50/50

Dizziness and nausea started last night and continued all through most of the day today.  Blech.  I'll mention it to my OB when I see her tomorrow, but she had told me that it was possible that the nausea might come back, so I'm not sure there's much to do beyond taking some Zofran if I need to.  (Also, her office called me today to let me know that the copy of my files was ready for pickup.  Yay!)

On the good side though, I was able to start cooking for the High Holidays.  Yay me!  I mixed together two batches of MyMahtha's Honey Walnut Coin Cookies and put them in the freezer.  I'll defrost the dough and bake off the cookies next week.

I Heart Lists

Because I just can't go into how infuriating my OB's office is (current threat level: firebombing = proportional response), I present you with a List of The New Classics as seen on books i done read.  I've probably done this before, but I heart lists.

If there's any that I haven't read that you recommend, let me know!

THE NEW CLASSICS

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer
12. Blindness, José Saramago
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
21. On Writing, Stephen King
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt
28. Naked, David Sedaris
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
49. Clockers, Richard Price
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe
58. Drop City, TC Boyle
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich
61. Money, Martin Amis
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields
84. Holes, Louis Sachar
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show

More on Records and EFM Stuff

So, I didn't have to get all lawyer-y on my doc's office - I just asked if a letter requesting my records for my own use would be sufficient, and they said yes.  Thank goodness.  I faxed in that letter yesterday afternoon, and I plan to follow up with them first thing tomorrow morning.  (I'll be picking up the records myself and delivering them by hand to the midwives' office to avoid any screw ups.  Well, to avoid screw ups by other people -- never discount my own ability to mess things up).  After getting off the phone, I basked in my utter rebelness, did a victory dance and told my assistant that "I fight for the forces of justice and goodness."

In answer to a few commenters' questions regarding the availability of a compromise with my doc, unfortunately, there really isn't one.  My doc wants me to be on continuous monitoring from the second that I walk in the hospital doors.  She wasn't even thrilled with the idea of my getting off of the monitor for bathroom breaks, let alone only being on the monitor for 10 or 20 minutes out of every hour.  Also, as I mentioned yesterday, at my hospital, if you're on the monitor, you're in the bed, and that's that.

I've got some issues with the whole idea of continuous monitoring in general (e.g., the monitors are notoriously inaccurate, and are even more so for overweight women), but am willing to do continuous monitoring with a wireless system, that would enable me to move freely during labor, while giving my care provider the information that they would like.

Hopefully, this will all work itself out in the coming days.

A Change Is Gonna Come - We Think

I saw my doc on Monday for my 30-week (yikes!) appointment.  Everything looks good, and I even managed to lose 4 lbs.  The weight loss is likely due to a slight return of nausea over the past two-week period.  My doc had warned me previously that this could occur in women who've had hyperemesis and that I should take the Zofran pills on an as-needed basis.  Most of my nausea was eased by a cup of tea and longer naps; there was really only one day where I needed the Zofran to get me out of the cycle.

I also went over our preferences for the birth with my doc.  JD and I are both hoping to have as "natural" a birth as possible, i.e., one that is as unmedicated as possible.  Our doc was mostly willing to work within our preferences, but absolutely balked on the question of external electronic fetal monitoring (EFM).  Apparently, the policy of our hospital and of our doctor (who only works out of this one hospital) is to have the mother on continuous EFM from the time she walks in.  At our hospital, this means that mom cannot get out of bed while she's in labor.  (Other hospitals have the capability to do wireless EFM, so that moms can move around, change positions, and even take a bath while remaining monitored; it's just that our hospital does not have this capability).

In our research and through our Bradley Method classes, JD and I have learned techniques to cope with labor and almost all involve being able to move freely and change positions as needed to encourage an easier labor and easier delivery.  It seems like we're at a deal breaker with our doctor, which just stinks.  If our doc delivered at any other hospital in the area, we could go on the wireless EFM and that would be fine with me.  But we can't, so it's time to investigate other options, even at this late stage in the game.

I contacted a local midwifery practice that delivers at a hospital only 30 or so minutes from us.  The nurse was pretty sure that they'd be able to take me on; I just have to go through a phone consult with one of the midwives to make sure that I'm not high-risk for their practice (I'm not).

Once that's done, they'll want me to meet all of the midwives in the practice, and I need to make sure that I get my records transferred over at least 3 business days before they meet with me.  The nurse highly recommended that I call my doc's office to inquire about their policy for transferring my records and the doc's office manager said, "Well, you have to give us at least 30 days, although we usually get it done before that."  WHAT?!  3 days vs. 30 days.  After looking at my records though, the office manager said it shouldn't take really long to get them together, since I only started with the practice during this pregnancy.

