May 26, 2009
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37 weeks today – Everyone will be here in just a couple days!
Good morning everyone. It’s Tuesday morning at 5:45. I slept pretty good last night, thankfully. That doesn’t mean I want to be awake, but I am, so that’s that. I hope that everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend. It rained here almost all weekend, but I do hope you all had better weather. I am sure that no one was ready to head back to work this morning… but it’s a short week luckily.
Sunday evening I didn’t do much of anything after my last blog post. Mandy came by and visited for a bit. She left and I got my bath before Tancy got home. Tancy brought whoppers home for us, I was just too tired to cook anything and wasn’t near about to be on my feet any more that day. We had dinner and chatted each other up about our days. That’s always sure to bring a few laughs! I showed off all my hard work and Tancy, of course, responded as she should have “Wow!”, “That looks great babe”, “You’ve really been working hard”. All of which is true, but I love her for stroking my ego every now and then… not that I typically need it, but sometimes, when you’ve been busting your ass, it’s really nice to have it recognized. Anyway, she got her bath before long and we were in bed. We watched some TV, but were both asleep fairly early. I slept hard, waking up every few hours at the call of my bladder. I even woke up at the usual “day shift” alarm time. Ugh! Thankfully I went back to sleep. I guess we slept till about 8:00 – 8:30.
Tancy made coffee and took care of the puppies. I didn’t feel too bad, just tired still. I enjoyed not having to do much of anything. Around 10:00 she fixed us something to eat. I had grilled cheese sandwich and she had a egg fajita. Yummy. We then worked on putting “treats” for the dogs in the common areas of the house for our training with them now and once Lillie comes. After that we decided to go to the pet store to get a few things, also in preparation. So we both got dressed and headed out. We got to Petco and got training treats first, small, soft bite sized treats that are easy for them to eat and also will help us with the “easy” command that will be so important in months to come. We also got them some compressed bones which are just great to either keep them occupied for a while or just reward them in a bigger way. We got them both congs, great chew toys for dogs who are power chewers, to be able to stuff treats in them and keep the puppies occupied for a much longer time and reward them with less treats, even though it takes them a long time to get them all. Additionally we got them each a new toy to give them the day we come home from the hospital. All of this to assist with training from this point forward. Tancy’s been reading a book that the trainer we have used sent to us, so far we are doing everything we should be, it just gave us some additional tools to help us make it happen. The treats everywhere is one of those things. They should get treats as much as possible when Lillie is around so that they associate her with good. It’s a common mistake to treat the dogs or give them attention when the baby is sleeping, etc., this teaches them that when the baby is around is bad for them.
Anyway, we were almost done and my right hand felt really tight, I look at it and it looks funny. I call Tancy’s attention and she doesn’t react well. I think her exact words were “Oh honey, that swelling is really bad, we’ve got to get you home!” I guess I didn’t realize how bad it looked cause it caught me off guard. She looked at both hands and started moving alot faster to finish up what we were doing. Kept holding my hand to my chest, above my heart. We left out and stopped at the first gas station to get me some water. Tancy checked my ankles and said she could tell by looking at them I was swollen. It was pretty bad she said. On the way home she told me that I was just going to have to slow down and take it easy. That the swelling was probably partially a product of having done too much in the last few days. I started to cry. I know this seems silly, but I have been really proud of myself for not just sitting on my butt and doing nothing cause “I’m pregnant” and “I can’t” or whatever… I know there are women who do much more than I have done while pregnant… but I also know the flip side exists. I am happy to be in the middle, but I am not ready to give that up yet. I don’t want to be sitting with my feet up. I like being in the yard digging a hole for my flowers at 36 weeks pregnant, or giving the house a complete scrub down at nearly 37 weeks pregnant. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and pride. It also helps me to know that I truly can do anything, including the inevitable labor that will be tough. I have had no complications and I would like to keep it that way. She tried to reword what she’d said… that if I was swelling I should take a break, that she too was very proud of me and all that I still do even as the pregnancy progresses. I’ve worked hard at learning my limits and stopping just before I’ve pushed too far… I don’t like thinking that “too far” just got alot close.
