Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Back to the present day

If I'd written this this morning I'd have said it's going well. Now after lunch I'm about to pull my hair out!!! I ate a sub with 2.6oz of mixed meat and cheese slice. Over an hour after I ate my glucose level is 176!!! I haven't been that high in months! The frustrating thing is that I don't have any fast acting insulin to administer to bring the high down. Pretty much all I can think of to do is go exercise and run around. How can I do that when I can't even breath after climbing the stairs!!! Maybe I should go work out in the garden a bit. Think picking up the kitchen would be active enough to do any good?

I feel funny because we didn't really do a "party" for Drew yesterday. He worked so we didn't do a cake or anything. I did meet him and Pat (they ride together) at Applebee's after their classes yesterday. That place is EXPENSIVE!! I'm use to us all being able to stuff our faces for $4 or 5 at the chinese buffet. Oh well it's not often your baby turns 21.

We also went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store as Tuesday is college day. College students with proper ID pay 50% on 3 different ticket colors. I spent over $58 and got a bunch of things, including a Sharp Videocamera that uses fullsize tapes for Drew. Now the question is...does it work? I also about a baby tabletop seat/rocker. It's royal blue and has cookie monster on it. The fabric felt as if it hadn't been used if at all, was still stiff/starchy. The canopy is on backwards but that's just a matter or taking it off and putting it back on again. My guess is that whoever had it didn't realize it was an easy fix. I got a bunch of swimsuits for the girls, along with tank tops and a few pairs of shorts. I didn't get to really look at any other clothes sections. We had to cut the trip short because Pat had to be somewhere at 3. Drew had to get home to change with enough time to get to work by 4:30. I wanted to make Pat bring me back later in the evening. Oh well there'll be quite a few more Tuesdays to take advantage of. Next time I'll have to remember to drag D along with me. She seemed a bit jealous when I mentioned going and the great deals. Of course there's always garage sales starting up too. But I need a CAR!!!

Between the boys having different work schedules, I haven't had the car too many evenings. I've been bugging Tom to get the bus fixed. It would also be nice if we had a second car so I don't have to drive the gas guzzling diesel (which is more expensive instead of cheaper per gallon now!) around. We have one of his brother's minivans sitting in our driveway not getting driven. Either the transmission or the computer is messed up in it. I say if he'll give it to us for the right price it'll be worth getting it fixed...even if it is the transmission. The body is in GREAT condition! It's an 8 passenger (2 more then the Olds) so I can drive it most places...since there are 8 kids who don't drive and I rarely take them all with me. We can then sell Pat the Olds 88 on payments. Granted the kid would rather not be driving the "old people" car and it's not the greatest on gas. But where else is he going to find someone to take his payments every week and give him a by when there's a real reason for it? Not to mention his first 6mos of insurance for FREE! I swear, we are TOO nice sometimes!

Eileen's Hooked on Phonics kits came in the mail today! I don't think I'm as excited as about it as I thought I'd be. I'll contain my disappointment and hopefully Eileen will like it and want to do it on her own. Especially since she'll be the control person over her very own cassette player. I found a working one at the thrift store yesterday! :o)

Poor Tom...he had a horrible headache last night. It brought him out of bed twice because laying down made it worse. I love the guy but he's a baby, especially when it comes to headaches! There are times when I function on a chronic headache for weeks/months at a time (allergy season) He gets a headache and acts like his head is going to explode and he's going to die. I tried to be sympathetic with him, really I did. I was also trying not to giggle. He was walking around with his head tilted a bit down and not turning it...almost like he had a neck injury. I started feeling bad for feeling like I did..what if he really had something wrong with him?!?! I guess my word of the day should be...

COMPASSION...Per Merriam-Webster Online... sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it

Hey I can even start screaming everytime I hear the word mentioned like Pee Wee Herman used to do on his clubhouse show! Where is that Cowboy Curtis anyways! ;o)

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Happy 21st Birthday Drew!!!

Ok....so I'm cheating and writing this the day after but posting this the day before. I had a good excuse...I was out having lunch with my birthday boy! or is that man? :o)

His stats...

Andrew Thomas
April 26, 1984
10:05pm
7lbs 11oz

Drew was the typical first pregnancy. Tom and I both glowed from the positive test results. My mom made the comment to Tom that by looking at him you'd think he was the only one to have ever done it. LOL My dr was an old school dr to the nth degree which in a way was kind of nice. He didn't do tons of tests, never had a u/s, pretty laid back. My last visit from AF on the day we got back from our honeymoon, July 4th, putting my due date at April 11th...so he was 15 days late. PG itself was problem free.

On the 25th we were visiting my parents playing Risk. I asked Tom to go home which made my mom raise her eyebrows. We'd gotten so they almost had to kick us out at night (leave home to be at home all the time syndrome lol). We got home about midnight and went right to bed. About 2am I woke up with a terrible backache, got up drew a hot bath and soaked in it for a while and it went away. I got back into bed and slept until a backache woke me up again about 4. Repeated the procedure again and slept until Tom got up to go to work at 6. I BEGGED Tom to stay home with me because I didn't feel good although I wasn't positive I was in labor. He said he couldn't and went off to work. I laid in bed and cried. I dozed on and off until about 9am when I noticed that I was having contractions and not just a backache anymore, I timed them. They were ALL over the place! I was jumping from 14mins to 4mins. The 4mins made me nervous as the hospital was almost an hour away.

Shortly after 11 Tom called me to see how I was doing. Again I begged him to come home and he said he couldn't. I started crying and told him I was having contractions and didn't feel good and really wanted him home. He said he'd see what he could do and left it at that. He was home in about an hour (we lived 4miles from work but he was on the road). I called the dr's at 12:30 and they told us to head up to L&D. We got everything ready, dropped off the dog and stopped into both parents house on the way...we walked in about 3:30! LOL

While having an old school doctor was good for the pregnancy, it wasn't so great with the delivery. Luckily I didn't know any better to be upset by it. I was shaved, given an IV and stuck in bed...I was thankful he didn't order an enema! LOL I had back labor and it was rough....the contractions were still irregular, I was about 3cm dilated. After about 2hrs of laying there I was informed that my blood pressure was getting too high and I was developing pre-e. They gave me demerol to bring my pressure down, it slowed the contractions to almost a dead stop! This prompted me to be given pitocin, it was started about 6:30-7.

