Celebrating Independence

Despite the craziness of the world, let's not forgot how lucky we are to live in this wonderful country. Happy 4th of July everyone!

Prenatal Appointment #4

During yesterday's appointment, the ultrasound confirmed that we're having a boy. After 5 seconds of silence and one tear later, I was happy. I have to admit, I knew all along that we're having a boy. I still wanted a girl.

The measurements of the fluid sac, head, femur and base of the skull were normal. The heartbeat was/is 143, which is very good. The normal range is 120 to 180. The baby cooperated very nicely for the ultrasound. He's laying across my belly with his head on my left and feet on the right. Although it seemed like he was flipping during the ultrasound. We got an image of his profile, face (that is still way freaky to me), feet, manhood and hands. It was kind of funny because he was kicking and moving a lot. Based on the measurements, I'm 20 w and 6 d. That will probably guarantee that he will be born in October. I hope. Jason was all puffed up and beating his chest since he's having a son. He was really sweet to me since he knew that I was minutely upset about not having a daugher. At least it guarantees we'll have a second child!!

All in all, I was really happy to hear that the baby appears to be in good health and normal.

Yesterday's ultrasound would've been the last for a "normal" pregnancy, but because I have hypothyroidism, I'll have an ultrasound every month until the baby is born. The doctor wants to monitor the baby's size and development. That's fine with me!

Now time to paint! More next month......

Why are people so irritating?

One of my friends, Mandy, approached me a couple of weeks ago to start talking about the baby shower. We've been throwing ideas around about date, place, food, etc. Nothing too concrete. I know that Jason's aunts will "throw" a shower for me since they do for every nephew in the family. So far not one aunt has called me yet.

I decided to take yesterday (Thursday) off from work to focus on getting a date and place set for the baby shower. My first choice, our church hall, is booked for the entire months of September and October (Saturdays and Sundays). STRIKE 1. That sucks. Since I'm very organized and extremely anal about planning stuff, I started to panic [slightly]. I told Mandy on Tuesday about trying to get a place so that I don't worry about it anymore. She offered to call around to community centers, restaurants and banquet halls to get pricing. Thank God for teachers and summer vacations!!

She called me on Wednesday and gave me a list of 4 places to choose from. Two were definitely off the list because of price. One place was charging $14/person and that didn't even include soft drinks (just coffee and tea). Yeah right. The other place charged $16/person and that included drinks. I'm sorry, but we paid $30/person for our wedding. I can not see paying that kind of money for a baby shower. Sorry baby. Anyway, I checked out the other two places yesterday and neither of them really struck me as outstanding. I picked the better of the two. The place is slightly outdated with its paint job and small kitchen set up, but I think I can overlook it....I think. The smell was slightly musty because I'm sure the facility isn't used every weekend. Nothing a few Plug-ins can't fix. I'm beginning to realize that I am WAY too particular about details.

So, the baby shower is planned for a Saturday at the end of September. Now for the irritating part:

I get a phone call from one of Jason's aunts telling me that she's "upset that I went to Mandy to plan the shower instead of talking to the aunts". Why? I didn't approach Mandy to plan my baby shower. Mandy approached me. Which I'm grateful for because obviously we didn't plan enough ahead or else we'd have the shower at Mount Carmel. Anyway, I tried to explain the situation with Mandy just wanting to gather ideas and to book the place since we've already run into a road block with my first choice. The rest of the details can be planned whenever and by whomever. Does this really have to be a big deal??? Jason's aunt said that I should've approached them if I wanted to start planning the shower. Firstly, I'm not going to call one of Jason's aunts and say, "when are you going to plan my shower?". Secondly, it shouldn't be my responsibility to plan my shower. THEY should approach ME. Right? I will be more than happy to tell them what I want and have them plan it. Plus, it's a little more complicated b/c I am having only one shower. That includes my family, too. So instead of planning for 50 or 60 people, they're going to have to plan for about 80 to 90 people. She said that they weren't thinking about plans for the shower until sometime in July and have the shower in October. Um, no. Reminder: I'm due November 8. I don't want a shower 3 weeks before my due date. What if the baby is early? I want my shower in September. Am I being too crazy? Again, why does this have to be a big deal? Maybe if they would've talked to me about it instead of assuming the shower would be in October, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. I'm not mad though.

