Category Archives: Whining

a list: things I am not coping very well with right now

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1. Still no bloody power.

2. Hospital tour tonight.

3. Ultrasound tomorrow morning.

4. The fact that we have water (because my brilliant husband got our well’s pump working), but that it’s brown. REALLY brown. I’m thanking my lucky stars that we got a water filter installed in our kitchen sink last week. I’m still not huge on the idea of showering in that stuff, though.

5. My entire family (mom, dad, brother, sister) will be arriving on Friday. As in four days from now. See #1 as for why this is a problem. It’s looking like they’re going to be spending Christmas in a hotel, which they’re all fine with, but I hate it.  

6. This sentence, which Dave said to me on at least three separate occasions yesterday: “Ok, I’m going outside to work on the generator. If you hear a loud bang, don’t worry because I’m nowhere near it.” I spent the next several minutes with my cell phone in hand, waiting for any loud-ish type noise to trigger the 911 call.

7. That I have no. energy. whatsoever. I usually think of myself as pretty tough in a crisis situation, but I am just not doing well with this whole disaster scenario at all.

8. To follow up on my lack-of-toughness in this crisis? I read this on our utility company’s website this morning, and promptly fell into a puddle of huge, heaving sobs:

Carnation, Duvall, Fall City, Snoqualmie and North Bend areas

The North Bend, Snoqualmie, and Snoqualmie Valley areas were among those hardest hit within our service area. Work is focused on restoring the high-voltage transmission grid and the substations that feed electricity to local neighborhoods. We hope to have our substations in these areas re-energized by midweek. Once this work is complete, we can concentrate solely on repairing the local distribution lines that serve customers. Restoration work in the heavily damaged Snoqualmie Valley will continue through the weekend.

Yeah, that Snoqualmie Valley area where the work will be continuing through the weekend? That’s us. And that’s really all I can say about that. Merry flippin’ Christmas to us.

30 weeks

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But first, a gripe: apparently it snowed a whole lot yesterday. Which is no big deal out where we live, since The Boonies seem to operate on their own weather system, so we get snow pretty often. (Something about the geography there, who knows.) Today, I got up, got dressed, braved the icy roads to come to work on my next-to-last day, and… alas, The Giant Software Company is closed.

I mean, technically I was able to get into the building, and I’ll be working today because I have stuff to do, but the company itself is closed. And I had an email from my boss telling me that I should stay home because the roads are so icy. It just didn’t occur to me to check my work email before leaving the house this morning. Argh. Oh well, whatever, I’m here.

So, yesterday was my 30-week OB check-up. I have this weird neurotic habit left over from when I was overweight: I always do a little calculation in my head of what I think my weight will be when I get on the doctor’s scale, because I hate being shocked by the number. I knew what my weight was at my last appointment (two weeks ago), and I know that gaining a pound per week is about average during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters, so I mentally added two pounds to that number, and that’s what I expected to see on the scale. I thought it was possible, given how weird my stomach has been lately, that maybe I hadn’t gained anything. However, I ate a ton over Thanksgiving, so it could’ve also been a little more than two pounds. But I had a pre-defined range in my head, so I felt prepared.

The nurse called me back, and we chatted for a minute – boy, isn’t this weather crazy, that kind of thing. Then I got on the scale. My jaw dropped. The nurse looked at the number, looked at my chart, then looked back at the number. She very slowly and carefully said, “Um, you do know that you’re supposed to be gaining weight, right?”

Not only did I not gain anything since my last appointment, I actually lost six pounds in the past two weeks. So apparently all this stuff with my stomach falls under the category of “decidedly not normal,” in spite of what I was starting to think. My OB told me to make an appointment with my primary care doctor to make sure that I didn’t pick up some kind of bacterial something-or-other. So I’ll be seeing her later this week. Fun. If I got dysentery or some obscure intestinal ailment from our stupid well water, I’m going to be really pissed.

The good news is that the baby appears to be fine – she’s still kicking up a storm, and her heartbeat is perfect. So it’s only my health that’s suffering, not hers. And I suppose that if my ultimate goal is to keep my pregnancy weight gain to a minimum, I’m doing a pretty kick-ass job – only 8 pounds at 30 weeks! But I’m also realistic, and I fully expect to regain that six pounds (plus some) once I’m not so dehydrated anymore.

