Waddle Time? Already?

I didn't think that it would happen, but it has. I have started waddling. At least I was waddling this morning. I was half awake, waddling to the bathroom, when I thought to myself, "I'm waddling."
Woah.
I can't say I did much waddling for the rest of the day, but I can definitely tell that I'm wider and probably slowing down a bit. I know I'm always tired. Still. And I realize I'm being lazy with such a short post, but I really would like to go to bed!

Deep breath? Not so much.

I'm discovering that it's hard to catch my breath lately. I find myself yawning and not quite getting enough air. It is usually while I'm lying down or sitting, but it also happens when Pattie and I go up stairs or a hill (the driveway) or if I try to walk briskly. It's sorta cute that she knows to wait for me now. She'll pause halfway up the driveway and turn and wait. Tonight Clint sprinted up the stairs with her from the Strand to the street (we're on a little vacation for the week-- right by the waves at the beach south of LA but north of SD) and they waited at the top for me. She sat patiently and once I got there, she just turned around and kept walking. Funny girl.
I am hoping that this breathing problem is just part of being squished. There's a lot of squishing going on. The bladder is squished, I learned last week that my appendix has moved north, and there's pressure on so many other body parts I'm not sure where to start... I think you get the idea. The breathing can be a problem when I try to wind down and completely relax (part of preparation for baby time) or just nap. General bed time winding down has proven to be difficult too. I have a feeling it's just gonna get harder, but it'll just be harder for another 7 weeks. Every day is a little closer... yay!

Not just the feet

I have something new add to the list of pregnancy delights... puffy hands! I go for long walks with the puppy and have noticed a change in my paws lately: they're fat little piggies! My toes were already taught and square from sitting/standing/walking/moving, but now my hands are joining in the fun. I've taken to standing with my hands in the air like a doctor scrubbing in for surgery. Drain, baby, drain!

Itchy

The puppies (Pattie and Sam) had a few hours of tennis ball playtime yesterday. As you can see (check Pattie's paws), they had a good time. Now, as the sun is rising here in CA and she snores in a corner, I'm trying not to scratch myself to the point of bleeding.

For the past few weeks I've been struggling to figure out exactly what parasite I'm fighting. I've surrendered to the good kind -- the one that some day will take me in when I spend my life savings on Pez and send me photos of my grandchildren... It's another parasite that has literally been eating away at me.

I have itchy little pink welts that I just can't seem to shake. If it were a visible foe, perhaps I would have better luck in my battle, but the microscopic pests are elusive little buggers! My Google self diagnosis first led me to what seemed logical: fleas. But other than being itchy, I have no proof that fleas are to blame for my 2, 3, and 4 o'clock in the morning itching. After I had the organic pest control people out to my house I went back to the computer to check out MITES. Oh man, if they are indeed mites, I have a mighty tiny but very big problem.

Mites are in the tick/spider family and aren't insects. They have three sets of legs until they're big enough to cause trouble and then they grow another set, so once they reach adulthood, they have four pairs of legs (see, you've learned something today!)...

Apparently, there are different kinds of mites. I could very well have all of them:
Rat mites. We know that I've dealt with a few rodents.
Straw Itch Mites or Itch Mites. I'm thinking these guys might be to blame -- they live in dried grass. I have a lot of dried grass around. Everywhere, in fact. The NC State University website dedicated to mites says, "they are frequently a problem for people doing landscaping or feeding horses and other livestock..." No horses here, but I do fit the "doing landscaping" part of this sentence.
Chiggers or red bugs. I didn't think these lived in California, but only because people here don't say the word "chigger" with the same drawl or enthusiasm of those from The South. No swamps here, but it's possible there are chiggers.
Bird Mites. There are swallows in virtually every eve of my house. Here I thought they were helping to control the bugs, but I could be harboring avian terrorists!
Scabies! Oh no! These just SOUND bad. Nevermind that these guys burrow under the skin and lay eggs. I'm already incubating enough at the moment, thanks.
The only mites I don't think are guilty are chicken mites, simply because I don't have any chickens.

I haven't seen anything that makes me believe that the nugget is at risk. Sure, mites carry diseases, but so do a lot of other animals. I'm sure that my keyboard is harboring some kind of deadly bacteria. I could get a deadly virus from one of the nasty public restrooms I have to use all the time now, too. I could do more harm with a repellant than just dealing with the itchies. You get the point.

