We have a lot to cover.
I was right that the baby had in deed moved, unfortunately it was from my right to my left side, not the move we were all looking for.
Cody went with me to Wednesdays appointment so he could get some answers about c sections and why I had to have one. Those of you who recall my past experiences with DR.L already know things are headed downhill FAST!
We go to the ultrasound, the only hiccup there was I was offered to travel with a cup of pee again, I assured her I could make more before I was to see the doctor and that it would not be necessary for me to walk around with a cup of pee. This is also the only time in my life I have had to check in with people to tell them I had to pee so they can direct me to a cup, I will be glad when going to the bathroom consists only of notifying myself.
After being informed the baby is still breech, and still has her cord around her neck we get fun news she has a full head of hair and I actually get to see it on the ultrasound......amazing.
Upon leaving we run into a lady I know through work that does billing for my DR, I tell her baby is still breech and she teasingly tells Cody it's all his fault. Cody has no clue who this woman is, and less than amused I start to panic when I seem him stone face her and turn beat red. I promptly introduce them and scoot ourselves out the door for everyone's safety.
We go back to the waiting room to wait for the DR. I offer Cody a magazine, he looks at me like "What the Hell for?" I inform him we could be sitting here for 45 minutes or better. This is not good. The receptionist then informs me that DR.L is indeed running about 45 minutes late and that if we have some errands to run that might work out better than sitting around just waiting. We get up to leave and Cody loudly asks "Didn't you make an appointment?"
We leave and decide to go have breakfast, we come back 45 minutes later and we are promptly escorted into a room to wait to be seen.....45 minutes after that DR.L comes in.
For those doing the math, 20 minutes for the ultrasound, 45 minutes eating breakfast while waiting for the DR, and yes another 45 minutes in the little office with the stirrups waiting some more for the DR.
I have to say under the circumstances Cody was wonderful, a few snide comments and very short with the DR, but everyone left alive.
Lots of stress that day, we are definitely getting a c section. The closest thing I have ever had to surgery is my wisdom teeth being removed. I am very very nervous.
My mom arrived Wednesday night and will stay for about a month. I am so thankful that she can afford to remove herself from her life 1300 miles away for an entire month just to help us.
Gramma brought a ton of quilting material with her and her plan is to quilt so we won't try to kill each other when we can't leave the house for regular outings.
Friday was my last day at work, when I got home I had caveman feet. Throughout this pregnancy I have not swollen at all, this was a surprising event for me. I was going to take a picture for you then decided I have done a good enough job of embarrassing myself without it.
Speaking of embarrassing, God bless my mom. I showed her the nursery complete with bumper and crib comforter( I have since removed them for safety I just wanted her to see it) my mom starts laughing hysterically and asks if I still get shit over "the comforter is too short" incident. Thank you for bringing that back up, I told her only when I am a glutton for punishment and bring it up myself.

How Do I Get Outta here??

I had the most pleasant time with my daughter yesterday....yep she's still residing inside my body.
This kid was Action Jackson all day and night. I spent hours watching my stomach contort in ways I never knew it could. Amazing is an understatement. I'm thinking/hoping she was able to unwrap the cord from her neck and is in the process of looking for the "exit" if you will.
She is definitely in a different position than she has been, this is very promising.
She pushed and pulled and squirmed and cuddled all over yesterday. That's right she cuddles already, when I place my hand on my stomach she pushes whatever body part is closest out to it and stays until I move.
Doctor appointment tomorrow at 9:30, and as of that time I will get a confirm delivery date, unless she's completed a flip & they decide to just let me ride this out, at which point I will begin the eviction process :)

She's Happy...Damnit!