As they upped the pitocin, the contractions became intense and quickly picked up. About 9:30 I started to feel pressure and reported it to the nurse. The dr came in, checked me, did a cerivical block (shot of pain killer into the cervix, not that I felt it helped) and told me I was ready to start pushing. With a few pushes his head was visable. The nurse said I was good pusher and asked if I was often constipated. Ummm, NO! Why do you ask? She said she would have guessed I was by how well I pushed. LOL I was then informed it was time to be moved to the delivery room. I asked if they were INSANE! I'm expected to move with things like this? They said that it was how it was and went to get the gurney. I felt like an idiot getting pushed through the halls in the middle of a contraction and with just wanting this baby out NOW!

I was transfered to the table, my legs went up into stirrups and I waited for the dr to get ready...yelling the whole time that I had to push NOW! Finally everything was ready, the dr was in position and I was allowed to start pushing again. As the head started to crown the dr performed the episiotomy. I pushed about 4 more times and he was out and put on my belly. Tom got to cut the cord which shocked him. I looked at the baby was surprised to see that it didn't look like newborn (or what I thought I newborn would look like). I made the comment that he looked like an alien. LOL Tom got upset, mostly because it he thought it wasn't the proper thing to say infront of the nurses and doctor. They weren't tickled with how Drew was reacting so they took him over to the table to wash him up and stimulate him. He seemed to do ok after that. While the dr was stitching up my episiotomy I was given a chance to hold and nurse Drew before they took him to the nursery and I was pushed to recovery.

My blood pressure continued to stay high and I was put on bedrest and phenobarbitol. Between having had the demerol during delivery and the phenobarbitol after I was pretty groggy. The following morning the pediatrician came in to tell me that Drew had a fever and was being transferred to the NICU unit. I sent Tom down with him and demanded he report back to me. It was thought he might have menigitis as one of his spinal fluid samples looked a bit cloudy. We had to wait for lab results that would take a few days but in the meantime they were starting him on IV antibiotics and had him in a NICU isolation room.

I finally convinced the dr to allow me out of bed to visit him but had a strict time limit. I was wheeled down to the NICU and placed outside his isolation room window. They were working on him and I could hear him screaming. They were trying to get an IV in and having a hard time of it. I was in tears just sitting out there. I wanted to run in there and throw them all off of him and runaway with him. Finally one of his nurses realized I was sitting out there and watching. She drew the shades to the room and demanded I get sent back up to my room. They'd come get me when they were finished and he was settled down. Unfortunately my blood pressure was giving me a problem so I wasn't allowed back out of bed until just before I was discharged on the 5th day post delivery (it was when a 3 day stay for normal deliveries was common).

I was visited by the lactation nurse and given instructions on how to pump. I told Tom I felt like a cow at milking time. I didn't think I was pumping enough so I turned up the pressure past what I was told to. Little did I realize I wasn't suppose to get too much, it was only colostrum. I had my milk in and I was engorged within 2 days! OUCH!

It was SO hard to be wheeled out of the hospital without Drew. I was crying my eyes out the whole way to the car and kept thinking...I should have him in my arms right now! I was given orders to go home and get into bed and continue my meds. Unfortunately my mom was there when I was told that and she said she'd make me. Tom and I went to their house to stay because it was only about 15mins from the hospital instead of an hour. Tom went to work since I was staying with my parents. When we left we were told Drew could be admitted for as long as another week or two. They still weren't sure what he was sick from. (they never did find out a definite thing either). The next day we got a call that Drew was perking up nicely and drinking from his bottle. The following day (7 day old) they called and said we could come pick him up. I paged Tom at work and had him FLY home! We went back to my parent's house for a few days. They didn't have a crib/bassinet so we made him a cozy bed in a dresser drawer with some towels and a sheet. He still likes to tell that part of the story. LOL When he was 10 days old Tom and I went home to be a family of 3. Tom stayed home for a week with me and then I was on my own...and the fun truly began!!!

Now I'm starting to wonder....

I'm wondering if all this hullabaloo was because of the insulin. I've start a new vial Sunday night and things seem to be slowly going back to where they should be. It just seems unlikely as I get my insulin in a box with 5 Innolet/pens in it. It's the 4th pen of the box and they're all from the same lot. It's not like it was administering it wrong because the pen lasted the amount of time it should have...about 6 days.

I've decided to start my Numbers and Boring Details section of my blog again. It was too hard and took too long to figure out what numbers fit into what meal and detail this weekend...especially when I don't feel well. I'm hoping that if I keep it up I can just print it out if I need to give the dr details again.

Today we now have another legal adult in the house. Drew turns 21 today. It's mindboggling! I could never imagine to be at this point in my life, much less to image all the experiences there would be between his birth and now. I'll do a birth story post separately.

Monday, April 25, 2005

I'm home!

We heard a glorious sound....fetal heartbeat measuring at 152bpm!!! The relief on the MW's face was really obvious. I had to wait a while for the dr to come in. While waiting I started feeling funny and tested...83. I grabbed a lifesaver candy to suck on and then decided to relax while I waited. I laid on my left side and dozed off until he came in.

He's stumped and has no explanation why my sugar would drop like that. He asked if I was eating differently...NOPE. When I mentioned that I had had a huge bowl of Frankenberries last night so my sugar was high enough for me to feel comfy going to bed. He was LOL! I told him...HEY! If I have to have something to bring my sugar up...might as well eat something I can't or normally don't eat! :o) Fooling around, he suggested that perhaps some Mountain Dew or Frankenberries had slipped into my diet a few other times. I know he was trying to be funny but after I got to the car I was slightly offended. I work HARD to keep to my diet. I admit, I do cheat on occassion, but I readily admit it when I do!

We've lowered my insulin down a lot. The dr thinks that we'll start seeing my numbers climb into some high numbers in about 4 or 5 days. I am allowed to adjust my dosage a few units here or there as I see fit. It's almost like starting over again, but in the middle. LOL

I lost 5lbs in 11 days and my blood pressure was great! I've now been put on weekly visits again. At least until my numbers are leveled off again. The dr said he's glad to see 78's and 80s. I didn't agree. If I'm at 78 at 1hr...at 1.5 hrs I'll be 70 or below and it affects me. Dr admitted it would affect almost everyone (meaning non diabetics) It's just to hard to be THAT close to being hypoglycemic all the time. I need a bit more leeway in my timing. I thought eating every 2 or 2.5 hrs was bad. Trying to eat every 1.5hrs would be crazy! Not to mention I'd be eating dinner at about 2pm! LOL

So now I'm back to making sure I check my sugars regularly (had gotten lax when the numbers were good). My digital timer decided it didn't like living in my purse and stopped working properly the other day, so I bought a new one today.

