The Sleep Study

Hubby officially has sleep apnea.

They did a split night study, which means for the first half of the test they just observed (with monitors and cameras) him sleeping and figured out what was causing him to wake after a short period of time: He chokes in his sleep and just isn't getting oxygen in his lungs. So his body wakes him up rather than let him die. Thankfully. The second half of the study, they put him on CPAP, which stands for continuous positive airway pressure. It is a mask attached to a machine which basically forces the oxygen into his lungs. He said the mask was really uncomfortable and he didn't think he'd sleep, but within a minute or two, was GONE and slept the best sleep he's ever slept in his whole life. He was in *such* a good mood when I picked him up, which is good because I spent most of the day wanting to cry and feeling fat (I know, the baby is not quite two weeks old, and I didn't start out skinny minny, so cut myself some slack, right? *sigh*). So he held me while I cried and apologized for being a jerk about something last night, and he even let my mom in the house (lol), watched kiddo so I could have a nap, put the baby back to sleep so I could cuddle kiddo, and he is STILL in a good mood! Unheard of! lol.

Man, I can't wait for him to be on his CPAP all the time ... better call the doctor's office tomorrow and find out where we go from here.

And ... I've lost two more pounds. I'm not eating/drinking any dairy because junior is sensitive to it and it gets transmitted through breast milk, and we think that's contributing to the weight loss. Thank heaven. I went for an 8-minute walk today (sadly, that's all I could manage), and I did get on my prepreg jeans, even though I had a muffin top. I was beyond caring at that point; they went on and fit through the butt and thighs, so I was happy.

I'd better do something before the baby wakes up to feed again.

Second try ...

You may all hate me now: The scale officially tipped to my pre-pregnancy weight yesterday. Not size, mind you, but weight, yes. Hubby had told me it was all baby and water and I didn't believe him. Silly me.

Some pictures.
Hubby was staring at the baby, being all cute. Had to take this photo.
Junior must've gotten jealous or something because he stuck that little foot out there immediately after I snapped the first one. That's actually the foot he kept shoved in my ribs during the pregnancy, and he reaches for me with it at night now, too. So cute.
Kiddo snapped this one while I was trying to sleep. Sadly, the baby woke up shortly after ... *sigh* Hope I get some rest tonight.

And then ...

Mojo has weaned himself from the catheter feeds almost all the time -- he took two yesterday and two today, so I'd say this is progress from every single feeding. I'm only going to pump when he takes the catheter because (tmi) my nips just hurt too damn bad to do it at every feeding for a while.

I may have mentioned hubby had a home SpO2 study and his saturations dropped to 78, which is extremely bad (meaning, he is not getting enough oxygen while he sleeps). In addition to all of that, hubby started having swelling of his feet over the weekend, and last night had shortness of breath and chest pain (didn't tell me about the chest pain though, booger). And he couldn't fit his shoes on when he went to get ready for work, so he couldn't go in since he wouldn't be able to get his boots on. His feet looked like mine when I was hugely pregnant. Mine are normal now though; I forgot what my ankles look like! lol. He wouldn't let me take him to the ER, but asked me to take him to the doctor this morning. So I called first thing, and they got us in immediately with the PA. He ordered an EKG and chest x-ray, a strep test (for his sore throat), and a bunch of blood work (all of which they did in the office). Strep was negative, EKG was normal, chest x-ray was good (no pneumonia or cardiac enlargement), etc. Gave DH a diuretic to take so his swelling would go down and told him the blood work would be back in a couple days. DH is feeling better now, some 6 hours after he took the diuretic, and can move around a bit easier without getting short of breath. But it was pretty scary and we still don't know what caused the problem ... so ... yeah. That's where we are. Still has his sleep study on Thursday to figure out the degree of sleep apnea and whatnot. Wooo.

I'm not going to ask what else the universe is going to throw at us. I'm just going to cuddle my kids and my sweetheart and deal with what comes as it does.

So ... I may be heartless or something.

My gramma just died. Thankfully. She's been unable to speak for 2-3 years and unable to move or do anything for herself for the last year or so. She's had aspiration pneumonia a couple times in the last few weeks. Gramps died about 5 years ago, so they're back together again, which is all she's wanted since then anyway. So we're glad she's gone.

