Spreng Bling Bling

New blog! New business!

2007-10-16T11:32:00.000-05:00

I am changing identities. Moving on. Freshening up.

Please click here for the new digs and all the details. The site, in case the link isn't working or y'all are just too lazy is
www.snarkymommy.com.

This will be the last post on Spreng Bling Bling. Update your favorites and linkies and blogrolls and feeds and whatever the heck you use to read my blaaawg. In a few weeks I will have a redirect, but I wanted to keep my precious, precious archives available.

The siege has ended

2007-10-15T14:48:00.000-05:00

I returned home Saturday afternoon. Five days after I left, but still, I was home.

I was feeling great until this morning. Then I couldn't keep food in me again.

Perhaps fish sticks and macaroni and cheese were not the best choice for dinner?

Saw the doctor today and all is well. Cervix is great after all this commotion and things are fine.

Big changes tomorrow. Be sure to check back...

Sick of the sick

2007-10-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

I. Am. Still. Sick.

No more fever, but still can't keep any food in me. So here at the hospital I remain. Seriously, I must have lost 10 pounds by now. This is absurd.

All I eat are bananas, bread, applesauce, rice and chicken broth. And none of it agrees with me.

So, let's just move on, shall we?

Here, look at some pictures of our trip!
Photo Galleries

Just click the links under "Jack does Europe." There's seven of 'em, so that should keep you busy for a while.

Still here

2007-10-11T07:50:00.000-05:00

Greetings from the hospital, Day 3. I was so sick yesterday, I could not even blog. And that must mean I am really sick, huh? A fever of 102 and the inability to keep any food in me has necessitated a longer stay.

I am feeling a little better today and have not had a fever since early this morning. The good news is I don't have a parasite! And I know you are all dying to know how they know that. Oh yes, there was a stool sample tested. My modesty knows no bounds anymore. Poooping in a pan and having another person scoop it into a little cup was about the last thing I thought I would be writing about, but here we are. That, my friends, is why I could never be a nurse.

They think it's a nasty little virus I picked up, so nothing to fear. There was talk of a possible amnio, if they could not figure out what was causing my fever, but that seems to be a slim possibilty. Anytime you have a cerclage, a fever is a little worrisome because it could be showing a uterine infection. But they think that is not the case with me.

When I know more, I shall update again.

I just can't stay away

2007-10-09T18:23:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Labor & Delivery! I figured since last pregnancy I spent a little time here in the perinatal surveillance unit at 24 weeks, that I should really grace them with my presence again.

Oh yes, I am here overnight. I was having contractions, so I came on in, and after some monitoring, it was found I was having them with some frequency. Throw in a 100.8 degree temperature and that buys a cerclage patient an overnight stay.

You know what's really even better though? Last pregnancy, when I was here at 24 weeks, Josh had a business trip to the West Coast. Guess where Josh is this week, when I am 24 weeks and in the hospital? Go on, take a guess. On a business trip to the West Coast! We do love us some consistency if nothing else.

But before everyone gets the panties in a bundle, it appears they are taking a cautious approach simply because I have the cerclage. They said anyone else would have been sent home. I do so enjoy being special.

Jack is at home with Grandma. I got to talk to him on the phone. They said he is asking about "MUM?" and doing great.

So I am going to hang out and read. And surf. And get some rest.

More tomorrow kids.

Honey, we're home

2007-10-08T20:25:00.000-05:00

The whirlwind vacation is behind us and everyone, my cervix included, had a great time. We got home yesterday and my jetlagged son woke up at 3:30 a.m. this morning. He stayed up to play for a few hours. Thank goodness Grandma was here to wake up with him so Mommy and Daddy got to sleep it off.

Jack did great for the most part. He was sleeping 11-12 hours a night and since he was going to bed between 10 p.m. and midnight evey night, that meant he slept in, which was awesome for us. The first day with the jetlag, he ended up sleeping until 10:45 a.m., and Josh and I awoke at 9. Why can't that ever happen at home?

We took four planes, five trains, countless Metro, Tube and tram rides and several buses. There were two days in London, three in Montpellier, four in Paris and one more in London again. We stayed in five different hotels and came home with everything we left with. All in all, I would say that's a success.

