along -- it would be wonderful to have another little boy..... the 'lil Dubya would have a baby brother, a best friend..... I already have all the boy "stuff"..... it would be great. Then again, a little girl would be nice too -- it would be different, we'd have one of each..... every baby is a blessing -- so, I honestly do not care what it is....... as long as he/she's happy and healthy..... and who are we kidding????.... a good sleeper would certainly sweeten the deal.

Oh well, time will tell

Stay tuned!

It's a shame the doctor's office doesn't have a frequent flier program

So, yesterday morning I got to go back to the doctor AGAIN.... yes, I'm going every third day now. This was to be my usual weekly appointment -- you may recall that at my regularly scheduled appointment last Friday, my blood pressure was too high and it kicked off a series of blood work and quite a bit of stealth peeing. I got to visit the office again on Tuesday, and although my blood pressure was still too high, it had stabilized somewhat..... putting us in a holding pattern and that brings us to yesterday.

Well, yesterday's reading was the highest they've seen to date (well, for this pregnancy anyway -- I'm still quite a bit away from the 250/167 reading that kicked off the 'lil Dubya's birth via emergency c-section 17 months ago). So, I got to head to the hospital for yet another panel of blood work (okay guys, I'm starting to feel like a pincushion) and I'm having an ultrasound and fetal stress test at 8:00 Monday morning. I've been instructed to continue checking my BP every few hours and to report to the hospital if there are any notable spikes... of course, I had to wonder what the doctor was thinking when he said "so, I'll see you Monday -- if not sooner" He tends to be one of those strong silent types, so I had to wonder if he's just assuming I won't last 'til Monday...... or if it was a lame attempt at humor. I guess we'll know soon enough.

My "official" due date is December 2nd, (3 weeks from today)..... so, I consider myself extremely fortunate that the baby is almost full term and could be safely delivered any time now if necessary -- there are lots of people who have this kind of thing happen much earlier in their pregnancies and therefore, there babies are in jeopardy...... so, it's really snarky of me to be making light of the situation..... But, good God all this uncertainty is stressful. I mean, every time I go to the doctor's office I have to wonder..... "Is this the time they tell me to go to the hospital? is this the day they tell me I have to stop going to work?"

Granny (my mother) calls every day to ask how I'm feeling and if I'm "puffed", because when I had toxemia & HELLP syndrome with my last pregnancy, the condition was accompanied by a severe case of swelling..... I'm talking about some serious bloat! So, she has to inquire every f*ing day about my level of "puffiness". But, let's be serious people, when you're 9 mos pregnant you are gonna retain some fluid and look a bit puffy..... that's just the way it goes!

Aunt P is going to come help out with the 'lil man when I finally go to the hospital.... so she's now driving around with her overnight bag in her car -- just in case she needs to get here in a hurry. And, like everyone else -- every time I go to the doctor, she's surprised that I really have no new delivery-date-related information to report..... just more tests for me..... and we'll see what happens.

So, we wait......

By the way -- WE STILL HAVE NO NAMES!

Election Day Reflections

No folks, this isn't the typical political rant -- so, don't turn away just yet.....

I was feeling like I was in a blogging funk..... hmmmm, what to post about..... lately, all I've done is complain, bitch and moan about being nine months pregnant -- big and awkward with high blood pressure. People are kind, but they'll only read that kind of stuff for so long (no matter how wittily written) before they label you a whiner and start reading somebody else.

I've been tagged for a couple of memes -- and I will, I promise, I will post those -- once I can string together some coherent thoughts.... I'm always paranoid that my answers will disappoint people..... the truth is, I'm pretty boring..... answering all those questions may let the cat out of the bag. So in the meantime, Insurance Mom gave me an idea -- so, here it goes.

A lot of families have things that they do together..... you've heard the saying "the family that prays together, stays together" or some derivation of it..... growing up, there was always that family in the neighborhood that had "movie night" or some other activity that they all did together -- I always thought it was nice.

My family...... well, ours was a bit different -- we always voted together.

My parents are immigrants, they came here from Ireland in the late 1960s -- my mother became a citizen in the early '70s, but my Dad didn't take his oath until I was in high school (yes, he was a LEGAL alien for close to 20 years). It would have been a cool thing to see -- your Dad being sworn in as an American citizen..... but he wouldn't let us go with him -- instead, he went by himself -- he maintained that it was a very personal thing and didn't want/need an audience.... he's an odd duck.... I'm still disappointed that we didn't get to see it.

Being naturalized citizens, my parents take voting very seriously -- we'll ignore the fact that they always get reprimanded for going into each other's booth in a desperate attempt to recollect who'd they'd decided to vote for for park commissioner. They love being Americans and consider it one of the greatest choices that they made for their children..... they chose to build their lives here.

So as it happened, in 1992 -- my Dad and I were able to vote in our first presidential election together. My parents and I trotted off to the polls -- and so the tradition began. A couple of years later, Aunt P joined -- and then uncle Ro-ro. For a while, we used to vote before work.... then, when Uncle Ro-ro turned 21 -- we'd go vote and then hit the pub for a pint.

The election monitors (old ladies that check your ID) always remarked how lovely it was that we always arrived to vote together. It was a nice tradition, and now that I live in another state.... it's one that I miss.

