Baby Update - Vote on a crib!

Everything was fine at the NST test yesterday and the Dr. appt today. Yesterday the fluid level was down to 14, so at the lower end of normal. My doctor seemed pleased to hear that the fliud level had gone down. So far I am dilated one cm and my cervix has thinned 50%.

I have caught some cold or flu bug, and am trying to drink lots of fluids, but I feel dehydrated a lot. I have been throwing up this week also, which doesn't help. I also hear my stomach growling or start to feel sick instead of feeling hungry when it's time for me to eat, a sure sign that I am sick. The congestion is keeping me up at night, so I am sleeping when I can. (For example, last night I only slept from 3:30 to 6:30, and then this morning I had finally gone back to sleep around 8 when a carpet cleaning truck parked right outside and ran until about the time my alarm went off...so I took a 30 min nap when I got home from the doctor's.) I want to get over this bug quickly so I can have full strength for the big day.

Werty's new computer arrived yesterday. He is frustrated today because it keeps having trouble finding the network. It found it once yesterday, so we know that it works.

Yesterday was Sue's birthday, so tonight Sue, Sun, and I are having a ladies' night out for dinner and a movie. I hope I don't fall asleep during the movie. :P (Btw, we saw Wolverine the other night - a little more violent in a few spots than we usually watch, but it was a good movie. Werty's siblings who are X-Men fans really liked it.)

Tomorrow, Werty and I need to make a final decision and buy a crib and dresser set before the sale at our local store ends. Here are the two top contenders:

Delta Savannah in Cherry
http://www.amazon.com/Delta-Childrens-Products-Savannah-Convertible/dp/B001C59NIW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1249069040&sr=1-1

Delta Amber in Chocolate
http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Products-6925_204-Convertible-Chocolate/dp/B0028XU0HA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1249069147&sr=1-1

I like the cherry color, and the cheaper price on the Savannah, but the Amber crib has a matching dresser with a combo top that can be used as a changing table, while the Savannah only has a matching changing table. We figure that the combo dresser is more practical and will get more use than just a changing table. What do you think?

Emptying the Nursery

We have to empty the "game room" so it can become the nursery. I put the dragon quilt off to the side for the week to work on getting ready for baby. The realization that the due date is only 4 weeks away might have something to do with it. As Klari likes to point out, at 36 weeks, the baby could come any day now and be okay. Werty is putting up the entertainment center in the office as I type this...which means there is a big empty spot in the nursery - hurray!

So, the easiest thing to find on my belly is the baby's tush, especially since it is usually tucked up near the right corner of my ribs. I had a thought last night - could this mean that this baby has inherited Werty's tush? Some guys have no tush, and my guy isn't one of them. :P

Werty's Minor Surgery

Monday Werty went to the doctor because he was still not feeling too hot since last week, and his ear was hurting. Turns out he has an ear infection, so the nice doctor gave him some antibiotics. While he was there, he had this strange mole checked out...strange because I had never noticed it until a few months ago and pointed it out to him. The doctor looked at it and it fit the criteria for the kind that should be removed and biopsied. So, now my honey has stitches on his back from very minor suregery.

Werty went with me to the NST this morning. He got to see the baby in the quickie ultrasound when they measured the fluid. My fluid level was down a tad, not up, so that's good. He was surprised that the baby's head was so round...much more filled out than the skeletor picture from the first ultrasound. Baby is still hanging out head down with his bum in my right ribs, however, he has been stretching his legs out across my belly so he's not always up in my rib cage, so that's a happy development.

The nursery still isn't emptied yet, although Werty was taking measurements today to see what can fit in the office closet, since we have to switch stuff around between the two closets. (Things like the mitre saw that really don't belong in a nursery with a little baby.)
Here is the front panel of the Dragon/Monster quilt. Isn't he cute? The final quilt will be about 5.5 feet square.

