Lots of stuff

We have a dr's appt today, so I figured I better get all the old stuff out of my head, before it is taken over with new stuff.

We have signed Oscar up for a daycare. We are going to see it on Friday. It is too bad that I have only found one with a decent phone conversation. In my opinion, if I can't have a decent phone conversation with someone, they are NOT going to keep my child all day.

We heard Oscar's heartbeat with the fetal doppler last night. There was an obvious distinction between mine and his / hers. But as soon as I got too excited he took off. Oh well, I am sure we will hear it this morning.

I have taken it upon myself that when I see examples of things I think Randy needs to read, I forward them on to him. For example, on another blog, a lady was telling of how she called her husband when leaving the grocery store to tell him she was on the way home. SHe said he knew it would take her two minutes to get home. When she gets there with a car full of groceries, he has locked the door and is in the shower. Well, women understand you just don't do this, ESPECIALLY to a pregnant women. So, I thought Randy made need this info for future reference.

So, this morning we are taking my weekly picture and my DH decides to say, more than once mind you, are you sticking your belly out? Quit sticking your butt out. So, I politely told him my belly is bigger than is used to be and my butt is bigger than it used to be. And in his defense it does look like I am standing funny, but I am not. It weight accumulates in one spot, the body makes up for it and offsets it somewhere else. How does he think people keep their balance? If I had a big belly and no butt, besides looking funny, I would fall over forward.

My meaurements were 35.25 inches and 129.4 lbs. I have had cramps this past week, which I assumed meant things were once again stretching on the inside, and sure enough, I guess they were.

Yeah for good blood!

The results of the ultrascreen and nuchal test came back normal. They showed no signs of downs or trisonomy. One more good thing covered. Now I can start worrying about the 20 week ultrasound. But at least we have seen that baby has two arms, two legs, and likes to jump.

I AM A GENIUS!!

With a little help from my friends. I know that is part of a song, but it fits well here.

We think we have caught Oscar on the fetal monitor a couple of times now. Thursday's visit should be interesting. We should be able to hear the heartbeat on their doppler really well (especially if theirs cost $5000 and mine cost $100) I guess we will see whose is better.

We are signed up for all of our prenatal classes now. It kills me that we have to spend an ENTIRE saturday learning about how to birth a child. I mean really, just ask my husband, his is an expert at this apparently. According to him, you just squeeze really hard and push, and the baby comes out. We should be home that afternoon. Now everyone that knows him, understands that this is him being funny. I know this experience will be a shock for me, but I am not sure what it is going to do to him. If nothing else, at least it will be something we can laugh about for the rest of our lives.

We went to Callaway Gardens this past weekend. I had signed up for a half marathon back in October before we got pregnant. I decided (with a little push nudging from my family and Randy.) But when we got up that morning, boy was I glad I did not have to go out there. It was 34 and windy. I have MUCH better things to do. Like eat at waffle house. They now have "light" waffles. What they don't tell you is light means have the batter used to make a regular waffle. Maybe a little thicker than a saltine, but not much.

We had a couples massage while we were down there. I think I was more sore the next day than before the massage. That lady hurt me. I think it hurt, so I tensed up, which made it worse, but oh well. Next time I will pay for someone to do a scalp massage.

We should find out the results of our ultrascreen and nuchal test tomorrow or Wednesday. And we also go to the doctor on Thursday for a regular check up. We will schedule our "BIG" ultrasound then as well. I have put a poll on the left hand side, so feel free to throw in your vote. Mom, you can not vote more than once. HeHe... Voting more than once will not help Oscar become Oscaretta. Nor will I ever call her that if it is a girl. It will still be Oscar. Who knows, at this rate, it will be Oscar when the baby is born.

Lets see if this works...

Does this link work?

Belly Pictures

New picture

For right now to look at the pictures, look on the left hand side of the screen at the list of posts, scroll down until it says "2007". Click on there. Now all of the 2007 posts will show on in the middle of the screen. You can just scroll down until you see baby belly. It has been updated through 14 weeks.

Recapping what a wonderful Tuesday I had...

I think I said I had a bad Monday. Well, Tuesday was the kicker. I
don't know how much of this I have already written, so just skip over
it if you have already seen it.

I just remembered I did already write some of this. I went back to read what I had written. It is so funny, just after I had posted the last info about this, is when I had an ABSOLUTE meltdown.