Thanks to all of you that have been keeping the baby and I in your thoughts and prayers. It means a lot!!! It's amazing how much support a glowing box and some keys can provide!

Things are still the same and I've made a call

I called the dr this morning and luckily the MW answered. When she heard my numbers she immediately said..."You have to come in!" Then asked if I thought I could drive. When I assured her I could, especially if I ate something right before driving she searched for a good time for me to come in. Unfortunately the dr is booked solid this morning so I'm scheduled for 1pm.

I ate a HUGE bowl of Frankenberry cereal with tons of milk about 2am last night. At 3 I tested out to be 173...thought THERE! That'll keep me up there. Went to bed at 3:30 and got up at 6:45. I tested immediately and was down to 73 again. I tried to work toward getting the kids out the door before I ate but my body wouldn't be ignored. I had an english muffin with PB...my regular breakfast. I didn't do any insulin though. And hour later I got a 121 which is where I'd been with my insulin last week. I dropped my insulin down to 20units from 28 and injected it an hour after eating. Tested an hour later and I was back to 78. So I've eaten 1.5 bags of my Go Mix snack mix and a bite size candy bar...we'll see what that does in about 45mins.

The good news is that as I was logging in here I had a bunch of fluttering...so that's a GREAT sign! I felt like I should be getting a bunch of stuff around here done incase they admit me (even to control things and see what's up). Then I figured it was better if I relaxed. The kids aren't going to die if I don't have things done for them. I'm sure they'll step up and do what needs to be done if they have to.

Olivia is excited because she gets to visit Aunt D while I go to the dr's! She keeps asking if we can leave for her house NOW!!! I still need to wash up and shave. I'll report back as soon as I can. Not sure if I trust one of the kids (Tom's computer illiterate) to update here or not.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

And the rest of the day...

I ended up eating one of those donuts between breakfast and lunch. I also munched a bit of microwaved popcorn. Then I got the numbers I expected to see on Friday....150. So maybe things have straightened themselves out. Yeah right!

I ate a really good lunch that filled all my allotments. A sweet sausage sub, meat sauce on the side to dip and I micro'ed a can of spinach for my veggies. My sister brougth Liz home and stopped for a visit. We were talking GD and insulin as she had to deal with it her last pg. (she wasn't too concerned with her diet or numbers though) I finally tested for lunch 1.5hrs after and got a 62. She agreed that was WRONG, so I tried it again and got 80 then 74. I'm using the 74. All I wanted to do was TAKE A NAP! I'm starting to wonder what my sister is thinking of me being pg. I know the house was a mess and I looked like garbage. From things I've heard come out of her girls' mouths I know she thinks I'm crazy and probably stupid. But oh well!

After my sister left I had a snack....an apple, 1c of popcorn and 1/3c of cottage cheese. Tested an hour later and it was up to 85...woohooo! We had breakfast for dinner again with Egg sandwiches on english muffins with cheese and sausage. I even had an extra sausage patty. I didn't get any veggies in...I was on the verge of losing it after my sandwich but it only accounts for about 5grams of carbs. So no big deal. I lost track of time getting the kids ready for school and bed and didn't test until 2hrs later. I registered a 78.

Before coming here I decided to make sure I wasn't heading down into an unsafe area and retested. I got a 97, that doesn't seem right...tested again and got a 77. Wow! I used a LOT of strips this weekend and needed a new barrel of them. Maybe the strips are what's giving me these low numbers (even though I'm feeling some of them). So get out a new barrel, change the computer chip and test again...get an 81. NOPE it's all me!

This is driving me crazy! I have no idea why the sudden change. I guess I'll be putting a call into the dr's office in the morning. At least my blood pressure is doing fine at 134/80. I'd be a lot more relieved if this baby was fluttering around a bit more. Let's hope that tomorrow things are turned back around and it'll just merit a mention at my regularly scheduled appt on Tues.

Onto another day....how will this one turn out?

It's 11:30am and Tom is still working. (since 2am) :o( Don't get me wrong...the extra money is great! I just hate to see him wear himself out, not to mention he can be unpleasant when tired. He's a definite sleeper! I called him about an hour ago. He has replacements coming in and should be home soon.

These spring break hours I've been keeping are killing me! I used to do it all the time, even when I had to get up early to get the kids off to school. I'm not quite sure how I functioned (or did I?) I slept in until after 10am and tested before I even got out of bed...a 76 which is fine. It also meant that I HAD to get out of bed and get going on eating whether I wanted to or not. And I really didn't care to. I've thrown the idea of going to church out the window already, especially since it starts at 11. I'm still tired and have no idea how or what I'm going to have to do about my sugar this morning. It's all I need to...be sitting in the middle of a meeting and feel that buzzy feeling of a low hit me. I guess I could bring some food along incase I need it. I just feel better at home.

So here I sit waiting for it to be time to test after breakfast (pb toast). What does this pg body have in store for me today? Tick...tock...tick...only time will tell.

Times up! I've tested and my 1hr sugar is 132 which is just under the limit. A little higher then I care to see it (I can't win!!!) but I'm ok with it for now. So it looks like today I may be back on track. Now to just follow my diet and schedule! Of course Tom is home and here to help me in that! He brought home 2 gallons of milk...yeah Daddy was heard throughout the livingroom. He then went outside and returned carrying 3 dz donuts. What a sweetie! NOT! At least it doesn't bother me like it did in the beginning of this diabetic journey. And who knows...I just may HAVE to grab one of those if my sugar decides it doesn't want to stay where it should be. LOL

OK, time to give my poor fingertips a break, get up and get things rolling around here. Maybe I'll start with a nice cozy nap! ;o)

Yes, I know it's an unbelieveably late hour

or is that early? hmmm I'm almost afraid to go to sleep. I don't know what's up the last day and half or so. I've been battling a lot of low blood sugars for some reason. If it continues Sunday I'll place a call into the dr on Monday morning. I do have a dr appt on Tues, so that's not too long from now. At least I can feel flutters here and there still and my blood pressure is in the good range.

Friday I ate LOUSY! I ate things I haven't eaten in a long time. I ate them one after the other. I felt like I ate/grazed all day long. I kept thinking my sugar would be sky high and it was LOW. The highest I went all day was a 111, even after chocolate chip cookies and mass amounts of cheese doodles.

Tom got called into work on Friday night about 10pm or so. He'd gone to bed at 9 because there was to be a planned power outage at 3am. (it was canceled and no one notified the county) He'd already planned on getting up and going in to watch the pumpstations. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans for him and he got woken up at 10 with a call that levels were getting high and he needed to come in. The poor guy didn't get home until 9am on Saturday. At least he's happy that he made some overtime.

