Wednesday, June 29, 2016

24 weeks

Yay! We've reached the point that if he were born today they would try to save him. That makes me happy. Although even happier if he stays in there and keeps growing :)
Speaking of growing....
It may not look like much, but it feels big and I feel pressure in my stomach and starting to feel uncomfortable at times.
Weight gained: 6 lbs, maybe 6.5
Symptoms: Still feeling those kicks and sometimes feels like he's twisting around. And the above mentioned pressure. Last week at work a couple shifts I peed 8 times during the 12 hours. Ain't nobody got time for that! But now seems back to normal. Still waking up once at night to pee, and occasionally having insomnia due to busy brain. Another praise report, my thyroid seems to be cooperating. Levels were normal and the thing my doctor was worried about (my thyroid making his go crazy) hasn't happened. So that's great news and will keep monitoring. Also, I still have an innie bellybutton.
I know this isn't baby related, but I have this itchy new rash on my face, neck, chest and stomach. I can't figure out what it's from!? It appeared after strawberry picking this weekend with Rachel and Matt but they didn't get anything and I wasn't rubbing plants all over my chest so I don't understand. Found some cortisone cream from 2006 in my cabinet and does help with the itchiness, but not really going away yet. Owie. Even woke me up in the middle of the night from itching. Annoying.
Maternity clothes: Yup, as of last week. Still in my normal shirts, but definitely the pants. I could still zip up my pants, but they dug in when I would sit down. These are sweet relief.
Purchases: Oh. My. Gosh. This outfit:
I don't know what it is, but I am like raccoon obsessed lately. So cute.
I also got this new dresser today from CraigsList. I had painstakingly sanded/primed/painted/hardwared that white one last summer, but 2 of the drawers were not on any tracks, Dad couldn't fix them, and I knew it would drive me crazy. Plus it was too wide for the room arrangement we are thinking of. I was looking for months for another white one but couldn't find anything. I saw this one and I just liked something about it. I kinda wish the color was either lighter or darker, but not sure if I want that enough to strip and stain it again. But it's a good size and hopefully will be enough storage.
We were also given a Jeep stroller my cousin used for her baby. And my friend Kim gave me not one, but 2 baby K'tans, and a bunch of swaddles. Wow!
My dad came over today with a load of wood too so hopefully soon we can start working on our nursery. Fun!
Nesting: Definitely in overdrive. I know I'm bugging Doug with all the house projects, I just want to make this home a nice little nest. For us too as we plan to live here another several years, and for our little family. I keep promising him there is an end in sight!

Friday, June 24, 2016

life lately

Last weekend Doug took me back to the island where he proposed. For our one year anniversary he wrote me a sweet letter and put it in a frame, waterproofed it, and nailed it to a tree on the island. So he was excited to take me there again to see it. We kayaked over to the island and saw that someone had broken the frame with a rock. Sad! We had a little picnic and laid in the shade for awhile and Doug dreamed of how to make his frame more secure if he does it again. Never gives up!
The next day Doug and I put up the shutters we had gotten a month or so ago. We still need to get and put up new siding first on the North side of the house with 2 more windows, but otherwise the front is done
before
looks so nice!
I wish my boxwoods would grow a little faster in front of the front deck, they look so minuscule!
I had a day off and had lunch with these lovely ladies.
Worked a terrible day at work, followed by a not so terrible one.
September had her last tail re-check at the vet. She's good to go! Thank you God for answering little prayers like for my baby's tail! God is good and so caring.
Little hairless tail scar. We're still keeping her indoors for awhile, which she hates. But even yesterday we saw the bully cat in our backyard. So Doug ran out there after him to scare him off. There's really nothing more we can do that I can think of :( Hopefully our girl will be ok when she goes back out.
And speaking of wounds, in a couple hours Doug is having his nose surgery so prayers appreciated!

Saturday, June 18, 2016

23 weeks

23 weeks today!
I feel like that side shot is misleading because it is a noticeable bump. Altho that was early am and by the end of the day it seems to be even more protruded!
I was telling my brother I was sad thinking if he was born today they wouldn't even try to save him until 24 weeks and he yelled at me to stay positive. So I'm trying to do that. Stay in there little guy and keep growing!
Weight gained: 6 lbs
Cravings: Nothing specific. Forced myself to make dinners this week, so that was good. A tad less eating out.
Symptoms: Feeling baby kicks. And Doug could feel one too by pressing pretty tightly to my belly. Cool! The kicks still feel kinda weird tho.
Workouts: I'm alternating cardio and strength training, altho my cardio is mostly incline/decline walks on our treadmill versus anything jumping. But walking is really good for you. I'm still doing my weights videos and they seem harder. I'm also doing PregoFit dvds which is a company my friend in Tulsa, OK had and made a series one workout a month from months 2-9, so it's tailored to the specific month and I feel like I'm working out with her! Love that.
Purchases: We signed up for our Hypnobirthing classes that will be 5 weeks starting next month, and I already started reading the book. Exciting! And I got these things for little boy:
oh my gosh those little shoes!! Although that will be like next summer, thought they were so adorable. And love the little Michigan art for his bookcase.
Planning: Hoping to start working on the nursery soon and invitations for the shower were addressed today, so very exciting.
That's about it lately. Doug is coming home earlier than I thought tomorrow so it will be nice to spend his first "Father's day" together :)

