Stephen plays dirty

Stephen and I couldn't decide what we were going to do for Valentine's Day. I just figured we'd exchange cards, try to be nice to each other, whatever right? Well he went and surprised me with a pendent. It has one white gold and one rose gold heart with a diamond on a white gold chain.

You could have pushed me over with a feather. I really did not expect this. It's very pretty. Now I feel guilty because I didn't get him anything except a card. Bad Wifey! lol

Update to I Have to Cross the Border

When I was in to have my blood pressure checked by my doctor, I asked what the results of my second rheumatoid arthritis test was. The results were normal. I do NOT have arthritis.

Having ruled out arthritis, lupus, MS, brain tumours, and anything dietary, it appears I have fibromyalgia. Granted, I am functional as I am at this moment. Being pregnant makes seeking treatment almost impossible so I'll wait and see what happens after the baby is born and after I've done my breastfeeding "thing" for a year. I'll have to see what my body does at that point and decide what I want to do.

I have a name for why my (almost) 34 year old body is acting like an 80 year old's. LOL

Some medical excitement for me

We've had some excitement over the last little while with me and my pregnancy.

A week ago, I was exhausted. Not just first trimester exhausted, but even pore of my being was exhausted. I folded 10 towels then had to rest. I unloaded the dishwasher then had to rest before filling it up again. I washed 2 bathroom sinks and 2 toilets and needed to rest. It was just a really bad day.

By the time Stephen got home, I was barely able to move. Just as an experiment, I took my blood pressure. I wondered if maybe things were out of whack. Yeah, they were. The lower number of the blood pressure was fine but the upper number kept spiking. Between 143 and 158 over 75 all weekend.

I called Healthlink on Saturday to see when I should be concerned and the nurse said to go in to be assessed that night. I ignored her because I still needed to make supper then we were going to Monster Jam. (The boys loved it)

By Monday, I had received a fair amount of crap from my online friends to go get assessed. I called my doctor and she got me in THAT day. My blood pressure in the office was perfectly normal. She did however say that she firmly believes that I will have to go on something by the end of this pregnancy to control my BP, just nothing right now.

Then, a couple nights ago, I had fallen asleep in my recliner holding Nicholas. Nathan decided to come and sit with me too but he did it in a really rough manner. He ran at me, jumped and came down, full force on my lower belly with both his knees. I bellowed in pain, scared the crap out of Nicholas and used all my willpower to not throttle Nathan where he stood.

Through reading, I found out that the baby should still be nicely protected by my pubic bone. Still, my belly hurt like nothing else. The next morning, I was still in a lot of pain so I broke down and went into the ER. The nurses were equally concerned and even if the baby is fine, there could have been damage to my insides that would have occurred even if I wasn't pregnant.

My nurse in the ER was fabulous. She ended up coming into the room with a Doppler to see if she could find the baby's heart beat. She warned me that she may not find it and that didn't mean the baby was lost, just that it was still too small to be found.

She persisted. She tried angle after angle and moved the wand so many times. She pointed out what all the sounds were until she finally found the heart beat. I was beyond happy to hear that sound.

The doctor finally decided to grace me with his presence and as soon as I saw him I knew I should have a) left or b) insisted on a different doctor. I've dealt with this asshole on a few different occasions and he's been an ass every time.

He spoke to me like I was an idiot. He said that x-rays were out because I was pregnant. Well, DUH! He pointed out that there was no way the baby could have been harmed because of it's low position within the pubis. He wouldn't even think about an ultrasound or make a referal for an ultrasound. Even after I told him point blank that I was concerned also for myself and possible damage to ME. He poked my belly a couple of times and said that it is soft so there can't be any damage. OK, I just asked about it, he didn't have to reprimand me for being concerned about my own bloody health.

The topper on all of this was his insistance that there was no way to track the baby and it's heart beat because it is still so low and small. I told him that the nurse had found it and his face fell. He sputtered a couple of times then yelled that my bladder MUST have been really full and pushed the baby up and out of my pubic bone or I'm totally wrong on my dates. OK, I don't care which one it was, I heard the heart beat and Dr. JerkWad wasn't going to take that away from me.

He told me to leave a urine sample and to take Tylenol for the pain. I had to wait for the nurse to come back to get a label for my little pee jar so I got dressed and waited. When she came in, we chuckled together about how SOME doctors downplay and disregard the nurses' abilities. Those highly trained doctors would be lost without their nurses. I know many nurses end up covering a doctor's ass from time to time. I have great respect for nurses and little to no respect for doctors with either a God complex or an attitude of entitlement.

So, basically, I'm well, the baby's well and all is mostly right in my part of the world. By the way, the heart rate was 168 beats per minute. Some of my friends think this means a girl but Nathan was always up high like that too. He was always doing extreme sports in there so his heart rate was always through the roof. We shall see what comes out in August or September. LOL

Don't take the bullshit handed to you.

That's the advice given to me by Nathan's pediatrician.

Just after Christmas, I took Nathan to see his pediatrician about maybe getting referals or tests to see why he's struggling so much in school. He appears to be eager and listening but from the time instructions are given to the time he does the stuff, he forgets what he's supposed to be doing. He has no concentration and he seems to forget stuff almost as soon as he's told it.

The doctor told me to get in touch with the school and push to have Nathan assessed through them. He said to push and push and not to take their crap about costs, time, and overload.

I went to the school counsellor and he handed me some paperwork to fill out. I dropped those sheets off about a month ago and I haven't heard anything since. So, I called the counsellor this morning to see what the status was in getting Nathan assessed by the district school psychologist.