I voted on my way to the doctor's office yesterday morning -- I wanted to make sure that I had voted.... just in case the doctor had baby-delivery plans for me (he didn't) -- I didn't want to miss my chance. On my way out, some kid holding a sign thanked me for voting -- it kind of seemed absurd to me. Voting is a privilege -- people fight and die for this privilege -- in some countries, women aren't allowed to vote -- wouldn't it be disrespectful not to vote?

I'm no fan of politics..... too much time, energy and way too much money is spent on ridiculous campaigns -- money that could be spent on feeding people, teaching children to read and on curing disease -- but, democracy is beautiful -- it's flawed of course, but beautiful and the only way to make change is to vote.

Thud!

That was me hopping off my soapbox!

Today's update..... it's just pissa

So, as previously reported..... I went to the doctor this morning. It was to be a routine pre-natal check up -- those who've been there know the drill...... they listen to the heartbeat, you get weighed (UGH, that's the worst!!) and measured.... you get your blood pressure and urine checked, and then you make an appointment for next week and are sent on your merry way.

Well.... that is unless you've got a history of HELLP syndrome and your blood pressure is running higher than it should be.... then the visit becomes a tiny bit less routine.

To begin with, you get sent to the lab for a "precautionary" full panel of bloodwork.... your next appointment isn't next week, it's Tuesday..... so they can re-check your blood pressure. You get strict instructions to report to the hospital immediately if your blood pressure (which you are now checking at home several times a day) exceeds a certain level and you are given a prescription for Albustix -- strips that enable you to monitor the proteins found in your urine at home.

You also learn that if your condition continues to "deteriorate" you may have to have an amnio and possibly have the baby delivered early. Well HOOOORAAAAYYYY -- if my BP wasn't up already, it sure was after hearing all that.

Okay, there is no benefit in stressing over any of this -- just take it easy and see what happens, right? Yeah, easier said than done -- but we're working on it.

So, the Big Dubya picks up my RX for me..... apparently, these strips are over-the-counter, so my insurance won't cover them -- meaning that it's not a $10 co-pay, I've got to cough up the full retail price of $47.79 -- kind of absurd to drop $50 on tiny pieces of paper I'm just going to pee on, but hey, what are you gonna do?

Here is where things get really stupid..... the directions that come with these very expensive and soon to be peed on strips. I mean, I'm one of these people that think having directions on a shampoo bottle is absurd -- but these, these directions take the cake.

Directions: 1. Dip reagent end of strip in FRESH, well-mixed, uncentrifuged urine and remove immediately. (Alternatively, wet reagent area of the strip by passing through urine stream.)

Mrs Big Dubya's commentary: UMMMMMM, did we need to capitalize FRESH? And, while we are on the word "FRESH".... what do other people do? keep stale cups of urine just lying around? and what do they it mean by well-mixed? like swish it around in the cup? or am I supposed to pee into a blender? and did they really need to exclude centrifuged urine? I mean, doesn't everyone run their pee through a centrifuge????

I'm not going to subject you all to the remaining steps included in these directions..... other than to let you know that there's some great advice on how "to prevent possible soiling of hands with urine". Apparently, there are lots of people who can't manage to dip a piece of paper into a cup of urine without soiling themselves.

I had also hoped to get my c-section appointment this morning -- but given recent developments, they are going to hold off scheduling it until they know my blood pressure is under control.....

So, how was your day?

Try not to panic folks...

Okay -- so here we are...... 30 days away from our official due date of December 2nd..... and it's hard not to be a little on edge.

To begin with, the 'lil Dubya was delivered 5 weeks early -- hence, I've never been 36 weeks pregnant before...... so all the apprehension reserved for first-timers rests firmly on me now as I await the arrival of #2. The night the 'lil man arrived.... I didn't know what was going to happen to me -- I went to the hospital with chest pains for God's sake -- a baby? I wasn't going to have a baby -- I was gonna get laughed at by a bunch of L&D nurses, given some antacid and sent home..... at least that's what I thought. Once we were there I quickly learned I'd be staying a few days -- that's when the drugs kicked in and it all gets blurry.

This go around, we are getting "scheduled". It sounds so ridiculous..... I mean, I'm not one of those people that wants to "pencil-in" the birth of my child. I didn't want to go the c-section route again -- the recovery is long and painful and although I know doing it the old fashioned way is no picnic, it's also not major abdominal surgery. But, given all the crap that happened the last time -- every doctor I've spoken to (and there have been many) has advised me not to risk it -- so, tomorrow morning I go to the doctor and I'll be given my "appointment" which will eventually convert to my child's birthday.

Now, here's where the wrinkle lies..... my due date is Saturday, December 2nd. The doctor's office tends to schedule deliveries for one-week-prior to the due date -- but, being a Saturday -- that puts us at Friday, November 25th...... yeah, it's the day after Thanksgiving. The doctor said he'd have to see what the schedule was like -- but if it's not the day after Thanksgiving and they back it up a few days..... does that mean I'm spending my Thanksgiving in the hospital?? I mean, it really doesn't matter to me -- it's not exactly my favorite holiday and what better to be thankful for than a new baby, but..... gee whiz..... Thanksgiving in the hospital..... not really what I imagined.

Oh well, I suppose we'll find out tomorrow -- won't we?