Snowy Chicago and Some California Ducks

Still contracting, though nowhere near as much as Thursday, Friday or Saturday. At 37 weeks and 2 days, it's back to the doctor tomorrow who might have a better indication if we're looking at a baby delivery later this week or our long-expected early Christmas gift.

Chicago got hit with its first real snow last night. Only about an inch and a half, but it's sticking this time, covering the outside world in a blanket of lovely white. And even though it's really freezing outside, the doggies can't seem to get enough of it (while I stay holed up in the warm, condescending every couple of hours to let them out and then making them come back in so their paws don't freeze!).

I wish I could say that I did something interesting and/or ambitious today, but the reality is that finishing packing my hospital bag was about as much as I could muster (that and a little general tidying).

Tonight Craze and I put our feet up and watched the Detroit Red Wings beat a California hockey team with the lamest name ever. . .the Ducks. The Ducks?!?!?

I'm sorry Ducks fans, but that name does not inspire fear nor intimidation. Nor does it bring to mind skillful creatures well-versed in tricky ice maneuvers. I think of cute white duckies getting fed day-old bread in the park. . .or that swanky hotel in the South somewhere where well-mannered ducks take the elevator to the lobby fountain each day. Or Donald.

I certainly don't think of tough athletes with possibly one or more missing teeth, a penchant for cross-checking and a history of hard on-the-road living and more STDs than I could possibly ever imagine.

Ducks, indeed.

Thanksgiving Not Quite What I Expected While Expecting

So, Thanksgiving took an unexpected turn. . .

After my getting up at 3am, I finally got back to sleep around 5:30 am only to be awoken just before 10am with the worst pain in my right side. It lasted about ten minutes and then went away and I felt fine. Several hours later while getting ready for our fancy Thanksgiving lunch, who should find herself in the shower with the worst pain again? Uh. . .that would be me.

So, Craze calls the doctor on call, who thinks my symptoms sound down-right weird, but tells me to go the the triage unit of the women's hospital since she's worried I might be having a gall stone attack or an appendicitis or something else entirely, possibly related to my liver. Long story short: we drop off the in-laws at the nice down-town restaurant around 2:20pm and head to the hospital for what should be about an hour's worth of blood tests, only to actually be sent home just after 11 pm after almost nine hours of early and quite painful labor. No gall stones, no appendicitis, nothing but contractions every 2-3 minutes on my right side (oh yeah, and vomiting. . .that was fun), but I never dilated enough to be transferred up to the actual delivery unit. And I am too far along for them to give me something to make the contractions stop and not far enough along for them to break my water and get things rolling. Like being stuck between a rock and. . .well, another rock.

So, I got sent home while still contracting and throwing up in the car with a prescription for blessed, pain-relieving Oxycontin and Ambien to sleep. I'm still having contractions now (Day 4), but at least I can take a pill when and if they get really bad and am not hooked up to IVs and monitors like in the hospital. And thankfully, after my first night at home, my vomiting has also taken a blessed vacation.

I feel like I'm really in limbo now. Not sure if I'm going to have this baby any hour, any day or if this will all just stop and he'll wait it out 'til his 12/21 due date.

My in-laws were great, hanging out in the waiting room after lunch until it was time to check out. Then before heading back to Detroit yesterday my mother-in-law made food from all the previously purchased organic ingredients (beef stew, meat loaf, turkey salad) and helped Craze fold laundry. It really was an odd sensation to have someone doing so many things for me since I've been pretty much fended for myself from a young age. Weird but really very nice. As I've said before, I am very lucky in the in-law department.

As of today, I slept until around 1pm and then hung out in bed watching TV with the Bug and the Alley Cat for another hour or so. I'm drinking a lot of water and watching a lot of Christmas movies on Hallmark and Lifetime. My "big" little baby is still wriggling around periodically. Thankfully, he seemed none the worse for wear on the hospital monitors during my 9-hour labor ordeal. We're still not sure when we'll meet him in person. I guess time will tell. . .

How Did I Become Coupon Mom-to-Be?

I think I had my first serious Braxton-Hicks contractions last night. I thought maybe I was just feeling sick because I suddenly became nauseous and my uterus was hard as a rock for at least an hour. So, I called my best friend, Jo (mom of three), and she said she thought it was practice contractions kicking in. Lordy!