The heartless part is that I cried and cried when Gramps died. I'd taken Munchkin to visit *him* every week after they moved to Utah 3 or 4 months before he passed. Grams ... She thought we were going to visit *her* because Gramps had Alzheimer's and didn't remember me, but no. She was never all that good to me, and even though I've long since forgiven her for the horrible things she'd said to me, I never wanted to develop a warm and fuzzy relationship with her.

I do remember well the last two conversations we had. Next to last, the only thing she said to me was, "When are you going to find that little girl a daddy?" Yeah, I'd been looking and failed repeatedly. Thanks so much; why don't you just give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice in it? Gah. (My cousins said I should've just been grateful she'd said anything to me -- she never spoke to them). The last thing she said to me was, "My Sunshine." That's what Gramps always called me. She could barely speak at all by that point. That was the night I took my sweet husband (then fiance) to a family party to visit, and she just cried and held onto my hand and looked at my sweetie and my kiddo and cried some more. That was two years and a few weeks ago ... I think it was just before my surgery, actually. Didn't mind that so much, but later I found out that later that night, the woman got up the energy somehow to shriek at my mother. Hello. I realize she wasn't in the best frame of mind, but she never really treated my mother well, and I am very close to my mother, so that just irked me. Mom, fortunately, decided then and there to never put herself in the position where Grams could do that to her again, for which I'm grateful. No need to put yourself out there for hateful people, y'know?

Well, about two or three months ago, Kiddo asked if we could go see Grams so she could say goodbye. The family has been fasting and praying for her to be at peace for a long time, and Kiddo knows that means we wanted her to die. Sounds horrible, but really, what kind of existence did she have? Well. We went to see her, told her about the baby, hugged her and what not, and left. It was really hard to go there and see anyone suffering like that, even someone I didn't feel close to.

So yeah. I'm not terribly upset for the above reasons. I'm sure I'll cry at some point ... but now I'm just relieved and grateful I don't have to feel guilt for not visiting her anymore. lol.

MINE!!

Like most men, this baby loves boobs. They give him food, they are soft and squishy, and he loves to rest his head on them and cuddle them and hug them after he eats. So funny. Hopefully this is discreet enough for our more sensitive readers -- the only visible part is the top where a lower-cut shirt would show anyway. It just cracks me up, so I had to post it. lol

Friday Fave Five!

hehe, my mom reminded me I hadn't done this yet ... and I hadn't included her gift to me on the last one I did ... well ... I'd intended to post it today actually. I heart you, Mom.

1. THE MOST AWESOMEST NIGHTGOWN EVER!!! My mom made me this fabu nightgown and sent it a couple weeks ago -- big enough to go around my baby belly, but zipped up the front so once Mojo arrived we could breast feed in it. Well. Tuesday night, hubby showed up at the hospickle with it and some other things for me, and I lived in it until we left Thursday morning while we learned to nurse and pump and do all that stuff. (It's in the dryer now after having been washed today, lol).

2. My husband. I know he makes the list a LOT, but what other guy is seriously going to remember pads, makeup, deodorant, the nightgown, clothing, wifey's purse, and a bunch of other random but needed stuff when his baby is unexpectedly admitted to the hospickle? I'd only asked for a change of clothes, and he brought me a ton of other stuff. When he couldn't find the pads at the house, he went and bought some. And bought some razors because he hated the ones I had since I cut myself pretty bad while I was pregnant -- he said, "Your razors are crap," threw them all away, and bought some Venus ones that are awesome.

3. My sister. She came to visit in the hospickle, talked me down from the emotional-ness of the mess we were in, helped me figure out what the doctor had been trying to say about baby not getting enough to eat but wasn't explaining so I got it, came and visited me with Dizzy, and brought me a pump to use at home so I didn't have to run right out and rent one. AND she volunteered to take Munchkin while I was in the hospickle, but since kiddo unexpectedly got left at their house for the labor and delivery and first hospickle stay, kiddo chose to stay home with daddy, who took very good care of her after #4 and #5 happened.

