Hero

I was feeling pretty cruddy last night so we watched some Hero's episodes (we prefer to watch them in blocks). I went to bed shortly after we finished a few episodes and I guess I was dreaming about it in between bathroom breaks.
My life seems to consist of checking my blood sugar, checking my blood pressure, checking for fetal movement and spending the majority of my time in the bathroom due to the fact the my bladder is now pretty much a squished pancake. I have to see a high risk pregnancy specialist today so that was making it a little more difficult to go back to sleep.
At one point, I tried to clear my mind of doctor related stuff and started thinking about hero's and what I would wish my super power to be. It dawned on me that it was simply to have this baby. This seems like a super feat in and of itself. I mean the whole concept of it just amazes me (and scares me).
So, for now, this is the super power I wish for. It seems like I will need super human strength in order to do this. Seems like I need all the strength I can muster to just get through this doctor stuff alone.

Update

Well, it's about 6am and I can't sleep. Figured I'd blog about what's been going on. Briefly, anyway.
Things have been pretty crazy lately. Went out last Saturday to celebrate and had a great time. The shower went great as well. Had a few friends come in from out of town for the shower/weekend and one very close friend flew in all the way from Pennsylvania! We got to spend some of the week with her which was awesome.

The sucky part was that I started showing signs of pre-eclampsia last week (nasty pregnancy related thing) and had to be hospitalized over night. Test results came back ok so they let me go home. Though, I just got out of the hospital again yesterday and am showing almost pre-pre-eclampsia signs now (whatever that means). So I have to take it pretty easy from now on and this is really bad because the baby's room still needs painted, need carpet put in, all the clothes washed, have to put the crib together, install the car seat and try to prepare myself for labor and delivery!

Looks like I might be looking at an induction pretty soon. The doc said if I go into labor now she wouldn't stop it. She also won't put me on blood pressure meds at this point- she'd just induce. So this has me kind of a nervous wreck- luckily, I'm too tired to be too nervous. Interesting, I'm tired- yet I can't sleep?

That's it for now. Poor Dad is worried about us- he's helping with everything and being a wonderful, supportive partner (even if his boss is not being so supportive).

Ginkgo

I had the privilege of walking by a ginkgo tree as it was shedding it's leaves today. Apparently, they shed all their leaves in a very short time span (sometimes in 1 day).
We walk by the tree almost every day, but today was different. There were all of a sudden so many leaves on the ground that you couldn't even see the sidewalk. The leaves emit a very strange odor.
I've been walking at lunch around the same area for a few years now and this was the first time I was able to witness this event. We stopped for a while and looked up at the magnificent tree and watched the leaves streaming down around us. Just seemed kind of cool.

Ginkgo trees fascinate me.

Here are a few interesting facts:

The Ginkgo tree is the sole surviving species of the family Ginkgoaceae and is the world’s oldest living tree. In fact it is so old that the Ginkgo tree links us to the plant world of over two hundred million years ago. For this reason it is often referred to as a ‘living fossil’ The Ginkgo is the sole living link between the lower and higher plants, between ferns and conifers.

During autumn, the leaves turn a bright yellow, then fall, sometimes within a short space of time (1–15 days)

Extreme examples of the Ginkgo's tenacity may be seen in Hiroshima, Japan, where four trees growing between 1–2 km from the 1945 atom bomb explosion were among the few living things in the area to survive the blast (photos & details). While almost all other plants (and animals) in the area were destroyed, the ginkgos, though charred, survived and were soon healthy again. The trees are alive to this day.

There are no native ginkgoes living in the wild. All wild trees were wiped out hundreds of thousands of years ago but human intervention has saved the modern tree.

Gingko biloba is most effective as a concentrated extract, found in either liquid or tablet form. It has beneficial effects on the circulatory system, particularly among the elderly. Studies have shown it can help in treatment of their short-term memory loss, headache, tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and depression by improving blood flow in the arteries and capillaries

not so fine dining

I don't understand why Mr. Manx and I seem to be cursed when it comes to eating out? Usually he is the last person to receive his food- sometimes everyone else is done eating by the time he gets his food! Though, recently I have been the one to suffer at the dinner table. Why people would do this to a pregnant woman I don't know- they must not understand our hunger...and how overpowering it really can be!
We recently went out to Indigo since we figured there wouldn't be much of a chance for fine dining and romance for much longer (either because I'm feeling like a waddling whale or because we will have a little one that demands all our attention).
We got a table right away and he ordered the wine I suggested so I could have a few sips and we started out with these wonderful Cali rolls (which, is ok'd for pregnancy - no raw fishies) - they were as good as what we ate in Chicago and were served on a slab of cold granite...mmmm. Next, we had a salad with a really strong basalmic vinegarette dressing with cranberries and nuts (I thought the dressing was a bit too overpowering). It was served with hummus, olives, garlic and pita bread and then went on to our main course.
We decided to do split some "serf and turf" - I ordered the "turf" and he ordered the "serf"
Our waitress came out with his scallops and informed us that my meal was taken out by mistake by another waitress. She said she'd comp us the glass of wine. So we munched on his scallops for a bit but we wanted the combination so we sat there for about 5 minutes while his food got cold.
Finally my food was brought out- the steak was way more rare than I had ordered it but we were so hungry and desperate at that point that we wolfed it all down. It was very good though.
All in all, we found the dining experience to be pleasant. The sushi was awesome...everything else was good but not the best meal I've ever had- the place had great music playing, nice decor and lighting so it sort of made up for it.
It just seems like one stupid thing always has to happen.