Once we got home I got a big glass of water and put my feet up. Sandy was already here when we got back home, so we just sat in the living room and hung out. The swelling went down pretty quickly and I was pleased with that. I only got up to go to the bathroom and get more water. At 4:00 we loaded up and headed out for dinner. I had been craving Italian food, baked ziti to be exact. So that’s what we had. I didn’t add any salt and I had water with lots of lemon. I was pleased with my dinner. Tancy’s dinner made her sick… wont be getting that again. Sandy seemed to like her dinner pretty good. When we left there we stopped at Wal-Mart so I could get some lemons to add to my water at home. Then we headed home. Sandy stayed and visited a while longer. I was so full and sleepy it was ridiculous. I guess it was 7:15 when Sandy left out. Tancy swept the living room floor for me, moving all the furniture. She’ll do a scrub on the floors probably Wednesday night. She sat down for a minute to rest after finishing the floor. But before long we headed to the back for baths and to settle down for the night. I think Tancy was asleep by 9:00. I was up till about 10:15 or so. We were both tired and quite honestly need alot more sleep than we have been getting. I was up at 12:15 and 2:40. Then, of course, when the alarm went off at 4:30 (though I didn’t get up till after Tancy had gotten up and was already getting ready).
I had, thankfully, set the coffee pot last night, so it was already ready. Pups out to potty, stuff out to make Tancy’s sandwich, let the puppies in, make sandwich, feed pups, fix coffee, put away sandwich fixin’s. We had some of our coffee together. I don’t think either of us wanted her to have to go to work this morning, but she’s only got three days this week… normally it would be 4, but she wont be doing the normal “training” this week. Instead she’ll work 3, 12 hour days and try to get some quals worked on. That’ll give her a three day weekend, instead of what would have been a 2 day weekend, so that will be good.
So far, this morning, I haven’t noticed swelling. I intend to keep up the water push and to just pay attention to my body. I honestly do not want to be sitting with my feet up while everyone is here! That would upset me so very much!
Today I take the puppies to the groomer. We found one here by the house that’s super cheap and will do everything we need/want done. I’ll be glad to get them cleaned up and smelling nicely. With everyone coming it’s also important that their nails are trimmed well. Today my goals are to dust the living room (last room to be dusted) and possibly clean our bath room (the last room to actually be “cleaned”). I’d have to look at my list to see if there’s anything else, cleaning wise, that still needs to be done. I know the floors need scrubbing, which Tancy is going to do and the couch/love seat needs to be de-haired (I don’t think that’s a real word!), but I think she’ll do that for me as well. The curtains in the back bedroom have to go back up, but Tancy will have to do that for me. Most everything, other than the floors, will take just a few minutes to complete. She assures me that she’ll take care of things tonight and tomorrow night.
Pregnancy wise, outside of swelling hands and feet yesterday, I am doing well. I am not miserable. I have uncomfortable moments, sure, but not miserable. My right leg still goes a bit numb, standing to cook, for example really tears me up, but if I am moving, I can be on my feet for much longer without any real issues. My sciatic hasn’t been burning like it was before… very thankful for that. My left hip still bothers me here and there, but nothing constant. My right hand, at least two of my finger tips, stays numb and even hurts depending on the time of day and activity. Holding a utensil, tooth brush or anything small like that makes my hand hurt and go fully numb. I’ll be glad when that’s gone. My bladder seems to hold less than a teaspoon lately… I spend more time in the bathroom than doing anything else I think. At night that’s especially irritating. Braxton Hicks haven’t been as frequent in the last two days as they were the two prior to that. I don’t know if that’s specific to my activity level or what… I also know that her activity level has certainly changed, she’s still moving around, just not as much as before… maybe that means she’s getting ready to “head out” soon?! My knees have been bothering me, I assume its from subtle changes in my hips as my body prepares for the big day. Of course, there’s the horrific heart burn that hits in the middle of the night as well. But, outside of those things, I am well. I feel pretty good most of the time. Emotionally and mentally I have felt fantastic. The physical stuff comes and goes and thankfully usually isn’t here for long when it does hit. I feel very fortunate to have such an uneventful pregnancy, no complications, no health concerns, no real complaints. Very fortunate!
So, it’s about 6:30 here now. I need to get dressed here directly and get ready to get the day going. I doubt I’ll be overly ambitious but I am sure I will check one or two things off the list today. That’s the great thing about planning on not being very ambitious, it frees you up to do whatever you want, which is usually fairly productive (for me at least).
I can’t wait for everyone to be here!! Mom will be here Thursday morning. Larisa will touch down right behind her. I am so excited. Tancy’s Mom, younger sister, nephew and cousin will be here Friday sometime. I can’t remember when Aunt Jan gets here… she’ll go to her daughter, Britt’s first. And Jeanette and Luca will be here Saturday. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends! I can’t wait to get some time with them, though I know it wont be nearly enough. (1 day and a wake-up!!)
I am wishing you all a fantastic Tuesday. It’s a short week, so as hard as it has to be to return to work today, remember it’s only 4 days. I hope the weather is whatever you need it to be. I, personally, am hoping for nice weather today (though I’ve already seen the local radar and know better). I am also practicing being an optimist!
I am sending each and every one of you lots of positive energy today! Love to all!