4. My visiting teacher, Erin. Hubby crashed hard after leaving me and the baby at the hospickle. Kiddo was home with him but when he crashes, he can be "out" for a while. So I called Erin and she came and got kiddo until hubby was coherent again. Seriously saved my sanity right then, since I felt like I had to be at the hospickle, but I wanted to be home taking care of all my family and felt very torn in 3 ways. *sigh*

5. The doctors and nurses who took care of me and my baby this week. Especially the on-call pediatrician who admitted Mojo, even after hubby threatened to punch his lights out. Oy. Thank heaven ...

I am so glad to be home now. Oh my gosh. Just remembering everything that happened this week and knowing how much better Mojo is doing after all of it ... He'd gained 3 more ounces at his check today, so the doc and I are both thrilled to bits about his progress.

Have to finish making dinner and get the pumping done. Wahoo! We're home! I'll be a cow for as long as I have to be! Although Kiddo said when I told her I felt like a cow, "Awww, but you're not a cow! You're just feeding your baby." What a cutie. (she's on the list too ... somewhere).

Newborn and premie stuff

So, as many of you know, I'm a breast feeding mom. I am not a militant about it, but it is what I chose for my kids, even though we can get free formula for a year through hubby's work. I support nursing moms and formula feeding moms, but really encourage all women to at least try it. But I'm not one to bash anyone for NOT trying it, okay? But I am committed to try everything I can to make it work for us.

So here's the problem that led to the hospitalization: Mojo's tiny premie mouth is too small for my giant milk-producing boobs (which are still smaller than *ahem* some of my friends' boobs). He was fine when it was just the colostrum (mom-speak: the initial "milk" that moms make during pregnancy and right when the baby is born -- it is calorie rich but not much in volume), because my boobs weren't ginormous yet. When my milk came in, it hit about the same time as the jaundice (mom-speak: when the liver isn't getting flushed enough and makes a substance called bilirubin build up in the baby, causing the skin and eyes to go yellow and it spreads; if it gets bad enough can cause brain damage) started getting bad enough to make him more sleepy and tired, and he was spending more calories trying to get milk out than he was getting out of the milk, partly because he's a premie and they have to work so hard to nurse because their muscles just aren't quite developed enough. He wasn't making enough wet or messy diapers, either. I'd called our pediatrician Monday, but his bilirubin wasn't high enough to cause concern (yet), but Tuesday's level had jumped almost to 21 (brain damage = 25). SO, we went to the on-call pediatrician's office Tuesday for a weight check and found that he'd lost a pound in 4 days. NOT GOOD. The dehydration and jaundice feed off of each other. After a bit of drama (sparing details), we got him admitted to the hospital.

The way to get rid of jaundice is to put the baby under special "bili" lights, which force it out (the sun helps, but only if they're getting enough fluids) and hydrate with lots of fluids. So they gave him two bottles of formula and some expressed breast milk while he was in the crib under the most powerful lights they have. For whatever reason, even though there is milk in the boobages, it is not coming out well for a pump, not even with the power hospital pump. The next time they let me feed him from the tap, he decided to nurse on one side then opened his mouth and acted like, "okay, pour it in mom." Well. Hormones are just raging anyway, and this made me sad and depressed. However, his bilirubin level after that first 8 hours under the lights and with the fluids dropped to 17.6, which is a huge drop for just a few hours. So I decided I didn't care if we supplement with formula, but asked the (same on-call) doc and nurses to please do so with a syringe since he wouldn't take the boob afterward. The day nurses did, but the night nurses didn't (which pissed me off).

The next morning, they had a lactation consultant (mom-speak: a nurse who specializes in helping moms breast feed better) come in and help us figure out how to get his tiny mouth latched on correctly to get enough milk coming out. We're also supplementing with a tiny tube that we stick in his mouth while he's nursing that is connected to a syringe which holds either expressed milk or soy formula, and she taught me how to use that. She spent about 15 minutes with us and really helped out, although she said she hadn't told me anything I didn't already know. lol. Not true -- she really helped a ton.

The regular pediatrician recommended we continue supplementing with expressed breast milk and formula until my milk supply builds enough to be all that sustains him, but he also has to work through the premie "lazy" suck. The pediatrician doesn't like those tubes, but when I told him how he acted after the bottles, he said, "oh, let's put our foot down on his laziness. We'll use the catheter after all." Which, the catheter was totally my idea in the middle of the night (thank you Lord for inspiration) when I was crying and frustrated about how to get enough fluids in my baby boy.

