Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Saga continues

Further to my previous post on the "Attack of the Killer Hormones" now the saga continues. Everyone continually asks me how I'm feeling? How's the baby? Well, the baby is doing fine, mommy is feeling very well. The sickness has lessened, it usually only happens now right after I wake up or if I eat to much. But there are other things which are making my life miserable now.

The main complaint is my sinuses. A strange side effect of pregnancy that they say 20 - 30 percent of women experience is sinus congestion. For the past three weeks I thought I'd just been having the most horrible allergic reaction to an Austin spring that I've ever had. Now I realize it's actually a reaction to my baby. The official explanation is "Higher amounts of estrogen during pregnancy can contribute to swelling in the mucous membranes lining the nose and even cause you to make more mucus. Also, the amount of blood in your body increases and your blood vessels expand during pregnancy, which can lead to swollen nasal membranes as well."

The reality is that about 3/4th's of my day is spent not being able to breathe through my nose. And it doesn't stop there! Since my sinuses are inflamed it's causing earaches, vision problems, and mouth pain that was so bad it sent me to the Dentist on Friday. It's not only uncomfortable for me, but for others as well. It's the people around me that have to listen to me blowing my nose, which these days sounds like Chewbacca calling for Han Solo. I have a wookie mating call lodged in my nose.

I'm also still tired all the time it seems, and now I'm getting heartburn more frequently. As my husband now asks "Aside from the sinus congestion, mouth pain, ear aches, vision problems, tiredness, morning sickness, and heartburn...how are you feeling today honey?" This is why the internet lied to me! The internet said I would start feeling better! Does this sound better to you? Maybe I need to take a sound clip and loop it, of my wookie mating call nose blowing, and send it to all those folks who run the pregnancy websites with a letter telling them they need to be more honest with their websites.

The upside to all this, my nails are growing like crazy, and my nutty cravings have lessened so now I can eat more of the things I'm supposed to be eating. The other upside is that the baby is doing fine, and at the end of this John and I are going to have a beautiful little being that's all ours. However, that end result is still so far off that the pains I'm going through are still out weighing the wonderful positives. But I'm hanging in there.

More dreams

Last night I had two dreams which were vivid. In the first dream I was with some girlfriends at a jewelry party where they were actually giving jewelry away for free. I picked a long bracelet box which when I opened it, mnorphed into a larger jewelry box. This was the big prize that everyone was hoping for. There was earrings, bracelets, and rings, but the big kicker was a peacock necklace made of Swarovski crystals.

Everyone at the party was oohing and ahhing over the neckalce so I sent the whole box around the table for everyone to take a look. When the box finally got back to me the peacock necklace was gone and another woman was wearing it. So I asked her if I could have my necklace back, to which she replied that no, I couldn't have it back because it was hers. So I got up and went over to her, punched her in the face and took my necklace back. Which was when I woke up and had to go to the bathroom.

I went back to sleep after the bathroom and began dreaming another dream. To give a little background, I've been helping with the lighting design for Gay Pride weekend at the Long Center that my church is participating in. We are responsible for the presentation of the Grand Marshalls, and our choir is performing during this.

So in my dream I was talking with Mario Cantone (who is performing that evening after the grand marshall ceremony) and we were getting along great talking about Sex in the City and how much I love Kim Catrall. The show began and all of the sudden I was calling the show from the Stage Manager's position. Then I get a call over the headsets saying "Aren't you supposed to be running the lighting console?". I freaked out and ran up to the lighting booth. I got there and it was a hot, tightly cramped space and someone else was running the board, but the lights were all wrong. So the LD and I set about fixing the lights as the show kept running.

The show was almost over by the time I sat down to the console and started running the lights. When the show finally ended Mario Cantone came to the lighting booth and was asking where I had gone. He was upset because I had left alone and he liked me so much that he wanted me to join his entourage. So while they set up for Mario's show to start he and I hung out and kept talking. Which was when I woke up and had to go to the bathroom.

Friday, May 21, 2010

The Shape Eater

I thought I would post this story to give everyone an idea of the weirdness my husband is having to deal with. I think John is finally coming to terms with just how crazy his wife really is. Here is an example.

The other day, I believe it was Wednesday, it was my turn to cook but I wasn't feeling up to it. I had sent John to the grocery store that day to restock on healthy foods for me, and he picked up one of the roasted chickens for our dinner. So all we needed for dinner was sides. John very lovingly agreed to make the sides for our dinner and asked me what I wanted. I responded that I wanted spinach (a dish I regularly eat), and macaroni and cheese (a dish I usually eat by itself and not as a side, but I was craving mac and cheese). John was a tad taken aback by the mac and cheese request but went to go make it anyway.