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

backyard and life lately

Worked the weekend, these 2 special loves came to pick me up from work
I'm noticing possibly why my plant is always leaning to the side. This cutie has got her paws in it and she's looking at the squirrel outside.
Recently we (aka Doug) finished the lattice around the back deck.
The before:
And after:
It looks so good!
I was so happy to see a couple peonies from transplanting 2 years ago finally bloomed! The pinks are so gorgeous.
The whites seem to be duds this year, bummer, I guess it takes 3 years for some transplants to thrive!
I think I've got everything in the garden. 8 tomato plants, 4 zucchini, 4 cucumber, 4 green pepper, basil, parsley, looked for dill but couldn't find any, and 7 bean plants. We need to put the fence back up before Mr. Groundhog returns, but otherwise off to a good start.
I've got another week of class to go, and as always my 'wifely duties' of cleaning, cooking and bills, that stuff always seems to take a bigger chunk of the day than I'd hope. I'm bummed about this upcoming wknd because I'm off work, but my dad is out of the state and my baby daddy is on a camping trip so I'll be home alone. Was looking at tix to go see my sister last minute but where are all those last-minute-deals I always hear people getting?! It was like $360... um... sorry. I have a huge to-do list of home stuff, but it's stuff I can't really seem to do myself without Doug. So oh well. Anne's quiet weekend of relaxing?

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Stitch Fix got me again

So Stitch Fix sent me another free styling fix and I took them up on it. I had mentioned I was pregnant to my stylist, and was almost stupidly surprised to see all my choices were maternity. I guess that makes sense tho, haha, enjoy those clothes that are too small!
at this point my baby belly hasn't really made these shirts necessary, or able to see what they should look like, so enter my friend the balled up towel for viewing purposes
Doug and I both really liked this coral color
this pattern is so ugly, I don't know who would like this.
and I liked this light blue shirt with the lacy detail
and this light grey 3/4 sleeved top with tiny pink stripes.
All with the denim rolled cuff shorts.
I had decided to keep the shorts because I had looked a lot for shorts and couldn't find anything that fit well. But the next day I made one more Salvation Army attempt to find some and found some. And for $5 how could I keep the $54 ones?? Not this thrify girl. In the end I only kept the last grey/pink shirt. I am a sucker for grey and stripes. Doug encouraged me to keep the coral or blue top as well, but I had just ordered stuff from Old Navy in similar colors but 1/3 the price, so I didn't keep anything else.
Anyway, got me again Stitch Fix, but I feel ok about it since they also keep occasionally sending me the free styling fee, so no loss!