One other problem we faced was the fact that, after the initial bottle, every time they gave him a cow-based formula, he started puking everywhere. So I asked to switch to soy, which he drinks and processes just fine. Hubby is lactose intolerant, but really I think he has a cow's milk allergy, and I had one too when I was a kid. So it made sense to me to try the other, and the doc agreed to give it a go.

So, the routine now is that I breast feed 10-15 minutes per side, giving him the tube feed once the milk rate slows to a point he gets lazy so he has to suck more, then I pump for 10-15 minutes (all of which takes 45-60 minutes total), and then we sleep for two hours. Then we start all over again. BUT he is nursing better, he is flooding out diapers (on his sister, hehehehe), he is pooping (which is cause for celebration even if it is gross), and he is gaining weight. He put on 3 ounces in two days at the hospickle, and I'll take him for a weight check on Monday to the lactation clinic (probably) to see how much he's gained since we left the hospickle.

So that is that, so if you don't hear from me much, now you know why. Hoping by the time I have to go back to work in a couple weeks we're off the pump and formula, but we'll see!

Gotta shower -- have to get the bilirubin checked again. Mwah.

Crapola.

We've been back to the hospickle for the past two days. Baby's jaundice got really bad and he wasn't getting enough to eat, but he's doing better now and we're home. I'll blog about it later, but am going to feed him and sleep now.

Baby pictures

I will post a couple here, but I will not be posting his name. These are just cell phone pics because I haven't installed the camera software on the replacement Dell yet.
This is Daddy and Mojo at birth. They'd cleaned the baby up a bit, and shortly after this I nursed him.

To answer Ehu's questions:
GBS? -- This stands for group B strep. It's a relatively recent connection they've made between this bacteria being present in the mother and having a very sick baby. Obviously it's not the only thing that can make a new baby ill, but the antibiotics make sure the babies aren't getting this at least.
Take the bed apart? -- The bottom half of a labor bed comes off for delivery. It's actually pretty cool.
Apgars? -- This is baby's first test. Apgar is an acronym but I can't remember what it stands for. The highest possible score is 10, and they check it at one and five minutes of life. I know part of it has to do with the baby's color and breathing and crying, though. 8 and 9 are good for any baby, but a baby 4 weeks early doesn't usually score so high.

I just took this one. He's 2-1/2 days old!

Welcome to the World, Baby!

So, on Thursday when I went back to the hospickle to get my BP checked, they also checked to see if my water had broken. I tested positive, so they checked to see if I was dilating. I was dilated to a 5 but still had bulging waters; I'd only been a 3-4 the day before. The on-call doc from my office decided to admit me because I'd apparently been in labor, but none of my contractions were very painful to that point. They were more of a pressure feeling and while some were intense, it really wasn't that big of a deal, so I didn't think I was in labor.

Because I was only 36 weeks' pregnant and GBS positive, he didn't want to intervene but wanted to make sure hubby didn't have to do an emergency catch. So they started an IV and gave me antibiotics for the GBS around 7:15 p.m. and wanted it to run for at least 4 hours before baby was born.

Around 7 cm, the contractions *started* hurting, but they still weren't bad. At 11:30 p.m., he checked me and I was dilated to an 8, still with a bulging bag, so he decided to go ahead and break it since baby was coming any time and we wanted it to be in a more controlled environment, again not wanting an emergency catch.

To this point, I was still a pretty happy person. Not much pain, just cracking jokes with hubby and smiling whenever I wasn't having a contraction.

By about an hour later, I was hurting really bad and felt a lot of pressure. A different nurse checked me and said I was complete, but she had short fingers and couldn't really tell because my cervix is always very high, which MY nurse knew (but she was assisting a different patient right that minute). So they called the doc for delivery and, after about 8 different people came in the room because we were having a premie, he had me push once and said, "um, you're not complete yet." He told the nurse to put the bed back together and let me labor a little longer.

