Saturday, October 29, 2005

What Obsolete Skill Am I?

It 's comforting to say that 'practice makes perfect'....
You are 'Gregg shorthand'. Originally designed to
enable people to write faster, it is also very
useful for writing things which one does not
want other people to read, inasmuch as almost
no one knows shorthand any more.

You know how important it is to do things
efficiently and on time. You also value your
privacy, and (unlike some people) you do not
pretend to be friends with just everyone; that
would be ridiculous. When you do make friends,
you take them seriously, and faithfully keep
what they confide in you to yourself.
Unfortunately, the work which you do (which is
very important, of course) sometimes keeps you
away from social activities, and you are often
lonely. Your problem is that Gregg shorthand
has been obsolete for a long time.


What obsolete skill are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Friday, October 28, 2005

A Conversation...

...between my 9 y.o. daughter and me last night:

PG: Mom, can I ask you a favor?
Me: Sure, you can always ask.
PG: Don't say anything when you see my room, I know it's a mess and I don't need the pressure.
Me: Do you have a plan for your room?
PG: Yes, I'm going to clean it tomorrow.
Me: O.k.

I'm so pleased she can talk to me this way.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Three Things Thursday ~ Vol.1 No.7

1.) I cannot stand having those one or two little leaves caught in my windshield wiper blade arm. I'm driving around, the wind is whipping those little leaves like crazy but they won't blow away. I turn on the wipers and still they hang on. Drives me nuts! Sometimes I have to just stop the car, get out, and remove them. Something is wrong with me!!

2.) I sometimes fear that I will be found out. They will realize that I'm an imposter. They will notice that I'm not really a grown-up and I don't belong in a house of my own with a husband and children of my own. "There she is again, pretending to be an adult"

3.) I got sent home from my Christian school one day in tenth grade for picketing against a new, young teacher I couldn't stand. After I graduated from high-school I dated that teacher.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

OB Appointment #7

October 19, 2005 - 3:50 p.m. - Dr. Harmony Schroeder
31 Weeks - 5 Days

Weight: + .5 lbs. / + 9 lbs. overall
Blood Pressure: 118/70
Baby's Heartrate: ? - sounded fine to the dr.
Height of Fundus: 31 cm.
Blood Test: None (yeah!!)

The entire appointment took about 4.5 minutes. Makes me glad I hired a doula for this delivery. It's nice to have someone who shows an interest in me as a person and a mother involved in a God-created event and not as a medical complication waiting to happen.

Three Things Thursday ~ Vol.1 No.6

1.) I totally detest how much "stuff" we have. Especially how much stuff my children have. I hate how I have contributed to that. I regret how long it's taken me to realize the bondage we are in because of all this stuff. I wish that I had realized this long before my kids got so "attached" to all their things. I sometimes wish for a tornado to wipe out all our "stuff" so we could start over. (Of course I don't really wish for a terrible disaster!) This one really belongs in a rant post but here it is.

2.) I always said I would NEVER marry and certainly NEVER, EVER have children. Be careful what you proclaim absolutely!

3.) I've collected a shot glass from each state or country I've been in. Strange for someone who doesn't imbibe!! :-)

100 Acre Woods Personality Test


Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

Thanks to The Headmistress at The Common Room.

Monday, October 17, 2005

In Which My Uterus Is Irritated

I now have the time to tell you about my Wednesday evening. Last Wednesday (10/12) to be exact. It started about 3:30 p.m. with stronger contractions than I am accustomed to having at this point in my pregnancies. These were not oooh-my-belly's-hard-maybe-I-should slow-down contractions. These were oh-my-goodness-how-can-I-make-it-stop contractions. They were coming about every 3-4 minutes and some of them were lasting about one minute. I tried laying down on the couch to see if that would make them stop. I could hardly get into a lying down position. But I did. So, I'm laying down on my left side. The kids were watching Fiddler on the Roof. I'm not able to be quiet about these contractions. I'm groaning HEE-HEE-HOOOOOO. The kids are turning up the volume for the movie. BonusBoy (22 months) is CLIMBING on me saying, "huuts?". I'm saying (in a strangled voice), "Yes, it hurts. PonyGirl, get him off me!
Hee hee whoooooooooooooooooo." Oh, and Jim is up in the mountains, hunting and isn't due back until Friday evening.