I apologize...this is Loooong and rambling!

At 5am the phone rang and I stumbled down the hall, bouncing off the walls to get to it. It was Tom's boss who wasn't aware that Tom was ontop of things and already at work. LOL He asked for his cell number and I started to tell him a set of numbers that I knew were totally off. I couldn't think of what his number really was for about 30secs. Finally it came to me and I told him...at least I tried to. I had terrible cotton mouth and realized I could be considered slurring. I climbed into bed while I wondered what M thought of me. I then noticed that I was on the verge of throwing up. THAT'S IT! OUT OF BED! RIGHT NOW! I dragged myself out of bed and tested my sugar...it was 59 and falling fast. OOPS! I grabbed Drew's 2lt of Mt Dew and guzzled a glass (I haven't had soda in forever!!!) I waited about 15mins and checked it again, 67...still not high enough. I made a peanut butter and heavy jam (woohooo!) sandwich on white bread...finally I got it up to 124 at 5:30. I surfed online a bit and checked my overnight emails. At 6:30 I rechecked my sugar and I was back to 77! UGH! So I make myself 2 pcs of toast with peanut butter and heavy jam again. With my sugar back up to 107 I decide it's good enough to go back to bed for a bit. I woke up at 10am feeling like I hadn't slept a wink! LOL My sugar was 83. It was a bit late for me in the day to start my routine so felt I was off. I did the 2pcs of toast with pb and heavy jam again. I even snacked on some microwave popcorn. I couldn't test my sugar after breakfast becuase I'd left it in the bedroom and Tom was sleeping. After lunch I read at 83 again (one hour after eating!)

I got to playing Harry Potter on the Game Cube while Tom was outside with the kids and I lost track of time. At 8pm I decided it was time to make dinner and it better get done QUICK cause I needed something to eat! I was making spaghetti with burger and sweet sausage in the sauce, also garlic bread. Being that I can't have tons of both of these, I decided to try and wait for them to be done before eating anything. WRONG!!! While cooking the meat I could feel myself getting whoozey. Tom asked me if I was alright after I snapped at one of the kids that dinner would be done when it was done. I agreed I wasn't, tested and saw that I'd dropped to a 70. By the feel of things I was still dropping and quickly. I grabbed a cup of juicy juice (something else I haven't had in a while) and chugged it down. Waited and still felt off so grabbed a glass of skim milk too. I tested before I started eating at 9pm and got a 97, so not too shabby. I did allow myself an extra bit of spaghetti. I also had 2pcs of garlic bread with it (I normally never would have had the bread or I'd have only had half the spaghetti so I could have the bread) I didn't know exactly what to do about my insulin dose at dinner. I waited about half an hour after I ate my dinner and then gave my regular dose...I figured I'd eat myself silly all night and enjoy it for once. Finally an hour after I ate (half an hour after insulin) I tested out at 126! PHEW!!! No lows! Another hour later and I was 129. I was pleased! It didn't last long though. I tested at midnight and was back down to 77. So I had another treat of TWO pop-tarts...chocolate chip cookie dough flavored. That's over 74g of carbs! (two meals and a snack worth of starch allowances) I was to the point where I didn't care if I went too high. I just didn't want to wake up like I did this morning and have Sunday follow Saturday. At 3am I tested at 101. I grabbed the last piece of garlic bread and a bowl of meaty sauce....had seconds on the sauce. Was going to go to bed but got caught in blogville instead. Here I sit 45mins later staring at my glucometer telling me I'm at 86 already. WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?!? Guess I'll have to hit up Drew's candy bucket before I go to bed.

Anyways back to regular stuff around here. Tom got a couple hours of sleep this afternoon and went to bed about 9pm. It started pouring about midnight and I couldn't get him an answer out of him if he needed to get up and check on things. About 2am he woke up a little perturbed that he didnt' get up earlier. He called into work, heard how things were looking from the monitoring board's point of view. He then decided he needed to go in and check on what the real thing was doing (not rely on sporadic alarms, although they said things were running high). So I'll have to deal with keeping kids quiet while he tries to sleep tomorrow afternoon again. I'll also have to start getting the kids ready to go to school on Monday! :o(

Not a very exciting week. Jake is still not his usual self, although he has gained some energy back. He often goes into coughing fits from horsing around or talking too much. I've had a few kids complain they aren't feeling so hot on and off too. So I guess we'll see how the first day back to school fares.

Pat got his FIRST paycheck ever on Friday!!!! Congratulations Pat! Drew got his check too but it wasn't his first. Congrats to Drew too.

Drew got out of work and drove Liz into the city to my sister's house for the night. Michelle went along for the ride and they stopped by at Tom's parent's house. My MIL can't get out on her own so she really appreciates company! She took the two of them out to her favorite chinese buffet place for dinner. It warmed my heart to find out that they decided to stop by there without prompting. Sometimes I don't give them enough credit! They were originally going to just go to a movie. From all accounts they had a much better time with their Grandma. LOL

Well since I last tested I've now eaten 2 Creme Savers soft candies, a Milkyway Caramel bite size bar and a Cherry Tootsie roll pop. My meter now says 104 and I'm heading into bed. Let's hope tomorrow goes a bit better then the last few days and I don't have concern to call the dr. NIGHT! Or is that GOOD MORNING! ;o)

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Spring Break!!!!

Well my inlaws's 50th anniversary party went off well Sunday. Not that I was there, I was home with Jake who was burning up with a fever. I took him into the dr's on Tues because he still has it (it comes and goes). He was given a script for an antibiotic but all the pharmacies were closed by the time we got out of the dr's last night. I haven't filled it. He's sleeping in my bed right now...poor thing.

Monday I took Val and Michelle in for dr appts early in the morning. Drew and Pat got out of class and met us. I was getting the funniest looks from people being with 4 20-15yos and then obviously pregnant. I was asked when I was due and someone acted surprised that I had all summer left to go. LOL So yes, I've popped out quite a bit lately. We spent the day shopping. We hit the thrift store where they had fill a box for $8! We fit a LOT into our box including a electric neck massager...wooohoooo! I almost bought it last time I was in there. LOL I finally broke down and spent our $100 gift certificate that my brother gave us for Christmas. We are now the proud owners of a Game Cube. I had to spend some money to buy games, controllers and memory cards. I'm still trying to figure out if I was smart to do it when I did. I should have bribed the kids for a few days and gotten a bunch of work out of them. Now it's a fight to get them off their butt and moving...it's just so mesmerizing. I fell into the trap last night and played from 2am (after kicking off Michelle) until 5:45 this morning. *blush* Even thought I was sitting with my feet up, my hands and feet were REALLY swollen. I don't think the 76 degree nighttime temps were helping either. It's gonna be a FUN summer. I could feel the edema in my lungs when I layed down (started coughing). :o( Needless today I'm starting off the day with a bit more fluid retention then I normally do. At least my bloodpressure is still great....122/76.

