Category Archives: Work

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.

let's just lump one more major life transition in there

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As for that thing that I hinted at yesterday, which I said affected Dave more than me? Well, that turned out to have a very different outcome than what I was expecting.

The big secret was that Dave has started looking for a new job. His company is in the middle of a merger, he hasn’t been happy with his role there for a while and it wasn’t showing signs of improvement – in fact, it looked like things were only going to get worse after the merger – and it just seemed like the right time to move on. This was something that we had talked about months ago, and he’d been studying up on a lot of new technologies in his field so that he would be well-versed when it came time to start doing interviews.

As luck would have it, he started shopping his resume around last Friday, and over the next few days he was absolutely inundated with interview possibilities. (What can I say, I married a smarty-pants with a very impressive resume.) Some of the prospects seem quite promising, which is why this has been taking up a lot of our thoughts.

The catch that I personally wasn’t expecting? Dave got laid off from his current job yesterday. I think he had an idea that it was coming, but it certainly surprised me. It’s not a reflection on him at all, it’s just part of the whole “restructuring” thing that they’re doing as part of the company merger. Dave’s boss is basically a good guy, and he knows that I’m 7 months pregnant, and I think he felt a bit guilty for laying Dave off right before the holidays when we have a baby on the way. So the good news is that he got a really kick-ass severance package. Financially, we should be ok for quite some time. In fact, the way things are progressing with Dave’s job search, it looks like he’ll get an offer long before we have to start worrying about money.

So really, it’s not that bad, and considering my worrywart tendencies, I’m surprisingly calm about the whole thing. I’m kind of at peace with the idea that everything will work out for the best, and that we’ll end up wherever we’re supposed to be.

Which reminds me: Some of those promising job prospects are local, and obviously, those are the ones that I’m rooting for. (There’s one in particular that I have a good feeling about, so we’ll have to wait & see what happens there.) But some of them aren’t, and the non-local jobs seem to be in California for the most part. Which, ok, I love Seattle and I’d really like to stay here, but if we have to move, then that’s what we’ll do. The idea of getting our house ready to put on the market in the next few months, not to mention the idea of moving out-of-state with a newborn? That’s a bit stressful. But it’s manageable.

My attitude toward this is all about weighing our respective goals: I want to be able to stay home with the baby for at least the first 6 months (the first year, if possible). In order for that to happen, Dave needs to have a job where he’s happy, so that he doesn’t feel pressured into some kind of “sole breadwinner” role. I’d feel guilty for putting him in that position, he’d feel resentful toward me and the baby, and it just wouldn’t work. Yes, we could compromise – he could take a lesser-paying local job, I could go back to work full-time, and we could put the baby in day care. And I know that situation works out beautifully for a lot of families, but it’s not what either of us wants.

So if this all boils down to him taking a job in California, so that he’s happy and we’re financially able to allow me to stay home with the baby? Well… look out, California.

ho-higgity-hum

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I really have almost nothing to write about this week. I worry that my blog content is getting too baby-focused lately, and I don’t want to bore you guys with stupid little details, like:

* I don’t have gestational diabetes. Which, I suppose, means that I drank that nasty orange syrup for nothing. Hmph.

* I had my first experience with baby hiccups (little spasms every few seconds), and I thought they were cool, although I imagine that the novelty will wear off quickly when they start happening at 3 a.m.

Aaaand, that’s about it. See? Boring.

Random funny: A friend sent me this link about bad baby names today, which I’ve seen before – heck, I’ve probably linked to it here before. But the site has been updated since the last time I saw it, so I was crying from laughing again. This person takes legitimate baby names, either ones that she digs up on baby-naming bulletin board sites, or names that people send her, and then she makes her own snarky comments under them. Example:

I once met a lady named Rodana. I think she runs a successful internet business.

In her spare time she destroys Tokyo.