Speaking of fluids, I think I need to go find some hot cocoa or cider or something, because it’s damn cold here.  

still working on the leftovers

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I’m trying to think of a way to wrap up our little holiday weekend with a minimum of whining, but it’s going to be difficult. Thanksgiving dinner itself was awesome – Kris came over, and it was great to get to hang out with her for a few hours. The food was great, everyone was in a good mood, and a fine time was had by all.   

After dinner, things went a bit downhill. Dave went upstairs to bed for a couple of hours. Kris and I joked that he was sleeping off his turkey hangover, but when he came back down, he had a fever over 101, so it appears that he came down with whatever bug I had earlier in the week. Poor guy. His fever is down now, but he’s been feeling generally tired and achy and miserable ever since.

I also discovered on Thursday night that it’s apparently a really bad idea to spend all day on your feet in the kitchen when you’re 30 weeks pregnant. I was totally fine while I was preparing dinner, but afterward my lower back and hips suddenly started causing me excruciating pain. I’ve been doing my prenatal yoga DVD every day (sometimes twice a day) to try to stretch things back to normal, and it does seem to help, but I still don’t feel quite “right.”

Oh, and my stomach is still weird. It’s been going on long enough now that I’m starting to think it might just be how my body is adjusting to the fact that Baby Girl is getting bigger and bigger, and the fact that I don’t have as much room for my normal (albeit surgically-altered) digestive processes.

Overall, it looks like I’m in for a fun last ten weeks. I’m starting to understand all those women who say that by the time you give birth, you no longer fear the pain because you’re just so desparate to not be pregnant anymore.

So, Dave and I have spent the past few days mostly just lazing around the house and eating excessive amounts of food. (Well, that second part is mostly me – he tends to sleep it off when he’s sick, and I’m the one who’s now eating every two hours.) This is the first time since Wednesday that I’ve taken the time to sit down at my laptop to check email and blogs and whatnot. Like I said, lazy.  

In other news: I only have three days left at my job, although I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. I’ll leave that topic for another post. I also have my 30 week check-up tomorrow, and a few other activities lined up over the next couple of weeks to keep me from going crazy while I adjust to being unemployed. Hopefully that’ll keep this blog from turning into one big ol’ “oh woe is me” crybaby fest over the next few weeks.

sick day

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So, it turns out that I might not be as much of a hypochondriac as I thought. The tummy issues that I was having last week (which we will not discuss in detail, because I’m sorry, but some things are just too gross even for me)? Well, that never really let up entirely – it’d go away for a while, then come back with a vengeance. I had noticed that with all the rain we’ve been having, our tap water had turned sort of cloudy, which is one of the problems that comes with getting your water supply from a well. I thought maybe that had something to do with my stomach problems, so I switched to bottled water over the weekend. No change.

Last night, after I got home from work, I started to feel really awful. I barely ate anything and went to bed early.

This morning, in addition to the stomach problems, I also had a fever (99.8 is pretty high for me, since my temp is usually in the 97’s) and even though I was warm, I couldn’t stop shaking. Dave took one look at me and ordered me back to bed, which was fine by me, since I don’t think I could’ve driven anyway. I emailed my boss to let him know I wouldn’t be in, and called my OB’s office.

Basically, the over-the-phone diagnosis from the nurse went like this:
* Bleeding? Nope.
* Discharge? Nope.
* Baby still kicking? Oh yeah, like a champ.

Then, she said, I just have the flu, and it’s nothing pregnancy-related. She said that if my fever went over 100.4, I should go see my primary care doctor, but in the meantime, I should take some tylenol, keep myself hydrated, yadda yadda.

I tried to eat some chicken soup, which made me completely ill, and I went back to bed for a few hours. When I woke up, my fever had dropped to 97.9, which is much more normal for me. My stomach is still iffy, but I mostly feel better. I don’t think it’s the flu, since historically, the flu equals major sinus problems for me, and I’m not having any of that. So really, I have no idea what’s going on with me right now. 