Rather than try to pinpoint exactly what is to blame, I'd like to have all colonies of the buggers killed so I can go outside and not fear the consequences of walking in the grass. Nevermind that I can't sleep through the night-- I don't mind getting up to pee. That doesn't keep me awake. It's the constant itching!

Hot hot heat

I think I am going to melt.
I am really glad I grew up in a humid climate where one grows accustomed to being hot and sticky... And I am grateful that my air conditioner is working properly. I haven't needed it at all until this week, but I sure am glad it is on and cooling my hot little sausage feet!
As an August babe, I would like to think that heat and sun tolerance is part of my personality. I believe this to a certain extent, but only to the point where I find a pool to jump into.
Tomorrow I must find time for a dip!

The Hospital Tour

This week we took a tour of the maternity wing of the hospital where I expect to have the nugget. I can't say I was too terribly impressed with the spokesperson the hospital had leading the tour but the facilities were nice and since I can't say I plan to take a vacation there, everything should be fine.
What irked me was that the woman who hosted the thing made continuous references fitting traditional gender roles. When your doctor comes, HE'S gonna want to do ____, and if you ask a nurse, SHE'LL get everything you need.... each time she made a doctor reference, it was always a "he" and the nurses were "she" and babies were all boys. This wasn't even the biggest issue I had with the lecture part of the tour experience. What was it?
Medication. Intervention. Whatever you want to call it... She was a drug pusher! It was as if natural childbirth was a bad thing. I've taken an 8 week course (12 weeks compressed into 8) and mentally, I haven't even considered discussion of an epidural or other intervention with my doctor. I guess I've just decided that if I can survive 8 months of general illness, nausea and vomiting, I should be able to handle the last 24-48 hours of it. I know I'm probably underestimating everything, since I do tend to do that, but I'm also an optimist and I know nothing can be as bad as some of the shit I've had to deal with! I won't know until September if I'm truly prepared, but I felt like I knew so much more than the other people on our tour. I have 9 weeks to prepare and I know I can do it!

A Miraculous Event

This is both relevant and completely irrelevant so I thought I just had to post it. I have a 'real' topic to write about today but I feel this is equally worthy of mentioning so I'll save what I was going to write for tomorrow.

This morning I did some chores including driving the yard waste trash cans up the driveway. I'm not that much of a sissy that I always drive my trash cans around. See, I have a steep driveway. Very steep. So steep that big trucks can't make it up because of the incline. The recycling and trash had not been picked up yet so it was just the yard bins. I usually wheel them up by foot but it was already 100 degrees - that's over 30C for you metric fans.

Since my neighbors hadn't filled their trash cans, I saw this as an opportunity to put my trash and recycling in their bins. I loaded a bunch of stuff in the back of the truck and went back down the driveway. Then Pattie the Wonderdoodle and I took a little break before Clint's third refrigerator (don't get me started-- apparently this one is specifically designed for wine-- wine I can't drink right now) arrived. I drove down to the bottom of the hill and drove the refrigerator up to the garage. Then there was a lull of activity and no use for the truck so I put the keys somewhere.

I realized around 3 that I couldn't remember where my keys were. I forget a lot of stuff lately, so this was normal. I knew they were around... but not certain where. I needed to go out to get a very cool wooden $30 high chair I found on craigslist but couldn't locate my keys. So I took Clint's. I drove 5 miles down the canyon to the 101 freeway (north, away from the beach) and to the freeway where I went another 7 miles and picked up the high chair. Then Pattie and I went to PetSmart because I had to pee and I wasn't about to leave her alone in the car. I thought this was genius, no? Not the reason for posting this story but certainly could be the smartest thing I've done all day.

So we stopped at PetSmart, I got P-ditty a new toy for just being herself and we went home. Mind you, we've been out for more than an hour and probably driven a good 30 miles by the end of this trip. We went up to the top of the canyon, down the other side, onto the freeway, off the freeway, back on the freeway and back up the hill. I pulled up the driveway and parked in front of the garage and looked out to see that I wasn't going to run into anything.

That's when I saw them.... on the OUTSIDE dashboard where the windshield wiper meets the body of the truck. MY KEYS were sitting right there. They had held on the entire time, nestled right in that little sweet spot. I couldn't believe what I saw! And I couldn't believe I would be so dense that I didn't see them before leaving or while driving or when I parked or parked again or.... I still have a hard time accepting that I did something like that.... but I'm also very glad that in the future, I can use my one remaining brain cell to put my keys IN the car instead of outside of it.