It's Wednesday night. The big kids have chimes practice at 5 o'clock (at the church) and then their Wed. night class at 6:30. In between there is 45 minutes to get them fed.

Now it's 4:15. These evil contractions have been going on for about 45 minutes. I call my doctor's office. The nurse asks how many contractions I've had in the last 45 minutes. I tell her 10-12. She says that's too many and I'm to go to Labor & Delivery at the hospital so they can monitor me. I say o.k.

I don't know what to do with the kids. I have a church friend who lives one street over from me who occasionally watches my kids so I call her to see if she can help me. I almost burst into
tears. She says sure and I change BonusBoy's diapers (somehow!) and drive to her house. She has three kids of her own and I'm not sure if she can juggle it all, getting my big kids to the church,
feeding them in that 45 minute window and cart her own kids around. Is the van big enough? What about car seats? Do I have cash to give her to get hamburgers at Wendy's? Why is her cat
trying to get in my car? Scoot! Hee, Hee, Whoooooo. My brain is so muddled. Lisa is asking me if I want her to drive me to the hospital and her husband can take the kids. I can't think straight. I end up driving myself. I'm hoping that the traffic won't be too bad because now I'm driving on the freeway and it's almost 5 o'clock.

I have a stopwatch dangling from my neck that I'm using to time the contractions. Every 3-4 minutes I'm starting it over for the next stupid contraction. Now, I"m on the freeway. I'm driving. I check the stopwatch. It's been about 2:45 since the last contraction and I brace for the next one. Hmmmmm. I check the watch again. now it's been 5 minutes. 8 minutes. 16 minutes. Dang! Now what do I do? I'm almost to the hospital. Should I go home or should I go ahead and go in? While I DO want the contractions to stop, why couldn't they stop AFTER they have been witnessed by the doctor?!?!? Now I'm just going to look foolish. Crazy lady, you'd think she'd know what's up with the FOURTH pregnancy! I could hear them now. I decide to go ahead and go into the hospital.

Inside I have to sign a paper saying that it's o.k. for them to let any family and friends now my condition if they were to call or show up. I realize that except for Lisa, no one knows I'm here. My husband doesn't know, my sisters don't know, my mom doesn't know. It was a weird feeling. I'm feeling uncomfortable but I still haven't had a contraction in about 20-25 minutes.

It's 5:15 p.m. or so. I go in, I pee in a cup, I get undressed and gowned up and lay on the exam bed. The very nice nurse, Melynda, comes in and straps the fetal monitor to my belly and asks all kinds of questions. She says to tell her if I feel a contraction. I feel none. She gets me all propped up in the bed with strategically placed pillows and asks if I'd like anything to drink. I request water. She leaves me to rest and be monitored for about 20 minutes at which point she will call my doctor with a report. Then a different nurse brings me ice water. She said she wasn't doing anything and told Melynda to go ahead and do her charting and she'd bring the water to me. She hung around for a few minutes and chatted with me. I'm remembering why I like to deliver in the hospital. I feel very well taken care of there. St. Luke's is an awesome hospital! At 6 o'clock Melynda comes back and asks if I'd felt any of the tiny little contractions that she was seeing on the monitor at the nurses station. I hadn't really noticed them. I have those kinds of contractions all the time. She said I have an irritable uterus. I'll say! She goes to call my doctor and then comes back. Dr. Schroeder want her to check my cervix to see if the earlier contractions I was experiencing made me dilate at all. She checked. My cervix was still closed. That is a good thing. She said that I had done the right thing by coming in even though the contractions had stopped. With that many contractions, and painful ones at that, it's better that I come in. She said that then they feel better and so do I.