I did have my license or so I thought. I knew it was in the book that I had at the gym the night before. Well, on the way home from the gym, the book was just sitting on Randy's console. When I went to look for the book, it was not in my backpack
(where I normally put it) and so I completely freaked out. I called
Randy to ask him if the book was in his truck. He did not remember
seeing it, but he would go look. He was not pleased about this at all.
Because it was 20 degrees outside. And he had a long walk. So while I
amSOOOOOOO mad at myself, I am sobbing uncontrollably almost to the
point of hyperventilation. I could not get myself under control. He
calls back and says he doesn't have it. Well, that makes me feel
somewhat better, because now I HAVE to have it somewhere. So, he calmly
helps me look for it (over the phone) and we find it. I calm down
because it is only 7:00 am and the day is just starting. Long way to go
yet...

I have to call the body shop to get my garage door
opener. I barely make it through that phone call without crying. Now I
feel dumb for forgetting my opener. I guess all this is making me feel,
How in the world am I supposed to care for a child when I can't
remember to put my license where it goes or get my garage door opener
out of the car from the body shop. Yeah, I know, minor in comparison,
but still.

So, my mom takes me to the dentist, drives me to get the rental car, and I am off to work. I should have gone back home.

I get an email, about ANOTHER w-2 that may have to be fixed. Me and this
guy have been having issues with these w-2's, so this is the LAST thing
I wanted to hear. Well, I get my boss to come look at it, and he says
something, and it would not have affected me any other day of the week,
but today was the wrong day. And don't get me wrong, there was nothing
wrong with what he said, it was me. (I know, the first step is
admittance.) So, I have to call my boss back about 10 minutes later,
and I start crying again. Poor guy, I felt so bad for him later that
morning. He even brought me a cookie because he felt bad. I tried
telling him it was nothing he had done, I was just a complete LUNATIC
at this point. So, after more crying, crying, and crying, I had to move
on.

I guess the hormones decided they had had enough fun for
they day, they were going to take a rest. Good thing, because I am not
sure how long I could have handled it. It is not like during tax season
that you can take off work because you are upset. Somethings have to be
done and done on time.

So, that is my story of the crazy woman who probably should live in a shoe.

Happy Birthday...

...to my Dad!!

He is as many years as he the same year he was born in. Hello, I am Nicole, and I love a numbers game.

Oscar says Happy Birthday as well!

WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!!

So, I thought about this measurement thing again...

... Because it is not going to be good when I gain weight, and no
measurement in the belly. Because it is going somewhere. And most
likely, it is to my inner thighs.Why? That has to be the hardest place to loose
weight from. Maybe I should layoff the Jack in the Box milkshakes. But
they areSOOOOOOO good. Even when it is only 33 and raining outside.

I had an absolutely awful day on Monday. I will write about that later.

But anyway, my DH (dear husband or darling husband) left at 4:30 again for work this morning, so we will do the picture tonight. But I measured 34 3/4 " and weighed 127.4. There is no telling if I ammeasuring on the same spot. I really don't care.
By the time we get to the end, I want to know where I was to being
with. It is funny looking at my 5 weeks pictures now. I can't believe I
used to look like that.

Our tape measure is one of those that you can pull out to a certain point and it will stop and not retract. So, I pulled it out what I thought was a long ways, and got ready to measure. Well, I had stopped around 30", not even close. Distances aredefinitely longer when they are straight than when they are in a circle. I guess that is why it is easier to do a run that includes cul-de-sacs and twists and turns, rather than just straight down Hwy 101. I will have to remember this for future reference.

JB Mommy (your boys look like they LOVE that baby sister of theirs!!), don't ever feel bad for commenting. I am going for the natural
childbirth, and I figured anything I could do help increase my pain
tolerance, I would do with a smile on my face. I am just not sure my
husband is prepared for no medication. I guess we will see.

So much to write, but I must walk. By the way, we now call the baby Oscar.
At least we have plenty of time to call him / her by their real name,
so maybe they won't be confused.

More to come later but first...

....In response to Suzanne's comment yesterday. I figured if I torture myself now, maybe labor won't seem that bad. And do you know how many people will be looking at that thing? I want it to look half decent. Maybe not totally decent, well because that just scares heebeejeebee's out of me!

