34 weeks and Ike
I had a prenatal appointment this afternoon. All is well with the baby, and I still hate the "non-stress test." I think that's a bit of a misnomer if you're trying to entertain a 3 year old while moving as little as possible yet still trying to pay attention to any movements in your belly. Plus, they said it would be 15-20 minutes and it was more like 40.
I did pick up a cold on our last day in Santa Barbara. Sinus congestion, runny nose, painful but productive coughing, so when I mentioned that, the nurse took my temp. To my surprise, it's slightly elevated (99.1) but thankfully they don't want to start me on antibiotics unless my symptoms get worse, and I am much better today than I was yesterday.
I am finally gaining weight. Over the last month or so I've gained about 8-9 lbs, so I'm only down about 9 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. Or at least the baby is gaining it. I still take anti-nausea meds every morning, but my morning sickness is much better, thankfully.
Today I got my first you're-having-a-baby-here's-a-bunch-of-free-crap "gift" bag. It contained lots of stuff that will likely go right into the trash including baby registry stuff from Babies R Us and Graco. We're pretty well stocked on necessities from Livi's infancy (clothes, infant car seat, I'll be breastfeeding), aside from diapers, so at least all the Huggies and Pampers coupons will be useful. The bag also contained a fairly nifty hanging bathroom kit bag, though the velcro closure on one side has completely separated already, and it contained a giant bottle of Similac which will most likely be donated to a food bank somewhere.
As for Ike - we have no plans to evacuate. We live on the far west side of Houston, something like 70 miles from the coast and we're well outside the evac zones. Unfortunately, we have very little in the way of fresh groceries, since we returned from California late Tuesday night and the grocery stores had been pillaged by the time Dale made it out to one yesterday. He did manage to get a pallet of bottled water, but we have no bread. We're going to have to scavenge around to try and find some other core foods somewhere. Ugh, so not looking forward to that. We also need to move our patio furniture and other items into the garage. I am a little worried about the two large windows on the back of the house, but if nothing is on the patio, they should be just fine. We also have to go over to my mother-in-law's house to bring in their patio chairs, though the giant wrought iron table will have to stay outside. It should be heavy enough not to be a threat to their wall of picture windows.
When Rita threatened Houston a few years ago, we didn't evacuate until almost the last minute. As a result, we made it to Austin in only 4 hours instead of the day-long drive for so many others. We had to make a hard decision to leave some of our cats at Dale's parents' house (Dale's step-father stayed in town) because we simply could not fit seven cats, a dog, an infant, and ourselves into our car. We also had a place to stay (thank you Aaron!) and a host who let us bring said dog and four of the cats. We actually still owned a house in Cedar Park at that time, so a number of Dale's family members stayed there. As everyone knows now, Rita turned out to be very anti-climactic for the Houston area. Hopefully Ike will be too.
There has been one small plus to Ike's threat. Shortly before our trip I received a jury summons for Sept 12. I sent it back asking to be excused as a primary caregiver for our daughter, but as of this afternoon, I hadn't received any confirmation or denial of my exemption. I was able to look up my info through the Harris County web site and it said I could not excuse myself, but the district judge has canceled all court proceedings for tomorrow, including my jury duty. Not even delayed or rescheduled, just flat-out canceled. The notice does specify that court activities are expected to resume on Monday, so anyone with a summons for the 15th is expected to show up on time.
In my time as a legal adult, I've received three jury summons. The first time I was excused because I was scheduled to be out of the country (and already had the plane tickets). The second time, the summons was for Williamson County and we'd already moved to Houston. The third time, an approaching hurricane has closed down the courthouse. I'm sure my time will come, but right now, I'm quite happy to not have to drive myself downtown tomorrow at 7am to sit around indefinitely while 7 months pregnant, diabetic, and still morning sick.
I did pick up a cold on our last day in Santa Barbara. Sinus congestion, runny nose, painful but productive coughing, so when I mentioned that, the nurse took my temp. To my surprise, it's slightly elevated (99.1) but thankfully they don't want to start me on antibiotics unless my symptoms get worse, and I am much better today than I was yesterday.
I am finally gaining weight. Over the last month or so I've gained about 8-9 lbs, so I'm only down about 9 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. Or at least the baby is gaining it. I still take anti-nausea meds every morning, but my morning sickness is much better, thankfully.
Today I got my first you're-having-a-baby-here's-a-bunch-of-free-crap "gift" bag. It contained lots of stuff that will likely go right into the trash including baby registry stuff from Babies R Us and Graco. We're pretty well stocked on necessities from Livi's infancy (clothes, infant car seat, I'll be breastfeeding), aside from diapers, so at least all the Huggies and Pampers coupons will be useful. The bag also contained a fairly nifty hanging bathroom kit bag, though the velcro closure on one side has completely separated already, and it contained a giant bottle of Similac which will most likely be donated to a food bank somewhere.
As for Ike - we have no plans to evacuate. We live on the far west side of Houston, something like 70 miles from the coast and we're well outside the evac zones. Unfortunately, we have very little in the way of fresh groceries, since we returned from California late Tuesday night and the grocery stores had been pillaged by the time Dale made it out to one yesterday. He did manage to get a pallet of bottled water, but we have no bread. We're going to have to scavenge around to try and find some other core foods somewhere. Ugh, so not looking forward to that. We also need to move our patio furniture and other items into the garage. I am a little worried about the two large windows on the back of the house, but if nothing is on the patio, they should be just fine. We also have to go over to my mother-in-law's house to bring in their patio chairs, though the giant wrought iron table will have to stay outside. It should be heavy enough not to be a threat to their wall of picture windows.
When Rita threatened Houston a few years ago, we didn't evacuate until almost the last minute. As a result, we made it to Austin in only 4 hours instead of the day-long drive for so many others. We had to make a hard decision to leave some of our cats at Dale's parents' house (Dale's step-father stayed in town) because we simply could not fit seven cats, a dog, an infant, and ourselves into our car. We also had a place to stay (thank you Aaron!) and a host who let us bring said dog and four of the cats. We actually still owned a house in Cedar Park at that time, so a number of Dale's family members stayed there. As everyone knows now, Rita turned out to be very anti-climactic for the Houston area. Hopefully Ike will be too.
There has been one small plus to Ike's threat. Shortly before our trip I received a jury summons for Sept 12. I sent it back asking to be excused as a primary caregiver for our daughter, but as of this afternoon, I hadn't received any confirmation or denial of my exemption. I was able to look up my info through the Harris County web site and it said I could not excuse myself, but the district judge has canceled all court proceedings for tomorrow, including my jury duty. Not even delayed or rescheduled, just flat-out canceled. The notice does specify that court activities are expected to resume on Monday, so anyone with a summons for the 15th is expected to show up on time.
In my time as a legal adult, I've received three jury summons. The first time I was excused because I was scheduled to be out of the country (and already had the plane tickets). The second time, the summons was for Williamson County and we'd already moved to Houston. The third time, an approaching hurricane has closed down the courthouse. I'm sure my time will come, but right now, I'm quite happy to not have to drive myself downtown tomorrow at 7am to sit around indefinitely while 7 months pregnant, diabetic, and still morning sick.