Hello from the void, if anyone's still out there!
I am still alive, despite the lack of, well, anything! I am currently residing (or in truer terms, hanging on by my fingernails) in Wyoming. Don't ever let anyone fool you into coming here - it's dusty, and dirty, and tree-less, and no water to be seen anywhere. Ugh. But we're moving back to Michigan in January - Nate is signed up for winter classes at NMU. Will be weird going back and not being enrolled myself, but I'll be occupied anyway. And I'll have my trees and lake back!!
My occupation will be finding at least a part time job somewhere, but also I'm 33 weeks pregnant today, and inching closer every day. I've had a lot of ups and downs with the pregnancy, and it was completely unplanned (and really, it's bad timing being we're unhappy where we are living, we're broke due to all the medical bills, and our car is a heap of crap) but I'm getting excited.
I failed my first glucose test (by like, 4 points) so they made me take the 4 hour one about a month back. I passed that one with flying colors, so no gestational diabetes. But my blood pressure has been doing absolutely crazy things. At one point I was up to 150something/90something (which, basically, is BAD), so they put me on some blood pressure medication which made my ankles swell into elephant feet and also made me pass out periodically at my desk every day, they were basically horse tranquilizers they made me so tired I couldn't bear it. So they swapped me to a lesser dose and a different medication. My ankles still swell, but I don't fall asleep all the time at least. Blood pressure is still wacky though. It's up and down like a roller coaster. Yesterday I was a little low 120/60something at 5:30, but when I had it taken at 11:30 I was high 140something/80something. It just never seems to settle down to one range.
So because of the blood pressure and ankle swelling (though I've told them a million times the ankles are due to the medication, since every time they change my medication and/or dosage the swelling goes up or down accordingly) they assumed I had Toxemia / possibly pre-ecclampsia. However, after a few more blood and pee tests, everything came back normal (again) so I don't have either of those either. Hooray for being a medical mystery! haha. So now I'm stuck with weekly ultrasounds (which really aren't that bad, since I do get to see the little guy (we're having a boy by the way!) every week and watch him grow) and twice weekly non-stress tests to monitor his movement and be sure he's getting all the oxygen he needs. He's been growing by leaps and bounds the past couple of weeks, gaining a pound (or more) a week, which this early in the game is quite frightening - my dr told me yesterday that if he keeps up as is, he's going to be huge and I'll need a C-section. Which is the one thing I've been trying to avoid most all along :( I didn't want an epidural for delivery (I have needle issues - if I can't watch them poke it in, it's not going to be poked in lol), but with a C-section I have no choice but to have the spinal block, which is pretty much the same thing, just a smaller needle. Like that matters! A needle is a needle is a needle, in my humble opinion.
So I'm hoping he chills out with the growing thing. If nothing else, my bladder would greatly appreciate a break ;) He's already up to 5lb 8oz as of yesterday. The week before he was 4lbs 7oz. They said he's measuring at about 36 weeks gestation instead of the 33 he should be. And that I should expect an early delivery, because apparently although pregnant women with high blood pressure usually have less amniotic fluid than normal, I actually have extra (medical mystery again!), which generally means an early birth. But I should know in the next 2 weeks if I'll need the c-section, because in that case we'll definitely be delivering him a little early since they don't want me to go into labor early before they get their chance to dig in there. Joy!
We just decided on a name last night. That was the most painful thing we've ever done. He hated every name I liked (and pretty much vice versa - he was choosing things like Calvin and Galvin and Wyatt, (wyatt earp anyone?) ugh!) and we could never settle on an Irish name, which anyone who knows me knows I've always wanted my kids to be named Celtic names of some sort. So honestly I'm pretty bummed out about that. But watching House last night (I'm addicted), we decided to name him Chase. So Chase it is. At least he won't be born nameless. Cause at the rate we were going, he'd have remained nameless until he was at least 30!
Not a whole lot else going on here. Just working (an awful, awful secretarial job) and taking it day by day so I don't go insane. Manda is out here but with all of the extra medical bills I never get to go see her. And she has job problems of her own, so only been able to come up a few times. It was hard making the decision to move home again in January and leave her :( I swear I miss her more every day. But I really can't live here much longer. As it is, the roughly 247 days we have left here seem like an absolute eternity. And I'm more certain than ever that no matter where we live, we'll always have each other. We managed 2 years with me in Michigan and her out here, and then me in Mississippi and her out here - and when we're together it's just like it always was. I love that girl!
Anyway, speaking of work. I need to go do some, I suppose. Enough lollygagging, as our boss would say. Ta ta for now, hope to catch up with everyone soon!!