Ramblings

Yesterday I went to Dr. Van de Castel's office for my first glucose test. I've been having so much indigestion that the day prior I ate lunch at 2:30 and skipped dinner altogether. I was kind of regretting that decision yesterday morning when I woke up hungry at 4:00am, but couldn't eat until after 10:00 when they finished the glucose testing. Oh, the joys of pregnancy!!!

When I had my regular appointment last Friday I was still in a lot of pain from the stent and ended up having a minor breakdown in the doctor's office. I tried to hold it together, but after being in almost constant pain for over 3 weeks, it wears a person down. I was hoping that once the baby turned and wasn't putting pressure on the kidney anymore I could get the stent removed. At this point, I'm not sure if that's going to happen. The baby was head down at Friday's appointment, but she's still little enough to keep turning. Dr. Van de Castel is going to contact Dr. Schafer, the urologist, and discuss what they can do to help me. He's going to check my kidney and if it looks like it's draining properly then we'll discuss removing the stent. I'm not sure what the best option is because, while I would love to have it removed, if the kidney gets blocked again I have to go through the process of having it put back in - something I'm not excited about. So, for now, I just have to take it really easy, which is very frustrating to me since I have so much I still want to do.

On a positive note though, we were able to see a very good profile of the baby on Friday. We could see this perfect outline of her little face and her arm. She was busy sucking her thumb. Dr. Van de Castel said she has a little button nose and still looks like a girl (after buying everything pink, that's a relief!). Since we were in Alaska over the holidays, the last ultrasound we had was the middle of December. At that point she looked rather skeletal because she was at that stage where she was all formed, but just needed to start putting on that baby fat. This time her little cheeks were all rounded. She's about 3 pounds now and I asked the doctor what week she could safely be born. She said that after 36 weeks they would not stop her from coming. That sounded so close to me. I still can't really believe we're going to have her in such a short time.

On another topic, but still baby related (of course, since that's my life right now)- I've been having issues with the nursery paint color. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm painting, I can never pick the color that I see in my mind. That's why I ended up painting the main floor of our place twice before I got the color right. Now, my issue is with the nursery. I know exactly what I want - a very light, pastel pink - but I can't seem to get that. The paint we bought a couple of weeks ago turned out to be more lavender, than pink. So....Saturday we returned to Hornbach, armed with a little pink sock for comparison, to pick out a different color. Monday morning I gave it another try and was disappointed once again. It's definitely pink - like Pepto-Bismol. Not exactly what I had in mind. So this morning Sam helped me mix in quite a bit of white paint. So far it looks much better. Maybe the 3rd time's a charm.

In the last post I mentioned that we had finally ordered the nursery furniture from the RB PX. So, I thought we were done with that, but Friday I received a call from them saying that the dresser I wanted was no longer available. UGH! We were back to square one with the furniture. I didn't want to select a different dresser, because there are so many different colors of white (antique white, pearl white, pure white - you get the idea) that it might not match. We needed to pick up the chair we bought there last weekend anyhow, so I went along to order a different set. While we were there we saw a nursery set on display. I liked the pieces, but the color was more of a yellowish white, which I wasn't completely happy with. I decided to go with it though because it's HERE and available. Overseas we have to compromise. As it turned out though, they only had the changer and dresser, so I was kind of happy about that. We decided to wait and see what else we can figure out. I'm working on a couple of different stores now to see if there's any way to get some American furniture shipped here without having to go through AAFES. Wish me luck with that.

Last night we were finally able to get in on a hospital tour. It was the same hospital I was admitted to for the kidney problem, so we had an idea of what it was like, but we were able to see it from the labor and delivery standpoint. I'm not totally impressed with what they have to offer - some of the labor rooms are very small, they only have one birthing tub (I was hoping this would be available, but it's first come, first served), not many private recovery rooms, etc. But they have a great NICU right in the hospital in case anything is wrong with the baby at birth. Also, they don't whisk the baby away - everything is done right in the same room and she'll be with us continually. They don't have a nursery to put the baby in, so she'll be with me from the beginning. That's what I wanted anyhow, so I'm happy about that.

There is another hospital that we could go to, but it's about 30 minutes away. It is said to be much nicer and more modern, but they do not have a NICU and I still wouldn't be promised a private room or a birthing tub. We still have a few weeks to decide on that though, so we may try to get in on the other hospital tour to see if it's worth having to drive farther. Decisions, decisions!!!!

Have I mentioned that I have an absolutely rotten cat???? Well, since we found a home for Papa (who is now known as Sammy), Gabby has been happier than she's been in a long time. For the first time since May (when Papa/Sammy came to live with us) she's been playing again and running through the house like a wild animal. Every night when we go to bed we hear her wreaking havoc throughout the house. It's always fun to see what mess we'll be greeted with in the morning. Her latest vice is anything ball shaped that might be on the kitchen counter. I don't allow her on the counters, but she's a cat and there's not much stopping her when we're not around. This last week she's been having a blast playing with the grapes in the fruit bowl. We came down one morning and found grapes all over the floor with little kitty paw prints covering the stove top. She tried out the apples and tomatoes, as we could see from the bite marks, but must not have liked the taste of them. I'm really not sure how to keep her off the counter or table. I spray her with water if I find her up there, but that only works for the moment. Regardless of the mess she makes, I'm so happy to see her back to her old self and playing again.

Well, I'm going to try to make it to the pregnancy support group again today. I haven't been there in a few weeks, but I really enjoyed it the one time I did go. It's nice to connect with other Americans that are in the same situation as I am. Before I have to get ready for that I'm going to start painting the nursery - for the 3rd time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the color looks good. That is what's going on here for now. Until next time...