General Update
Today was my second monthly visit to my doctor to check the baby. I am 12 weeks or so along at this point. Like usual, I had to pee in a cup, during which time the fire alarm went off. Since it was not a false alarm, the building had to be evacuated. I was about to carry my little yellow cup with me when a nurse took pity on me and gave me a brown paper bag. Still, kind of embarrassing. Finally, when things calmed down, I was able to finish my appointment. I heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time today - so steady and fast. It reminded me instantly of when I heard my son's first heartbeat almost 15 years ago. Not surprisingly, I've lost another couple of pounds (which I can add to the 5 pounds lost at my last visit). I'm sure it's just because of not being able to handle Starbucks, not eating much fast food because of my heartburn, and because I have to walk in the evenings to be comfortable at night. All my blood tests so far are fine, but next time I get the blood tests that tell you the probability for different conditions like Down Syndrome and the like. From that, we can decide if an amniocentesis is needed. I am really hoping to avoid that measure.
On the house front, I am meeting the flooring guy tomorrow at the townhome for an estimate. Our place was built in 1985, and the flooring looks original. I have no idea what kind of cooties are in the carpet, and we definitely have to rip out the carpet in the bathrooms. Seriously... who the hell puts carpet in the bathroom? Sheesh! Friday morning, the paint guy will come give an estimate, so we'll see how much we need to shell out before even moving into our place. The good news is that there doesn't appear to be any other problems that need our attention right away, and everything is set to close on June 22.
At work, my last day is June 21, which can't come soon enough for me. I'm pretty much mentally drained and going through the motions at this point. Good thing that I'm not doing much therapy since this is the time of year for all the field trips. I will still work at my contracting job until the baby comes, but it's such a relief to know that I will not be returning to the schools. Just as I prepare to make my exit, I get an email from our union president regarding the government finally taking notice of the SLP shortage in the public schools and the explosion of our Autistic population (who all need intensive speech/language support). They're just now pulling their heads out of their asses to notice this problem? It's been happening for a while. The thing that makes me shake my head is the structure of the communique - basically listing all of the statistics on attrition rate of qualified professionals, incidence and prevalence of Autism, and the increase in litigation as a result of reduced services, but only briefly mentioning that "something must be done about this". I know what that means - it will be several years before they agree on what the "something" is that must be done. Blech.
On a happier note, besides the horrible heartburn, I am finally feeling better. My energy and motivation returning. What perfect timing since I need to pack, move, get ready for my son to visit for the summer, increase my private client caseload, and finish the final stages of opening my partner's and my private practice.
On the house front, I am meeting the flooring guy tomorrow at the townhome for an estimate. Our place was built in 1985, and the flooring looks original. I have no idea what kind of cooties are in the carpet, and we definitely have to rip out the carpet in the bathrooms. Seriously... who the hell puts carpet in the bathroom? Sheesh! Friday morning, the paint guy will come give an estimate, so we'll see how much we need to shell out before even moving into our place. The good news is that there doesn't appear to be any other problems that need our attention right away, and everything is set to close on June 22.
At work, my last day is June 21, which can't come soon enough for me. I'm pretty much mentally drained and going through the motions at this point. Good thing that I'm not doing much therapy since this is the time of year for all the field trips. I will still work at my contracting job until the baby comes, but it's such a relief to know that I will not be returning to the schools. Just as I prepare to make my exit, I get an email from our union president regarding the government finally taking notice of the SLP shortage in the public schools and the explosion of our Autistic population (who all need intensive speech/language support). They're just now pulling their heads out of their asses to notice this problem? It's been happening for a while. The thing that makes me shake my head is the structure of the communique - basically listing all of the statistics on attrition rate of qualified professionals, incidence and prevalence of Autism, and the increase in litigation as a result of reduced services, but only briefly mentioning that "something must be done about this". I know what that means - it will be several years before they agree on what the "something" is that must be done. Blech.
On a happier note, besides the horrible heartburn, I am finally feeling better. My energy and motivation returning. What perfect timing since I need to pack, move, get ready for my son to visit for the summer, increase my private client caseload, and finish the final stages of opening my partner's and my private practice.
posted by Notta Wallflower at 5:47 PM
16 Comments:
Sounds like a very interesting summer. Hope it goes well. Kora has two and half days left of school. I dont know why they are sending them on Monday but they are. Tomorrow was suppose to be the last day of school but they used one of there Winter days and they are making up for it. I have never heard of the schools doing that unless you have used more than the three Snow days alloted in most schools. I am not worried about it. I just think its funny.