Jack did great with all the traveling and being in his stroller so much. At the beginning of the trip I was saying "Never again" to traveling overseas with him, but by the end, it was OK. It's just hard being away from his routine and familiar foods. Who knew your child could subsist solely on graham crackers, bread, raisins and milk?

I had an ultrasound this morning and my cervix was basically unchanged from before the trip (down from 3.2 to 3.0 cm), so all the walking and flying did no damage. That was a relief to hear, since I was able to see the outside of a Paris hospital thanks to some serious contractions on our last day there. They were every 2-3 minutes for 45 minutes and some were so intense I could not talk through them. But as soon as we got in the cab to the hospital, they ceased to exist. So we got out of the cab, walked around a bit, determined I did not need to go in, and got back in a cab. Lucky us, we missed our flight that morning because of it and we got to pay $900 for everyone to change their flights. That was awesome. And no, British Airways does not accept medical notes from doctors for missing flights.

But anyway, I will have a full trip report tomorrow and will post a link to the gazillion photo galleries on our website once they get up there. But it's great to be home. Here's a few pictures...

Oui, oui madamoiselle. I would please like more wine. And cigarettes. Merci.

I love rugby! USA! USA!

Ohmygod they have slides in Paris too???

They paid 7 euros for this view from the Eiffel Tower?

This whole family is crazy. I am ditching them for a French chick I met.

I bid you adieu

2007-09-26T12:12:00.000-05:00

So yeah. We're off to France today. The week started with a virus for Jack, fever and throat, but he's fine today. Can't wait for Mommy to get sick next!

In my absence, I urge you to check out my blogroll. If you do that normally, then keep checking it. If not, enjoy some fine writing and blathering on about various things.

See you in October...

This ship is battle-ready

2007-09-21T23:00:00.000-05:00

Today was the big cervix-measuring appointment before we leave for France next week. If anything goes wrong, it would start now and that would mean leaving the country would not be such a hot idea. Although getting stuck in Paris would not be all that bad, oh wait, no drinking or unpasteurized cheeses, so yeah that would suck.

But fortunately, everything looks great! Cervix is measuring 3.2 cm on u/s, with a slight loss of length above the stitch (2.0 cm down to 1.5 cm) and a slight bit of funneling at the very top, near the uterus. But the ultrasound tech said I have a lot of length between the funnel and the stitch. My high-risk doc checked my cervix afterward, a two-for-one special for me at this appointment apparently, and he said it is rock hard and looks great.

So we leave for our trip next week. He said knowing my personality, he could see me trying to spend 16 hours a day walking around, so he said to try and take it somewhat easy, but said everything will be fine.

Baby looked great as well, sucking her thumb and literally somersaulting around. Like I haven't been feeling that for the last few weeks. I thought Jack was active, but this one, even more so.

I can honestly tell you, I really never believed 100 percent that I would be taking this trip. All of our planning was done with "what ifs" in mind and almost everything was refundable in case I was placed on injured reserve at the last minute. So it was a pleasure to hear that I have a full blessing to travel.

I know there are people out there who think this is taking an unnecessary risk (my MOTHER) and think traveling at this stage of an incompetent cervix pregnancy is crazy. But for me, and my family, this was a good decision. I feel comfortable leaving and will not think about the "what ifs" on the trip.

This pregnancy has been awesome compared to my last; I think I deserved a good one after the shit the first time around. So the moral of the story is: preventative cerclages rock!

Head over heels

2007-09-20T21:49:00.000-05:00

Jack learned how to do somersaults yesterday. I had Josh demonstrate it once for him, and he immediately starting doing it himself. He's so winning the gold medal in the toddler Olympics.

Let bygones be, well, gone

2007-09-19T17:45:00.000-05:00

Today my attorney told me he received my severance check in the mail.

I thank you, kind people of MLB.com, for sending it and living up to your end of the bargain. I heart you. OK, I don't heart you at all. But I am pleased to have this behind us. Kumbaya and all that.

Unfortunately, my dear readers, this means no tales from the trenches. It's OK though. It would have turned into a bitter former employee blog and nobody wants to read that. You know you all come here for the cervix talk and the boob discussion anyway, which, by the way, are HUGE again with this pregnancy. The boobs, not the cervix.