BBQ at the Pool

Last Thursday we had Sue and her family over to our place for a poolside BBQ. Sue said that her kids were asking all day if it was time yet to go swimming at Aunt Zanne's. :D Werty was exhausted from the construction EQ service project and staying up late to watch HP, so he didn't join us for the swimming. Sue's kids really like to get wet, and they came prepared with floating devices, so they could move about the pool with their parents. I even donned a swimsuit and coverup and got in the water. (Isn't it nice how you feel lighter in water...especially when you are 8 months pregnant heavy?) Werty grilled up the steaks and hot dogs, and joined us for dinner. We had a blast, and since it was a Thursday evening, the pool area wasn't crowded at all. It was so fun that it got Werty thinking that maybe he should try to have his family over for a BBQ some time. We usually go to Ged and Klari's house for family BBQ's, but Ged is out of town this week for a work convention, and it's Pioneer Day on Friday. We will have to see if someone else has already made reservations for that day. Werty's family is pretty big, after all, and there are rules about number of guests and such.

Update on baby: Last week's NST showed that my fluid level was up, which isn't good. It's still in the normal range, but now it's on the high side of normal. I go in again this Wednesday. It is possible for the fluid level to go up and down, so it doesn't mean that it will continue to climb necessarily. /em crosses her fingers. (Nan: since you asked, they have me going every week for NST to make sure 1. the baby has enough oxygen and 2. to measure my fluid level since too much or too little can be a problem with gd. Sue was telling me that she had extra fluid with her second child, and the rush of fluid actually caused the baby's head to move out of position. Thankfully, the doctor was able to locate the head again and the baby was still delivered normally.)

At my regular doctor visit on Friday, everything is still fine. We talked about hospitals and I found out that I will be delivering at the big hospital that I didn't want to go to. When we started trying, I had another insurance plan that covered certain hospitals. The insurance I have now, through my job, covers the other hospitals. I forgot that my doctor only delivers at two hospitals, one from each network. So, unless I want to have a different doctor, I have only one choice under my insurance. And I really like my doctor. My doctor got really defensive about the big hospital, about how the community doesn't give that hospital the respect it deserves, and how she had all her children at that hospital because it is the best. It got tense. Really tense. I told her about the car accident and how I had had my own negative experience at that hospital - how they sent me home and kept all the other injured passengers overnight because I "was so calm" that I didn't appear as seriously injured - and how the insurance used that against me so that they wouldn't cover as much care as I actually needed. I couldn't move my arms or get myself out of bed for 2-3 weeks, but hey, I was "calm" about it. 10 years later and I believe that I am the only person from the accident that still has chronic pain from it. But, that doesn't mean the whole place is terrible. Here are some pros: I have been going there for my NST and the staff have been very nice. And there is the fact that my child's birth certificate will say Provo instead of Orem on it. (Ddonn will appreciate the importance of that). This hospital is only a 5 minute drive away instead of 20. Since I go in for NST, and labor and delivery is the same floor, I already know where to go and they already have my information in their system. (I finally got them to change my marital status from single to married when I went in for my NST - they had my info originally from the car accident). I get to have my doctor there. So, those family members who live here in town and might want to drop by to see the little guy, you now know where we will be.

Harry Potter movie...Spoiler Alert!

So, we didn't get tickets to the midnight showing, but we still went to see it opening night - Wednesday night instead of Tuesday - but it still counts! If you haven't seen it, don't want to hear about it, well then the title of this entry should have given you a clue that you shouldn't read further! So stop now!

We really loved it - they left in parts that I was really hoping they would, and I can see why they cut down certain parts in order to focus on the most important part of the story, like the ending of the movie. It was interesting that they chose to create an alternate new action scene. I liked it. It meant that there was something new and interesting to watch, one scene where you didn't know exactly what was going to come next. In one short scene, they established character development between Harry and Ginny that takes place in the book gradually over time through lots of little side events that they didn't have time to include in the movie (like Harry dating and breaking up with Cho...security and curfews in Hogmeade, etc.) The scene also served a purpose in giving the viewers an action scene that develops the setting and atmosphere, since they had to cut out and simplify the action that originally happens later in the book. (And I love how this movie connected with the last movie's portrayal of Ginny - how she and Harry are well matched in courage and ability.)