You get the idea. I’m pretty sure that none of our top 10 names are on that site, which is a relief. (We aren’t 100% settled on a name yet, but most of our top choices are a bit on the traditional side. I don’t think we’ll be having a little McKynzy or Kayleigh on our hands anytime soon.) But man, reading through that site, you just have to wonder about some of these people. The parents, I mean, not the kids. You just feel sorry for the kids.

Other stuff: There are a few things happening at work that I could talk about (office moves, new bosses, etc.), but I’ve sort of hit the point where I realize that I’m only going to be there for another five weeks, so… meh. There isn’t much about my job that really phases me at this point. It’s fine, no big complaints, blah blah yawn.

The one weird thing about work is that I’m pretty sure this is the first time in my adult life that I know exactly when my job is ending (very soon), and I’m not frantically scrambling around, updating my resume and searching for a new job before the current one ends. That’s kind of a weird feeling.

And who knows, next summer I might be scrambling to get the resume up and out again. I have no idea how that’ll play out, and I’m still determined to not make any decisions about it now. Dave and I will figure it all out when the time comes. (I hope.)

Labor Day summary

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The weekend housework report:
* I worked in the garage for a couple of hours on Friday, but it was just too hot, so I gave up pretty quickly. According to the forecast, this weekend is supposed to be in the low 70’s, so hopefully I can finish it up then.

* On Friday, I ordered new doors, baseboards, casing and crown moulding for our entire house. It’s all part of the big Pre-Baby House Renovation Project. But fear not: we have a contractor who’s going to install the stuff, we aren’t going to do it ourselves. For one thing, we want the work to actually be finished by the time the baby arrives. For another, we don’t want it to look like crap. However, the price tag on this little project is steadily climbing. I’m really glad that I get frequent flyer miles whenever I use my credit card.

* Yesterday, I cleaned out our bedroom closet. That’s actually a much bigger feat than you might imagine. But it’s a small space, so it felt really good to start and finish a project in one day. And now Dave will never be able to find his clothes because (gasp!) they’re all on hangers in the closet, rather than on the floor or in the laundry basket.

* Speaking of the laundry basket, I folded a good three or four loads of laundry yesterday, which my lower back really didn’t appreciate.

* I also made my first-ever attempt at cooking lasagna, since I thought that might be a good dish that I could potentially make and freeze for after the baby arrives. This was just a trial run to make sure it would be edible. And it wasn’t bad, but I need to remember to add more salt in the future.

Other odds and ends:

I’ve been having problems with an internal application at work, so this afternoon I had to call our helpdesk. While I was on hold, I heard muzak/instrumental versions of “Fernando” by ABBA, one of the “Fame” songs by Irene Cara (I’m not sure which one), and “Your Song” by Elton John. The music of my childhood has been deemed appropriate for elevators and hold music. I suddenly feel very, very old.

The news about the Crocodile Hunter made me incredibly, inexplicably sad. I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. Mostly I just feel sad for his family.

On Saturday, I bought and paid for Dave’s birthday present, although I don’t actually have it in my possession yet. It’s driving him crazy because he has no idea what I’m getting him, he just has a few vague hints that I’ve dropped. And it’s a really good present, too; I’m quite proud of myself for thinking of it. I’m going to enjoy dragging this one out for the next two weeks.

Which reminds me: two more weeks until we know if the sprog is a boy or a girl! Aaahhh!!! I’m so excited, I can’t wait. I honestly don’t care either way, I just need to know. It’s driving me crazy every time I pass through the baby section at Target. Also, my dad has been forewarned that if my instincts are wrong and this baby happens to be a girl, and he dares to make one reference to Gone With the Wind, I will hang up on him, and he will not be welcome in our home at Christmas.

[For those of you who didn’t catch that reference: When Scarlett gave birth to Bonnie Blue Butler, Mammy said, “I apologize, Mr. Rhett, for it bein’ a girl.” My dad thinks that line is hilarious. Obviously, I feel otherwise.]