Our first mother / son / daughter experience...

...was very interesting. I got a bikini wax for the first time. Yes, I am 29, and I have never had a bikini wax. Of course I took moral support with me. My sister. I think she thought it was funny. Of course I laughed too. But still, she is supposed to be supportive, not laugh at me. The first time the lady ripped the wax off, I did not know it was coming, and apparently, I am very slow. I could not figure out what that AWFUL pain I was feeling down there was. Oh yeah, I signed up for this. So, after that, I just tried to laugh off the pain. Between my hysterical laughing and contracting my stomach muscles (I think that made it be easier), I am sure Michael Jackson / Cathleen was having a FANTASTIC time. I would have like to seen the baby's reaction. He / She may not have known anything was going on, but I doubt it.

My sister wants me to put this part in. So we go out to pay, and as soon as I realize my wallet is not in my pocketbook, I can picture it sitting on the kitchen counter. So, my dear sister had to let me borrow money so that we could get out of there. How sweet of her.

We went to the Urban Nirvana spa. Both my mom and Randy thought they sold clothes. I am sure they thought I was crazy when I said I went to get a wax there. But anyways, to begin with, there were more men than there were women in there. THere were two men, both in bath robes, I assume having massages done, and me, not having a lovely massage, but a painful wax.

Another stupid moment in pregnancy history. Last week, when we went to the gym, I had to use my drivers license to get in b/c I did not have my card. While reading my book and walking on the treadmill, I decided to use the license as a bookmark. Fast forward to yesterday. I had to take my car to the shop to get it fixed. I am going to rent a car. I get to the car rental place, and have no drivers license. I dig through everything i have, and still can not find it. It must still be at the Y I think. And of course the car rental place will not rent me a car without a license. Can they not see that I am a good driver? Don't I look trustworthy enough? Apparently not. So, they take me to work. My dear sweet, sweet husband picks me up. I have my gym bag with me b/c we are going to the gym after work. I get on the treadmill and what to my amazement appears out of no where? My license. STill in th book on the last page I read last time. Now of course, I had this bag with me ALL day long. Even at the car rental place. Oh well.

Now my sweet mother has to come pick me up, transport me to the dentist in Greenville, then drive me across the county to Spartanburg to pick up a rental car, because today, I do have my license.

And the stats are...

...Everyone knows I am a number person so, we will see how long I think this is fun.

At the biggest part of the belly - 34.5" or 87.5 cm.
Weight 126.0 - (This was a low morning)

The pictures we took were done at 4:25 AM. Normally Randy directs me where to stand and if I am standing up straight. Not this morning. It was more like stand, click, and go.

He did make it to work safely though, so that is good.

I seemed to have developed a case of morning sneezes. I certainly hope it goes away soon and is not another cold. I am not sure if the other one fully went away. I will be glad for warmer weather to get here.

Great visit yesterday...

...Michael Jackson / Cathleen looked great. Measuring four days ahead of schedule at 13w3d. We had our ultrascreen done. Our NT measurement looked good. Now we will have to wait 10 - 14 days about the trisonomy test. Baby had the hiccups during our video yesterday. It was so funny. He / she would be just sitting there and all of a sudden bounce up liked she had pooted and air pushed her right up. And then she would just float back down until the next one. She tried sucking her thumb at one point. (I say she b/c I get tired of writing he / she. Tomorrow it may be a he. Who knows!)

We saw two arms, two legs, a long spine, and skull, feet bones and hand bones. It was so interesting. Amazing she can have all these things and be just 3 inches long.

For the weekly pictures, we are now going to start adding weight and circumfrence measurements. How long do we think this will last? Poor Randy, I can see us now at 35 weeks, he being so sweet to try and measure me and not being able to get the tape around my belly and me flipping out on him.

He bought me a prenatal yoga dvd for Christmas and today will be the second time I have done it. Let me tell you, it is not easy. And to boot, the lady "teaching" it is 36 weeks pregnant. Well, I have nothing to complain about. But boy did she make my leg muscles burn!

Randy's Corner: He has asthma. A cold must have triggered it to make it as bad as it was in the beginning. Between the two of us we have been sick almost entirely since we got pregnant. We are hoping this goes away soon. But the doctor told him to only use his medicine when he needs it, and if he has to use it more than twice a week, he needs to go back. Or if it gets as bad as it did before. Let's hope it NEVER gets that way again.