Often, when writers add scenes in an adaptation, they stick out as 'time fillers' or they take away from the story. For example, the latest trend of using well-known children's books as movie material that they add subplots too, and sometimes, you lose the original theme of the book. Take "Tale of Desperaux," which kept changing themes and adding new characters and events throughout the movie. In the end, I had to tell Werty what the original message of the book had been because it was so lost in the movie. I know some purists might disagree with me, but in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the scene fit in seamlessly. It didn't stick out like a sore thumb. Instead it related to the other scenes wonderfully. I think it was one of my favorites of the Harry Potter movies.

Jean Quilt

I'm still plugging along on the quilt. It has changed design a couple of times in the past few days. The jean legs will form semi-circles that create an outline of coils, like a segmented snake. I did keep all the pockets - originally I was going to place them here and there for fun, like Julie's comment - but now they are going to be scales on the back of the coils. I drew a cartoony design for a head - and voila - it's going to be the Lochness monster quilt. So far, I have the coils cut and pinned. I really need to sew that first before I can do anything else.

In other news, Werty's laptop died. Looks like it needs a new motherboard, so it's going to cost a little over $400, which is not good news this time of year. So, he is going to look around and decide if it is worth fixing or if he should apply that $400 to a new machine that will last longer. Until he figures something out, he will continue to use my machine...and we can't play online together. Right now he is waiting for me to get off my computer so he can ue it. :P

Joy Toy!

Doesn't the title sound a little dirty? Anyway, for those familiar with FFXI, they will understand why me getting a Joyeuse is a big deal. I recently reached my goal of getting RDM (red mage) to 75. Now that I have the special, coveted Joy Toy, a high level sword which gives you the ability of hitting more often, Werty declared that I am "a real red mage now." We camped out the big octopus-like monster for two days, one failed attempt and one lost to competition, Werty tanked it (with support from me and some friends) and I won the lot. Now we are committed to helping Purp, one of our friends, to get the next drop.

Update on the baby front: The first non-stress test went well. This is now a weekly thing until the baby comes. Since this was the first visit, they did an ultrasound to measure the fluid level, and everything was normal. It was really fast, but when I answered the nurse that yes, we already knew it was a boy, she agreed that the earlier ultrasound was correct - the baby has boy parts. Werty didn't come with me, since we knew this test was about sitting still and monitoring the baby, so he was a little disappointed when he heard that he had missed the chance to get another ultrasound glimpse of the baby. Baby's favorite position currently is with his tush tucked into the right side corner, just under my rib cage, which the ultrasound confirmed for me that yes, that really is his tush pushing on my ribs.

We bought a mattress for the cradle yesterday. Sue went to DI to buy one a few years ago, and they used to carry the right size, but they stopped selling them there. Baby Depot is the only store in town that actually stocks them. I now know this. I decided to go with the standard size, even if it's a few inches shorter, it's the right width - and that's what I was most concerned with regarding safety. Another nice thing to mention about the store - if we buy our crib from them during the month of July, we get 25% off any matching furnishings we buy with it, like a dresser or changing table. What a great deal! And they carry the crib that is currently at the top of our list.

I have been holding on to a box of old jeans to make into a jean quilt for a long time. Finally I am doing something about it. (I ran across the box as I was clearing out stuff in the back bedroom). The last two days I cut off all the legs and ripped apart seams. Last night, I started tinkering with a different layout design. Now I need to borrow a sewing machine and just get it done. I'm not as thrilled with the idea of a jean quilt as I once was, but that's probably because I'm baby obsessed these days, and would rather be making a quilt for him. If I get it done and it turns out ok, I will post pics.

Six weeks to go, and even less until summer break is over, as one of my students reminded me at church today. "Summer is almost over. I'm so sad. I don't want to go back to school yet" Amen, sister. Don't tell me that summer is almost over...I have so much left to do before the baby comes...and I'm in no hurry right now to deliver this baby!