To make matters worse, Jason's mom is in Charleston until July 3rd so I can't talk to her about it. She'll be the peace maker :)

Let the answering machine get it

A message left on my answering machine today:

"Hi Diana, this is Hazel from Mount Carmel. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I was looking at the wrong month when I told you the hall was available for your shower on the 23rd. I was on October instead of September. Please let me know if you have another date in mind. Again, I'm sorry."

Yeah, me too. It's only June and September is pretty much booked up for us - with the exception of the 23rd. Now I'm probably going to be forced to do one of two things: 1. have the shower at the beginning of October (which I was trying to avoid in the first place), 2. have the shower somewhere else. I guess I'll call Hazel and see what she can do. Maybe I'll entertain the idea of having the shower on a Saturday. Has anyone attended a shower on a Saturday? If so, then let me know.

I feel much better now.

Prenatal Appointment #3 & Pet Peeves

Does anything ever happen during these appointments?? Jason and I spent more time in the waiting room than with the doctor. Geez.

Everything is going well so far. Basically, he asked how I've been feeling and that was pretty much it. He also asked about any spotting or cramping; which I haven't experienced either at that time. He checked the baby's heartbeat and was done. Had blood drawn to check Rh compatibility. We were in and out in about 20 minutes. I wish I made $70 in 20 minutes. Things are going well. I'm starting to "stick out" and not even trying to conceal the belly anymore. It's actually kind of amusing.

Pregnancy pet peeve #1: Touching my belly - Only 1 person in this whole world is allowed to touch my belly without permission and that's Jason. If you're not Jason (Stark, that is), then you MUST ask permission. Even then I reserve the right to say 'no', depending upon my mood.

Pregnancy pet peeve #2: Pointing out my weight gain - Honestly, I think I look pretty good for almost 5 months preggers. Yes, I've gained weight (~10-15 lbs). You don't have to point that out to me. I have a closet full of clothes that don't fit right now. That is my daily reminder. Thank you.

Pregnancy pet peeve #3: Asking about names - I apologize to all my friends who've had children and I've asked you this very question. We still have 4 months to go (hopefully). You'll find out then.

Pregnancy pet peeve #4: Asking about the baby's room - See logic mentioned above.

Pregnancy pet peeve #5: Asking if I feel anything yet - Can't I enjoy *something* without 100 people asking about it? I feel flutters and indigestion. Is that good enough?!

Pregnancy pet peeve #6: Asking if I know what we're having - If I did, I'm not telling anyone. So there.

Pregnancy pet peeve #7: Asking if I'm ready to be a mom - Let's seriously think about this. Um, if I'm not, then I have 4 months to prepare. If I'm not ready then, then I have to fake it. What kind of question is that, really?

Pregnancy pet peeve #8: Asking how close the next one will be - Are you kidding me? Let's focus on our first child.

Pregnancy pet peeve #9: Treating me like I'm an invalid - I can do things for myself, really I can. I'll let you know if I don't feel comfortable doing something.

Pregnancy pet peeve #10: Treating me like I have 'outs' for everything - No, not true. I can't eat whatever I want. No, I can't drink carbonated/caffeinated drinks whenever I want. No, I can't sit on my a$$ all day long. I can only do these things if I want to weigh 250 lbs, have gestational diabetes and feel miserable at 8 and 9 months pregnant. I don't eat cheeseburgers w/ large fries and a Mountain Dew. I don't drink coffee anymore (that one hurts). I walk. Why? Because being proactive now will save me a lot of heartache later :)

More updates to come......