At this point, things started hurting more. I stood up, walked around, leaned on my husband, and ew, did I just drip on the floor??? She checked me again about 30 minutes later and said I still was at an 8. I started crying and asked for drugs because there was no way I was going to be able to be in that much pain very much longer. My husband was very loving and supportive through all of this and kept telling me just to breathe, massaged my back (had a lot of back labor), and that I could do it, but I was too distraught to listen at that point. Apparently, he asked Junior to please come now because mommy needed a break, and I told my sweet husband to shut up, the baby to stay inside, and the nurse to call the damn anesthesiologist. She already had, but he hadn't come yet. I went to use the restroom, and after I voided, the contractions picked up a LOT. I started screaming, the nurse asked during a contraction if she could please just check me one more time before the anesthesiologist (who just barely showed up) placed the epidural because I was acting like the baby was coming NOW. I screamed "NOOOOO!" and she said, "how about after this contraction?" About this point I wanted to slap her silly. DUH, after the contraction. I let her, she told the anesthesiologist he'd come to late, and called the doctor.

The same bunch of people filed in the room, the bed was torn apart again, and the doc asked me to start pushing. Apparently, about this time, I nearly broke my husband's fingers by trying to pull them apart. He shouldn't have given me his index finger for one hand and pinkie for the other, but he fixed that on the next contraction by giving me one hand for each of mine, then moved to my legs to help me push. Given that I haven't had a baby in 9 years and that birth was Pitocin-induced and epidural numbed, I think I did fairly well. I only pushed about 10 minutes, but screamed the entire time, said some bad words, and told them I couldn't do it. They just kept telling me to quit wasting my breath by talking, take a little break if I needed to, but Junior was almost here. I took a small break, panted a bit, then pushed really, really hard ... and baby was born at 1:56 a.m.

We were all expecting a fairly small baby because he was 4 weeks early, but he weighed 7 lbs 11 ounces, was 17-1/2 inches long. His Apgars were 8 and 9, and he has the cutest chubby cheeks and double chin ... They watched him for an hour and he was breathing fine and not having any problems, so they brought him to me after his bath, and everything went fine for the next 30 hours, until they checked him in his car seat. It's a standard protocol for premies and babies under a certain weight -- they put the baby in the car seat and checked his oxygen sats, respirations, heart, and lungs while on monitors for 1-1/2 hours. He did fine for about 45-50 minutes, then dropped his sats. Happened 3 times. So, he came home with an oxygen tank for any time spent in his car seat and is home with us now, doing just fine, and we won't be putting him in his car seat except when we have to go somewhere. Oh, and his bilirubin is a tad elevated, so we do have to get that checked again in the a.m. and I've been nursing on demand, which has been a LOT since we got home, but he's only getting colostrum. Hopefully my milk comes in soon, poor bug.

Hubby and I are thrilled to pieces, and kiddo is very much infatuated with her brother. She came to see us yesterday at the hospital and nearly cried when she had to leave. She's happy to be home, as are hubby and I. We both feel like we've spent the entire week at the hospital and were really ready to be home with the baby.

He's crying now -- keeps kicking his swaddled blankies off him and then he gets cold, silly boy. I'd better go snuggle and warm him up. 'night.

I don't update this nearly as often as I should ... but ...

At my OB appt this afternoon, my BP sky rocketed. And I was dilated almost to a 4. I've been having contractions, but nothing super painful, so I wasn't too worried. But they sent me to L&D to have my BP observed for an hour or so, and it did drop down to a more comfortable level. I have to do a 24-hour urine collection and go back tomorrow for more checks, and if everything is okay, they'll send me home with a followup for Monday. If everything is okay Monday, they'll be inducing me Thursday, which is the 37-week mark.

In the meantime, I'm on stricter bedrest -- no cooking, no cleaning, no nothing, but they did say I could work as long as it wasn't stressful. I said not having the bills paid would be more stressful than working. lol.

Hubby made sure I heard the instructions and told me I had to behave, and that he would deal with moving the rooms around for the baby. I'm not allowed.

Since the family baby shower is Monday night, I told him I'd go but sit on my butt and not move (unless I have to pee) and we'll be buying Munchkin's birthday cake and things for her party Wednesday.

This is all assuming these contractions don't do more and I end up having him this weekend anyway. Wahoo.

Better go to bed for a nap before hubby freaks out. ;)

No fun stuff just yet Steph ... see below ...

