Why does time pass so slowly around here? I had a million things to "finish" here and I've about got them all done. Urgh. I hate work.

OB appointment went well! :) She thinks that I did in fact pass a kidney stone. She thinks the soreness and tenderness will get better over the next couple of days. :) She is glad I was feeling better, and said she was very worried about me because the nurses said I was dry as a bone. :( But I feel better then ever in fact. :) I did lose a pound, but she said she figured I would since everything that I had been through. She found the heartbeat, but he kept moving so we couldn't count it. He kept kicking the doppler, saying " Hey lady, get out of here! I'm trying to do my gymnastics routine!" She said she wasn't worried about counting it since we heard the heartbeat and he was SO active! :)

I just finished lunch, frozen burritos with cheese on top. Yum... I have to gain back the weight I lost says the great OB. So that would mean something like 5 pounds in the next month or so. Since this nausea is gone, I definitely feel up to the challenge! In fact, the South Bend Chocolate Company has a booth set up right now in the cafeteria. I'm thinking chocolate turtles and some fudge. YUM! That will bring that pound back. ;)

After work I must do about 1 million things to get ready for this trip! I was thinking on the way up here how next summer, we'll be getting ready to travel with a 6 month old baby! wow. I think we are planning on trying to go to Mexico to see my Grandma and Grandpa. My mom and stepdad will go to (so Erich and my Stepdad don't feel so shut out by the language barrier!) My Grandma told me she can't wait to see my big fat belly in a picture and then hold her first gringo great grandbaby! :) Only 1/2 gringo though. :) They said they want to meet the giant gringo too! (that would be Erich since he is SO tall! Remember that I'm only 5'2" and my mom 5" and my grandma is something like 4'8"! We Mexicans aren't exactly basketball players!)

Okay I actually have to work now. Boo for work. Love to all.

*can you tell I'm feeling ten million times better?*

Okay, OB appointment this morning at 10:10. Get to hear the heartbeat, always a plus. Maybe she'll tell me of my mysterious side pain that still persists. Though it isn't as bad as it was a few days ago. I think the dehydration intensified everything! It's been an interesting few days let me tell you, but the bonus is that my child is beautiful and healthy. :) Tomorrow we leave on vacation, thank goodness!

I'm back from the hospital. They did the renal ultrasound and such and then sent me to the short stay unit for two bags of IV fluid. yum... I'm feeling a ton better. (oh the gave me nausea medicine) and some tylenol and started feeding me. I was so dry they couldn't stick me which is bad since I'm the best stick this side of Indianapolis. :) Well, more later.. Just wanted to let you know.

I'm headed back to the hospital. They want to do another ultrasound of my kidneys, ureters, and gallbladder. The gall bladder is on the wrong side of the pain but they are worried since a sip of gatorade makes me puke like 4 times. Wish me luck. I'll update later.

Well, I'm alive. I ignored my pain on Monday and went about the day. Tuesday morning I started incontrollably vomiting, not morning sickness vomiting, bad bad bad vomiting. They told me to go straight to the ER because I may have a kidney stone. I was pretty freaked out, went to the ER. No UTI, no infection. THey can't find my ovaries (since my uterus has pushed them up to far laterally) so they don't think there is a cyst. They couldn't see the appendix with the ultrasound machine, but I don't have a surgical belly. I'm still tender and my side still hurts. I haven't eaten anything that has stayed down since Monday night. yuck. I got a small amount of broth down yesterday but not much. When we left the hospital, with a little nausea medicine on board and some for pain, my mom took me to eat. I had a bit of salad, puked, felt SO much better, ate more. On the way home, puked. heh. So that is where I am right now. I have to call the doctor and "follow up" with her. I was going to wait until Thursday for my regular appointment, but I still haven't eaten anything and my appetite is no where to be found and I don't consider this good considering I'm pregnant. I am determined to go on my vacation this weekend though, I need a break!

On the plus side of the trip to the ER, we saw Baby. I sent Erich to work (no use in waiting all day 9am until 5pm where he could do nothing) my mom came with me. This was the first time seeing the heartbeat, hearing the heartbeat, and seeing her first grandbaby. She cried and he waved at her. While we were watching him and trying to get a good picture he did a giant flip in there which was very awesome. My mom kept saying, " Oh wow, I can see him! Oh look that's a good shot, oh oh oh wow! hi baby!" Can you tell this is her first grandbaby? The technician even printed her off her own picture. She says she was taking it straight home to the fridge! My stepbrother and stepsister will probably think it's weird, or cool. Who knows? But it was the highlight of my day (and hers too I think). I was glad she got to see him, and see all the fuss. And it is great to have a picture that looks like a baby. Erich likes that. :) Wow, this is really happening.

