My quest continues...

A while back (like 8 months or so), I posted about my dilemma of finding a church to really belong to. I then found the church I attended for about 6 months and was very optmistic by the initial response I received....however, the singles group died out within 2 months, and now I am back to where I started...attending a church where I don't know anyone, and noone talks to me other than the obligatory greet the people around you part of the service.

So, a couple weeks ago, my mom and I were discussing the baby shower my aunt wants to throw me and I was saying how I really don't know anyone to invite, and she asked about my church. You need to understand that when I was growing up, my mother was extremely critical of any church other than the Lutheran church (they are cults! she would say), and so I have never spoken to her much about my church activities.

In any case, she suggested trying some new churches (yes, AGAIN) and even convinced me to try a Lutheran one (what?! LOL). So, last week, I did. I attended the Lutheran church closest to me, and would you believe it, but at least 50% of the congregation (including the reverend) made a concerted effort to greet me and at least ask my name and where I was from, etc. My problem with that church was that it was much like the one I grew up in, besides the reverend (who happened to be a woman probably in her 40s), I was the only person under 60 (maybe 70), and there were only 3 children there (presumably the reverend's children), and finally, the only things they offer are during the school day. Obviously, this was not the perfect church for me...but, I have decided to try another Lutheran church today...and that is where I am off to now. Hope it is just what I am looking for!

Cali, I will try and return your tag this evening as after church, I will be making pounds and pounds of icing for our day of the dead cookies. :)

Homecoming is over...I survived!!!

Am I glad that this month is over (well, over enough!). What a long, LONG month. The worst part was Wednesday night when I had to supervise senior pants painting. I had no idea it involved spray paint or I would have gotten out of it somehow...I hope my baby is still alive...

In any case, I survived, and I have time to sleep and do other things like blog again...I will try and post more both on my blog and yours! :)

Three more weeks to my next ultrasound...seems like so very far away...BUT, I am so happy to be past the 20 week mark and this baby is half baked! :)

It's a stubborn one...

My child that is. He/she refused to give us any insight into its gender. Everything else looked good I was told. Saw little hands and feet and face and all its body parts except the one I was so anxiuos to see! LOL

The meeting with the perinatologist afterwards went well. She was happy with my blood pressure and my diabetes control and told me that since my A1C level was so good and based on this ultrasound that my risks of the child developing abnormally or whatever are that of the general population.

My quad screen was in and there was one number that was slightly elevated, my HCG level, which increased my chance of Down's syndrome to that of a 33 year old rather than a 31 year old...1/430 I think the number was. The likelihood of Trisomy 18 was miniscule which was definitely reassuring because she had explained to me last time that children with this abnormality often don't live past the age of 1.

She had redrawn a thyroid test the last time I was in and the results were still lower than they would like. My number was 0.8 and she said they like to see it around 1 or higher and that there had been some studies that showed that babies with a mother less than 1 have lower intelligence. She prescribed a thryoid medication.

My aunt was very excited to come along and didn't seem nearly as disappointed as I was that I couldn't find out the sex. When she had her kids, apparently they didn't have ultrasounds so she found it quite fascinating. She wants to come to my next ultrasound in four weeks where they will do a fetal echocardiagram or something or other...something to look at the heart in great detail but the perinatologist said that things looked good and as I said above given my good A1C level they really don't expect a malformation/deformity or what have you.

Hopefully baby will cooperate next month!

Looking ahead

Last weekend, I found a list of doulas in my area and emailed them all to get some information from them. Throughout the week, three have replied to me (of 4 I think). I liked the first one that responded because she said she is a childbirth educator at the hospital I will deliver in. The second one seemed good too, with a little more indepth answers and an offer to send me an email with her answers to all the suggested questions on the DONA website. The third one, I am not so sure about. She mentioned some great things like different ways to support during labour, and she is a certified Happiest Baby instructor as well as certified (I think) Lactation person whatever the name is...but I got a bit turned off that she talked over and over again about not taking the place of your partner/labour coach, when for me, that is something I need. Finally, she also mentioned that she felt comfortable at Evergreen Hospital and had attended births there before...only I have no idea where this hospital is, it is NOT the one I told her in my email I would be delivering at. So, I need to mull these women over in my head, talk to them on the phone sometime likely, and make a decision. All three have openings in March.

I also started looking into home day cares last week. I finally got around to asking about the lady that other women at school use who only takes teacher's kids, but she doesn't have space because a current parent is expecting another baby. She said she would call around for me. One lady finally called me last Friday and I went to her place to pick up a list of five names she thought I could try. This woman actually would have a space in September but isn't sure she wants to do infants anymore...

So, last Saturday, I called the first lady on the list. She wasn't home and I left a message but she never called back.

Finally, yesterday was a non-student day so once I felt I was getting caught up at school, I called another lady. She thought she might have space and said she would call back that night. She did call last night and she will have space in September for an infant, and she isn't located that far from the school I work at (maybe about 5 minutes or so) and is actually very near the elementary school I will eventually send my child to. She seems nice enough and I told her I would like to come by sometime, and she told me it would be best to come after day care was over because I would have a lot of questions. I was kind of put off by this, because everything I have read has said to visit a place while the kids are there to see the interactions and stuff....Plus, she expects me to pay her in full over the summers, and I was hoping to at least find someone who would accept a lower payment for the summer...I mean, my child won't be in care at all for a full two months, it seems ridiculous to have to pay full price...So, I will continue looking but also go visit this woman in November (since she wants me to come on a weekday after 6, this is just not at all convenient for me and definitely not happening during this crazy Homecoming madness...)