So, um, yeah. That's all I got for ya. Still working feverishly on The Next Big Thing. But since I have fulltime nanny help now (aka Grandmas) it makes it easier to work. Josh is so worried about my cervix shortening before we leave next week that he has pretty much banned me from the park and any long walks. I am allowed one Jack activity per day, and then I am supposed to be resting. So might as well try to eke out a living for this little family of ours whilst I loll around in bed.

We heart the environment

2007-09-17T19:41:00.000-05:00

Recently, The Sarcastic Journalist changed her blog focus to more environmental-friendly loving. On her new site, The Simple Family, she talks about things like giving away toys her kids don't play with in an effort to simplify and declutter. She also talks about trying to eat healthier and surround herself with good foods, so she's not tempted to eat the bad stuff.

I really like SJ and always have loved her site. We've been pregnant at the same time and she's gone through some of the same bizarre postpartum things that I have -- like dreaming the baby is buried under the covers and waking up searching for him.

So when I saw her new focus, I realized we once again have something in common.

Josh and I made the decision early on that Jack would eat organic food. It's rare -- only when we eat out at a restaurant, and we usually end up bringing food for him from home -- that what he's consuming is not organic. We just think it's the best thing we can do for his little body. The less pesticides and hormones he ingests, the better it will be for him in the long run.

We also try to make a large portion of our own diet organic. We eat organic produce, meats and dairy. We do eat out more than we should, which means we are wasting money and eating less-than-stellar ingredients, but we do make an effort. We do 90 percent of our shopping at Whole Foods, but that could also be because it's a mere three blocks away. It's pretty easy to run over there to pick up anything we need.

Just this month, we started recycling. Our neighborhood doesn't offer the special pickup or bins for recyclables, but we bag them separately and place them next to the garbage bin. We figure the people who go through the trash looking for recyclables appreciate us leaving them out, they get some much-needed cash when they turn them in and we feel we're making the world a little cleaner. We also thought maybe if we appease the people with the cans and bottles, they will stop ripping the copper piping off the back of the house. It's the little things, really.

Our other big advancement is cutting down our use of paper towels. When you have a toddler, one who insists on feeding himself, there's a hell of a lot of mess. It's easy to just grab a paper towel or two and clean his face and hands after a meal. It's also easy to wipe up spills on the floor. And clean the counters. And wipe your hands. But after we realized we were going through a big roll every two or three days, we invested in a set of absorbant dish towels. Now, we use one or two a day for Jack duty and throw them in the wash at the end of the night. I think we're down to a paper towel roll every two weeks now, just with that minor change.

I would love to cloth diaper with this next baby, but I am not sure I am there yet. I have started a little research, but we'll see. After reading the average child contributes 6,000 diapers to landfills in his lifetime, I started feeling a little guilty about the world I am leaving to my children. But I am really not a huge fan of doing anything more with poop than immediately wrapping it up and putting it in the Diaper Genie, so adding an extra step might not be in the cards. We'll see.

I tell you all this not for a pat on the back, but to make you think about the impact you have on the planet. Maybe someday I can make a documentary just like Al Gore and win both am Emmy and an Oscar. Then I can be BFFs with all the Hollywood peeps too!

Off the dole

2007-09-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

I received my last unemployment check in the mail today. Sniff, sniff.

It's been a great six months, living off the hand of the government. Well, not really. I mean technically, I paid for it through payroll deductions for all those years. Plus the former company had to kick in some, so it was like sticking it to the man in a way.

But now that I actually have to start pulling my weight in this family -- because clearly, gestating this child is not paying the rent -- I am working on the Next Big Thing.

As in, working eight hours a day on said Next Big Thing. And that leaves precious little time for things like my blog. But never fear! I am going to power through it and get 'er done. I am committed to providing mindless pregnancy and parenting chatter for the masses in spite of my workload.

Now please excuse me while I go look in the mailbox for my severance check. WHICH HAS STILL NOT ARRIVED SIX MONTHS AFTER THE COMPANY AND I PARTED WAYS. No really, dick me around a little more why dontchya?