I think my insulin is going to need a boost or two soon. I admit I haven't been so great on following my diet and checking my sugar at the right times. I've had a few highs and even really high highs. Sunday I got leftovers from the anniverary party, including my fruit salad (watermelon, cantelope, strawberries and green grapes..YUM!!) I'd been wanting watermelon for a while so I had some with dinner...actually I had way more then I should have. My sugar was 189 1hr after dinner (suppose to be under 140). It's times like that that I wish I had some fast acting insulin to control the oops and even compensate for it. Then again, knowing me I'd probably be cheating all the time, gain a zillion pounds and need a boatload of insulin by the time I'm done. So I guess I'll just stick with this plan.

It's been great Spring Break weather all week! On Saturday I attacked the rhubarb bed with a handheld claw. It looked great but I was paying for it on Sunday. I couldn't lift up my arms!!!! OUCH!!!

I'm not sure how hot it got yesterday but I know it was still 76 degrees at 7:45pm when we left the dr's office. The kids were complaining that it was too hot to sleep. It doesn't help that our screens need some work and the mosquitos were flying in in droves with the windows open....so they were quickly getting closed. Tom mentioned something about getting an air conditioner. I mentioned I'd at least like a small one for our room so I can cool down while taking a nap. He didn't seem too keen on that idea. I'm surprised he even mentioned it really. Until last summer he would never entertain the idea. Even when I was really pg for Carrie (Sept 7th baby) in the extreme heat. I'll believe we'll be air conditioner users when I see one installed in a window. Or just go out and buy and install one myself! ;o)

Today is suppose to be the last 70+ degree day, this afternoon it's suppose to drop down into the 50s and then we're back into the 40s...brrrrrrrrr! I have to admit I'm looking forward to it a bit as then I won't feel guilty keeping the kids in the house and making them work. Rain would help out too, especially since Tom is on call this week and some overtime would be nice! So I think we'll slack off for most of today and I'll get cracking the whip tonight and/or tomorrow. Of course it's nothing like I'd planned...working for a few days in the begining of the break, getting my room hoed out and starting some sewing. (although I did find a too large flowing knit dress while shopping at the thrift store. I can wear it the house for the summer.) My choices are getting limited!

Well I guess I'll try to do SOME work then go outside for a while.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

From the looks of things this one is going to fit in here just fine.

The u/s went just fine. The dr started the festivities by giving each of the girls (Carrie, Eileen, and Olivia)their own bottle of goop and telling them to have fun. The first thing we saw was the top of the baby's head. It had a hand on each side of it's head waving them next to it's ears like it was saying...neener neener nee-ner. The dr said..uhoh! You're in trouble! It just gave us the finger! ;o) The dr was great and kept holding the pics so he could explain to the kids what we were looking at. He'd then take 2 or 3 pics, keep one and give the rest to the girls. They thought they were in heaven to have so many pics of their new baby. We got a special pic to give to Drew. It's one of the baby MOONING us! It's an adorable butt only pic...it's got some sweet cheeks already. I told the girls it had a (my maiden name) butt, the poor thing...we're famous for it.

Finally the big question was asked...are we looking down below to see whether to buy pink or blue? I said YES! That's why we're having this party! ;o) After doing some prodding he finally had it...the perfect crotch shot. It looked like the baby was sitting on the transducer. There's no doubt about it....we are having a girl! When he announced what he saw all mayhem broke out, there was dancing, hooting and hollering by all parties in the room. They started to run out to door to tell Drew and Pat who were in the waiting room. As far as they were concerned the appt was OVER! That's what we wanted to know, thankyouverymuch, we're done! LOL

I got put back together, took the girls out into the waiting room so they could show off their pictures and went to empty my bladder. I then went back in to have an uninterrupted conversation with the dr. The placenta is on the fundus which he says is usually a really good thing. The baby measurements put my sonogram date at Sept 4th which is close enough for my dr so we're not changing anything. We upped my insulin by 2pts on both doses. I figured that because the numbers were slowly creeping up. I gained 3lbs in 5 days. :o( The nurse finally got a realistic blood pressure reading on me...124/78. Which is what I'd been getting at home today. I had brought my cuff with me so she could try to get a really low reading with it too. I didn't bother getting it out.

Kathy, I never really have an inkling what my babies are so don't try guessing. I also had no strong preference one way or the other. Although I will admit that it's certainly more fun to buy clothes for girls then boys. LOL I already have a few definite girly things (they were too cute! I couldn't pass them up for only $.50 each at the thrift store) I found out that the kids at home were taking bets on what it was while I was gone. I guess most of them guessed girl. Luke was one of the few who openly seemed disappointed. So much so that I had to stop and give him a HUGE hug before going into the house.

So it looks like it's going to be 7 girls and 4 boys.

3 more to go!

That's how many more times I have to go through our morning routine before spring break starts here. Woohooo! I might even whittle it down to 2 and keep the elementary kids home on Friday. It's Grandparent's and Special Friends day on Friday. This means it's a bogus school day and by lunchtime all there is to do is sit around and maybe watch a video. Grandparents come in around 9 or 10 and stay in the class with the kids. After lunch if the parents have given permission, the grandparents can take the student home. Tom's mom can't come because it's her dialysis day. My parents have decided that they'll only attend for a Kindergartener so they're not torn in a bunch of directions every year. So they won't be there. They insist there are NO extra kids brought along due to the huge turnout for the day, so that doesn't allow me and Olivia going over. If I do send them, I'll go over and pick them up at lunch time at least. No sense for them to sit in the classroom with a few kids, bored out of their mind.

For what I thought was the LAST time...I have to register a kindegartener for classes. Olivia is wishy washy about going. At first it was because she doesn't want a shot, now I'm not so sure. She's definitely not a candidate to be held back a year. She knows a lot of her letters, can write quite a few if you're spelling something for her and she's always asking how to spell this and that and writing it down. Her downfall is going to be her shyness. Out of all my shy kids though I think she's the most outgoing...although I thought that of Eileen too. She had a really rough time starting school and being away from home. So I'm not taking anything for granted. When we register we get to visit a classroom and talk to a teacher, the soon-to-be kindergartner gets a prize and a balloon, and we go for a ride on the school bus around the village. yipppee!

