Confessions of a Blogaholic

1. Last Friday, my principal came into our lunch and handed me a packet. He said I'd been selected as one of the "heads" for our departmental meetings this week and the week before Thanksgiving. So, I share the responsibility of "head" with a middle school teacher, and we are to lead the 14 teachers from 6-12 grade in Foreign Language, English, and the librarian. While I was pretty honored at being selected, I am still surprised that it happened--I'm the newest of all these "heads" for all departments. I should be flattered, but I'd love to know WHY me, so I can make sure it wasn't just a default choice, lol.

2. I've also become the team leader for our freshman team. This was by default because no one was stepping up to do it, and if you know me, you know I can't stand following along when no one is leading. So, I ended up doing it. I'll probably do it again next year IF there is some sort of payment for it!!!

****Let me just mention here that I zoned out as I wrote that and began researching "Freshman Transition" on the internet. I just spent over an hour perusing sites. Ugh, I'm such an over-achiever!****

3. I really want a raise next year, but I don't see it happening since we have to get our income tax reapproved. There's no way people will approve it again if we get a raise at the same time. But, let me just point out that teachers at our school have only had a 1% raise in the last 4 years.

4. I still love my job, and I love my kids.

5. At this time in two days, I will not only know the sex of our baby (barring and unforeseen bashfulness of said child), I will have purchased my first real baby-related item (a pink or blue teddy bear from Build-a-Bear).

6. Glee is back tomorrow!!!

7. It's almost Thanksgiving and I am so excited. In all honesty, I truly think Turkey Day is my most favorite holiday. Now that I think about it, some of the best family gatherings have been during Thanksgiving. I love it!! And I love that it sets off the Christmas season.

8. Today I feel like a good teacher because my kids are voluntarily conferencing with me about their essays during work time in class.

9. Today I feel like a good human being because I felt productive, driven, and like a good leader for both of my groups (#1 and #2).

10. Today I feel like a good woman because I was able to touch my belly and know a 4-inch human being is growing in there :)

I have officially gained 3 pounds. I'm willing to argue that 3 pounds in 15 weeks, 3 days is doing pretty good, but I'm also the person who is willing to argue that I'm "pleasantly plump" and not obese, lol. No, really, though, I'm not obese. I'm guessing that all the weight gin has been to my boobs and stomach, since those are the two regions that no longer want to fit into anything I own--And my face. Oh man, my face is getting fat. Yuck. Oh well, what can I do??

My goal is to not gain more than 15 pounds throughout the pregnancy. Being fat to begin with, I don't think I really need to gain that much. I eat when I'm hungry (and can find something that won't come right back up), and I don't eat when I'm not hungry.

When this pregnancy is over--I HAVE GOT TO GET MYSELF IN CHECK!!!! I do NOT want to be one of those super fat moms!!! It's bad enough being a super fat pregnant chick and missing out on all those fantastic "Oh my gosh! Are you pregnant???" comments at the store or whatever; instead, people will look at me and say, "Wow! You're really....uh....changing! Watch out for diabetes you fat ass!!!" lol I want to have the energy and mobility to play with my kids when they can play and to do all that fun stuff you're supposed to do with your family.

In other, non-baby-related news...

Stink is still looking like crap. He has another bladder infection (hence the pee discussed in an earlier post), so we're treating that with some more Clavomax. We're in month 4 of the allergy immunization program, and every time we have to give him a shot (we're at the 30-day interval now, thank God), we feel awful. He's so scabbed and his hair is so gone that it's hard to find a place to put the syringe. It's awful. We're giving him a year's worth of time to see improvement (next June), and if nothing, we're going to have to do something else.

Mammaw is back at Mom's house. She's having trouble keeping her sugar level where it should be. Even after eating a candy bar, her level is still really low. She'll have to get back to the doctor sometime this week. She is pretty much over-the-moon still about the 3d ultrasound this week, and I'm so glad I can make her that happy.

I just have to say that I feel 200% better about my decision to use a midwife instead of an OB. Several fantastic things about the midwife are...