I am not allowed to "disparage" them as part of the severance agreement, but if they don't send me the damn money, there could well be some disparaging coming right up. We could start with some IM transcripts of chats with my old boss, where she belittles a chatroom full of her subordinates in realtime.

On being pregnant

2007-09-12T20:34:00.000-05:00

I belong to an online mom's group of all women who gave birth in February 2006. There's about 75 of us that have maintained almost daily contact since we conceived those children and it's a great group of women. I have learned things from them I would never have known otherwise and have even met some of them in real life.

Today, someone asked about how we feel when pregnant. A lot of women will have you believe that pregnancy is sunshine and rainbows shooting out of your ass for nine months.

Before I really get into this, I would first like to preface this by saying I am sorry if I offend anyone struggling with infertility. After my sister went through this for three years, I assure you, I have seen the pain it causes. I know I am lucky to have gotten pregnant twice.

But for me, being pregnant is definitely not sunshine and rainbows and puppy dogs and fields of clover. It's stressful and hard.

Some women fly through all three trimesters with nary a complaint. But they don't know what it's like to check for spotting every time you use the restroom. Because I can tell you, there is no feeling like the half-second of dread as you get ready to check the TP and interpret what you see. Is that spotting? Is that normal? Oh shit, it IS spotting. Well how much spotting is it? Is it really there or are my eyes playing tricks?

Every twinge and muscle pain in the lower half of my abdomen sends me into panic mode. Is that a contraction? Shit, it WAS a contraction. Was that another one? How far apart are they? How much water did I drink today? Are my pants too tight? What could be causing contractions? Sweet mother of God, should I call the OB? I really don't want to go in and get monitored. They'll just send me home anyway.

I would say this pregnancy I am much more laid back, but at the same time, I also know the drill. If I start contracting, I drink water and lie on my side. If I feel pressure, I lie down. I know what "normal" Braxton Hicks contractions feel like vs. the crampy-contractions that can cause cervical change. I know what to look for. I know what I should not be feeling.

So for me, I really can't say I enoy pregnancy. It puts a strain on my family. My mom and my mother-in-law have to switch off weeks to come and stay with us, because I can't lift Jack in or out of his high chair and crib. Have you tried essentially living with your mother or mother-in-law for 40 weeks? It's not easy. But thank God for both of them. Without help, I don't know how we would do it.

I guess I am rambling and it's not all that amusing or funny, but it feels good to be able to say I have a problem enjoying my pregnancies.

Bear down

2007-09-11T14:29:00.000-05:00

Hey look, it's mini Brian Urlacher!

I am the Monster of the Midway! Give me a cookie."

I hear this how Urlacher wears his Elmo hat too, kicked to the side, naturally.

There's football groupies? I'm there!

Pictures!

2007-09-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

I forgot to post a picture from the ultrasound!

She even looks like a girl to me! I compared the picture from Jack's 20-week ultrasound and I don't really think they look alike. But I guess we'll find out in 20 more weeks.

Holy bejesus, can you believe I am halfway today? My God. Five months in the books.

Shirtless in Chicago

2007-09-06T21:07:00.000-05:00

My son apparently is well on his way to sleeping in the nude.

His new thing, three nights running and at this afternoon's nap, is to remove his shirt. Well, kind of.

He somehow gets his arms up through the neck hole and then pulls it down around his chest and waist. While he is doing this, he is having so much fun, he won't go to sleep.

This afternoon, he was up there chattering and laughing for over and hour and a half. I go up to see what the issue is and there he is, sitting with his shirt around his waist, with a big, "HI!" and a smile.

It's back to the one-piece jammies tomorrow.

We should probably be thankful for small favors though. At least it's not his diaper he is removing.

Still thinking pink

2007-09-05T20:31:00.000-05:00

The ultrasound was fabulous, no problems, and we have a very healthy little girl in my belly! Everything looked great and my cervix was back up to 3.7 cm.

We saw a very active baby in there. She was grabbing things and kicking and flipping and even spent a few minutes sucking her thumb. She's measuring a few days ahead, but by the looks of this stomach, you wouldn't know it. Seriously, I am halfway there now and you would think I just ate a few too many doughnuts. I should post a picture one of these days.