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

21 weeks and September's tail update

21 weeks and the belly is growing. Friends and co-workers have noticed, no comments from strangers... yet.
Weight gained: 5lbs from pre-pregnancy
Cravings: Still fruit. Really wanting a chocolate milkshake lately. But have been drinking a lot of my "brownie batter smoothies" on post-weights exercise mornings. So good: almond milk/water, 1 frozen banana, tbs molasses, good shake of dark cocoa, and cup or so of frozen black beans (I don't use canned anymore, so make a batch in my pressure cooker and then freeze in a single layer and keep in a gallon bag in the freezer). Sounds weird, but lots of fiber and protein from the beans and super tasty. Disturbingly I have lost almost any and all desire to cook (except bake the occasional cookie batch of course). So most dinners are a sad sandwich or something super easy. Hope to be back to that soon, just nothing sounds good ever.
Symptoms: Starting to feel a bit "uncomfortable" but nothing really. Weeks ago I was having this crazy dry scaly snake skin on my stomach despite multiple daily lotion latherings, luckily that seems to have subsided. Otherwise still feeling pretty normal.
Purchases: Nothing for the baby this week, but getting our registries ready for the baby shower and got some maternity clothes at Old Navy online. I'm still in my normal clothes, but think it will be soon. Since we don't shop at Target anymore (because of their very pro-gay agenda with profits going to support gay education in schools, and the whole transgender bathroom issue putting grown men in an unmonitored room with little girls , (you can sign the American Family Association boycott Target pledge here if this issue is important to you)) and I've been super impressed with the stuff Old Navy offers (online only, but easy and free returns). They had a great 50% off Memorial day sale so I stocked up on some late summer/early fall shirts.
Otherwise just living life. We had our anatomy scan follow up appointment and everything was on track, they started measuring my belly and I'm 20cms = 20wks so that was perfect and they said little boy looks great and on track. Yay!
I am somewhat worried about stress and it's effect on me lately. I'm really starting to regret my job move. Pretty bad day at work yesterday and no time to eat or pee (did take 10 min break at 10am) but then not again till 5:30. Then worked over till 8pm. It's been very hard to maintain a good attitude and attempt to care about my patients when I'm super overwhelmed with the time and tasks necessary to actually do that. And of course all at the same time. Came home and was really nice to see Doug had made us dinner (albeit frozen pizza, but with spinach!). Then I knocked over one of my favorite candles and cut my finger cleaning it up and was yelling about our messy house, and then of course crying. So it's nice to have a loving husband who hugs you when you stress cry, rubs your back, and spends the rest of his evening sitting and watching the Bachelorette with you.
Hopefully this job stress is just typical transitional stuff, but who knows. Been dreaming about going contingent more and more.
So, on to September kitty. Doug took her for her second check-up yesterday after he worked and the vet said her tail was looking good. She has to finish her antibiotics and wear the cone for 2 more weeks (!!!!!) and then have another re-check but looking promising.
The cone does prevent her from licking it, but presents other issues like spilling her food and knocking litter out of her litter box. Saturday night she knocked over some candle decoration thing I had on a shelf and then I sliced my foot on a big shard of glass I missed cleaning up. Oh well. Two more weeks and hopefully keeping her tail. Here's hoping things get better around here!

Friday, June 3, 2016

September's sad tail tale

Is this not the most sweet precious little kitty?
So day after Memorial day I'm at home at my laptop and I hear a terrible cat screeching from outside the window. I run outside and my neighbor is pointing towards the trees/bushes on the North side of our house. I see this huge grey cat running away and my neighbor yells there is another cat in the bushes, which was sweet little September hiding under the hosta. I picked her up and carried her inside. Then I see I'm getting stuff all over my shirt and arms, she was so scared, she diarrhea'd on herself! :( So I took her to the sink and washed her belly and legs off. Then when she seemed more settled I brushed her fur since she's been shedding like crazy lately. And pretty much coddled and felt bad for her but that was the end of it I thought.
I go hang out with Liz and get home in the evening and Doug was petting her and we see blood on his hand and see that a big chunk is missing from her tail! How I did not notice earlier I'll never know!! And September had been totally normal eating and playing and wanting to go back outside. Anyway, we washed it off with soap in the sink and were worried because it looked bad. Of course by now it's 10pm and we both had to work in the morning.
The next day Doug's parents come get her and take her to the vet and mid-morning I get a text from Doug that they might have to amputate part of her tail off. I thought it was a mean joke, so called him, and he said he was sorry but not joking. So then I'm sitting at work crying about my poor baby. They said that they would first shave it, clean it, and then go from there. Meanwhile I'm back to work and one of my patients is reading a cat magazine (?!?) and asks me if I have a cat and I start crying again. Anyway. In the afternoon Doug called the vet to see what they were thinking and they said they bandaged it and she could come home on antibiotics with a re-check next week. But they couldn't guarantee she was out of the amputated-tail-woods yet.
So she came home.
Look at this sad little tail
(it looks broken here, but it's not really)
Actually she didn't seem to mind much at all. They said not to worry if she got the bandage off, which she did last night, and immediately started licking. So today was recheck #1. The vet assistant said it's looking good, to leave it open to air (which is not recommended for wound healing in human hospitals FYI), but we had to get her a cone so she wouldn't lick.
cone of sadness and frustration
eventually she was able to relax, but she seems depressed and is having a hard time getting to her food bowls
her tail wound does look pretty bad, but seems like could just scab up, no need to cut it off!!!
Monday will be recheck #2 and will be the deciding factor I think. Hopefully the antibiotics will be doing their job to prevent infection and the cone will be preventing unhelpful kitty interventions.
This has all made me realize how much I love that little gal. Doug and I know that her going outside does bring more risks to her, but she loves it so much and we decided when we adopted her that we wanted her to have a more full, altho possibly shorter, life. But now that stuff like this is happening it really seems more scary and I hope her life really won't be shorter! I don't know that she doesn't walk to other yards and is a bully herself to other cats she meets, but it seems extra sad this happened in her own yard. Poor little girl. Seems silly, but would appreciate healing prayers. Thanks!