Baby is still breech with the cord around her neck. She seems quite content. I am holding dilated at 3cm and 70% effaced. I go in next Wednesday, if she is still breech at this point they will schedule me for a C-Section. This is very frustrating for me, I am healthy and plenty big enough to carry and deliver a child. What's with the bed rest and C-Section?
Oh well safe healthy baby comes first, and I don't have to question my doctors wants for a C-Section.
On to today's rant.....The retired.
I'm looking forward to retirement, never having to hurry anywhere to anything, planning my days my way I'll admit being jealous of that. While you are never in any hurry for anything..ever, could you please try to think of others that might be, or that we just might not be interested in waiting for you.
Stop parking your shopping carts in the middle of the aisle SIDEWAYS (not making that up seems to be a frequent occurrence). Stop looking at me being as pregnant as I can be and making ME go around you, young and able bodied I am not currently. Should you park your cart and someone else needs to get to where your cart is blocking offer to move it. CRIPES! I succumbed to a tantrum in the produce section & pushed an old ladies cart into the middle of the aisle with her right there because it was in my way. Yes I'm an asshole and I should have requested she move it, I have no defense. Thank goodness I was able to skip Walmart today that place makes me homicidal, Lord only knows what kind of melt down would have ensued.

I Understand

I now understand why at the end of pregnancy women are ready to see their baby ( for reasons other than the obvious).
Weekly Dr visits, cervix checks, a heavy belly, and acid reflux. I will say again pregnancy has been very good to me up to this last month, I am very ready to meet my girl.
I have a DR. apt tomorrow will update later in the afternoon.
Let's do a rant shall we? This is more like a "What the Hell"
Last week I went to a newborn class, yes it was very much 'this is a baby, this is a diaper' but I did get a few great pieces of information to make it worthwhile. They are doing major construction on the maternity ward, there is NEVER a good time for this...never. I have to be rerouted to get to the maternity ward, no problem I am used to this. There is a 20 foot hallway detour, I know the route well. This time there are 2 orange cones blocking the hallway, I walk right by these, thus turning myself into the jackass who doesn't read signs possibly ending up on someone else's blog as a rant :). There is a construction worker about 10 feet in who stops me, I am informed I cannot use this hallway because they are in the process of lifting a 6,000 pound beam, I will need to take another route.....uuummm what other route? I have to return down the hallway the way I barged in and go to the reception desk to be told I have to drive around to the way backside of this building to get in over there. I finally find the entrance, a nurse has to let me in, I request she show me where the bathroom is, since the only one I know of is the one at the end of the unusable hallway. The nurse takes me to the bathroom I told her was unusable, there again is my favorite construction worker to explain the situation to the nurse, he then says that it is perfectly OK to use this bathroom, he will even stand outside to ensure my safety (not making that up). I ask if the beam has been secured, the answer is no but the bathroom is safe.
What the Hell??
Thank you for offering to stand outside the door for safety sake sir (eye roll) but this bathroom is IN the same hallway, 5 damn feet from where you just ushered me away for my own safety. How do you think moving me 5 feet is safer in the case of a 6000 pound beam? I can assure you that if I am on that toilet, and that beam falls, I will notice and there is no amount of you guarding the door to help that. These are the thoughts in my head.
So, I held it and went pee when I got home, no one guarded the door, and nothing fell in from the ceiling.

Back to work...kinda

Today was my first day back to work. I made it 6 hours before I was done and it was time to go home. I decided it's not worth it for me to push myself so hard that I go to work one week then get bed rest again next week. Part time is better than no time. I will go to work daily as long as I feel I can handle it, then I will come home for the day. I feel very secure with this decision, which is huge for me. I'm a tiger, a go getter....a ball breaking ice princess ( yes I actually scored that in a Cosmo once) I do not accept defeat well, so for me this is HUGE progress :)