So I guess this high-risk pregnancy is really turning out to be rather normal. I won't have another ultrasound for three weeks, which is like an eternity. But my peri doesn't want to disturb the lovliness of the cervix with too much poking, so we'll have a quick check a few days before we leave for France at the end of the month.

I can't believe I have gotten to this point with these results. I surely expected shortening and funneling. I surely expected bedrest. I surely expected not to be going to France. Looks like I need a better crystal ball.

I didn't expect Jack to develop an end-of-summer cold. Stuffy nose, sneezing, coughing, the works. I can't wait until I get it. I feel the scratchy throat coming on now...

Don't need a repeat

2007-09-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is my big anatomy ultrasound. We all remember what happened at my last big anatomy ultrasound, so let's hope we avoid any and all drama.

Cervix should be in check, as it has been very well-behaved thus far.

I am just hoping we don't have a girl baby turn into a boy baby. I keep hearing stories about this and now it's frightening me. I have already ordered girl crib bedding and shopped. A lot.

Will report back manana.

Left foot, right foot

2007-08-30T21:05:00.000-05:00

My giant child also has huge feet.

Well, not huge, but much bigger than they were in June.

Who would have thought that he would go from a size 5.5 shoe at the beginning of the summer to a 7 at the end? Apparently, not Mommy because I have been cramming his piggies into the same shoes all this time.

So he got measured for new shoes today and we got him some awesome new kicks.

But you can bet your Aunt Fanny I am still cramming his feet into the same sandals. He'll be fine, it's not like his toes are hanging over and we can just velcro them a little looser to avoid those unsightly strap marks.

Sandal season ends on Monday anyway. You won't catch any child of mine wearing open-toed shoes or white after Labor Day, that's for sure.

Competent, thank you very much

2007-08-29T14:53:00.000-05:00

Had the ole dildocam session today and was pleasantly surprised to hear I was still above 3 cm, which is considered normal. I was 3.1 to be exact, down slightly from the 3.7 two weeks ago. Juuuust inside the normal range of 3-5 cm. But still! Normal!

But my doctor waved away my length with his hand, saying he does not use length as a monitor for his patients. He expects me to shorten and fully expects me to funnel to my stitch.

Excuse me? What? But that's bad! Funneling is evil and wrong. And gets concerning looks for ultrasound technicians.

Oh but no. Apparently that's only in cases of rescue cerclage. In preventative cerclage cases, those things are almost a guarantee. The only concern he has is if I funnel below my stitch or start to dilate.

I asked him, since we're leaving for France at the end of September, if I could have weekly ultrasounds until then. He laughed and said he doesn't let his patients even have bi-weekly ultrasounds with cerclages. He said I was being allowed special consideration.

Hmmmm. OK. So I go next week for my big anatomy scan and then he will see me again before we go to France. But he told me to plan to take the trip. He can't see any reason why I wouldn't be going.

Hot damn! French food, here I come.

Baby2, from the 10 seconds the tech looked at her, has gotten enormous and had a heartbeat of a rousing 163. She was pretty calm for those 10 seconds, but gave us a little fist pump in greeting.

Am I really this boring?

2007-08-28T13:54:00.000-05:00

I really have nothing to say. Isn't that remarkable? Speechless.

Actually, not speechless, just boring.

It's the last week of summer. I am 18 weeks pregnant. Jack is talking more. Josh is still traveling a few days a week. It's not raining anymore. That about sums it up.

Oh, here's something of note! We finally hammered out an agreement that I would sign with my former company. You remember, the One Which Can Not Be Named For Fear of Disparaging Someone.

So we signed, sealed and delivered it the last week of July. And I have not received my severance a.k.a Hush Money. It's been a month now. I contacted them asking to wrap it up, heard nothing back.

LISTEN PEOPLE, GIVE ME MY MONEY OR I AM GOING TO START BLOGGING ABOUT YOU AND YOUR SHITTY MIDDLE MANAGERS WHO SHIT ALL OVER THEIR EMPLOYEES.

You know, it's only been five months since we parted ways. I can see how they would be so busy and not have time to you know, fulfill their end of the bargain.

Tuity fruity

2007-08-27T14:19:00.000-05:00

My Picky McPickerson decided this weekend, after we had been putting grapes on his tray for three weeks and watching them get squished by his fingers but getting nowhere near his mouth, he would eat them.