We will try to take pictures of the ultrasound pictures so we can post them on here.

Was that man watching you?

Sunday, we went to the grocery store. Lissa was going to meet us there
with Alex, so she could go to work. We had already been shopping, and
so I went outside to put thecar seat in the car and get Alex, while
Randy stayed in the store with our buggy and food. When I go back into
the store, I noticed a man from the meat department standing near the
exit door. While I was outside, Randy was trying to decide which door I
was going to come back in, so he went from one door to the other door,
back to the first door. Well, apparently that caused them to believe he
was going to steal our buggy our groceries and I had gone to get the
getaway car. Yeah, I know. We look like a couple of hoodlums ready to
steal about $25 in food.

Last week while getting ready, I noticed my shirts were getting a little tight, and I laughed it off. Yesterday, it was no joking matter. I tried to rationalize just how
much of a pull between the buttons at the boob level was acceptable. So, maternity shirt it was. Yes,everybody noticed I was wearing one also. But it did feel very comfortable. I have the same shirt in two sizes. What will be funny is when I start wearing the bigger shirt later, and they think wow, is that shirt growing with her?

Here is another poll: How long will it take for someone to catch me in the
bathroom checking out my baby belly? I really enjoy looking at it. I
think it is cute. What is funny though, is when I suck in, and it all
squishes downward. Pretty amusing for me. Randy saysMJ doesn't appreciate it.

We go for our ultrasound today for the ultrascreen test. It will tell us the risk of Down Syndrome, trisomy 18 and other chromosomal abnormalities. (I copied that last sentence from another web page.) Just something else for me to worry about, but
we get to see the baby again so we are very excited. We are taking a
VHS tape to record this ultrasound. HopefullyMJ / Cathleen will cooperate and put on a show, but be still so the tech can get the measurements she needs. But all of this also comes withbloodwork. Fun, fun , fun...

Randy's Corner: The ultrasound machines only use VHS tapes. So, Randy tells me to call Katie (my dr's nurse) and ask her what museum would be open so that we could get some VHS tapes. I am still not sure he believes me in that they don't takeDVD's. Oh well.

Moms and People, I am about to write TMI on here, so stop reading if you don't want to read.

I had my first pregnancy sex dream the other night. And yes, my husband
asked if he was in it. Of course he was. All I can say is wow, very
interesting.

My husband must REALLY love me!

I have my second cold in three weeks. This one is worse than the first
one. Two nights ago, (at 8:30 pm) I decided I was finally going to take
some medicine. Well, the only medicines we have are multi symptom, and
there is one ingredient in those that you are not supposed to have when
you are pregnant. So, off to the store he goes to get me some
acceptable medicine. Fast forward to last night. My nose gets so messed
up, if I close my mouth I will suffocate. And that is not an exaggeration. There
was so much pressure in my head and my ears would not pop. The medicine
I had taken did NOTHING. I never felt a relief earlier that day from
the symptoms. So, now we are on to looking for a nasal cleansing pot.
Apparently they are popular, because 4 stores were out of them. According to mapquest, he went 17 mins (one way) out of his way so I could breathe better.

If you have never used one of these, it is like a little tea kettle with a
long spout. You put warm water and a salt mixture into the kettle and
stick the spout into one nostril. Very sexy, let me tell you. The
mixture is then supposed to drain out the other nostril. Well, if you
aren't as messed up as I am, maybe that is what happens. At first we
tried half a packet of salt mixture, well, that didok . So just like a
normal person, if a little does good, imagine what the whole thing
would help do. Nothing but burn the outside and inside of my nose.

But the good news is it worked enough so that I did not have to worry about suffocating myself to death if I shut my mouth.

Randy's Corner: He tells me this morning, his inhaler medicine makes him not
sleep at night because it causes him to have the restroom 40 times a
night. Well, my thought is that I could let him incubate the baby at
night so that I don't have to get up to go to the bathroom. At least
one of us should be getting a good nights sleep huh?

Belly pictures have been updated. Not much change between last week and today. MJ /Cathleen seems to be sinking lower. Is it just me?

Gender Predictions Anyone?