Still, before they start copying the records, they need a letter from me releasing me from their care.  I'm not ready to do that yet, because I don't know if the midwives will take me on.

I also didn't want my doc to know that I was thinking about changing practices until after the decision was made and I could write a letter explaining that I loved her, but that the EFM issue was a deal breaker for me (maybe this would give her leverage with the hospital).  This stinks.

I think I may have to get a little lawyer-y with the office manager and tell her I want a copy of my medical records for my personal records.  It's called HIPPAA, dude, I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to get my files cause they're MY files.

Anybody have any other ideas or experience in dealing with this?

Darth Vader GPS

(H/T to We Are THAT Family)

Shitteth Fanneth Meeth

Note Bene: everything is fine with the baby, and will be fine with me once I knock some heads.

I have tons and tons to post, but, as I think the title subtly hints, things are a bit crazed 'round these parts, specifically in the job sphere.  It involves the always pleasant People Who Hate Me and their sidekicks, People Who Are Freakin' Stupid and Need to Learn to Do Their Jobs.  See, if you don't tell me about something really important that needs to go in a document, I won't know it needs to go in said document and won't include it.  So, when you start yelling at me about the missing clauses, I can reference my 10 EMAILS TO YOU REQUESTING RELEVANT INFO.  Bums.

Heart Cake

In honor of the 300th (well, really 200th) edition of the Friday Roundup, Mel has asked everyone to post a cake photo and talk about what the ALI community means to you.

I consider myself truly blessed to have found this community and to have you in my life, and to share in your lives.  Blogging has served as a needed outlet for my stress, anxieties and depression related to our IF struggles, and it has been my readers and bloggy friends who have helped me to weather the storms and who have celebrated with me during happy times.

I fell in love with this heart cake by Amanda at I Am Baker when I first saw it, and hope one day to have the mad skillz to bake it.  (For anyone interested in doing so, Amanda has a tutorial on how to do so here).

Please join the party at Mel's by posting your own cake and/or commenting on one of the blogs in the Roundup!

Overachiever

This week, my doc sent me in for an estimated fetal weight scan.  (Acause of the two bellays, fundal height measurements aren't exactly accurate).  The result?  This kid is in the 91st percentile for weight, at an estimated 3 lbs., 6 oz. at 28 weeks.  My mom said her grandchild is an overachiever.

If the baby maintains this rate of growth, we're looking at about a 9 lb. baby.  Yes, I am growing the next Alex Ovechkin.

This large size (assuming that these estimates are accurate, many times they are not) doesn't bother me and I was not all that surprised.  I'm large and was a bigger baby (over 8 lbs.) and my siblings were both bigger babes as well (sis was the same as me; brother was over 9 lbs).  My only concern here is that I not be pushed into an unnecessary induction or c-section just because of my weight or the weight of the baby.  I'd greatly prefer to have labor start on its own and have an unmedicated birth.  Obviously, if me or the baby is in danger, we do what's necessary, even if that includes meds and/or a c-section.  I plan to sit down with my doc when I see her in 2 weeks, to discuss our preferences and how that will work with her practices and that of the hospital.

The good news is I've really been trying to do all that I can do to help us have that unmedicated birth that we want.  I've been walking every day and doing my Bradley-recommended exercises most days.  I've been pretty good at getting the right amount of sleep.  I'm drinking lots of water.  I'm doing really well at controlling my portions and making sure I'm eating good foods (ex: I'm having yogurt almost every day which has really helped with the heartburn).  I passed the 1-hour glucose test, yay!  I successfully limited my weight gain to 3 lbs. this month, yay!

This month, I'd like to keep my exercise up and work on doing the Bradley exercises every day.  I'm going to work on making sure I include a 20-minute nap at lunchtime, so I'm not worried about falling asleep on the drive home from work.  I'm also going to try and get back to meal planning, to make sure that I'm eating a good variety of proteins and fruits and veggies.  (Yeah, including grains has never been a problem for me).

Last, and definitely not least...JD got a job!  He started this week and is feeling very positive about what he'll be doing and the people with whom he'll be working.  We're both hoping that this job will be a good fit for him -- something that will be more of a longer-term situation.

I'm hoping to post more often than I have been, not only about the baby and how we're doing with cleaning out what will be the baby's room, but also with regard to how we're doing with routines, meals and exercise.  Thank you all for sticking with me through these lean-posting times.