Now For the Crappy News

Jason was out of town the last week of April. He got home around 3pm on that Friday and waited for me to get home from work. When I did, he asked me if I had closed the door to the basement. Naturally, I said no because we keep Caicos' litterbox in the basement. Strange, because I check the basement door every morning before I leave the house. Jason started walking around the house and when he walked into the sunroom (a room off of the kitchen) he noticed something lying in the middle of the floor. He asked me what it was and I immediately said, "we've been broken into". The lock to the patio door was lying in the middle of the floor. When we pulled the blinds back on the patio door we saw the damage. There were apparent crowbar marks on the outside and casing/frame of the door. The glass didn't break, but both locks on the door were pried off of the screws. GREAT. what a way to start a weekend.

After looking around we realized that our iPod and video camera were stolen. Jason initiated the call to the sheriff's dept and we waited for a person to show up.

In the meantime, I went across the street to ask if my neighbor saw anything. She works from home and her office window faces the front of our house. She said that she saw a guy about our age walk out from our backyard with what looked like a toolbox at around 2:30pm. She said she didn't think anything of it because she figured one of our friends was doing some work on the house. She gave me a description of the a-hole and I thanked her and left.

I went next door (to the right) because she's a stay-at-home mom but she didn't see anything. I went to my other next door neighbor but they weren't home from work yet. The neighbors two houses down were outside so I dropped by to ask if they noticed a strange vehicle parked in front of their house. I proceeded to tell them what had happened and asked if they had seen anything. Kathy said that it was strange I asked because when she got home from work, the handle to their garage door was messed up. I suggested that they take a look at their patio door because it sounded like they got broken into as well.

In the end, our next door neighbors (who weren't home when I went over), two houses down from us (Larry and Kathy) and our house were broken into on Friday afternoon. We were lucky. A lot more stuff was stolen out of the other two houses than ours. We must've been the last house that was hit. Bastard.

Now we get the joy of dealing with our insurance company. Is hasn't been too bad yet, but then again, the new door hasn't been installed. More to come.

Prenatal Appointment #2

It's been a while and I apologize....

On April 16th, Jason and I had our second prenatal appointment. It started off extremely uneventful - weigh in, pee in a cup and wait for the doctor. Once he and his assistant walked in, small talk ensued - 'how are you feeling?', 'any new cravings?', etc. I told him that I feel extremely blessed because I feel really good. I've never been sick and the worst I've felt is slightly tired at night. Other than that, I seriously have no reason to complain. *Please God don't change anything*

I had about 2 pints of blood taken (ok, only 4 vials) to check for Rh compatibility, STD's, etc. He asked if we wanted to be tested for the risk of Down's Syndrome. If the test results came back as an elevated risk, then why worry about it for the next 6 months; especially if it was a false positive. So, we declined the test. The most exciting part was hearing the baby's heartbeat. That was cool. Since I'm new at this, I kind of expected the baby's heartbeat to be a lot faster than what it sounded like. It wasn't quite double mine, but it was a little bit faster. Of course the superstitious family members were predicting the gender based on the heartbeat. Prediction: Boy.

So far, I've gained about 4 pounds. It doesn't sound too bad, but those 4 pounds sure do make my clothes fit a lot differently! I've gone to wearing my clothes with a rubber band to fasten my pant buttons to not wearing the rubber band because it feels so good to just let my belly hang out. I've come to the realization that I must start shopping for maternity clothes. Which I plan on doing today on my way home from work.

Jason and I have talked about names. We agree on the boy's name but not the girl's. I told him we're sticking with my selection unless he thinks of another acceptable name. Guaranteed I'm going to win this one!! Cross your fingers for a girl :)

We decided to wait until around August to start with the baby's room. I have a ton of ideas but haven't decided which one to go with. Jason's input is "You tell me what you want and I'll do it." Sounds good to me!!

I've started buying diapers everytime I go grocery shopping. Holy crap are they expensive! The baby's room smells like diapers - it's so cute!

Our next appointment is on the 15th. I promise I'll update you sooner than 3 weeks later!!