She also cautioned me not to wait too long if this happens again pre-term. Meaning that if I am before 36 weeks and I have contractions that cause dilation, if I wait too long I can get to the point that they cannot stop labor. "They" also worry about that because I tend to have faster and faster labors. So, in the end, I didn't have anymore contractions until later that night (that was because of the exam that was done). I went back home, to the church actually. I worked in the nursery a little and waited for the kids to get done with their class. Lisa had managed to get all the kids there and got them all fed. Class got over and then we all went home. Rather an anti-climactic end to a crazy, overwhelming evening for me.

Jim ended up coming home Thursday afternoon rather than Friday evening because he had shot his doe and there was no point in staying up there any longer. I was SO happy about his early
return! He called me on his cell phone to tell me he was on his way.

ME: "You're coming home?!?! Awesome! Oh, honey, you
don't know what I've been through."


HIM: "No, but you're going to tell me, aren't you?"

Of Course!

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Three Things Thursday ~ Vol.1 No.5

1.) I have at least one clock in each room of my house.

My room - 5
My bathroom - 1
Kid room #1 - 1
Kid room #2 - 2
Main Bathroom - 1
Hall - 2
Living Room - 4
Kitchen - 3
Utility Room/Computer Room - 2
Playroom - 1

YIKES! That's 22 clocks...I've never counted them all before!

2.) I almost always sit with one foot tucked under my leg.

3.) I had my first kiss December 30, 1987 - age 18

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Roadmap to my obstetric travels

What's up with this?!?!? Seems like that with the fourth pregnancy one could just reuse the old stretch marks! ARRRGH!!!!!!

Friday, October 07, 2005

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Three Things Thursday ~ Vol.1 No.4

1.) My favorite beverage to have with pizza is orange juice.

2.) Needles & IV's absolutely bother me so I've delivered three babies without an epidural. I'm more afraid of the needles than I am of the pain.

3.) I've stopped at a business to tell them that their reader board was misspelled.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Pumpkin Bars

Shelia's post about her pumpkin muffins made me hungry for my pumpkin bars. My kids and I made some for a church meeting the other night and now I share them with you...
Pumpkin Bars
2 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground cloves
4 beaten eggs
1 16-ounce can pumpkin
1 cup cooking oil

Combine dry ingredients. Stir in wet ingredients until thoroughly combined. Spread batter into and ungreased 15x10x1 inch baking pan. Bake in a 350° oven for 25-30 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Frost with ½ recipe of Cream Cheese Frosting when cool. Cut into bars. Makes 48.

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. package of cream cheese
½ cup softened butter
2 tsp. vanilla
4 ½ to 4¾ cups powdered sugar

In a bowl beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in enough of the remaining powdered sugar to make frosting of spreading consistency. Frosts top and sides of two 8- or 9-inch cake layers.

ENJOY!!

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

OB Appointment #6

October 4, 2005 - 3:10 p.m. - Dr. Harmony Schroeder (actually saw MY doctor this time!)
29 Weeks - 4 Days

Weight: + .5 lbs. / + 8.5 lbs. overall
Blood Pressure: 110/68
Baby's Heartrate: ? - sounded fine to me
Height of Fundus: 30 cm.
Blood Test: Didn't have one this time but the results from the last one (for thyroid and anti-C antigen levels) were fine

I am experiencing tachycardia (racing heart) again this pregancy. Yesterday my heartrate was 140. But it goes away on it's own after about 15-20 minutes. Dr. said if it lasts more than 30 minutes I'm to go to the ER and have a EKG done. That's what they said last time too but it never came to that. It either went away on it's own or I was able to make it stop myself by laying down on my left side, like they said, and "bearing down". So I rather expect that it how it will go this time as well. It's hasn't been a real problem yet, but it sure is an uncomfortable feeling... I don't like it one bit!!

Next appointment in two weeks.