20 Weeks: Halfway to the Halfling

Hey Humble Readers...

I hope that you all are having a great start to your new year.  Things here at the Hobbit-hole are still a little rough as we attempt to recover from our travels.  Sadly, and not surprisingly, I have picked up another bug.  This time it's a bug of the chest cold variety, so I'm coughing up a lung and trying not to pee my pants while I do.  *sigh*

Can you tell that I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired?

Anyway, onto happier things... yesterday was my 20 week ultrasound.  It went really well, except for being terrified that I was going to wet myself while lying on the table.  Halfling 2.0 is measuring right on track, and was sucking his/her thumb which was adorable.  Ginny was really cute, waving at the screen and saying 'baby, baby!'.  The only 'huh?' moment was when the technician asked me if I had a fibroid, which to my knowledge I never have.  I'm going to make sure that I ask Dr. B about that next week.  Here's some pics for you all...

Profile - Sucking thumb

Left Arm - sucking thumb again

Top of the head and two little arms

Obligatory scary wraith-face

And speaking of doctors, I still haven't heard from my new OB.  (For those who need a refresher, my wonderful Dr. U moved to Australia this past summer and his practice was taken over by someone new.  When I got my bfp this time around and called to book my first appointment I was informed that I would have to be referred again, and Dr. B has been dragging his feet on the matter.)

How far along? 20w3d

Maternity clothes? Oh yeah.  I went shopping at a maternity store in K-town during Boxing Week and got some great deals.  There's not many places where I can go into a store and try on plus size maternity clothes, and to get awesome deals at the same time... awesome!  And it was great to be able to buy clothes that I didn't have to make fit a dress code for work. 

Body Oddities? dry skin, periods of extreme fatigue (getting better), alternating constipation and IBS flares, acne, bruises from insulin injections, back ache (I'm going to see my chiropractor next week), cracking joints, super sore & slightly leaky boobs, increased earwax (happened last time too), dry/itchy eyes

Sleep? Actually better.  I think I might be past the insomnia!  Yay!  Now if only Ginny would go back to sleeping through the night, things would be great.

Best moment this week? Seeing our little Halfling 2.0 yesterday.  It went a long way to making me feel that this pregnancy might just be going the distance.  (I hadn't realized just how nervous I was about everything until I saw that little heartbeat)

Worst moment? Waking up the other morning and knowing that there was another cold bug taking up residence in my body.  I really hate to complain so much, but I feel like sh!t more than I feel healthy these days.

Movement? Absolutely.  He/she seems to like to do a lot of flip flops right now.  My Beloved is anxiously awaiting when he'll be able to feel it from the outside.

Food cravings/aversions? Not anything in particular, just really hungry the last few days.  I'm terrified of the scale at the doctor's office next week because I have been eating a ton lately.  Oddly, raw ground beef made me a little gaggy yesterday while I was making supper. 

Rings? Still on.  I'm wondering if I'm going to make it to the end with them on like I did last time.

Gender? I was really tempted yesterday to say yes when the u/s tech asked if we wanted to know the gender, but I said no.  I'm super strongly leaning toward girl.  I think of this Halfling in terms of the girl name that we have picked out, so I could be in for a very big surprise. 

Intense Dreams? I seem to be dreaming a lot more these days.  Perhaps it's because I'm sleeping a bit better?  Most notably there was a dream I had in which I was doing scientific research with Sheldon from Big Ban Theory. 

Medical Concerns? Gestational Diabetes (insulin 5 times a day... made it through the holidays with relatively few highs.  Pretty proud of that.), High blood pressure (on 100mg of lobetalol 3x daily), continued heartburn (on 150mg of zan.tac 2x daily), kidney stones.

What I miss? Energy, feeling healthy, my sex drive

What I look forward to? Getting the Christmas decor down from around my house, getting started on my ever growing pre-Halfling to do list.

Emotional State?  Varies depending on my energy and health status.  My poor Beloved has been so patient with me, he deserves a medal.

The Journey Out of Crazy Town

Hey Humble Readers....  (if any of you are still out there)

I know it's been a while.  The last you heard from this intrepid hobbit, I was just getting home from the ER after a terrible bout of stomach flu. Much has happened in the interim, but suffice it to say, I feel like we are coming back to normal.  At least our brand of normal around here.  Let me give you the run down... (hope you're prepared for a long story)

The Wretched Stomach Flu

Ginny came down with the nasty bug around the 12th or 13th of December.  Vomiting, diarrhea, the works.  For her, it lasted about 24 hours... with a few little straggling pukey sessions that lingered into the second day.  We had a recovery day, and went for doctor appointments for both she an I... her well-baby check up and blood work results for me.  Both were anticlimactic, botched test results for me and a cursory check over for the wee girl. 