Our most recent dining experience was one of the worst I must say. I was craving fried chicken yesterday- I crave it once or twice a year and it sounded really really good to me.
I'm pissed I even agreed to go to "Willie Mac's"... it's that new place where the ground round used to be...ugh! No restaurant has worked there for years but we were driving by and Mr. Manx suggested we try it. He actually suggested it a couple of time- I refused the first two times but I though he really wanted to go there so agreed...apparently he thought they would have good "country" fried chicken since it looked like a "country" place. Plus, they were close and I was hungry. Good intentions, bad results...
When you have 3 servers walk up to you at the same time, show your your plate and ask you if your meal looks right to you, you have to wonder what the hell you have gotten yourself into! They brought this freeze dried piece of chicken fried steak and tried to tell me it was fried chicken without the bone. No...first, they tried to tell me fried chicken wasn't on the menu- that it was actually only chicken fried steak. I corrected them and told them they both were on the menu- they made up some lame ass excuse for that one- all three of them talking at once, then they tried to pass off chicken fried steak as chicken without the bone. I cut the piece open and said no...this is not chicken...what are you not understanding? Then they tell me that they are actually out of fried chicken....WTF? Why didn't they just say this to begin with? They actually tried to pass off one food as another?

Now, fried chicken is not healthy food- I know this and already felt bad enough for attempting to eat it. I rarely have it but damn, it can taste good and it's so nice to go somewhere that actually knows how to prepare it. The shit they served at this place looked like a frozen dinner-there was no way I was eating it!

Mr. Manx had just ordered a burger and it looked safe enough to eat and I was starting to get really shaky from not eating so, once again, I had to share Mr. Manx's food until mine came out.
Luckily, I had just told them to get the crap I didn't order the hell away from me and just bring me the same thing that he ordered so we could split his and then split mine when it came out.

The most annoying part is that they charged us full price for the burgers. The poor waitress (it was her first day- there were 3-4 other servers that seemed to busy gossiping than to wait on us) got a disgusted ear full from me and I didn't even bother talking to a manager because I get a little scared of my pregnancy hormones and there was still a knife on the table...it was probably better to just leave. They'd probably only take off a few bucks and I'd have to argue with some dimwit who doesn't know how to run a restaurant...plus, the whole knife thing...

argh...thank goodness for the times we are blessed with a decent meal and decent service. Seems to be rare though.

Joy came into our lives right after Christmas last year. I had been volunteering at the shelter a lot and had been debating fostering a dog. My work closed over Christmas so I had a whole week off and thought that would be a perfect opportunity to try fostering. I went to the shelter one afternoon and walked some dogs and then asked if they had any dogs that needed fostered. They told me about a couple- one was some beagle mix that would not stop barking and I can't remember what the story was with the others but they just didn't feel right. I walked into the clinic area (where the hurt/sick or "problem" animals are) and saw this little puppy by herself in her kennel looking really sad and pathetic. They told me her name was Joy, she was about 8 weeks old and that she was from a humane investigation (really, really bad story). She was the only pup out of the litter that was ok, her brother was in a foster home and was blind from a head injury.

They told me she was a pit bull mix and said I could go ahead and take her if I wanted. So I did. Mr. Manx came home to a bit of a surprise but he knew I'd been kicking around the idea for a while- one look at her and he was all gooey.

We had a rough night with her. I didn't know whether I should expose my dogs to her so kept them pretty much locked up and she stayed in the kennel a lot. It was a long first night. I ended up sleeping on the couch and had my fingers inside the kennel since she just cried all night. She was really hot and I was worried she was running a fever so took her in the next morning. She was and they put her on some antibiotics and we went back home. She drank water like she had never tasted it before- even to this day she laps it up like it won't be there tomorrow.

I was determined to socialize her since she was a pit-bull mix from a bad, bad situation. She was extremely shy and timid- very fearful of everything at first. She quickly warmed up to our dogs though. I had to force her to let me hold her and snuggle with her.

We had some APL friends over for foster puppy "play dates" while we had her and I soon started taking to her adoptions. Man, there are some strange people that come to those adoptions. One woman started yelling at me across the store asking about her. I was just ignoring her (I do not respond to people who feel the need to yell across stores) until she came up and started asking me about Joy. When I told her she was a pit-bull mix she started freaking out saying she is mean. I looked at her like she was crazy and said this is a puppy- I don't think she's capable of being mean- in fact she's one of the sweetest, most timid puppies I've met? I suggested that maybe this was not the breed for her and that she continue to look for one that she is comfortable with and she continued to argue with me about pit bulls (argue with herself, more like because I was just trying to nod my head and do my best to not engage her- it was all I could do to remain polite). So she has to call her son who would "love" this puppy and insists that I wait for him to arrive. He arrives right before the adoption ended and seems to have no interest in the dog.