Tweety - Legally, the school has to have kids attend a certain amount of days per year, so that's why the snow day, even though it's ridiculous. I have a friend who works in a school in WA state, and their school doesn't get out until July because of all the bad weather they had this past winter. At that point, everyone is just more than ready to be done.
Oog, a friend of mine had horrible heartburn with her second baby too. So strange.
Seriously - who the hell puts carpet in a bathroom???? That's just... well gross.
Good luck with the house and job front.
I guess sometimes i just dont understand half of it being a parent. I mean the school systems. I understand they need so much time. I am not complaining. It just doesnt make sense to me really. But I do agree with you.
Yes I forgot last time I commented, carpet in the bathroom. Come on here. I know when J and I first started our second apt had carpeting in the bathroom. It sucked royally because our shower leaked and the carpet would get wet anyway. It didnt make much sense to have the carpeting in there.
Laura - I think it is especially bad for me because I've never had these problems before, and my first pregnancy was very easy. I really only felt tired in the beginning, but felt great the rest of the time. This pregnancy has not been nearly so kind to my body. Thank goodness the doc cleared me to take Prilosec. It's only my second day, but I can already tell a huge difference. And I can sleep at night!
Tweets - I think carpeting is gross because of the toilet area. If you have a guy around, you know there will be piss on the floor. Sheesh! How do you get that cleaned up? :-P
Sorry about the heartburn and the carpet and the fire alarm during the pee test (how weird is that?!), but happy you had
a good appointment. The jellybean must be really changing.
The only people I know who carpeted their bathroom are my grandparents, and they're about the only people who could get away with it, too; my grandmother is the ultimate Neater-Than-Thou clean freak. The rest of humanity needs tile. ;D
SME - Well, it's better now that I can medicate myself. :-P I can't wait to see the next ultrasound of Jellybean, which is July 14th. At that point, they are going to check for gender. I hope they can tell - we'll see.
You are right though. As careful as they try to be you still have some on the floor esp if they get up in the middle of the night and dont turn lights on.
Notta, sounds like your life is buzzing along. Carpet in the bathroom? What the hell was the previous owner thinking. It would have never worked in my house. Especially after training the hubbie to take care in the morning on where he aims. Nothing like a warm wet puddle to ruin your day and get you in the shower quicker while summoning forth the scream that wakes up the hubbie from his innocent slumber.
Angelique - Life seems to be moving at such a pace that I've quit trying to keep up. It just stresses me out. So I'm just doing a little bit a day and doing the best I can. :-)
The whole autism thing is mind boggling. It's so common among working professionals, and I'm stumped whether it's because of genetics, mercury, or not enough quality time with a child in their youngest years, or just bad luck. Your area has a very high autism rate.
I hope your baby is fine. Hopefully there will be no sign of Down's. Man, kids are a lot of work. Mine is either tons of fun, or the biggest pain in the you know where. It seems like there's never an in between.
Anyways, I'm rambling on. Good luck with the house too.
ZS - There are a bunch of "theories" of why Autism is on the rise. One of my friends gave me an article that basically asserted that autism boomed after the tech boom. Before that, it might have been hard for guys and gals who were "on the spectrum" to find mates. But after they were gainfully employed (and doing quite well financially), they became viable partners and started marrying and reproducing. I don't think it's too far off in some of my cases. I look at the parents of some of the kiddos I work with and then things make sense - at least one of the parents has Autistic tendencies, but has probably never been labeled. However, there are plenty of children with Autism whose parents aren't Autistic or even Aspergers. Then there is the case of my psychologist friend who does infant intakes for our district. Recently she did 6 or 7 intakes for little 2 year-olds - all had Autism or were on the spectrum, all living on the same street (they were most likely born in that area as opposed to having had moved there). Hmm....
I could go on and on - it's pretty fascinating, really.
I'm doing everything I can to have a healthy baby. The rest is out of my hands. Thank you for your well-wishes. :-)
You know this is interesting. A friend of mine from school has an autistic child. They just diagnosed him a year or so ago. I guess I never thought she or her husband could have been carriers for the disease if that is what you want to call it.
Tweety - They haven't proven anything yet, what my friend sent me was just an interesting theory. I would never assert that your friend's child's Autism was because of one of the parents. However, there are plenty of cases where the apple doesn't fall far... In any case, I take theories with a grain of salt - I think they're interesting to bat around. But no one really knows for certain the cause of Autism. At least not to my knowledge.
LOL, when we ripped up our living room carpet, I was soooo glad that all the "cooties" belonged to us. It was NASTY under there!
TSHS - I agree - there's something more comforting about knowing exactly what kind of cooties are around versus dealing with a stranger's. People do the grossest things, and I used to be a housekeeper, so I've seen some pretty disgusting stuff. My imagination unfortunately runs wild. :-P
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