He went to the pantry, and I followed him and showed him where the mac and cheese was. We had three boxes, two that were the shell forms and one of the regular macaroni that was white cheddar. I picked the white cheddar because I don't eat the shell macaroni. I explained to John that when I was little I loved the shell macaroni and ate too much of it once and made myself sick, and I haven't been able to eat it since. To this he said "But honey, they're the same ingredients just with shell macaroni".

So I explained to him "Honey, not only am I a texture eater, but I'm a shape eater too. For example, Cheerios are a tastier cereal to me because of the little doughnut circular shape. Finger sandwhiches are better than regular sandwhiches because they're cut up into the little triangles. And regular macaroni is better then shell macaroni because they are little tubes and not mini cups that hold the cheese in."

I know how bizarre I am about my food, and my husband thought he understood all the little piccadillos of my eating habits. Yet, as I stood there explaining to him that the shapes of food make it taste better to me, he just kind of looked at me as though I had sprouted snakes out of my head. But I figure, if I can handle him eating apple cores and hating condiments then he can handle the texture and shape eating that I do. Love you honey!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Attack of the Killer Hormones

I'd like to preface this by asking everyone to pray for my sweet husband. Sadly, as the father of my child and my life partner, he has to deal with the brunt of everything that is happening to me. He's been so supportive and good to me, and I know he has a lot on his plate. Now with my pregnancy seemingly heading into full swing, he's also going to have to put up with the intense mood swings and sounds of retching coming from the bathroom.

So with that said, the danged internet lied to me! I've been merrily going along thinking that I pretty much had it made in the shade. I've been a little nauseous and have gotten sick a few times (like 5 or 6 times, so minimal in the grand scheme of things) but haven't had any real morning sickness like some of the horror stories I've heard. I've been tired but not falling asleep at my desk tired; and I've been emotional but certainly not Joan Crawford hormonal. Since I'm now in my 12th week, and nearing the end of my first trimester, I did the silliest thing of trusting the information on the internet that said I would start feeling better and more like myself.

However, in my case, the internet flat out lied! It all started on Monday morning when I got sick once before I stepped out of the house and again when I reached work. I had to choke through my breakfast, eating so slowly that it took me an hour to finish the whole thing because I kept gagging on what I was eating. This was also the day that I could barely keep my eyes open and actually wound up dozing at my desk a few times before I realized that dancing with the guy who plays Jesse on "Glee" was not my actual job. I still pray that I wasn't snoring during this. When I got home I was so sleepy that John told me to go to bed, but instead I went and laid on the couch and tried to doze off there. But of course nothing happened and now I was awake.

I had a huge craving for spaghetti and sent John across town (I love you baby!) to Fazoli's to get me some spaghetti since we were out of the ingredients to make it because I haven't had any energy to go to grocery store. When he got back it again took me almost an hour to finish my dinner of salad and spaghetti because every 5 minutes I felt like it was all going to come back up again. The rest of the night was fairly uneventful.

Then we head into yesterday. Again, I get sick before I leave the house and have to choke down my breakfast at work. I wasn't as tired as Monday, but I definitely wasn't feeling all that well. Also, all yesterday I felt on the verge of tears, and actually did start crying at work because I have been making myself worry about my weight. When I got home John and I took the dog for a walk and after sat and talked for awhile. Then I started watching TV, watching the Glee episode from two weeks ago, and at the end I was literally bawling my eyes out. If John had walked in then he would have seen his wife a heaving mess of tears and snot. I also got emotional that night going to sleep. I almost broke down crying to John because I couldn't get comfortable in bed. A mass of hair up my nose stopped the tears however.

Finally, today I've already upset a co-worker by "snapping" at her. Getting sick in the mornings hasn't stopped either. So to me it seems my symptoms are getting worse, not getting better. Which proves to me the internet lies, everyone woman and every pregnancy is different, and obviously I'm one of the women where the "You'll start feeling remarkably better the closer to you get to the end of your first trimester" does not apply. It's the attack of the killer hormones for me right now, which is why I'd like everyone to please pray for my husband.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Revenge of the Sith?