Speaking of Homecoming, I survived another week of 4-6 poster painting supervisions. This next week is the last week of preparations for homecoming and I don't have to supervise until Friday. Then spend 3-8 (or longer) at the school next Saturday hanging all the posters on the wall, and Homecoming week is the Monday-Friday with various committments, one of which is from 6-8:30...yuck. I can, however, see light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally, only two more days until my ultrasound...come on baby, you have to cooperate! :)

The new OB

LOVE the new OB! Oh, who cares that he is a man...he is like one million times better than the old OB.

Obviously, I had my first appointment with the new OB today. He seemed generally interested when he asked questions and listened for the answers. He seemed very knowledgeable and confident and I loved that he took the time to re-explain the heart/blood pressure thing to me again and when he looked at my blood sugars which I told him have gone wacky the past four or five days, he did not even hesitate, just said "We will start you on the lowest dose of glyburide." (you may recall me talking about this medicine before...the first OB wanted to switch me solely to glyburide and the peri nixed that idea....but at the hypertension clinic when I saw the peri last week, she said she thought I could try a combo of Metformin and Glyburide to delay having to move to insulin).

I got very nervous when he was listening for the heartbeat and couldn't find it. He stopped at one point and asked if they had been able to hear it yet at other appointments. When I said yes, he tried again and did finally catch it. It was much slower than previous measurements (today it was 128 bpm where usually it is in the 150s), but he said that was fine and could possibly mean the baby was sleeping.

Now, I just need to make it through this one last week until the big ultrasound...I am so excited!!! :)

I'm alive...just survived a very long week

First, let me thank everyone who has emailed me today to check up on me. You are all so sweet!

Second, I am a very bad blogger. I haven't had time to post, or catch up on your blogs, and I promise to try and catch up in the next few days...life just seemed way too busy this week.

On Monday, I had to supervise poster painting from 4-6 pm in preparation for homecoming which is the last week of October. Boy am I glad that this is my last year as class advisor, as I am not even sure I can survive this month! LOL. In the end, I only stayed until 4:45 or so as no students showed up (though I am told they came at 5ish after their sport had ended...) I gave a test to three of my periods that day so I had lots to keep me occupied. I also brought home a stack of tests that I finished marking in front of the TV as I watched 7th Heaven.

Tuesday, I was on poster painting duty again, this time from 2-4 and I had a decent turnout who stayed right to the bitter end. I still had lots of tests to correct from the day before plus tests from Tuesday for my other two classes. Once again, I had to bring another stack home to get finished. I sure miss teaching only first year classes like I did last year...first year tests and quizzes are faster to correct at least at this time of the year when all they can say are greetings and Do you like to...? LOL

Wednesday, I had to stay at school for a long time. Not to worry, I had many things to mark still. I had a doctor's appointment at 4:30. It occured to me that I probably didn't HAVE to go in, but since she had said to come back in 6 months (6 months ago), I thought I had better do it just to be sure. She told me that I don't need to come back until I am no longer followed by the other bazillion doctors. :)

Thursday, was the day from hell. (much like the week before...my last post, except this time we had power). Thursday morning I had to take a half day of sick leave as I had my appointment with the hypertension clinic. I left at 7 for an 8:00 appointment fully expecting to be EARLY, and ended up being 15 minutes late. I am so happy I don't have to drive into Seattle on a regular basis! They did their ultrasound thing and determined that I have too much cardiac output which I understood as being too much blood being pumped through the heart at once. I don't remember the unit of measurement, but good would have been 5-7 or something like that and I was a 9. This meant that my medication, while controlling my blood pressure, was not the right match for me. I was switched to two new blood pressure medications, one a beta blocker I think and the other a diuretic. I was thoroughly warned and advised of the risk of preeclampsia and the warning signs. In fact, I believe I was told three times and asked once to repeat them back...yeah, that kind of scared me a bit. In the end, I don't have to go back for 10 weeks..but I asked for it to be 11 so that I wouldn't have to miss school. (it will be the week jsut before christmas...like the 22nd or something...)

If the day ended there, it wouldn't have been so bad. But, after my appointment, I ran to Group Health to get my new prescriptions filled, then ran back to the school just at the appropriate time, and taught the rest of the day. After school, we had a department meeting which took an hour and a half.

Again, if that were the end of the day...I could have survived, tired, but survived. But that was not it. No, this was our wonderful "open house" night where parents come and see all their students teachers. It runs from 7-9. I ran home in between department meeting and open house thinking I could nap for an hour. No such luck, my parents called. I got off the phone with them, ran to McDonald's for supper (shh..don't tell anyone), and then off I went back to school. I did my thing and survived, however I discovered that talking non-stop, standing up, while pregnant, makes me very very hot. By the end of "third period" (the parents follow the student's schedule), I was boiling, my face was red, I was out of breath, and thank God I have fourth period plan and could cool down while the teacher who teaches during my plan did his thing. Two more periods to go. After that, a parent forgot her purse in my room, and I had to wait for her to come get it, and I was out of there at like 9:05 or something. I got home exhausted, my legs hurt, my whole body ached, and I could barely keep my eyes open. So, I went to bed...but I couldn't sleep!!!!! Grrr..I didn't get to sleep until after 11:00pm.

Nothing much exciting happened on Friday. I should have caught up with everyone then I suppose..but I sat in front of the TV, catching up on shows I had recorded all week and marking yet another set of 60 quizzes and was in bed by 9. Aren't I a barrel of laughs?

LOL. Well, despite my very long week, I am looking forward to this next week. Not because anything exciting is happening, but because it is only 9 more days until my big ultrasound! :)