The counsellor said that Nathan is on the list to be seen but the psychologist hasn't been in to pick up the paperwork or to do any assessments. He said that she only comes in once or twice a month. One of the points he felt he had to make was that it costs $1000 per child to be assessed and they only assess 18 students per year. So what...? Am I supposed to feel lucky that Nathan's on that list? Oh shit...what if he had been student number 19...He wouldn't be assessed until next year! BULLSHIT!

I'm going to call again next week to see if the psychologist has been in and whether she has interviewed Nathan yet. I'm going to keep calling or going in until they are sick of seeing me.

Nathan is struggling...He is in his second year of kindergarten and I'm not seeing much improvement. Because he's already done this, he'll be put up into Grade 1 whether he's capable of doing the work or not.

Nathan's frustrated so he acts out at home when I try to work with him. If he can't get it, he shuts down. It KILLS me to see this. I feel so helpless.

Hello, my name is Christine and I am a slacker!

Yes, I know...I've been SUCH a slacker! LOL I'm not keeping my multitude of fans updated on the mundanity of my life. LOL

In ANY case, I'm doing not too badly overall. I am 10 weeks and 2 days pregnant. So far I have had little to no nausea with this pregnancy. I've had some minor difficulties like a week long bout of carpel tunnel syndrome where I couldn't move my right hand without wincing in agony and some minor low back and joint pain, but they're not really bothering me too much right now. Sure, I'm tired, very VERY tired, but that's been the worst of it over the long term. Other than that, I just feel kind of PMS-like. So, I guess I'm getting off pretty easy for the early part of this pregnancy.

Nathan still wants a girl and Nicholas still wants a boy. Nicholas wants to name the baby Tarzan. Yeah, I can see THAT happening. LOL

All of my weight gain so far has been in the bust. Go figure! LOL Stephen's getting a kick out of the larger bust. It's almost getting perky...Yeah, WHATEVER! All I can say is, Thank God for supportive bras! I think I'll get to reuse mine as bassinets or hammocks for a set of twins. LOL

I'll be heading back to see my regular doctor in 2 weeks so that we can fill out the reams of paperwork required to refer me to an OB. I hope I'll be able to hear the heartbeat soon. It doesn't seem really real until I hear the heartbeat and see the little alien twitching around on the ultrasound.

There has been a request (or 2) that when and if I find out if the baby is a boy or a girl, I not tell publicly. I want to know what it is but it will just be my luck that the baby will be shy and not show its "goods". I have planning to do, doesn't he/she/it realize that?

Toilets, Pee, and Underwear

Nicholas has finally discovered the joys of not wearing a diaper all day. He is DAY TRAINED!!! He is quite enamoured with wearing big boy underwear and he had a little question..."Why is there a hole in the front of his underwear?" He insisted he needed a new pair and this pair needed to go into the garbage. I had to get Stephen to explain it because I was doubled over laughing. Now it's funny to reach in there and pull out his tally-whacker and let it hang in the breezes. Thank God he only does that at home!

To make pee breaks fun (and because my own bladder has shrunk to the size of a walnut), when Nicholas says he has to go pee, I race him to the washroom. I try to get there first and tell him that I have to pee first. He just laughs at me and tells me that he gets to go first. He knows that I wouldn't make a new toilet user wait. Little turkey!

He's so proud of himself when it comes to the whole toilet routine. He needs to share it with me every...single...time! He's very capable of stripping down to do what needs to be done but he likes Mommy to be there as an audience. Privileged, aren't I? LOL Every once in a while he'll let Daddy in on the experience but mostly, he likes Mommy to be there.

With the toilet training and big boy underwear comes the fascination with his butt. He's proud of his. Very Proud. Ever watch your 3 year old give himself a wedgie then proudly parade around the house, taunting you to "get his butt"? You're missing a funny time. I don't know how many times he's lead one of us on a wild chase around the house. Ah, it gives us grown ups some exercise. LOL His favourite "trick" now is to hide around a corner, jump out in full wedgie, wiggling his tushie at us. Very reminiscent of Nathan who used to hide around corners, strip down and throw his clothes into the room just before jumping out in jumping jack formation to yell, "I GOT NAKED!"

I have a couple of exhibitionists on my hands. And who would have guessed I could have a whole post about my kid's fascination with toilets, underwear and his butt? LOL

Holy Craper-Doodle!

I did an oopsie! LOL

I found out last night that I'm expecting baby #3. I confirmed it today with an appointment with my doctor. I expect to be due August 30th. This means another hot summer being VERY pregnant.

I just realized that it appears Stephen and I only do the deed when the weather gets cold. Nathan was conceived in November 2000 and was born August 2001. Nicholas was conceived in December 2003 and born September 2004. This one was conceived in November 2007 and, like I said, is due August 2008.

Why do I do this to myself? LOL Of course, I blame Stephen. LOL

I think we had jinxed ourselves. I had donated the majority of the baby and toddler clothes to charity, we'd been discussing how the boys are getting old enough to appreciate and remember vacations (Disneyland was in the works for this year or next), we're happy with 2 boys and all their challenges, and Stephen had agreed that if I made the appointment, he'd get snipped. I think we're a little late on THAT one. LOL

I still have the big stuff, crib, high chair, stroller, and exersaucer but we'll still need to get a new carseat and a bunk bed set up for the boys.

Nathan wants a girl and Nicholas wants a boy. Stephen and I just want healthy. Granted, after 2 boys, I'd be over the moon with an infusion of pink but healthy is the first priority. In the mean time, I'm booking Stephen's appointment. LOL

So much for losing 30 pounds, eh? LOL