I was given another rant for the day suggestion...People who tailgate in construction traffic.
This is great! Where the hell is ANYONE going in one lane construction traffic? One lane for miles baby sit back make some calls, you could even call in your order to the coffee shop in advance. My boss was on her way to work this morning one lane construction traffic with a mini van riding her ass. I assume the mini van lady is along the same lines as the sunglasses in doors people. You drive a mini van, if you're going to ride someones ass do it in a vehicle that at least has the appearance of going faster than you can. Seriously. What makes my boss so great, she's a go getter too. She decides to actually do the construction speed limit now, aaaaaaalllll the way to the stop light (a good few miles) the minivan is getting pissed, she's leaning out to see around (again like she's going somewhere), and making bored/frustrated gestures. They come to a stop, the car in front of my boss has to turn, so my boss is stuck waiting for this thus halting the mini van even more who also wants to turn. LOVE IT!
Morale of the story, if you're going to act like an asshole, hope the person you're doing it to is not trained in "Handling Asshole Tactics For Fun" .

Day 6

I DID IT!!!! I got my fluid level up from 9.5 to 12.5!!!!
This means I get to back to work tomorrow, they will let me have a trial week to make sure I can keep my fluid level up, if I do I keep working, if not it's bed rest until D Day.
The doctor said since it's not my Estria, (if it was I wouldn't have been able to raise my fluid) it's probably me getting over heated (yay summer!) and/or trying to do too much still. I will still need to take it super easy and not push myself.
Baby is still breech, her head is nestled up in my ribs along with the placenta, making for a cozy fit. She has one leg in my pelvis and the other in my left side, which would explain why it feels like I am incubating an octopus. She also has the cord wrapped around her neck, thank God they can see these things now. Between her head and leg positioning, and the cord she's not doing herself any favors in the turning around department.
The cord around the neck is very normal, I asked and the doctor said that she will not try to turn if that cord tightens, which is good because she won't try to strangle herself that way.
I will go back next Wednesday (every Wednesday from here on out) for another check up. Bed rest was SO boring I am so thankful to get back to work.
And last but not least I wouldn't rip you off...rant of the day :)
People who wear their sunglasses in doors, that do NOT have eye problems. How do you not notice what a complete douchebag you look like? You're in Walmart for shits sake, who are you trying to out snob?
OOHHH there's another one people who look down their noses at me. You're 350 pounds, have 16 hooligan children, smell like smoke and B.O, wearing a wife beater with no bra, (EW!) and you have the balls to look at me like I'm trash? Nice. God help me if my pregnancy hormones take over when that happens and I go Jerry Springer in the store.
AND...you people who "wash" your hands in a public restroom and use NO soap, fuck off! Do not look at me like I'm riff raff in the middle of appearing to be cleanly. One time in Las Vegas I was waiting for a friend to finish in the bathroom, this happened to me about 3 times before I yelled to my friend "Ya know what my favorite part of Vegas is? People who don't even use soap to wash their hands looking at me like I'm going to steal their purse"
Amazingly people quit looking at me and the soap usage went up :)

Day 5

Why can't things appear as they are?
I ordered a crib sheet thinking that it would be a great vibrant green, only to have it arrive and be an icky green. Online this crib sheet looks great, maybe it's along the lines of seeing someone on TV then seeing them in real life....damn photo shop!
Dr. apt tomorrow at 11:00 to get my fluids checked, pray that all levels are up, baby has turned and mommy can return to work.

Day 4

I'm going to post amusing rants daily for you since I have nothing better to do.
I hate bed rest, but I keep reminding myself that's it's much much better than a lot of other things...such as grocery shopping on senior discount day.
The goal is to come up with a new topic daily, today's suggestion was to rant on cable TV. I don't have cable TV so I cannot rant on that, but I can amuse you with why I do not have it.
Originally we opted to not get cable because we were a young married couple and cable was too expensive. Fast forward a few years, now we're used to not having to pay for it and quite happy having one less bill.
The reason we still do not have it 12 years later, we are like fat kids & cake. We will both sit dazed in front of the TV (not even a good show mind you) only to get up to eat when not hungry(thus making us fat) and to use the bathroom but ONLY when almost ready to burst. God help anyone who feebly attempts to garner our attention away from the beloved craptastic show we are engrossed in, it's like trying to sell insurance to a guy at his first time in a topless bar.....you are not even there as far as we're concerned.
I will work on tomorrow's rant :).

