Thursday, December 22, 2005

'Tis the season to be.....sickly

One word has dominated my life lately: germs. It started a couple of weeks ago when the boy was sick all weekend with lots of drainage, coughing up a lung, and vomiting. It went away in a couple of days so we figured it was just a quick bug. But no, it came back with a vengeance and this time it got me too. The boy and I have been home sick for 3 days. I just started feeling better and I'm assuming he is too because he is running around in crackhead mode again. But wait - let me tell you about the wonderful day I had yesterday. I woke up feeling miserable and wanting to die, but I had something I needed to take into work because they were having a function that day (and by the way, sorry if I infected anyone). So I took a shower and got dressed and got the boy all dressed and headed out the door. My car wouldn't start. I hijacked the hubby's truck and took care of a few things at work and then went back home. My best friend that lives in Houston just happened to be in the area and stopped by, but to keep from infecting her kids with the crud, I stood outside and we talked by her vehicle. We have several trees in the front and a stupid little bird picked the EXACT spot where I was standing to crap and it hit me right on the head. Clearly it was intentional. So I went back inside and washed my hair for the 2nd time that day while my husband nearly peed himself laughing. I called my doctor's office and convinced them to call me in a prescription, but didn't find out until 7:00pm that the pharmacy hadn't filled it because they show in their computer that I am alergic to that particular drug. I said, "No, I'm not. I'm not allergic to any drugs." And please tell me where pharmacists get off managing my health instead of my doctor. My doctor knows perfectly well what I'm capable of taking and what I'm not. It's bad enough that pharmacies are refusing to fill some scripts because of moral issues, but now they have to play doctor with us as well? Give me a break. But anyway, I'm happy to report that today is going much better and no birds have crapped on me...yet.

I did finally finish the baby sweater that I was making and sent it off to my cousin in Ohio. Here's a picture:


It's the Ribbon Edged Cardigan from Special Knits by Debbie Bliss. Yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in dusty pink and I couldn't find a ruffled-edge ribbon that matched so I omitted it and opted for some simple pearl buttons. I think it turned out quite nice if you kindly overlook the holes I made when picking up stitches around the neck. But that's ok because it's a hand-knit garment and therefore, unique.

And since that is done, I am attempting my first toe-up sock. I don't have pictures yet because I JUST started it so there's really not much to see. If it goes well, I'll have picture soon. If not, I may stab someone with my dpn's out of frustration.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas or wonderful holiday, whatever you celebrate. I'll have family coming over again. Someone please drink some spiked eggnog for me.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Some updates

I am happy to report that no family members were harmed during Thanksgiving, nor did I spend the evening locked in the bedroom. I was a little miffed when my husband asked his parents to come over EARLY because he thought I needed help cleaning. First of all, even if I did need help cleaning, I am much too proud to admit it let alone actually delegate cleaning duties to others. If I had felt crappy that day, I would have simply told them to ignore the mess and blame it all on the pregnancy. Even when people offer, I am just not comfortable telling them, “You know, the floor could really stand a good mopping.” I just can’t do it. So instead I try to play the role of superwoman and get it all done myself. The exception is the hubby – I can delegate cleaning chores to him all day long and never feel one pang of guilt or shame. Regardless, the cleaning got mostly done and my portion of the food turned out wonderfully, no frozen pies were produced, and we even had a lovely visit with some unexpected, out of town relatives that we hadn’t seen in a long time. So for those keeping score, that’s one holiday production down, one to go…

And yesterday I had a consult with a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist (or high-risk doctor, if you will) because at 36 I am of advanced maternal age. Don’t even get me started on how unbelievably old that makes me feel. Anyway, after extensive ultrasound it was determined that there is a 99% chance the peanut is a girl, she has no markers whatsoever for Downs, and she appears to be healthy in every way. After learning there were no markers for Downs, we opted out of having an amniocentesis done. No, I would NOT like to have a long-ass needle poked through my abdomen into my uterus, thank you very much. So now I guess it’s time to get the name books out again and start picking girl names. To be honest, I was starting to want (in a completely passive aggressive way) to have a boy just because everyone wanted us to have a girl. And obviously it would have been easier if we had another boy because we already have all the boy “stuff” but deep down, it really didn’t matter. We will love her as much as we love Braden, and we welcome the wondrous challenges and differences of raising a little girl.