Looking for a Shoulder...

But not for crying.

Did you know you can make yourself car sick? Ok, well YOU might not be able to do that, but I managed to make myself car sick today. I avoided vomiting and heaving when I first woke up this morning (yay), but I had to go to meet a friend for a swim lesson around 10 and didn't fare very well. I had made myself a Vitamix smoothie (sadly, I think you know where it ended up) and I took that with me when I got in the car. I also got myself a little egg sandwich at Pat's Grill up the road to hold me over through the lesson. At $7, it was the most expensive single egg I think I've ever purchased, but I digress.

The road down to the beach is steep and winds around the canyon in switchbacks a few times. Ok, a lot. The speed limit is usually 40, but some parts are 25 and a lot of it doesn't have a shoulder. I figured the no shoulder thing is a problem on two wheels (bicycles, not motorbikes) but I didn't think I would be desperately looking for a spot to pull off the road until today.

Historically, it has been easy for me to get sick in Clint's car, which is a low, sporty vehicle that has what I call superchargers on the back. Nobody needs that kind of power in 20mph LA traffic. I've been sick in my car before, but not while I was driving and certainly not when the car was actually moving. Today was a first. I really thought I could make it to the bottom of the hill-- or at least to the wildflower area where there's ample parking... but I was mistaken.

I will spare you the details, but I would like to recommend the following to all pregnant ladies, no matter how good they feel or what stage of pregnancy they're in:
- Have towels in your car. Both terrycloth and paper towels come in handy. I am lucky, I have a dog and keep one in the car for her too, so I had three towels to choose from today.
- Always have a spare set of clothing - tops and bottoms tucked away somewhere in case you need them.
- Water is good too, so if you have room, leave some bottles of water in the car.
ALL of these things will be useful if you find yourself in the same situation I faced today. Because of my Boy Scout approach to planning, I still made it to the swim lesson. I was late, but I managed to get there after I eventually got myself together after finding the elusive road shoulder I was looking for.

Saved By Vitamix

I got some bad news last week after a visit with my doctor. I now have to go every other week rather than once a month. That's not the bad news. I really don't mind going. The bad news came when, during my visit, I said I was feeling more lousy than usual. My doc decided we should double check that everything is ok. After a blood test, we found that my protein levels were low. This is understandable because of the nausea, but still not something that's ok.

StorkNet.com says, "Data show that most women living in developed countries usually consume greater than 60 grams of protein daily, so meeting this minimum is usually not a struggle. However, women with severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (hyperemesis), urinary protein losses (preeclampsia), or those who follow strict vegetarian diets are at higher risk."

I had been trying, but meat makes me queasy and I could only eat so much cheese before feeling like a cow. It's also not easy with a house under construction and no kitchen sink or cooktop (til Sunday).... Inadequate protein during pregnancy is a big no-no. It can lead to poor brain development and low birth weight, so I really had to try harder to get my levels into the normal range.

That's where the Vitamix came in. This is a high performance blender. An awesome, blends everything with the greatest of ease piece of machinery. I know that whey and soy aren't going to fix all of my problems, but they're helping stave off some of the nausea and I hope helping in the protein department. Plus, you can blend an entire pineapple in the VitaMix. I won't be making steak shakes any time soon, but this is a start.

You know you're old when...

I have been getting some disturbing mail lately. Ok, it's not too disturbing, but it certainly makes me feel old. I got offers for two magazines that made me wonder what other lists I'm on-- Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies' Home Journal both offered me a full year subscription for $5.99.

I'm not sure I'm ready to subscribe to these just yet. If I reply, I might open the floodgates for other publications like Readers' Digest. I checked out the LHJ website and Cindy Crawford is on it. So, ok. They're trying to remain relevant. For a mag that's been around since 1883, that's pretty good. Staying power. But I'm not sure I need a magazine that outlines Katherine McPhee's "do-good" summer plans.

Do they have a Ladies' Hiking and Camping Journal? With practical outdoor family advice and activities? That might be more my speed.

Tipping the Scale

Funny, I don't look like I weigh 172 pounds.... At least, I hope not. I was shocked to see that I have gained 6 pounds in the past two weeks, mostly because I didn't think flan and Triscuits weighed that much. I haven't even been hitting the ice cream! I found that looking at kilos made me feel better about the weight gain than lbs, so I think I might stick to kg from now on. I know the weight doesn't change, but the number is slightly smaller!