At my OB appt this afternoon, my BP sky rocketed. And I was dilated almost to a 4. I've been having contractions, but nothing super painful, so I wasn't too worried. But they sent me to L&D to have my BP observed for an hour or so, and it did drop down to a more comfortable level. I have to do a 24-hour urine collection and go back tomorrow for more checks, and if everything is okay, they'll send me home with a followup for Monday. If everything is okay Monday, they'll be inducing me Thursday, which is the 37-week mark.

In the meantime, I'm on stricter bedrest -- no cooking, no cleaning, no nothing, but they did say I could work as long as it wasn't stressful. I said not having the bills paid would be more stressful than working. lol.

Hubby made sure I heard the instructions and told me I had to behave, and that he would deal with moving the rooms around for the baby. I'm not allowed.

Since the family baby shower is Monday night, I told him I'd go but sit on my butt and not move (unless I have to pee) and we'll be buying Munchkin's birthday cake and things for her party Wednesday.

This is all assuming these contractions don't do more and I end up having him this weekend anyway. Wahoo.

Better go to bed for a nap before hubby freaks out. ;)

For Sale No More

Well, we decided today to take the house off the market. Conditions are horrid, we have only had about 10 showings in 4 months, and we're about a month away from having a new baby. So we decided to stay put for the time being and try again in the spring.

I'm quite relieved. Hubby is too -- life has been hard enough lately with trying to stabilize his meds, let alone trying to sell a house and have a new baby. lol

So is Munchkin -- she wanted to keep going to this school for another year so as not to miss out on a harry pooter party at the end of the year.

So that's that.

Menu Plan Monday

Didn't do so great last week. Life gets in the way sometimes. We *did* have the spanish rice and guac burgers and bbq chicken that were on my list ... but i changed the days and some of the sides because i'm pregnant. lol. i can't remember what else we did. I know Sunday we had glop/goulash/chili mac ... and Friday we did eat out because hubby's doctor appointment took forever (not the actual appointment, but just to check us in, the gal took over half an hour. Gah).

We did our costco run today. We picked up a whole pizza on sale for $7 and they are HUGE pizzas. Kiddo and I also got chicken bakes. Those are gone but there is pizza left. So ...

Monday: Leftover pizza.

Tuesday: Chicken burritos
(going to make more chicken in the crockpot than needed so Friday and Sunday are a breeze; hopefully hubby cooperates!)

Wednesday: Sandwiches (OB visit in the afternoon)

Thursday: Tater tot casserole, frozen veggies

Friday: Chicken pot pie

Saturday: Spaghetti, frozen veggies

Sunday: Chicken stroganoff, frozen veggies (we apparently have a lot of frozen veggies)

That's the plan STan... hopefully I can stick to it better this week.

Friday Fave Five!!!

Apparently, today is about FOOD. I'm pregnant. Hush.

1. Guacamole burgers. I cooked last night and made these, since hubby went to the store yesterday instead of today. LOVE them.

2. Lean cuisine chicken alfredo. Okay, the family sized dinners are the best, but the little individual ones are okay, too. BUT, I doctor them up a little with about 1/2 Tbs of grated cheese and about 1/4 c of frozen peas, which I throw in when the box says "open and stir" and then let them finish cooking. I realize this makes them have slightly more calories, but it also gives me some veggies/fiber. RIGHT?

3. Starbursts. They were on sale and I've been craving them. I've gone through nearly an entire bag.

4. Lunch at chili's with DisGrace the other day -- yummy salad (I had the cobb, she had the quesadilla explosion), time with my sister, got to see Dizzy and Bru, and kiddo had fun seeing her cousins.

5. Lemon creme filled cookies. Same story as the starbursts. lol.


*****

so after all that crap with dell, hubby finally calmed down enough to say let's just keep the replacement computer. i just sent the computer back through DHL and the driver was supposed to sign the receipt, and I thought she did, but when I looked at the tag after she left, she didn't. she was marking the weight. BAH.

And I've emailed and called the customer resolution guy over the last couple of days, trying to let him know what we decided to do, but he hasn't responded. Now I really need to talk to him because we did just send it back and I refuse to pay for it if DHL loses it. Boogers.

Of course, on the "reminder" letter they sent, it doesn't say to make sure DHL signs the receipt, so I might be okay anyway ... hmph.

