Snow
Hey everyone. Again, I've managed to be incommunicado for about a month. This is getting to be a habit.
I am currently at home right now, instead of being at work where I should be. On Saturday, we got about 2 feet of snow and not all of the roads have been cleared yet. I tried to leave for work at my usual time this morning. I got out of my townhouse parking lot and immediate neighborhood fine. I don't know if HOA hired a snow plow or if the VDOT sent a truck, but our immediate streets were plowed and sanded. However, when I got to the public road that I need to take to get to a bigger road, it was covered with powdery snow and ice pack under it. I got stuck going up the hill. Luckily, one of my neighbors (who has a truck), helped me get turned around so I could get back to my house. I sent an email to my supervisor when I got home, and she was the only one who had managed to make it in around 8-ish. She also told me that the road in front of our office building hadn't been cleared, which means that even if I'd made it out to a main road, I probably would have gotten stuck in 2 feet of snow on the way. I'm surprised that they didn't just call everyone and tell them that the office was closed for the day. I thought I wouldn't have a problem getting out because our townhouse cluster roads were passable with no problem, but apparently that's deceptive. Who knows when the plows will get to all of the side streets since NOVA has a lot of side streets to cover and only so many snow plows to get to them all.
Sunday, I helped Chuck for about an hour digging our cars out of the snow. He continued for most of the afternoon with our neighbors, but being 8 months pregnant, it is not a good idea for me to be shoveling and scooping snow for extended periods of time.
In pregnancy news, I'm feeling okay, but I have had to deal with a lot of doctor's appointments. I have gotten used to checking my blood sugar 4 times a day and I've pretty much set my diet day in and day out so that I know how many carbs I'm eating at any given meal. I've also been on prednisone (a steroid) to help boost my platelets (I have prenancy-related thrombocytopenia), which had the side effect of raising my blood sugar. The first week I was on it, it did raise my levels, but then the following week, my platelets dropped again. As a result, my hematologist scheduled me for two IVIG infusions (intravenous immuno globulin), so I spent this past Thursday and Friday at the hospital getting infused. Thursday I was there from 8:00 to about 5:15 and Friday I was there from 8:30 to about 4:45. I didn't have any side effects, but it was a long day of sitting in a chair (at least it reclined), and getting my temperature and blood pressure checked every hour. Hopefully it does the trick for boosting my platelet levels, so that I can a) stop taking the prednisone and b) can have an epidural when I go into labor.
I did find out at my last prenatal appointment that I'll be scheduled for an induction in my 39th week, mostly because they don't like women with gestational diabetes to go over 40 weeks. I have a feeling it has to do with how big the baby is. The last time she was measured, she was about 5 pounds and 6 ounces. She'll be measured again in 2 weeks, where I expect she'll be over 6 pounds. My belly is certainly much bigger than it was a couple of weeks ago (and I have the stretch marks to prove it) and it is definitely getting harder to get up and down when I'm lying down on the couch or in bed.
The frustrating thing about the past week is that I only had 1 vacation day left (which I of course had to use for one day of my IVIG infusions). I have to make up the other 8 hours this week and probably next week. I may even have to make up today as well, which would make it 16 hours to make up before the end of the year, plus I still have doctor appointments this week to make up time for and it is a short week, what with Christmas being on Friday. I guess I should be thankful that my company is so laid back and flexible about making up work. I just hate having to work all this extra time when I'm so very pregnant and should feasibly be cutting back on my time.
I still can't believe that Christmas is this week and it is almost 2010. I did manage to get all of my Christmas shopping done about 2 weekends ago. My siblings are doing another secret santa gift exchange this year, with the cap at $20, which made it much easier.
Mom and Steph had planned a baby shower this past of Sunday, which of course had to be cancelled because of the snow. Since it was mostly family members anyway, we're just going to do it when we do Christmas presents this year, which will be this Wednesday. The dudes of the family will just have to deal with all the baby stuff.
I am currently at home right now, instead of being at work where I should be. On Saturday, we got about 2 feet of snow and not all of the roads have been cleared yet. I tried to leave for work at my usual time this morning. I got out of my townhouse parking lot and immediate neighborhood fine. I don't know if HOA hired a snow plow or if the VDOT sent a truck, but our immediate streets were plowed and sanded. However, when I got to the public road that I need to take to get to a bigger road, it was covered with powdery snow and ice pack under it. I got stuck going up the hill. Luckily, one of my neighbors (who has a truck), helped me get turned around so I could get back to my house. I sent an email to my supervisor when I got home, and she was the only one who had managed to make it in around 8-ish. She also told me that the road in front of our office building hadn't been cleared, which means that even if I'd made it out to a main road, I probably would have gotten stuck in 2 feet of snow on the way. I'm surprised that they didn't just call everyone and tell them that the office was closed for the day. I thought I wouldn't have a problem getting out because our townhouse cluster roads were passable with no problem, but apparently that's deceptive. Who knows when the plows will get to all of the side streets since NOVA has a lot of side streets to cover and only so many snow plows to get to them all.
Sunday, I helped Chuck for about an hour digging our cars out of the snow. He continued for most of the afternoon with our neighbors, but being 8 months pregnant, it is not a good idea for me to be shoveling and scooping snow for extended periods of time.
In pregnancy news, I'm feeling okay, but I have had to deal with a lot of doctor's appointments. I have gotten used to checking my blood sugar 4 times a day and I've pretty much set my diet day in and day out so that I know how many carbs I'm eating at any given meal. I've also been on prednisone (a steroid) to help boost my platelets (I have prenancy-related thrombocytopenia), which had the side effect of raising my blood sugar. The first week I was on it, it did raise my levels, but then the following week, my platelets dropped again. As a result, my hematologist scheduled me for two IVIG infusions (intravenous immuno globulin), so I spent this past Thursday and Friday at the hospital getting infused. Thursday I was there from 8:00 to about 5:15 and Friday I was there from 8:30 to about 4:45. I didn't have any side effects, but it was a long day of sitting in a chair (at least it reclined), and getting my temperature and blood pressure checked every hour. Hopefully it does the trick for boosting my platelet levels, so that I can a) stop taking the prednisone and b) can have an epidural when I go into labor.
I did find out at my last prenatal appointment that I'll be scheduled for an induction in my 39th week, mostly because they don't like women with gestational diabetes to go over 40 weeks. I have a feeling it has to do with how big the baby is. The last time she was measured, she was about 5 pounds and 6 ounces. She'll be measured again in 2 weeks, where I expect she'll be over 6 pounds. My belly is certainly much bigger than it was a couple of weeks ago (and I have the stretch marks to prove it) and it is definitely getting harder to get up and down when I'm lying down on the couch or in bed.
The frustrating thing about the past week is that I only had 1 vacation day left (which I of course had to use for one day of my IVIG infusions). I have to make up the other 8 hours this week and probably next week. I may even have to make up today as well, which would make it 16 hours to make up before the end of the year, plus I still have doctor appointments this week to make up time for and it is a short week, what with Christmas being on Friday. I guess I should be thankful that my company is so laid back and flexible about making up work. I just hate having to work all this extra time when I'm so very pregnant and should feasibly be cutting back on my time.
I still can't believe that Christmas is this week and it is almost 2010. I did manage to get all of my Christmas shopping done about 2 weekends ago. My siblings are doing another secret santa gift exchange this year, with the cap at $20, which made it much easier.
Mom and Steph had planned a baby shower this past of Sunday, which of course had to be cancelled because of the snow. Since it was mostly family members anyway, we're just going to do it when we do Christmas presents this year, which will be this Wednesday. The dudes of the family will just have to deal with all the baby stuff.