At first, he just sucked out the grape part and left the skin. But then on Saturday, when he was begging for a snack, we have him grapes and canteloupe. Which, haha, I was convinced he would not eat. It's new, it's orange. No good can come of that.

He sucked the canteloupe and liked the taste, but kept chewing it and then putting it back on the tray. But then he ate it. And swallowed it. And then ate some grapes. And swallowed them. I had to turn around to hide the joy on my face, lest he change his mind. I ran over to Josh and whispered excitedly that he was EATING ACTUAL FRUIT. Which of course was met with the comment, "See I told you if you waited until he was really hungry and only gave him that he would eat it."

Ahhh, bite me. You're clearly the better parent.

This is the first fruit, other than applesauce, that he has eaten. Dare I say, could carrots and peas be far behind?

Eye of the storm

2007-08-23T19:20:00.001-05:00

There were some rather large, intense storms in the city today. It's been storming practically every day for a week now, but the last few days have been primarily at night.

Today, they were predicting severe storms for this afternoon. Of course, knowing full well it was going to rain, I decided to fill up the old wading pool for Jack because of the stifling heat and humidity. I figured we could squeeze in some wading after naptime.

Jack decided to sleep a little later than normal, so I was hustling him outside to the water shortly before the red blob of storm death and destruction was to close in on us. He was having a good time, and Josh stuck his head out the door to ask something about the window guy who was scheduled to come to the house, and then he went back upstairs to work.

About 10 minutes later, I thought it seemed darker than it had in previous minutes. The wind was picking up, but no drops had started yet. So I went to the door to ask Josh to come out and carry Jack upstairs.

The door wouldn't open. That would be because it was locked. My husband, bless his heart, locked me and his son out in the storm.

I start banging on the door and ringing the doorbell and banging some more. But Josh is all the way upstairs in the back of the house. Jack is standing in his pool looking at me with a scared look, frozen to the spot with his bucket poised in midair. The winds are really picking up now and the rain is coming down in hurricane sheets. I have never seen it just start to rain this hard, this fast.

For a moment, I actually consider flipping the pool over and taking cover under it, underneath the porch steps. But I realize it is full of water and weighs about 11 gazillion pounds and there is no way I can do this. My next thought is the pizza place down the block. But I have no shoes, and Jack is only wearing a swim diaper, so "No shirt, no shoes, no service" pretty much covers us.

So I go back to Jack and as he starts to freak out, I hug him and I hear the door open and Josh is looking rather sorry. He apologizes profusely, while I am yelling, "Just grab Jack and take him inside!"

Jack is now laughing like this is the funniest thing he's ever seen and I am soaking wet from head to toe.

We find out later the wind gusts were clocked at 60 mph in our neighborhood and the storms downed trees and power lines all over the city.

I felt like one of those weatherpeople on the news, broadcasting from the eye of the hurricane.

Bend it like Mommy

2007-08-22T22:09:00.000-05:00

Because I can't pick Jack up anymore, I have to bend down or sit on the floor so he can give me hugs or climb into my lap.

This morning, when I came downstairs, he ran over to me and started bending way down with his butt on the ground. I bent down to give him a hug and then he did it again. And again. I realized that he knows I can't lift him, so that's how he asks me for hugs now.

It was about the cutest thing I have ever seen. I gave him about 50 hugs.

In a totally unrelated turn of events, as I was typing this, I got the dreaded blue screen of Dell death. I think I might cry. My laptop is only three months old. Please think good thoughts for us. Also, I just this minute found out that if you don't check your hotmail for the entire summer, you lose all your messages. Like the ones that date back to 2001. I think I really might cry now. I switched to Gmail and this is now my fate.

In training

2007-08-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

This weekend, at a family party, it came to my attention that a cousin was now wearing a training bra.

This girl is in THIRD GRADE.

I was apalled. Don't you think it's too early for a girl to be wearing a training bra? We're talking straps-and-hooks-in-the-back training bra. This was no sports-type training bra.

As a mother, I just can't fathom a situation in which my daughter, who doesn't appear to be in need of a training bra, would be allowed to wear one in third grade.

Is it just me?