AND, yay, we're going to the doctor to get new drugs for hubby today. Squeeeeeeeeeee!

Pregnancy Update

At my OB appt last week, my blood pressure was a tad elevated (I may have mentioned this but can't remember right now), around 130/80. The doc asked me to get it checked this week, so I went this morning and did so. It's still elevated, but the bottom number is creeping up. So I'm now on twice weekly visits, one just to check BP and the other for the full visit. Until and unless it hits around 140/90, they are probably not going to do anything.

MoJo is doing fine although he has definitely run out of room, and aside from the foot swelling that will not go away (bah) and the stretch marks upon stretch marks which are now both horizontal and vertical (sob), I'm okay too.

Walgreen's Deals

Okay. I whine on Katie's blog about no CVS in Utah quite frequently. She gets the most amazing deals and spends very little money. I'm jealous!! lol. I'm apparently really in to getting deals these days and trying to get more organized. Well, I heard about a deal on Walgreen's diapers last week. They were on sale for 5.99/package (jumbo sized), and they had a manufacturer's coupon for $2.50 off each package as well as a store coupon for $2 off each package, PLUS, when you bought 3, they gave you $5 in register rewards toward your next purchase. So some gals I know spent around $5 for 3 packages of dipes and then got the $5 back on their purchase. FREE DIAPERS??? Awesome. Well, by the time I'd heard about it, there were no jumbo sized packages to be found at any Walgreen's in this county (baby capital, USA). I went to two and got rain checks for the sale price (maximum of 4 packages each) and found out they were to get deliveries yesterday, so I went back this morning.

So, I ended up with 8 bags of dipes: 1 newborn, 3 size 1's, and 4 size 2's. Now I realize I have told y'all I'm doing cloth, and I am, but there are times when sposies come in handy, so I wanted to get some for those emergencies, church, or y'know when you're 35 weeks' pregnant and your dryer starts acting weird, you still will have dipes when the baby gets here whether or not you buy a new dryer.

Anyway. At the first Walgreen's, They wouldn't let me use the $2 coupon on top of the other one (but the guy was being a dork, so I blame him). BUT I got 4 packages of dipes, spent 15.51, and got back a $5 register reward. Not bad, considering at their regular price, that would've been over $32. At the second Walgreen's, they didn't even bat an eye, just rang them up with both coupons. I spent 9.14 and got back a $5 register reward.

So, I spent a total of $24.65 and got back $10 for a purchase that normally would cost over $64. So I saved over $50 for these emergency dipes. Rock on. And we'll use the register rewards for stuff like milk or something, other stuff on sale this coming week. We'll see. I'm just happy. lol

Sleep *whine*

I'm so tired all the time, but I can't sleep or don't get good rest or kiddo wakes me up or the baby whacks my bladder ... so I slept about 4 hours interrupted last night ... when hubby got home from work late, I was working and then just had to sleep. He was so nice and took care of kiddo so I could sleep for a couple hours. Well. When I got up, I had the worst pain in my neck and shoulder. I guess I slept funny, but uh, Tylenol didn't touch it and now my hand aches. He finally got to bed around noon, but didn't sleep very well either. He has a lot of sympathy pregnancy symptoms, which are sort of funny, but sort of not.

Anyway. I ended up falling asleep on the couch again later after I got done with my afternoon shift of work (which sucked rocks -- the servers keep crashing and dying), and if possible I hurt worse now. I may take some more Tylenol and go to bed early, but I need to get a couple more hours of work done. Which, given who I'm getting tonight, may take longer than a couple hours. *sniff* But I need some SLEEP. Good sleep. I know I won't get any after MoJo makes his appearance, but ... come on! You'd think being as exhausted as I am all the time, the sleep would be at least good! *sigh*

I guess I'm done rambling and whining today since I'm not making sense.

Menu Plan Monday

All right, Katie and orgjunkie.com, I'm going to try and do this, even if I end up making things on different days. I usually just pull stuff out of the freezer/pantry/food storage and make whatever. Like last night: Hubby had asked for parmesan-crusted fish and spinach and he pulled them both out of the freezer the night before, but I had to have a side dish kiddo would eat too. She ate the other stuff, just not much. Parmesan garlic butter spaghetti (like at Old Spaghetti Factory) rounded out the cheesy garlicky meal quite nicely, and we had everything already. Kiddo even helped cook it all -- she helped cut the fish and dip it in everything, she cooked the spinach (in the microwave, lol), and this morning she is shredding up a green apple for apple cinnamon pancakes.