Bed Rest

It has taken me too long to update you, I'm sorry. So much has been happening I have wanted time to process, then post.
June 25th I had a Dr. appointment, and ultrasound. I was finally able to see Dr.L and he is a very nice man whose primary concern is my baby, so he's in my good graces now even though he's a pain in the ass to get in to. I now understand why women rearrange schedules and gladly wait 45 minutes just to see him.
I went in to the ultrasound first, baby was her usual aloof self and only gave us a drive by for the picture :)
At the time I was just over 34 weeks pregnant, she measured at 35 weeks. Not that I want a huge baby but her measuring larger is especially good news because I test low for the hormone Estria (sp?), 15% of women who test low for this have babies with low birth rate. We will be revisiting the Estria issue later in this post.
So baby looks good but my amniotic fluid level is "low-normal" you should have between 10-20 units of amniotic fluid, I was at 10 which is still OK just not optimal. By the time I get in to see Dr.L three people have asked me if I am still working and what my job is, I answer wondering why all of a sudden everyone feels compelled to ask this.
Dr.L asks "Casey are you still working, and what do you do?"
I answer "yes I plan to work to full term, and I do medical billing"
Dr.L " Do you do a lot physically?"
Me laughing " No I can't anymore baby doesn't like it. Why?"
Dr.L "well your amniotic fluid is low, but my concern is you went from 13 units to 10 units. Do you have a lot of stress?"
Me "Absolutely. Why am I loosing fluid?"
Dr.L "My guess is stress. I will let you work 40 hours a week, as long as you promise to go straight home and do NOTHING else for the remainder of the evening."
Me "Could you please write me a note for that? My husband is a little hard core & would never believe me."
Dr.L "Absolutely."
Off I go with my de-stress and kick back note, this pleases Cody very little, but we want a healthy baby and I still get to work. I spent the week analyzing why some people at home and at work piss me off so bad. The answers are, at work I believe you get paid to do a job, do it! That is way to hard for a few people employed by my bosses, I had to let that go if you can't give a shit about getting your own job done neither can I. I now only give 100% of what I am given to work with, I quit pushing for others to complete their jobs so I can mine, I'll just start passing it back to them when I can't finish certain things. Also a personal issue I will not get into here has been affecting me greatly, I decided this person can go to Hell and that's that :). SO once I figured all this out I had a great week at work watching everyone else stress out about our favorite slackers and I smiled and let them deal with it.
July 3rd, check up Dr appointment to check my fluid level, down to 9.5 units. This royally pisses me off, I de-stressed, and laid on my ass all week, and baby has been much more active.What the crap?!
Dr.L then goes through the list of possibilities that I was maybe still doing too much, I told him not true. He goes back through my chart and notes the low Estria, seems there's a little bit of info there that was never relayed to me. As well as having babies with low birth rates, women with low Estria also sometimes have to deal with their placenta crapping out before full term. My baby still gets what she needs but the placenta slowly starts shutting down thus affecting things like amniotic fluid. Right now I am grateful they test for this because is has given me extra ultrasounds, without which I have to wonder if they would have ever noticed my low fluid.
Dr.L sends me to the hospital for a non stress test, I sit in a recliner & watch TV while the put monitors on my belly and see what the baby is up to, 45 minutes later she's perfect.
Dr.L says since I am still loosing fluid I get to go on bed rest this week, in the hopes of building fluid if I can get to 10 or above I can go back to work, although he thinks now low Estria is the culprit.
The other reason low fluid is a problem is baby is still breach, the less fluid she has the harder it is for her to turn, we want her to turn or it's C-section for mommy....no thank you.
SUCK! I don't do well with bed rest, I have things to do.
"Let other people take care of that and you rest"
I take care of me. I get frustrated letting others do it. Baby comes first. Now I get to sit reclined or lay down, the end.