That night, sometime just after midnight, I woke up with a horrible pain in my stomach.  I got up and assumed that I would be spending some time in the bathroom with my usual IBS issues.  An hour or so later, I started puking.  And puking.  And puking.  It lasted for close to twelve hours.  I couldn't keep anything down, not even water.  I started to get a little freaked out, and I begged my Beloved to stay home from work because I was in no condition to look after Ginny.  It was around noon, after a particularly ugly round of vomiting that I decided to call our healtlink hotline.  I gave the nurse all my info (pregnant, diabetic, stomach flu, etc) and she was adamant that I go to the ER. 

Another 6 hours, lots of needle sticks, and two bags of IV fluids later I was on my way home, feeling like I had been run over by a Mack truck.  My MIL came the next day to help look after Ginny so that I could rest.  She made soup, gave Ginny a bath, and basically ran things for the day, while I laid on the couch like a lump.  (Sadly, she ended up catching the vile, wretched bug.  Since that point, no less than 8 members of our extended family have had it, altho none of them ended up in the hospital thankfully!)

The Continuing Plumbing Saga

The Hobbit-hole has some issues.  It's small.  It's old-ish.   The front north corner of the building is slightly lower than the rest due to a settling foundation after a major flood at the building next door.  But the pressing issue this year has been our plumbing.  You may recall, if you have a good memory, that we had to have the kitchen taps worked on last year.  Then came the hot water tap in our tub.  A temporary fix, followed by an expensive replacement.  Then the aging hot water tank started acting up.  Two days after the stomach flu/ER fiasco the pilot light went out on the tank.  We called a plumber, and he got it restarted but strongly recommended getting the tank replaced.  We knew it was due soon (the tank was pushing 20 years old), but were hoping to hold out until tax refund time.  NO SUCH LUCK!

The next day, I had no hot water for my shower.  It had now been 3 days since my last hot shower.  Hobbits don't deal well with repeated exposure to icy water.  My Beloved and I bit the bullet and called the plumber.  They got us on the schedule for the next day, and they came in and with relatively little fuss (and a big check that I had to sign) they swapped old for new, and I had the promise of hot water... UNTIL...

The Carbon Monoxide Scare

The guy who was doing the install on our hot water tank was just finishing up.  I had just written the check.  The plumber was doing one final check on the tank when he noticed something odd.  Where the furnace and hot water tank exhaust should have been venting, it was backdrafting.  As in venting back into our furnace room.  As in carbon monoxide was filling the space.  Pardon the expression, but WTF!?!?!  If I believed in karma, I would be of the opinion that I really pissed someone off in a former life.  Plumber-dude immediately shut down both the new hot water tank and the furnace... in December... on the frozen flatland. 

Two days and five furnace specialists later, the problem/mystery was solved.  It turns out that one of the downstairs units in our building had the furnace replaced, and the asshat who did it managed to hook that furnace up to our chimney (again I say, WTF!?).  He then ran an exhaust hose from that furnace, through our chimney to the roof, and then capped it, effectively blocking the path for our furnace exhaust.  Our furnace was venting into the wall between our unit and the one next door.  Sounds like a great idea, huh?  The particularly fun bit was when the owner of the unit with the furnace in question decided to drag her feet for half a day before she would come and let the furnace guys into her unit to check it out (her exact words to my Beloved were "how do you know it's coming from my unit?  What proof do you have?"). 

Travels with a Toddler

Two days after the whole furnace fiasco, we were heading out to fly to K-town to spend the holidays with my family.  Ginny has flown before, and she did well, sleeping through the whole journey.  This time, no such luck.  Plus it wasn't a direct flight... we had to fly through Vancouver, so add an extra hour to our flying time.  Less than 15 minutes into the flight, she somehow managed to wet through her diaper, onesie, jeans and my shirt (she hasn't had a major leak like that since she was in cloth diapers!).  I wasn't prepared for it, and we had no change of clothes for her in the diaper bag.  So, I got to sit on a plane with a very wet, very fussy baby soaking me. 

Then, on the descent into Vancouver, Ginny started to have some issues.  And when I say some, I mean major issues.  She became 'that' baby on the plane.  The one every traveler dreads.  The screaming, snotty, pee-soaked, red in the face baby.  Oh, and did I mention that I really had to pee?  The Halfling 2.0 decided that would be a good time to line dance on my bladder.  And we had to change planes... kind of.  We had to get off the plane in Vancouver, with all our carry ons and a very upset baby, only to get right back on it 10 minutes later.  The only upside was that I had a moment to go pee. 