Okay so I'm going to have a little poll. Please leave a comment to tell me what you think and then I'll do what ya'll think I should do!

Remember me saying that I have that pain in my side that could possibly be appendix pain? Well, I actually think it might be a UTI. So here is the question... should I call the nurse and tell her today? OR just wait for my doctor appt on Thursday?

What a cool book!

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Wizard of Oz:: there's no place like home...(tap tap tap)
   
2. Ford:: found on the road dead
   
3. Wrinkles:: ruffles have ridges?
   
4. Extravagant:: person
   
5. Conventional:: oven?
   
6. Stewart:: Little
   
7. Offensive:: person
   
8. Heartbeat:: baby
   
9. Chaos:: mass
   
10. Jiffy::pop
    

OH! Ha! Did I mention that I am now 12weeks 2 days pregnant! yay! I made it! I'm an accomplished pregnant person! lol

I think I'm going to have to do a bit of research in the library today. I'm having a major pain right around my appendix (I think.). It isn't a cramp more like a muscle being pulled, but it hurts so bad that when I stand up I can't stand straight unless I push on it and clench my teeth together. Ouch. It also hurts when I empty my bladder, and it hurts when my bladder is full, and... As a matter of fact, it just hurts. I just want to make sure that it is just a muscle and not, ya know, my appendix going bad. Usually those start out with a dull ache and gradually get worse which is kinda what this is doing.

Baseboards... check!
Laundry started.... check!
Laundry finished....
dishes finished....

I'm awesome! :) I've cleaned the LR: dusted and swept, swept the rugs and the chairs, pulled the slipcover off, shook off crumbs and vacuumed dog hair. Gave Ella and Gracy haircuts last weekend so that should end the shedding epidemic for a while. I've also washed all the dishes except for the cups (waiting for the others to dry since they are taking up the counterspace). I'll wash the cups after a few. I need to get laundry going again. I cleaned the carpets in the bedroom in the basement. I just need to wipe the baseboards down again with Ivory soap and I can call the flood disaster done! whoopeee! So much more to do but so much done already! I'm very proud of myself.

I just got back from lunch. Pot roast, green beans, and au gratin potatoes. Yum. Didn't really eat the potatoes and only about half of the green beans, but the pot roast was delightful. The worst part of eating seems to be that the food doesn't go straight to my stomach, it sort of lolly gags around in my esophagus making me feel like a baby that needs burped. **sigh** You know I had this conversation with my mother last night in which I told her my complaints really weren't complaints, but cries for reassurance. To hear someone say, "Yes! That happens to me to!" *thanks Diana* or "I remember that!" My mom says she enjoyed every single pain and discomfort of pregnancy because she was just so excited. This is also the woman that had a one hour labor and didn't feel a thing. She says we are lean mean Mexican breeding machines. ha!

Melissa had her baby. I'm going to go see her after a bit. Her c-section was scheduled for 8am. I heard the Brahms lullabye (which they play every time a baby is born in the hospital) at 9:41. I'm guessing that her c-section didn't go right at 8am. We'll see. Unfortunately I didn't finish her blanket last night. The bobbin ran out of thread and I couldn't figure out how to wind it again so I had to sew that last machine part by hand. All that is left is to stuff it with the quilt batting and put the yarn ties in. I should be able to finish that. She'll be here until Monday or Tuesday anyways, and it isn't like I don't know where she lives!

It rained again last night. All night. Knocked out the power at some point. I clocked in two minutes late, and boy do I hate that. The carpet in the basement is completely dried. I just need to finish steam cleaning them and I'll be happy happy happy. We are going to move the full bed out of the "nursery" and down to the bedroom in the basement. And we'll see if we can put that crib together. Mom wants to see it put together. And since I am 12 weeks tomorrow (yayayayaya! bbye first trimester!) I feel OK doing this. I want to paint to. I want to feel like there is a baby coming because there is, and January isn't that far away. At least I don't think so. Others of you might want to say "Hey stupid! It's just barely August!" But then January will be here before you know it and who will be prepared? Me! Also I don't think I want to paint when it starts to get cold and such. I don't want to do much of anything during the cold. And it always seems that when you paint you are always running out for stuff, more paint, new brush, etc etc etc. And I don't want to be on a ladder when I'm to much bigger. With my coordination these days, if you added in a bigger belly then my beginner belly it would spell out tragedy!

My list of stuff is piling up. I need to do so much! But when I come home from work it seems less important. That really bites. My house needs attention. My mom has been good to bite her tongue. I know though. I know it looks awful, but does everyone know that I am trying!? I really am.