Well, the chinese calendar says it will be a girl. The old wives tales say there is a 53% chance it will be a boy. The wedding ring test says it will be both. More towards boy though. Randy is one of two boys. His brother also has two boys. But, Connie is Randy and Ron's little sister. She was her parents third child. If we have the third grandchild, does that mean it is going to be a girl? Mind boggling trying to figure this out. I am NOT a rocket scientist.

Mom, I don't need your prediction. With the name Cathleen, I think I know what you are thinking...And what you want...

Then we have Ethan, our nephew, who is 3, almost 4. When he was asked what he wanted me to have, first it was one of each, then it was two of each. That young and already a comedian.

Everyone else, what are your predictions? Who ever guesses right, I will donate one penny in your name to the human fund.

We have movement!

We had an US done Friday and it was great. MJ was sleeping to begin
with because he/she was all in a little ball and you could not see
anything. Well all of a sudden, he/she started doing flips and going
crazy. It was so funny to watch. It is VERY hard to believe all of that
is going on inside me. Maybe he/she will slow down with those flips
once I can feel it. I would think that would make a person very sick. I
guess my child will love roller coasters though, just as I did.

We decided to have some testing done simply because there is no effect on the baby. Just an ultrasound and some bloodwork. So, we were reading through our material they gave us 3 weeks ago, and discovered that we could have brought a tape in each time for the US. I thought we could only take one for the "big one". We will try to take
one for the next one. We will have another one done next Tuesday for the ulrascreen testing. The baby was 1 cm or mm to short. They have to be a certain size before they can do the test. So by then we should get some good pictures, because the ones we saw the past time were so fun. The US tech said they would be much clearer this next
time.

My "monster" is measuring exactly right, not to big, not
to small. He/she is 3.1 inches long. During the US, we were able to see
the 2 bones in the forearm, the elbow, and the bone in the upper arm.
At one point the baby looked directly at the camera and you could see
the eye sockets, and the jaw bone. All of this was so neat. We saw the
spine, the legs kick at one point, and the rib cage. Now if I were
quicker on my feet, I would have had the tech get a picture of the rib
cage so we could count the ribs and determine if it is a girl or a boy.
I will work on this for next time. I can't wait to know if it is a girl
or boy. Then we can start making more definitive plans with stuff.

Oh well, without further ado, he is our latest picture...

Must be all the poop I am retaining...

...The difference between last weeks picture and this weeks picture is huge. Its either poop or a monster. When I talked to the dr's office yesterday, I asked the girl what all they planned to do. Thank goodness I had just had my yearly exam, so I get to skip that part. That had to be the best news I had ever heard.

I did think good, now some unknown doctor will not be sticking his / her hand in places it should not be. Then this morning I realized, soon enough there will be a lot of hand sticking in places I don't won't there to be. Ahhh, the joys of being pregnant and later delivering I guess...

They will do another ultrasound so that we can hear the baby's heartbeat. Hopefully they will remeasure MJ (Cathleen) so that they can determine if they need to adjust my due date, or I am just growing a monster. I would prefer a due date adjustment.

Randy's Corner: His brother Ron is home from Iraq for a couple of weeks. We are going up to have Christmas at their house this weekend. I know his boys and Janelle were so excited when he surprised them yesterday. I know his mom and dad were just as happy. Ron, we are so glad you are home safe. We can't wait until you come back for good later this year.

PS. Cathleen is my mom's name for the baby. Poor kid is already having an identity crisis. I guess when we find out what it is, we will have to really call him / her by their name to enforce it.

Here is the new picture.

The ugly occurred again...

...Maybe TMI. But this time, it was different. This time it came in the form of cervical mucuos (normal) with a little blood (not normal) in it. So, of course I panicked. I call the doctors office, and the lady calls me back within 5 minutes. Pretty good considering it was 7 in the morning New Years Day. Her response was, "Well, I don't know what it was, but I am sure it is fine." How can you not know what something is, but assure me everything is fine? I just don't get that.

My dear, sweet wonderful husband (I don't know what I woudl do without him, he always makes me laugh to make me feel better.) Apparently, MJ had a New Years Eve party, and this was the result.

Anyways, things are back to normal now, so that in my opinion is always good.

It's amazing how talking to certain people can make you cry. I can be semi ok, but I get on the phone with my mom or Randy, and I just completely breakdown. I am sure Randy is waiting for me to get off the crazy bus, and back to normal. Only 203 days left! Drop in the bucket. (Yeah right!)