Hopefully I can get back to work tomorrow, though, since I only have a few days left before my official Reign of Unemployment begins (next Wednesday the 29th is my last day, for those of you keeping track).

Speaking of work, Dave’s phone interviews have been going very well (see? I told you he was a smarty-pants), and I don’t want to jinx anything, but everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed. Hopefully we’ll have some news on that front next week-ish.

hypochondriac much?

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I came home from work yesterday with a splitting headache. I took a nap for a couple of hours, and it was worse when I woke up. My OB has given me the ok to take one of the two types of migraine medications that I used to take (pre-baby, that is), but I always feel guilty about taking it. I know it’s safe, just… eh. It worries me. Still, I was desparate, so I took one of my headache pills and lay down on the couch for a while.

I sent Dave off to get Chinese food for dinner, since there was no way I was going to be cooking anything. A few hours later, I started feeling really nauseated – almost like I was going to throw up, which I never do. (One of the perks of gastric bypass, as it turns out.) I tried to go to sleep, but by then, the headache pill had worn off, and the nausea had gotten worse. Now, if I had thought about this logically, I would’ve come to the following conclusions:

1. I am a person who is already pre-disposed to having severe headaches, so this is not really anything new, and should not be interpreted as anything pregnancy-related.
2. I had Chinese food for dinner, from a restaurant in our podunk little town that is not always known for using the freshest ingredients. Hence, that would explain the nausea.
3. I should really just take another headache pill and some Pepto-Bismol, and go to freakin’ sleep already.

Instead, what did I do? I decided to ask Dr. Google: third trimester, headache, nausea. Because really, when you feel like crap and can’t sleep, there’s nothing better to calm your nerves at 1 a.m. than reading a bunch of worst-case scenarios to thoroughly convince yourself that you are going to die within the next few hours.

I was actually sitting at my laptop having this little internal debate: hmm, should I call 911 now? Or wait until Dave finds me unconscious on the floor?

Exhaustion finally won out and I went to sleep, only to have the most gruesome nightmares about pregnancy complications and dead babies and all kinds of other horrible things that I have ever had in my life. (Thanks, hormones!) I can’t even think about some of the things I dreamed last night, it makes me shudder. So even though by the time I woke up, my headache was mostly gone and the nausea had mostly passed, I still felt horrible since sleep wasn’t exactly the restful and restorative experience that it’s supposed to be.

Dave was watching TV downstairs when I woke up. Instead of a “good morning,” he was greeted with a “I don’t feel good and I need lots of hugs RIGHT NOW.” That probably doesn’t bode well for the rest of the day, does it?  

Oh, and tonight I’m supposed to meet up with the girls for dessert. Hopefully I can squeeze in a (dream-free) nap this afternoon; otherwise I’m sure I won’t be a whole heck of a lot of fun to be around.   

seafood drama

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I forgot to mention that since I had been craving crab legs since before Labor Day, last Friday I managed to drag Kris out to dinner with me. I bribed her by offering to pay. That girl is a sucker for a free meal.

I did some digging around online, looking for local seafood restaurants that:
(a) served crab legs – online menus are my new favorite thing.
(b) was in a semi-reasonable price range – yes, I’m having a pregnancy craving, but $45 for crab legs? Um, no.
(c) was located within a reasonable commute of both me and Kris, since we were coming from different directions and had already decided to meet at the restaurant.

I found a place. I had been there once before, but it was at least four years ago, so I didn’t really remember anything about it. Still, it got a decent review on CitySearch, and it met all of my criteria, so it looked like a safe bet.

Kris and I met up there, got a table, and ordered our food; she got the halibut, and I got the 2-pound whole dungeness crab. Mmm, yum. I couldn’t wait, I was practically bouncing in my seat from the anticipation. I had been daydreaming about this meal all week long.

Then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Good thing they bring you rolls at this place, otherwise I would’ve fallen over. Finally, our waiter came over and apologized for the delay. He said that there was a problem with my crab – he was about to bring it out to me, when the restaurant manager walked by and noticed that it smelled “off.” So they were making me a new, fresh crab.