I got a pleasant surprise yesterday. My OB office called me and pushed my u/s appt up from Thurs afternoon to TODAY!!! I get to oogle my baby today! :oD I think I might be picking up Carrie and Eileen to take them with me. I need to go buy Carrie a bathsuit for her after school swimming program tomorrow. I wish I could take all the kids with me, they're so excited to find out what we're having. I hope this little one cooperates. As usual I was starting to worry that something was wrong with the baby and I'd get bad news at my u/s. Baby decided to put me out of my misery and was splashing around nice and hard this morning. It's not happening consistantly but it's happening more often which makes me a happy pg lady! Oh I hear you....just you wait...you'll be cursing at those kicks soon enough! LOL I definitely try not to although I can't promise it won't happen.

I'm trying to decide if I want to be a nice mommy or not. Drew and Pat need khaki slacks for their new job and neither one owns a pair. Their first day is Saturday so they're trying to get me to meet them at the discount store to get some before my appt. I don't mind so much except that I don't want to get exhausted and sore before my dr appt. Although I guess I could nap while they're doing the u/s...yeah right!

Monday, April 11, 2005

Another week flew by

I was either busy or felt like garbage, I can't win. I find myself laying down quite a bit. It bugs me becuase it really isn't me at all. I also find myself on the verge of crying or in tears often, another thing out of the norm.

Val passed her stone Wed night!!! We were all cheering for her when she showed us. You'd have thought she won the lottery. LOL I brought it into the urologist's on Thurs after my OB appt. She'll be going back in to the urologist's in a month. She still needs bloodwork done before then which I think I'll do next week.

My OB appt was a looooong one. Not because of anything to do with me. The dr had an amnio scheduled before me and he was having a really hard time with it for some reason. :o( I hope she was ok. My appt was scheduled for 11:15 and around 1'ish the MW came in and apologized. She said she'd have sent me out to lunch if she'd realized how long it would actually take. I wish she'd had! About 15mins before she came in I realized I was hearing Olivia talk but not responding to her. All I wanted to do was close my eyes. I didn't have my glucometer with me (left it in the car) so just assumed my sugar was low and took a glucose tablet. I felt a bit better after that but was still wiped out. Olivia and I shared a 6inch sub from Subway after the appt (it's across the street from the dr office...I wasn't driving too far without FOOD!)

Anyways, my stats from Thurs were...gained 2lbs and am at 214.5lbs. Nurse got a super low blood pressure reading again 100/70!!! I don't think I've ever seen my pressure that low beside when I'm on the verge of passing out. LOL I told her I had no idea how she was getting those numbers as I rarely get anything under 128/80 at home. I'm going to ask to take it myself if she does it again at my next appt. Maybe I'll even ask the MW to do it too. I'll bring my cuff in also, although this nurse already checked it and agreed it matched the office cuff when I first bought it. I think there was some thought to lower my bloodpressure med. I made it clear that I did NOT want that to happen and that those numbers were not my norms at all! That's all I need is to have to deal with pre-e already. I'm already nervous enough about it starting up in the next few weeks. (It's the one thing that'll land me in bed or the hospital). The main thing about the appt was that I heard the heartbeat just fine and dandy and right on it's regular target. I'm a little more relaxed about things now as I feel the baby move more often as the days go by. This morning before I got up it was thrashing around something fierce. LOL

I'm really looking forward to my next appt on Thursday because I'm having my 20wk u/s!!! YIPPEEEE! I get another peek at my baby. Everyone here is excited and hoping that we'll find out the gender. I want to know what it is but am hesitant about sharing that info. With Luke's pregnancy I had a lot of u/s's and knew what he was, how big he was, his name, what day he would be born...the only thing I didn't know was the time. It was kind of a bummer to be so informed and felt I shared TMI with everyone before his birth. I definitely won't be sharing name choices with too many people. That is if we ever decide on a name!!!! One thing I'm not looking forward to yet, although that will probably change if I definitely know what I'm having.

Friday D and I went grocery shopping AGAIN...seems like it's all we do anymore. LOL I was going to pick up a few things..what a joke! At least it was only one overflowing cartful instead of two like last time. ;o) I was sore but ok when I got home from shopping. I laid down for half an hour and realized I'd made a mistake...my sciatica decided it was a good time to hit me. I could barely get out of bed much less walk for a while.

Saturday was the worst! I had tons of plans for around here. I haven't been around on a Saturday in a while and I wanted to get everyone back into the swing of doing their jobs really well. It didn't happen. I ran to Target first thing to pick up a bike I had them hold for Luke. It was only $16.78!!! I love Target deals like that! Foolish me didn't think to have them hold the $30 bike that would have been perfect for Liz or Val. Unfortunately it was gone when I got there. I only took Luke with me and we had a good time talking. We talked a bit about school and I finally asked him what his thoughts on being homeschooled were. He said it would be hard for him as he would get distracted. He didn't feel he'd make himself work hard enough to do well and that he'd prefer to go to school. Gotta give the kid credit...he knows himself well and is honest about it. I told him I wouldn't think about homeschooling again unless he changed his mind about it. So that's one less thought I need to have floating around my already cluttered head.

After I got home is when I fell apart. I felt exhausted (think my blood sugar has been a bit wonky) and weepy. I kept crawling into bed to have a good crying fit. If anyone asked me what was wrong I don't think I could have told them. Either that or they'd have wished they never asked because I'd still be ranting about things an hour later. LOL I decided about 10:30pm that I couldn't stay awake any later, sent the littler kids to bed and crawled into bed myself. The older kids were on an adventure to Walmart. They'd all dressed up in their prom gowns (thrift store purchases mostly) with Pat being the only male in his dad's plaid leisure suit jacket. Tom had bought it as a joke with his brother's for a party they were going to...they had all bought similar suits. Everyone kept asking if they were going to a dinner party or something. Poor Jess, her mom was certain that they were up to no good because....NO ONE would wear a formal dress to Walmart without an ulterior motive. I told her to remind her WHO she was going shopping with!!!