[Also: when I first told my parents that I was pregnant, my dad quoted Luca Brasi from The Godfather and said, “I hope your first child will be a masculine child.” Ever the movie buff, that guy. I didn’t really think that was funny, either.]

[Actually, I suppose either of those jokes would be funny, if you didn’t know my dad and you hadn’t already heard both of those movie quotes about thirty-seven gazillion times during the course of your life.]

[And what is up with me and brackets today? Weird.]

Random pregnancy tidbit of the day: I am craving crab legs in a big, bad way. Dave won’t eat shellfish at all – and is, in fact, repulsed when I eat crab legs because he thinks the whole shell-cracking thing is barbaric – so I think I’m going to have to enlist Kris to go out to dinner with me. It’s gotten so bad that last week, I actually bought fake crab (you know, “krab”) at the grocery store, and dipped it in melted butter. I even managed to gross out myself with that one, but I was desparate. I think it’s time to treat myself to the real thing.

pregnancy brain sets in

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I have heard hundreds of stories of how scatter-brained pregnant women can become. It’s mentioned in all of the pregnancy books, I know it’s a very common ailment. So far, I’ve had to deal with things like forgetting what I needed to buy at the grocery store – annoying, sure, but nothing too scary. But now, I offer my own undeniable proof that gestating a fetus has led me to lose my damn mind:

I’m at work, and I was just composing a work-related email. It was addressed to someone who I have emailed and spoken on the phone with, but who I have never actually met in person. I believe it’s also worth noting that my boss was CC’ed on the email.

I had my mouse hovering over the “Send” button, and was about to click it, when I suddenly thought, “Hmmm… Something on this email doesn’t look right. I should double-check it.”

My error? I signed a business email with this closing:

Love,
Cindy

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!! Thank the baby Jesus in heaven that some shred of my former brain showed up long enough to make me think twice before clicking “Send,” because that could’ve been positively mortifying.

Honestly? I think that just about sums up how my Monday is going so far. I should probably go home and crawl under the covers before I embarass myself any further.

oh yeah, and a new job too

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What with all the baby excitement, I sort of forgot to mention that I’m changing jobs this week. The job that I’ve had since last December was a contract that was scheduled to end on June 30. Which was Friday. Which would mean that I would now be unemployed.

Except! I went and found myself a new job. There was a different team at the Giant Software Company that I worked with a lot, and the manager of that team really liked me, so when he found out that my contract was ending, he found a spot for me on his team. This works out well for a few reasons:

1) It’s the same stuff I’ve already been doing, so there’s no major adjustment period necessary.

2) The new job is part-time, I’m only going to be working Tuesdays through Thursdays. So, about 20-25 hours a week. I really love the idea of working for three days and then having four days off. It makes scheduling doctor’s appointments a lot easier, and it gives me time for the million or so little nesting projects around the house that I want to do before the baby gets here.

3) It’ll last until my eligibility at the Giant Software Company runs out. I will have been there for a year sometime around late November or early December, so that’s when this job will end. I’ll be about 7 months along by then (first trimester qualifying statement: assuming nothing bad happens, of course!). So I’ll be able to spend the last couple of months at home before the baby arrives, which is nice.

4) Did I mention that it’s part-time? Because I really love that. And with the July 4th holiday being tomorrow, I don’t actually start until Wednesday. So I’m only working two days this week. That’s right: out of the first ten days of the month of July, I’m working on two of them. Awesome.

I haven’t quite figured out what’s next for me, career-wise. I know I want to spend the first few months at home with the baby, but I haven’t decided if I’m going to be a permanent stay-at-home mom, or if I’m going back to work – and if I am, full-time versus part-time, etc. Or maybe I’ll try to find something that lets me work from home, I don’t know.

Dave and I have decided to just go with the flow on this one, and see what feels like the right thing to do when the time comes. Pretty much everything in our lives is going to change over the next year, so there’s really no point in trying to write anything in stone just yet.