The flight from Vancouver to K-town was considerably quieter (thank you Tyl.enol), but that was the last quiet time we got for a while.  Apparently, Ginny is going through a phase where change is a very bad thing.  Sleeping in a strange play pen, in a strange room, sharing said room with Mommy and Daddy... all added up to very little sleep for 10 days.  Other than that, it was a great trip, and I'm glad we went.  The flight home was much less traumatic, and significantly shorter as we had a direct flight.  Ginny didn't sleep on the plane, but we weren't even out of the airport parking lot before she was out cold.  She slept for the two hour drive from Big City to the South to our little city. 

I'm now in that post-trip recovery mode.  I'm feeling like I'm coming down with a bit of a cold.  I've unpacked two out of three suitcases, and hopefully tomorrow I will have the energy to do the third suitcase and start to take down all our Christmas decorations. 

Oh yeah, and I have a little thing called an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon!  Yippee!

That Wasn't Much Fun

Hey Humble Readers,
I spent the better part of today in the ER. Apparently I caught whatever Ginny had, only 100 times worse. Non stop vomitting for almost 12 hours. Not able to keep anything down (not even water) and wacky blood sugars.
After several hours of IV fluids and anti nausea meds, I'm at home and feeling slightly more human.
Now I'm just tired and dopey. My Beloved is going to make me some soup and I'm going to bed.

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

17 Weeks: Crazy Has Come To Town

Hey Humble Readers...

So apparently I suck as a blogger... this is just lame.  I will attempt to get caught up soon, but for now I'm using most of my energy just to get through the days. 

On top of teething, our wee sweet girl is dealing with some sort of tummy bug.  No fever, but she's puked a few times (and why is there never a really great time for a child to puke?) and doesn't seem to be terribly interested in eating.  I asked Dr. B about it when we went for Ginny's 1 year check up, and he didn't seem too concerned.  Just to keep her as hydrated as possible, and let it run its course. 

My crafting projects still aren't one hundred percent complete (which is causing me some stress), but are almost there.  I'm just going to have to rush ship the package... hopefully on Friday. 

Another thing that has caused some serious stress around here this week has been my blood sugars... they were all over the place, and not really jiving with how I was feeling physically (my body telling me I was low while my meter was telling me I was high).  Turns out that I got a bad batch of test strips.  The only way I figured it out was by testing three times in 5 minutes and getting three VERY different readings.  So amazingly frustrating. 

Oh, and remember the bit of a fiasco that surrounded my NT scan?  They couldn't get the measurment that they needed because I had been unable to 'hold it' because of my kidney issues and IBS... so the doctor at that clinic recommended that I get a second trimester blood test done to determine my risk factors.  Well, I got the req from Dr. B, went for the bloodwork at the appropriate time (had to be done at a particular point... 16 weeks), and went for the results yesterday.  Apparently, the lab screwed up and they weren't able to do the testing.  At this point, I feel that we are just going to move forward assuming that all is well.  I'm rather sick of all the testing, and it won't change how we continue in this pregnancy.  It would have only served to prepare me for what might come. 

Told you things were nuts... on to the update...

How far along? 17w1d

Maternity clothes? Yes.  I broke down and pulled out all my maternity clothes.  I had forgotten how tired some of them are, so I'm planning on doing a little bit of shopping during the Boxing Week

Body Oddities? dry skin, periods of extreme fatigue (getting better), alternating constipation and IBS flares, acne, bruises from insulin injections, back ache (REALLY bad this week), cracking joints, super sore boobs, increased earwax (happened last time too), dry/itchy eyes

Sleep? Back to being iffy.  Spending a lot of nights on the couch.

Best moment this week?  Taking Ginny to see Santa.  She did soooo good.  She didn't freak out, or cry.  And Santa was awesome too.  He talked to her about her Stanley (her stuffed dog) and about staying away from the Christmas tree.  It was great!

Worst moment? Finding out that the lab botched my bloodwork.  I thought I was going to lose it right there in Dr. B's office.  I'm just so sick of needles, and to have one be completely for naught really pissed me off.

Movement? Yup!  Funny moment at my appointment with Dr. B... he still doesn't believe that I feel movement yet, but when he was checking for the Halfling's heartbeat, I was able to tell him exactly where the wee one was hiding out (down low and to the right).

Food cravings/aversions? Still focussed on protien.  And I REALLY REALLY want hashbrowns.

Rings? Still on, although I seem to regularly forget to put them back on after cooking or cleaning.

Gender? Not going to find out, but I'm leaning toward 'girl' this time around. (which, of course, means that it will be a boy) I've had quite a few people tell me recently that they think it's a boy.

Intense Dreams?  Nothing of note.  Still feeling a bit odd about not having dreamt about this Halfling for so long (not since just before I found out I was pregnant). 