Umm, ok. I guess that’s fine. Kris and I were both surprised that he basically admitted that they have spoiled food in their kitchen, but it was nice that he was honest.

A few minutes later, he came out with both of our entrees. Since the waiter had told me that they were making me a “fresh” crab, it didn’t even occur to me that maybe I should sniff it before I ate it.

In retrospect, I really should have. I had the first bite and it was… wrong. It was too dry, and sort of spongy. It was not at all like crab is supposed to taste. I guess I didn’t notice the smell because I had dipped it in butter. But when I picked up the remainder of the crab leg and sniffed it, it smelled vaguely like ammonia. Oh god.

The waiter, of course, whisked it away immediately when I told him. He offered the Alaskan king crab instead of the dungeness, but before I agreed, I grilled him with questions: “But are you absolutely sure that it’s fresh? Because I’m five months pregnant, and I have been craving crab legs for the past two weeks, and if this meal is going to suck, I might cry in the middle of your restaurant.”

(Incidentally, Dave was horrified when I told him that I said that to the waiter. Kris, on the other hand, was sitting directly across from me, and she was all, “That’s right, you BETTER bring her some fresh crab!” I guess that just goes to show how women understand important things like food cravings.)

Another half hour later (after Kris had long since finished her meal), I finally got my Alaskan king crab. It was ok, just sort of meh. I think they served melted margarine instead of real butter, which honestly just ruins the whole thing. If I compare the expensive restaurant meal to my grocery store “krab” with real melted butter? I think the faux-crab wins. That’s pathetic.

Also? Even after all of the inconveniences, the waiter didn’t comp a single thing on our check. He billed us for every last nickel of it, including Kris’s diet coke. (Except my rotten crab, he was kind enough to deduct that.) He got a less than stellar tip.

Just in case any of you who read this are on Seattle’s Eastside, this was the place. Avoid it at all costs.

Oh, and for the record? Since that meal didn’t quite live up to the fantasy in my head, I’m still sort of craving crab legs. Sigh.

at our house, we party like it's 1994

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It wasn’t my intention to leave the Prairie Muffin post up at the top for as long as I did, but y’all will just have to forgive me, because I have not had internet access for the past four days. Four days! No internet! Aaaahhhh, withdrawal!

The story: Since we live in the boonies, we have to use a satellite dish for both TV and internet access. That means two different satellite dishes are stuck on the side of our house (as if one isn’t ugly enough). Oh, how I long for DSL… Anyway, the siding guys were out on Thursday tearing the old crappy siding off our house. (The new siding – which we ordered to replace the ugly stuff with big gaping, bubbly seams – will arrive sometime later this week.) When I got home from work on Thursday afternoon, Dave told me that the guys must’ve bumped one of the dishes, because our TV was fine, but we had no internet access. Fantastic.

Since I don’t work on Fridays, I had Dave call the satellite folks to send out a repair guy to fix the dish. I’d be home all day, so no problem, right? Well, they couldn’t get a technician out until Saturday afternoon. Dave stopped on his way home from work on Friday and bought me a couple of new video games to keep me occupied, because I was going crazy without internet access. And for some reason, we couldn’t even get a dial-up connection to work on my laptop. Argh!

Saturday, the technician came out, and the poor guy spent about three hours outside trying to get our dish working again. (Did I mention that we’re having some freakish heat wave right now and it’s been 95 degrees every day? I felt really bad for the guy. But you have no idea how thrilled I am that we got central air-conditioning this year.) Problem is, the dish is about five years old, which in satellite technology means that it’s three or four generations old, and… no luck. The guy couldn’t get it working again.

The thing is, Dave and I have been unhappy with our ISP for a while – our access speed is crazy slow, they have a limit of how much we can download per day, and forget trying to upload anything because dial-up is faster. We had heard that there were other satellite Internet companies in our area that are much better, but to change ISP’s means that you have to shell out the cash for a whole new dish. Since our current one is busted, this gives us a good excuse to go ahead and make the switch to a new ISP. So it’s really not all bad, except for the cost aspect.

Well, that, plus the fact that it will be Wednesday before they can come out to set up the new satellite dish. Cry! So if you don’t hear much from me this week, you’ll know why.