There were some very nice people that looked at Joy but no - one really interested except the whackos (I won't bother sharing the other stories!) that were either scared of her or wanted a "tough dog." The cool part was that Joy got to play with her brother at the adoptions( Stevie- like Stevie wonder) they were so similar in disposition! Stevie got adopted pretty quickly even though he was blind- we were so thrilled.
At one of the first adoptions a nice volunteer snapped Joy's picture for petfinder.com so we could start really advertising.
Now, Joy as a puppy and even to this day has always had teary eyes. In her petfinder picture, her eyes were all glossy and teary and she looked so cute! They asked me to write something up to add to her picture and I would write these extremely loving descriptions of her. I began to discover that I was writing this little petfinder description for myself because I realize I was starting to get attached. Joy started acting like a "normal" puppy, actually extremely well behaved, and really was fitting into the house nicely. Plus, Mr. Manx was undeniably in love with little "squirty"
"Squirty" was her nickname since we weren't overly fond of Joy- but hadn't found an alternative.
Well, we soon decided to just keep her because neither of us could part with her and every time I saw her picture on petfinder I cried.

Through this, I had to be tested for ovarian cancer from a large cyst the doctor found- it was months of being scared and my little puppy took my mind off my worry. Along with this, my brother went away to basic training, my Mom had major spinal surgery and was in extreme pain up until her surgery. I felt like all I did was worry and she was welcome relief.
As time progressed my brother decided that this was what he was meant to do, my Mom's surgery was a success and my cyst miraculously went away and 2 weeks after the appointment confirming my good health, I found out I was pregnant. There seemed to be Joy in our lives so we kept the name. We did alter it slightly to reflect a song by an artist that we like…Joi was another spelling of her name and it just seemed to fit when we discovered that song title- don't know why.
It now turns out that Joy is biggest of all our dogs, is a digger, and a total instigator of mischief around the house. She's also sweet as can be to all people, dogs, and cats. She is still coming out of her shell to this day and finally enjoys snuggling with me on the bed before I go to bed- she's still fine staying in her kennel which makes managing three dogs easier.
It may sound like I have a fondness for one dog over the other since I realized each post is getting longer and longer but I've discovered that with each dog, there is just more of a story to fill in. I know we never would have kept her had we known I would be pregnant so soon after but it's a done deal now. We just have a big house that is filled with lots of love and lots of fur.
I do know I'm done with fostering though!!!

Pictures

Here's a couple new pictures from the ultrasound I had yesterday. We definitely confirmed that she's a girl (I left out that photo)!
It was great to find out that she looks healthy and is in the 60th percentile in weight. Which is nothing to worry about. No sign of any effects of the gestational diabetes. The doctor that came in to look at the ultrasound results flat out told me my fasting numbers are not gestational diabetic- that they are normal and that I must be on the really low end of the spectrum.
She looked really cute in the brief glimpses we saw of her. Cute chubby little face.
It's nice to have good news and to see our little one. I might possibly get another ultrasound in 4 weeks if she is still measuring big- we'll see.
We didn't even think we were getting another until a couple of weeks ago so this was just an extra little bonus.
One of the images freaks me out a little bit because it looks like her eyes are open. Ultrasound images are pretty strange looking!
She looked much better on the monitor.
Those little feet keep creeping closer and closer to my ribs. Things are getting a little cramped!

Sleep

I'm finding that sleep happens on an every other night basis lately. Probably due to third trimester woes. Recently baby was very active, I mean, very active. So active that it felt like someone socked me in the belly in one area- it was all sore and uncomfortable from her kicking the same spot over and over again. I wonder how often this will happen?
I keep thinking, here I was bitching about the women who just said "you just wait..." meaning that I'll begin feeling so miserable soon and now I'm wondering if I will begin feeling miserable now. Still, I see no need to frighten a poor pregnant woman when we already have so many worries as it is.
There seems to be good days and bad days. I really can't complain about the kicking in any serious way because it's just so cool.
The ultrasound is on Tuesday. I'm getting excited and am already dreaming about it. Well, dreaming about arguing with nurses and then my boss pops into the dream and I just get pissed and wake myself up and tell myself that I really do not have to tolerate bad nurses or bosses in my dreams since I can have some sort of power over my dreams at least!

Well, it's probably obvious that I've haven't had enough sleep because I just feel like I'm rambling today.
Wish I had something funny or witty to blog about like the other bloggers I read at 3 in the morning but I often chuckle to myself though the day about this and that and just don't have the energy to write about it later. I am glad that blogs are out there though. They often do the job of making me forget about my worries or little aches and pains for long enough to get sleepy again during my late night sleepless stretches.
Well, I got up, let the dogs out and back in, fed the cats, made coffee, tested my blood sugar (a little high for some reason) ate my breakfast- the same thing I eat EVERY day and think I'm going to go lay back down and nap. I might as well try to get in a cat nap while I can.