Unbeknownst to me when they got home they had themselves a little hair party. The'd bought 2 boxes of hair dye and Michelle did a bunch of their hair. Jess had done Pat's hair black blue earlier in the day. What I didn't realize was that Val had snuck the leftovers and did a really bad job on her hair with it. I was so out of it I hadn't even noticed when they were leaving for Walmart. *blush* So Drew has burgandy hair, B (one of Val's friends staying the weekend) had brown...not sure of the shade, and Val had burgandy with black streaks in her's. It doesn't look that bad really and according to Michelle looks a LOT better then when they left the house. My problem is that she's throwing processes over processes. Her and Michelle just did their hair a month or so ago and it looked really nice. A week or so ago I bought a double pack of Sun-In (hair lightener triggered by heat or the sun). I planned to use it when I was working outside so I could liven up my hair. Val and Michelle used BOTH the bottles over their dye jobs!!! Grrrrr! So now she's dyed over THAT one. I wasn't so nice about letting her know that putting processes over processes was a great idea and she was quite offended that I was upset about it. Tom wondered if I was overreacting because the hair color treatments has changed and gotten more gentler. I let him know I didn't want Valerie to find out the hard way whether it was ok or not! Of course she acted like having her hair turn to straw and breaking off into nubs wouldn't be a big deal. *heavy sigh*

Sunday was a beautiful day! (well Saturday was too I just wasn't into enjoying it too much) We went to church and then spent the afternoon over at the church grounds. We ate lunch with D and then walked to another family's trailer site to sit and talk. It was hard to make me get out of my chair and go back home. I was dreading all the work that would be waiting for me. Much to my surprise...my livingroom and kitchen were clean!!!! It seems the older girls had cleaned while I was gone so they could have friends over. YIPPEEE! It's so nice to not have that hanging over me anymore!!!

This week I discovered that we're going to need a new pool liner. It seems some ice sliced a corner at about the midway point. Tom wants to try to patch it and see if it'll last another year. I'm fighting to replace it while everything is intact and there's no wall/sand damage done. I'm really afraid of the patch letting go in the middle of the season. Then we'd be out of a pool for quite a while, especially with our water supply being limited. It took FOREVER to fill the pool last year! To me the pool will be one of the most important things to us this summer. I won't be in any condition to take the kids to the beach. I'm also planning on living in it! LOL What better thing for a hot, swollen, achey pregnant woman to be doing but floating around a nice cool pool? I will NOT be a happy camper if that's taken away!!!!

On Sunday we're having a 50th Wedding anniversary for Tom's parents. Tom's older brother joined and rented the American Legion. Last night we had a meeting and planned the food and what it would cost us. I'll having to go shopping for lunchmeat, I'm also making a fruit salad. I know the salad will be a bit pricey but it was my idea and I really wanted to make it (been dying for it actually!). We'd asked Tom's brother if he could look into renting the legion for Michelle's graduation party. When we got home and let everyone know that we were trying to get it, there was an uproar. The place is tiny and there's nothing too much to do there. Michelle wants it here so they can have Drew's band play (not enough room to set up at the legion), go in the pool and on the trampoline. They can also play volleyball and just plain run around. I informed them (Drew, Pat, Michelle, and Val) that it meant they'd probably have to do a lot and most of the work around here to get ready. They were excited at the prospect of painting and decorating. LOL So I guess we're doing it here. I need some energy back NOW!!!! I admit I'd love to be painting around here myself. I'm actually considering starting the livingroom ceiling today. Maybe I'll go into my room and hoe it out instead. Then again, maybe I'll just sit here and think about doing it all until a week or so before party.

Monday, April 04, 2005

Back to reality....

This morning was tough for everyone. That missing hour was really felt! Liz stayed home AGAIN. She claims she was throwing up while I was gone and last night...although I don't recall any mention of it until this morning. She insists she told me last night. She slept most of the morning, actually so did I. *blush* I got all the other kids out the door and while Olivia slept I conked out on the couch. I didn't want to get up at 10:30 but then remembered that Val had a 1pm urologist appt. I managed to convince Olivia that she needed to stay home with Liz so she wasn't alone (lucked out that Liz wasn't interested in going for once). So I went out the door ALONE...drove to school and picked up Val.

Val still has blood in her urine so the urologist agrees that she probably hasn't passed the stone yet. The fact that she gets achey after exertion also points to a stone still being a problem. He did allow her to return to gym class which made her very happy. He mentioned the fact that she only has a stone on one side is a good thing. I asked if it was confirmed that she only had it on the right because she'd complained of pain on the other side a few times since being home from the hospital. He said that CTscan only checks a slice every 5mm...so technically if she has a 2mm stone on the other side too, then it could be missed between the slices. Just have to wait and see if it causes problems. So she's going for some bloodwork to look for clues as to what caused the stone (high calcium levels mostly). She's suppose to hydrate herself (which she's NOT doing!) and still straining. If nothing shows up in a month we have to drop off a urine sample. I guess we're waiting for 6wks to pass before talking about the "next step" we could take. My first instinct is to say...don't do anything but Val says she's not feeling so great even if she's not in pain. Guess that means we have to weigh the options a bit more closely.

We left the dr's appt and met Drew and Pat at the chinese buffet place for lunch. We had a nice time sitting and talking without any little ones to cater to. I told them they are more disgusting to eat with then the little ones though. The topics of conversations were unbelieveable and wouldn't be tolerated at the dinner table. They thought they were funny. Where'd they get THAT sense of humor from??? NOT ME!!! We hit the Salvation Army and Rescue Mission Thrift stores before dumping more money into Walmart.

I found a GREAT snack for me!!! Now if only I can get back to the dollar store and buy more. It's Go Mix Energy Snack Mix...Mixed Berry Crisp YUM!!! Online they are over $1 for a 45gram pouch. At the dollar store they are 6 for $1. :o) They'll be great to carry around when I'm out. It also kills my sweets craving. I just hope they don't run out of them before Drew or I get back there.

Pat asked me to stop by a house and check out a car he wanted to buy. I told him NO WAY! It was a Mazda sports car which looked great on the outside. Unfortunately it'd been for sale for a long time (sign was quite faded making it very difficult to read) and it had a few major things wrong with it. Something with the power steering (couldn't read the whole sentence because of fading), the serpentine belt, rear brakes, thermostat, and something else I can't quite remember. Too much work for how much they were asking and firm about. I know he wants a cool car but the kid has got to be practical...not to mention he also has to GET A JOB!!!! School funds have dwindled to almost nothing and he has all summer to live.