I woke up a couple of times in the night to make some of my typical 43 bathroom visits and my stomach was really hard again.

All is fine though this morning. After dreaming about going into labor (of course, what else is there to dream about?), I woke up obsessed with getting my hands on a plus-size nursing bra and stocking up on household essentials so I don't run out of anything in the next month or two (toilet paper, paper towel, dog food, tissues, canned tomatoes). Bras, toilet paper and tomatoes. . .yes, this is how my brain works. Scary.

So, off I go to Babies-R-Us to redeem my coupons I forgot last week when I made my major diaper and wipes purchase (using those coveted gift cards), then onto Target for more household staples and to take advantage of their Starbucks coffee sale ($7, buy two and get a $5 Target gift card!).

I really do have babies, pets, paper products and weekly sale circulars on the brain. I used to be a Senior Vice President at a big multi-national corporation. What the heck happened exactly to morph me into coupon mom (to-be)?

In other news, Craze is sitting down with his super cheap boss today to try and hit him up for more money. He is one of only two employees, has been there for almost eight years and, if you figure in cost-of-living increases and inflation, probably makes less today than he did in 2001. In the meantime, his boss flies to Vegas frequently and counts a Ferrari among one of his THREE high-price vehicles. He got married recently and my guess is that his wedding probably cost at least two or three times the amount Craze makes in an entire year. Clearly the cheapskate can and should step up and pay him more.

Fingers crossed that he comes away with a great pay increase and maybe (triple fingers crossed) a nice year-end bonus plan. Say it with me, people, "More money, please."

Preparing for D-Day

This past Sunday, Craze and I went to our all-day baby delivery class. It was a long day and after a while, I was having real problems sitting in the same chair for eight hours. That said, it really was very informative and interesting. Craze said he learned a lot and we even took a tour of all the rooms we'll be staying in once I go into labor and arrive at the hospital.

It actually was quite reassuring and I have to say that I'm not really too scared about the whole labor and delivery process. I may even opt out of getting an epidural, especially in the earlier stages of labor, as I like the idea of being able to get up and move around (obviously once you have an epidural, you're in bed for the duration). I guess we'll see how painful it is and get the drugs if I feel I really need them. I do really like the idea of mobility and being able to go take a warm shower during labor though.

Other than that, we're still in the middle of the Great House Upheaval 2008--making room for baby. We got a LOT of stuff done this past Saturday, so it's not such a mess but still a mess. The reality is, we have so much unsorted junk and clutter. Paperwork that needs to be filed, shredded or just plain thrown into the recycling bin and out of the house. Likewise, we have non-paper stuff that just needs to be gone. My husband is a pack rat who never purges anything (just moves stuff around instead of doing any actual sorting) which makes the whole process that much more time-consuming and frustrating. He even hoards old newspapers as he claims he's actually going to read them one day and/or cut out the crossword puzzles to do. I can't tell you how many times I've found 2-foot piles of old newspapers hidden in his closet, in the car trunk, in the garage, basement, even under the outside deck. I swear, I really need an intervention with that one!

I just tell him that I hope he likes this house a lot, because we're never moving until he gets his act together and has a serious purge/sorting session. Otherwise, we'll be here 'til we die. I refuse to move all his unsorted stuff again like I did when we moved into this house seven years ago. It was a real nightmare that went a month or more beyond the actual moving date (just getting the stuff out of his apartment, never mind the putting of stuff away in the new house). Never again... Never. Again.

All that said, the baby's room is almost done. Just need to buy a shelf or a small wardrobe (I've got my eye on a red bookcase from Ikea) and wash and put away a few more baby clothes. I still need to sew the valance and curtains, but that should be pretty easy.

The guest room is coming together and just more sorting of old office paper work needed to clear the bed of junk. Once the bed is made, we'll be ready for guests.

Still have the old love seat (that was in the office) turned upside down in the living room which I need to list on craigslist at an almost give-away price asap.

They'll always be more stuff to do in our cluttered home, but once all the above is complete, we'll be in really good shape. And with exactly two months to go from D-Day (Due Date, Delivery Day, whatever you want to call it), I'm confident we'll get it all together in the next couple of weeks. . .

Fingers crossed. . .