So on Tuesday, John and I went to our Doctor appointment where they did our first Sonogram. We'd had an unltrasound previously, when we got the first picture of our peanut. When we had first scheduled the Sonogram appointment I kept wondering what the difference in the two tests were. Internet wasn't really a help since everywhere kept telling me that the Sonogram and the Ultrasound was the same thing essentially.

Granted, it was the same sort of machine, the same big wand with lube. However, the difference between the sonogram and the ultrasound? The ultrasound, you just get a picture of the baby. The sonogram however we got a video! Our babies first television appearance! It was incredible seeing inside, getting a peak at the peanut who isn't as much of a peanut anymore. In fact, one of the first things John said when the baby appeared on the screen was "It's sure gotten bigger since the last time". Growing by leaps and bounds the baby has grown 5 cm in the month since we had our ultrasound, and is now roughly the length of a tube of lipstick.

As we watched the TV screen where our baby was we could see the heartbeat fluttering, a strong 172 bpm. I could see the little arms moving around, and the little legs tucked in and crossed at the ankles. The sonographer had to push on my stomach quite a while to get the baby to move so she could get all her measurements, which was when she said "Stubborn little sucker doesn't want to move around for me.". We saw the Spine, the stomach, the bladder, the brain, the placenta (which they said was well placed and John praised me for it as though I had a say in the matter), and we saw the skeletal structure. It was this last item of the skeletal structure that made John and I cock our heads and say "The baby looks like Darth Maul".

For anyone unfamiliar with the Star Wars movies, Darth Maul is a Sith (bad guys) apprentice to what will become the evil emporer. Darth Maul is the one who kills Quigong Jin (Liam Neeson's character) and who carries the double light saber that had all the Star Wars fans going gaga when the movie first came out. Darth Maul only appears in the 1st movie of the Prequels otherwise known as Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Here's a link to a picture in case someone doesn't know who I'm talking about. http://www.stargods.org/ClintonDarthMaul.jpg

Now wouldn't you know that the image of the skeletal structure would be the one picture we got from this sonogram. So the 2nd picture we've gotten for the baby makes it look like an evil sith apprentice. Granted Ray Park, the actor that played Darth Maul, is one of my favorite action actors (He played Toad in X-Men and Edgar in Heroes); but still I don't want to put that picture up in my house if it's going to remind me of Darth Maul all the time.

So even though the picture of my baby creeps me out there were some really great things I took away from that appointment. The first and most important is that everything with the baby looks to be fine and healthy. Brain, Spine, Heartbeat all look strong and just where it should be. Second, the nurse at the Dr.'s office didn't piss me off this time. Third, I shouldn't eat a big lunch before I am going to get weighed. Fourth, my baby can move it's little arms, and even though I can't feel it yet, is having a dandy time moving around in there. Fifth, baby appears to be just as stubborn as it's mama. And last but not least, the force is strong with this one =D.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Dreaming

Although my strange dreams have continued, I haven't really been able to post anything on them because they are so disjointed that I can't really put them into words. A few things I have noticed in them are; the constant appearance of friends and family, odd locations, usually something I do in the dream causes either myself or someone in the dream to be concerned about the well fare of my baby, and of course that these dreams are always interrupted by my need to get up and go to the bathroom.

Here's a few snippets that I still remember from dreams this past week. 1) I kept trying to go to a rave that was being thrown in a tree house (kind of looked like the forest village in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves), but my friend Amy kept telling me I wasn't invited because of my baby so instead I was relegated to taking money for admission. 2) John, Mom, and I were in a deserted park that had a beachy river running through it. Suddenly Mom and John and I were in a boat on this river and for some reason I had to jump in to the river to push the boat. John and Mom were both really worried since they thought the river was contaminated and would hurt the baby. We spent the rest of the dream trying to find out if the baby was okay. Though I do recall that in the water I would open my eyes and could see perfectly under water. 3) my girl friends were at a very upscale Olive Garden (which was three stories for some reason) bar sitting and having drinks. Some of John's friends were up on the 2nd level above the bar also having drinks. I went in to go talk to my friends who shunned me from the bar because I was pregnant. So I went up to go talk to John's friends who welcomed me at their table and let me have a pint of Guinness. Then John's friends and I spent the rest of the dream throwing cherries and limes at my friends below us trying to get the fruit into their drinks from the 2nd floor.

This is just a snippet of some of the dreams I've been having, but as I said before they are all interrupted by my having to get up and go to the restroom. I wonder if there will ever be another night that I sleep the whole way through.....but the outlook doesn't look too good there.