I got home tonight and found out I missed a call from one of Luke's teachers. I've been wanting to call her since Friday but haven't had the time. (BAD TOK MOM!!!) I was hoping she'd call back this evening but didn't. If she doesn't call me in the morning I'll leave a note for her to call me during her lunch. I also want to call and make an appt with Eileen's teacher about her progress. She's really been making a HUGE effort to read on her own around here. I bought her a bunch of books from the thrift store today and she was tickled.

I also missed a callback from the hematology/oncology clinic. I tried to make an appt for Carrie on Friday but the receptionist needed to check to see exactly what tests and procedures she needed so she'd schedule enough time for her. I'll have to call them tomorrow also. I hate when this time of year rolls around. I always start to wonder if Carrie is as healthy as I think she is. This year has been a bit rough for her. She's been complaining of joint and muscle aches that she's never complained about before. Then again going, getting a clean bill of health and getting it over with is a huge relief also.

I have a dr appt on Thurs which is when I'll probably pick up my bifocals. Not having felt so great lately I can't wait to go in and hear the heartbeat again. I can easily convince myself of all these not so great things. I try to put it out of my mind but it keeps popping back in. I think my sugar is creeping up a bit although I haven't been so great in following my diet or testing my sugar on time. Today at Walmart I bought a digital timer so I wouldn't miss the 1hr mark after I eat. These next few days I'll have to be really careful and check it.

OK...Where was I?

It's been a while since I gave a true update here. I didn't have a great week last week. I was feeling extremely tired and not well, although I didn't feel sick. On Thursday I felt a lot better and tried to get myself out the door. We were out of a lot of things around here, including toilet paper. A run to the store was a MUST. Luckily D called with the same thought, so off we went. We had a good time shopping and got home between the first and second bus dropoffs. I was feeling crampy and achey when I got home so I decided to lay down for a bit. I went out like a light! It was after 6:30 when I finally woke up enough to get out of bed. Luckily I'd brought home fried haddock for dinner so that was easy enough. I got a lot of work done with the groceries with the kids helping out quite a bit. :o)

The NEXT day!!! UGH!!! I couldn't stand up much less walk. My hips were KILLING me!!! I had to send Val upstairs to get the girls up for school. It made it tough in the morning. Luke's not doing so well with school right now so took "advantage" of me not walking down the hall unless absolutely necessary. Fortunately we did get out the door on time. PHEW!

I had a noon eye dr appt. I had felt I couldn't see very well but couldn't put my finger on exactly why. I feel like I can't see everything I should be seeing but there aren't any blind spots and such. I didn't get a full exam because they don't want to dilate pg ladies eyes (afraid it would cause them to be dizzy and fall). Dilation will have to wait until after I've delivered and am done nursing. It seems my age is catching up with me. I need bifocals! I got notice that they are in the office now, so it's just a matter of going and picking them up. I'm excited to get them. It's scary not seeing well. I couldn't let this go without using it. On the way home (Drew was driving incase I had had my eyes dilated) I called my parent's and got my mom. I asked if it still felt weird to have a daughter that was 40yo? She said yes. I said well how does it feel to have a daughter that's 40 and will be wearing BIFOCALS!?!?! She was ROFL and told me she couldn't wait to tell my father THAT news! LOL

As the day went on my pain let up quite a bit and I was getting around more. I was still pretty tender though. In the morning I realized we didn't have anything major to do this weekend so I called Tom and asked if he wanted to go away this weekend. He agreed, even though it was suppose to be pouring rain. He works with the sewers and when it rains he has to take care of the ones that get flooded or overtaxed with surface water....meaning he'd be getting/working OVERTIME (which he lives for).

Around 6pm we decided it was getting too late to go any distance away and concentrated in the city area. We finally found the place that had a whirlpool in the room for the cheapest rate and booked it for the weekend. It was only about 35miles from the house and 5miles from my parents but no one knew where we were (although they knew the vicinity).

We had a great weekend, even though we didn't go anywhere. LOL Saturday night we decided to go to a mall and walk for a while. We walked for about an hour until everyone started closing down. As we were leaving we went into TGIFridays for dinner and drinks. I ordered an ice tea and Tom got a gin and tonic. I realized I felt really lousy. We decided to order a steak and fried shrimp platter to split and ordered it to go. Before we got our meal I was very uncomfy with cramps and nauseated. When we got to our room I tested my sugar and found out I was a 66....there's one reason why I wasn't feeling so well. I still was crampy on and off for most of the night. I'm going to have to mention this...it's happening whenever I'm on my feet for more then an hour. I also noticed my hands and feet swelled a bit more then usual while walking. I'm SO out of shape!!! Waaaaaaaaaah!

It POURED ALL WEEKEND. Not just rained hard but POURED! I kept seeing Tom looking out the window. I knew it bothered him that he wasn't available to help out at work. That he was missing out on a LOT of overtime and $$. He kept insisting he was ok and he was "dealing with it". I still felt guilty and bad. I asked him if he wanted to call into work and go home. He said no, he'd call when we got home on Sunday and maybe work after that.

Sunday we forgot about daylight savings time hitting. This meant that we were checking out at 12:45 instead of 11:45...oops! Checkout was suppose to be noon. It was lightly sprinkling so the hurry to get to work wasn't there. We went to Burger King for lunch and headed to my parent's for a visit. As soon as we got out of Burger King and into the car I asked...Do you want to call B? (his boss) He said no he'd wait until we got home. As we drove to my parent's I noticed and pointed out areas of flooding...it was a decent amount. We kept joking about how soon he'd be going in. At one point I jokingly asked if he wanted to check trouble spots? He said yeah and he was going to. I demanded he take me to my parents first. Little did I know that one of the spots was down the street from my parents. As we came around the curve of the road we saw one of his crews in the middle of it working at a manhole. ROFL!!! I gave him permission to stop and talk. (I'm SO nice! lol) After talking to them he didn't wait until he got home to call his boss. He called from my parents and let me know that we wouldn't be visiting. :o( We got home and he left immediately.

On the way home I was a bit upset about all of this. Here I'd just had a great weekend with my husband doing NOTHING but relaxing and I was crying. I felt guilty for taking Tom away from work, and mad because he can't just shut it off and leave it! By the time we got home I felt exhausted and crampy again. Looking at me you'd have thought I'd been working my fingers to the bone all weekend. All I wanted to do was take a nap!!! Now I felt guilty for not having the energy to give the kids what they had been missing and deserved. Luckily things went well, especially since Tom worked all night and through the day today. I hope going to bed at 6pm is enough to rejuvenate him a bit. Luckily it's not raining anymore. I know if it was he'd be planning on going back into work at midnight for another double shift. No one could ever call my man a slouch! :o)