Vacation next week. Woot! We will leave Friday and be back Tuesday but it is getting away from Indiana which I need. We will stay in a Motel for two nights, and that always makes it seem more vacation like! I hope they have swimming pools because I want to swim! We are going to my Nanas house in Tennesee for a day (we can't stay overnight since we will have Ella with us) but she lives on Norris Lake and we will hopefully get out on the boat and also see if Ella can swim! Maybe I should check into doggy life vests! ha! I'll look in a few for some cheap ones. :)

Tonight I am hoping that my mom will go with me to Kokomo, IN to see if I can find some maternity skirts. Yes, I've completely given up. All of my dressier clothes don't fit and none have elastic wastebands. I'm in my potato sack dress now. I just give up. I'm tired of being squished into things and being uncomfortable. And I don't have then $$ to buy another set of larger clothes and then another set of maternity clothes. Just won't work. So that's that. It's all about comfort here and I need elastic panel/waistband relief!

Well, I better get back to killing time at work, no wait that's what I'm doing now. I sure would have enjoyed a second helping of pot roast...

Okay I need some definite reassurance. My whole tummy is a mess of muscle pain, I can't get up, sneeze, cough, or even pee with some muscle hurting. And the round ligament pain that I think is happening hasn't stopped, it continues to pull and twist (maybe not twist but it feels that way). I also feel like someone is stabbing me in the crotch with a knife. So I ask you dear readers, is this normal? And is anyone else experiencing this agony with me?

I'm working on a family tree. Eventually I would like to have enough that I could make it all pretty with calligraphy and such and mount it and hang it in the den with all of the other stuff my father collected over the years. He was really into genealogy, and because of him I can remember back to my great great grandpa without looking it up. I don't know how to add peoples siblings like E's and such so if you have any suggested or helpful advice or links Please let me know! Thanks! I figure this will be a great way for Baby Stauffer to know what a great line he comes from. :)

Here is an article I came across that I thought you would find very interesting! I'm only going to copy out the summary since it's a bunch of medical jargon, and the summary lays it out clearly! :) Enjoy.

Adverse Drug Reactions in Breastfed Infants: Less Than Imagined

Summary: Medication use during breastfeeding shortens the duration of breastfeeding often because of overly cautious information given by healthcare providers. No comprehensive review of the literature on infant adverse reactions from drugs in breastmilk has been published. All published studies and case reports on adverse events in infants caused by medications (excluding drugs of abuse) in breastmilk were identified and analyzed. Of 100 case reports evaluated, none were considered to be "definite" using a standard ranking scale; 47% were "probable" and 53% were "possible." Drugs with central nervous system activity accounted for half of all reports. All 3 reported fatalities involved central nervous system depressants, but each had extenuating circumstances. At least 63% of reported cases were in neonates and 78% were in infants 2 months or younger; only 4% of adverse reactions ocurred in infants older than 6 months of age. Published studies expand on and generally reinforce the analysis of case reports. By taking a few simple precautions in drug selection and considering the infant's age, breastfeeding rarely needs to be discouraged or discontinued when a mother needs drug therapy.

Clinical Pediatrics. 2003;42:325-340.

I'm so tired I don't want to do ANYTHING. It's only 1:40 and I have to be here until 4pm?!?! There is so much to do at home. For accountability I'm going to write it down here:

1: Finish cleaning basement carpets
2: laundry, laundry, laundry, laundry!!!
3: make vet appt for dear sweet Ella
4: sleep
5: take sewing machine to grandmommy (tell her happy birthday to you nitwit)
6: disassemble full bed and take out of "nursery" to basement bedroom when carpet dry (obviously this is an Erich job but still)
7: pay bills
8: get some friggin sleep

there's more but that should do for now, if I can finish that, I'll move on to a new list. **sigh**

July 16. I've been sitting here thinking and thinking and thinking, what is so significant about July 16? IT"S MY GRANDMOTHERS BIRTHDAY! Dangit I'm getting bad at remembering crap. Now what to do for her...

I think I may try to escape the evil clutches of this place early today. I'm completely exhausted. And there is so much to do at home. I think I need to go home, what do you think? And I'm not feeling all that great. Not pukey, just not good. And all those muscle cramps/pulls have caused my hip bones to be incredibly sore. There has to be some sort of shifting going on in there. And my ab muscles are becoming increasingly sore. But it's great ya know, cause I'm pregnant! I know I know you already know this but hey, give me a break, the idea is still sinking in! :)

Isn't it Friday yet?