Anyway. If I don't have a plan for dinner by about noon, it's always tempting to just eat out and spend money we don't have on crap we don't need to be eating. Or we have spaghetti with red sauce, which can get old more than a couple times a month, let alone twice a week. lol The flip side of the just winging it philosophy is that we are running out of things in the freezer/pantry/food storage, because even though my wonderful husband does go grocery shopping, he sticks strictly to my list and doesn't look for the same things I do and we are running out of those things (economy meats, noodles and stuff on sale).

Monday: BBQ chicken, scalloped potatoes, veggie mix

Tuesday: Spanish rice

Wednesday: Chicken noodle soup (crock pot, homemade noodles)

Thursday: Chicken wraps/burritos

Friday: Guacamole garlic burgers

Saturday: Breakfast for dinner

Sunday: I have no idea -- I'll have to have hubby look at the meats and stuff when he goes to the store friday. bwahahaha.



In other news, I had my best week at work last week for a long time. Being paid on production makes life really interesting at times. I need to have an even better week this week, but yeah. My contractions are mostly Braxton-Hicks contractions again, which is good. But with the slightly elevated BP and the swollen feet (if you've seen Wall-E, you know what my feet look like: All the folks on the ship), they're sort of watching me for preeclampsia. Wahoo. MoJo is moving a lot though, so I know he's okay. :) We apparently have a tentative showing this weekend, after hubby and I had just decided the house wasn't going to sell, so we had decided to rearrange it all during his upcoming "vacation" (mandatory, as the plant shuts down for about 12 days every July) so it will still work for us after the baby gets here. *if* it sells, obviously we'll just pack instead. If not, we'll be doing the rearranging anyway, but hubby wants to leave it on the market. *scary* lol. (HEHE, baby has the hiccups! lol). I also got to chill with hubby last night and play WoW for a while. I haven't really played in 6+ months, since right before we found out we were pregnant. That night the phone rang and I answered it and killed everyone. Last night, we actually ended up doing the same thing with some of the same people, but I didn't kill everyone, and one of the guys gave me a very nice compliment ... which will make no sense to non-WoW or non-videogame-playing people, but he said I'm a better healer than someone else, which someone doesn't think I'm a very good healer. hahahaha.

Yes. I am a geek.

On the Dell front, after hubby mellowed out and I pointed out it wasn't worth as much mood swings and instability as he was going through, we decided to just keep the replacement computer. Now I need to call them and get the warranty straightened out and call DHL and get the old one picked up, but at least he's made up his mind and is at peace about it. Wow.

Kiddo had two fillings done last week and while she was flossing last night, something popped out of her mouth, so I have to take her to the dentist in a bit. Which means I need to get breakfast made, then me showered and dressed and get the heck out of here. Wahoo.

Books and Reading

So, my niece loaned me a bunch of books last Thursday: The 5 Artemis Fowl books, books 2 and 3 of the Fabelhaven series, and some other random books. After reading all of the Artemis Fowl books in 3 days and book 2 of Fabelhaven yesterday, I realized something: I hate series books.

Well, lemme rephrase that. I hate *waiting* for series books. I didn't even start reading Harry Potter until book 3 or 4 had already come out, and by the time book 7 came out, I was just relieved the waiting was OVER. I've since read the series 2 or 3 more times. I didn't read Eragon until Eldest was about to be published, so I didn't have to wait that long for that one, and yet the third (and final) book in that series isn't due until this fall. It's making me crazy.

Seems to be my pattern to wait until there are a bunch of them out, then read them all really quickly. Then I wait (not so patiently) for the next one in the series, sometimes reading all the other ones again once or twice before the next one comes out. The 6th Artemis Fowl is coming out in 10 or 11 days, and I don't wanna wait for it. I heart those stories. lol. Having read The Host, I want to read the next story. Yesterday. I'm not so enamored of the Twilight series, but I wanna read the series anyway to find out if/how vampirism is reconciled in her world.

Yeah ... I know. I'm weird.