Medical Concerns? Gestational Diabetes (insulin 5 times a day), High blood pressure (on 100mg of lobetalol 3x daily), continued heartburn (on 150mg of zan.tac 2x daily), kidney stones.  This week's angst... bad batch of testing strips screwed with my blood sugar levels

What I miss? Sushi (and I was doing so well!  Drat my Beloved for mentioning it!  I hadn't even thought about it.  Now it's all I want)

What I look forward to?  Going to K-town, my next ultrasound, meeting my new OB (oh yeah, I FINALLY GOT THE REFERRAL!!!)

Emotional State?  Doing okay most of the time.  Mood swings hit fast and unexpectedly.

16 Weeks: Christmas Explosion

Hey Humble Readers...

I apologize for my prolonged absence this past week.  Between decorating for Christmas, doing Christmas cards, crafting for Christmas, and a teething wee girl... well, time got away from me.  I do hope that you are all doing well, and that your holiday preparations are coming along nicely. 

When last we talked, I was going to be going to a local dinner theater for my Beloved's office Christmas party... it was a blast!  The dinner was beautifully catered and my only problem with it was that there were so many great choices that I ended up not eating enough carbs and had a bit of a low during the second act.  The play was really funny (Maggie's Getting Married), and the main character was played by my nurse/dietician from the diabetic clinic, the one I talk to every week.  She did a great job. 

Ginny has done really well with the Christmas tree... she hasn't touched it at all, but she loves looking at the lights.  She is rather intrigued with a few of the decorations that are around where she can get at them, like one of my nativity sets (she likes to chew on baby Jesus) and our advent 'wreath'. 

My crafting projects are going okay-ish.  I'm a little frustrated with my lack of talent when it comes to some of the finer skills I need, but overall I think they will turn out fine.  I HAVE TO GET THEM DONE BY SATURDAY!!  I have to send off all our K-town gifts and I want to make sure that they get there in plenty of time. 

Anywho, on to the update...

How far along? 16w1d

Maternity clothes? I pulled out a pair of mat pants last week, and I'm loving the comfy-ness of them, but I feel silly wearing them this early.  They certainly are more comfortable than my regular jeans.  I'm trying to use my bella bands, but I think maybe they got too much of a workout last time as they don't seem to be working as well. 

Body Oddities? dry skin, periods of extreme fatigue (getting better), alternating constipation and IBS flares, acne, bruises from insulin injections, back ache, cracking joints, super sore boobs, increased earwax (happened last time too), dry/itchy eyes, NEW THIS WEEK - my hips have started locking up.  I have to make sure that I don't sit still for too long or I end up limping around.  Morning sickness seems to be gone again, hopefully for good!

Sleep? Better.  I still get up a lot during the night, and I usually end up out on the couch between 4 and 5am. 

Best moment this week? Ginny's first glimpse of the Christmas tree all lit up.  She was pretty excited!

Worst moment? I'm beginning to really despise having to have blood drawn.  They have such a hard time finding a good vein and I always end up bruised.  (had to go for a blood draw to screen for all the stuff that the NT scan should have showed)

Movement? Yup.  Nothing consistent, tho.  Just happens at random times.  I mostly feel it on the right side, just like I did with Ginny.

Food cravings/aversions? Now that my appetite is back, I'm back to being hungry all the time.  I'm surprised I haven't put on any weight with how I've been eating.  I think my craving for spicy stuff may be fading away.  But now all I can think of is meat.  Protien, protien, protien!

Rings? Still on

Gender? Not going to find out, but I'm leaning toward 'girl' this time around. (which, of course, means that it will be a boy)  I've had quite a few people tell me recently that they think it's a boy. 

Intense Dreams?  Oh my, yes.  Nightmares.  One involved a home invasion... I was, for some reason, living at my SIL's house, and the place ended up over run with 'bad guys'.  I was hiding in a closet and I could see them tearing through the house, and I just knew that if they found me I was dead.  Crazy!

Medical Concerns? Gestational Diabetes (insulin 5 times a day), High blood pressure (on 100mg of lobetalol 3x daily), continued heartburn (on 150mg of zan.tac 2x daily), kidney stones.  We increased one of my insulin doses this week and it took me a few days to adjust.  We are getting close to the numbers I was at at the end of my last pregnancy.  That scares me a little.

What I miss?  Being able to eat whatever I want, whenever I want it.  I get tired of having to watch the clock to balance insulin shots with hunger pangs.

What I look forward to?  Getting my Christmas prep done, so that I can enjoy the season.  Going to K-town for Christmas, taking Ginny to see Santa this weekend.

Emotional State?  Pretty mellow, just a little stressed about Christmas stuff.