1. There are two midwives at the practice and they are both super friendly, experienced, funny, and dedicated.
2. They didn't make me feel bad about anything I said!
3. One of the two of them will not only deliver my baby, but she will also be at the hospital with me throughout my labor. Fantastic!
4. This practice does the standard 20-week anatomy scan, unlike my OB.
5. They have a beautiful office!
6. They will coach me through a non-intervention birth or a medicated birth--yay!
7. They both have experiences delivering women in many different positions (water birth, squatting, etc.)
8. There are two OBs at the practice who will step in if needed (gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, breech baby, etc.)

I am so happy, satisfied, and relieved with this decision. *sigh*

That's the size of the baby at 15 weeks.

I'm not sure why so many people call the second trimester the "honeymoon" period, because I'm still feeling like shit. In fact, I'd venture to say I have felt worse over the last 2 weeks than I have in the last 15 weeks!! I'm equally if not more tired than I have been, except now, my exhaustion lasts from the minute I get up until I get up the following morning, and it doesn't seem to be affected at all by the amount of sleep I get at night. My head feels nauseous, I'm dizzy if I jump up too fast, and I feel bigger than the freakin Goodyear blimp.

Let's stay on the fat point...the only thing that seems to cure my nausea is eating, but there are very few things I ever want to eat. I get stuck on one food for about a week (this week it's bagels and cream cheese), then I can't eat that food at all anymore. Other week-long food obsessions include apples, Jersey Mike's subs (which I never want), Lucky Charms, and frozen fruit popsicles. I feel like such a fat ass. Today, I had to wear my work pants completely unzipped with a long shirt over them---how embarrassing!!!

Tomorrow is the appointment with the midwife. It's supposed to be a "meet and greet" so I assume it'll just consist of some conversation, us asking questions, etc. Midwives can only deliver patients who are NOT having any complications; if there are complications, the midwife will refer to an OB (luckily there are several in the practice we are going to tomorrow). I just need to make sure there are no complications, which means staying away from the cupcakes!!!

Allow me to drool for a moment...

Yay! The midwife emailed me today and we set up a "meet and greet" appointment for Thursday after school. I am so relieved!

Today is her next treatment, so I thought I'd update ya'll on how she's doing.

For now, she's still at Mom's, house, but I think she'll be making her way down to Elizabeth's in a few days.

She FINALLY had her appointment with her new family practitioner--our family doctor left back in July and the doctors her cancer doc recommended couldn't get her in until the end of October. The new doc should be great, though, because she works really closely with Dr. S (cancer doc).

New doc took her off of her old blood pressure meds because she said they could be the reason why her old chemo stopped working since they are a diuretic and can interact with chemo.

She also recommended a foot specialist for the Geemz. G-ma's feet have been numb and extremely painful for the last few months; they say the treatments kill the nerves in the patient's feet and that nothing can be done to help them. Her feet have also swollen unbelievably, so hopefully this foot doctor can do something for her.

Other than that, she's still about the same. Tired all the time, but sleeping much less and enjoying her quality of life much more now that she's not cramped up in her old, dank, stifling house anymore. The bus drivers have been incredible!!! They drew up a calendar of volunteers who would bring food to Mammaw. She's had all kinds of things from homemade chili and pumpkin crunch pie to spinach/corn bread balls and pineapple upside down cake. This is really fantastic of them, because we run out of ideas of things for her to try to eat. It's hard for her to eat much of anything, so Mom is constantly trying new foods for her....

She's so excited about the 3d ultrasound. Can you believe she's never seen an ultrasound before??? At all!!! That's insane. I'm so glad she'll be there for this one :)

I don't think I wrote anything about this...We scheduled our 3d/4d ultrasound for November 12, so on that day, we will know with 100% certainty whether we are bringing home a little guy or girl in May.

The scan is a half-hour long and we're taking the geemz (Mammaw) and Mom to see it. Should be a good ole' time watching the little alien flip around on the screen. I must remember to drink a milkshake (heh, hard to forget that one!) 15-30 minutes before we go so the bean is awake and jumping for the scan.

Man...I am so excited. I need this week and next to float by quickly.