TUMBLE DRY LOW!

For several months now, D and I have discussed the possibility of replacing our old dryer (free with apartment) with a new one, because of Tumble Dry Low. See, Ye Olde Dryer has only two heat settings: On and Off. This makes drying my clothing difficult, because a lot of my clothing is "tumble dry low" and if I put it in the dryer with the heat On, that's too much. But if the heat is Off, then nothing really happens. So I have been walking the line by putting it in with heat for a while, then taking it out when still damp and letting it finish drying on a hanger or rack.

This was annoying enough when it was just some of my clothing, but then THEN we got some baby clothing. Baby clothing is ALL Tumble Dry Low. That's when we started talking seriously about a new dryer. Not just for the baby, but for my things as well. Also, it might be marginally helpful on the electricity bill.

So, we went back and forth about this for a while: should we spend all this money on a non-baby purchase right now, how will we know what's a good deal, etc. We decided we could delay the issue by doing the initial washing of the baby clothing at a laundromat, which is how I spent part of my Saturday last weekend. This Friday, though, Ye Olde Dryer made the decision for us. I think it overheard our smack-talk about it, and it gave up the ghost. D could not get it to dry clothing any more.

Saturday was going to be a big errand-day anyway, when we planned to look into portable air-conditioning units (our apartment has weird windows), among other things. So we were already hitting some appliance stores. While the guy at Home Depot did entice me by explaining the concept of the dryer shoe rack (brilliant!), ultimately we went with a Kenmore from Sears, much like this one. It was on sale, but being on sale meant there was no delivery charge rebate, so the sale ended up only saving us about $20. But hey, free $20!

I am very excited that when I go home tonight, I go home to Tumble Dry Low. Oh, how my quality of life has increased!

The ultimate ultrasound

Yesterday was our three-week follow-up with the maternal/fetal consultant. It was (hopefully!) our final ultrasound, and baby behaved much better this time; she showed her face to the camera, demonstrated mouth movements, and impressed the tech with her chubby cheeks and functioning heart and kidneys.
D was adorable at the ultrasound, as he always is. He loves seeing his little baby-to-be, and when the tech got a good shot of her face, his "awww" was just as heartfelt as during the first ultrasound.

My fluid is still above normal; it's 27cm, and 25cm is the high side of normal. But still, it has come down from 30cm a month ago to 29cm three weeks ago, so there's a good decline in the numbers, even if it's still abnormally high.
Baby is estimated to weigh 6lb 10oz, which makes her bigger than I was when I was born. This is considered the 67th percentile for weight, so she's big but not huge. She's gained an average of .5lb/week over the past three weeks; if she can keep that pace, I'd be on track to deliver a baby just under 9 pounds. That's big, but not Guinness big.

The consultant wants me to come in for weekly non-stress tests, which strikes me as a ridiculous waste of time, as there is no concern over her heart rate or movement, which is all the test measures. I'm going to mention it to my OB at my appointment tomorrow; maybe she can shed some light on what the point is. Or maybe she'll absolve me of them. The consultant also suggested that I talk with my OB about scheduling an induction for week 39. I'll mention it to her, but in the context of "we'd rather not unless you think it's really important to."

The meeting with the nutritionist last week was informative. She wants me eating more meat/protein, I have to count my carbs and make them a smaller percentage of my diet, and I have to eat more often. The meat/protein part is fun; D cooked chicken for the first time in maybe 10 years, and we had bison steak the other night, and tonight I'll be making a batch of egg salad for lunches. The carb thing is a little tricky because I have to pay close attention to what I'm eating, but it's easy if I keep enough non-carb foods around. The eating more often is the hard part. I'm supposed to not go more than three hours without food, and I have to have a snack near bedtime and start breakfast early, so my overnight fast is minimized. It's relentless.

Update from the frontlines

Finally, I wrote someone an email worth recycling.

Our goal is to have everything ready (as ready as clueless pre-parents can be) by May 1st. That way, I can while away the last three weeks without crucial projects like room preparation, etc. hanging over my head. I've just started the stage of third trimester when the tiredness sets back in, and there have lately been a few Fun-With-Hormones mood swings. Also, my ankles. They are so swollen.

Baby seems to be enjoying her stay in Hotel Me. She doesn't kick - she just kind of squirms. But maybe those are kicks, just dulled by my excess fluid. I'm really looking forward to lightening, when she drops. For several months now, she's been wedging her foot up by my right rib - it's a pain. I expect it will feel good to have her sitting a little lower, though I don't look forward to all the bathroom trips and the increased pelvic spread that will come. Like my pelvis isn't weird enough already.

P.S. Are you watching Robin Hood yet? I would call his demeanor in this last episode "adorably tortured."

F this.

(Confession #4)
I was starting to put together a blog post in my head, when I remembered that I had to check with the internet about something. As it turns out, the internet confirms that I make my cursive 'f's incorrectly. (See diagram)
The bottom of my f flips back, instead of forward. I think my f is much prettier, so I'm not going to correct the error, but I do think it's interesting that I'm only realizing it now, and I wonder for how long I have been making my subversive f.

Little Ado about Nothing

It's been a while since I've posted; there just hasn't been much to say. I did get in quite a bit of TV watching this weekend, between chores, though, and here are my thoughts on some of my favorite shows that are currently showing new episodes:

• On Tyra's model show (whose name I will eshew to avoid showing up in google searches), I'm worried we're going to have to be subjected to the models having to use their stupid new 'model names' the rest of the season. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing some improvement in Brittany's hair, because that is so sad what has happened there, and she's been a real trooper about it.
• The BBCA's new show Robin Hood: I can't stop thinking about that hottie, Robin Hood. D's cool with that because he can, in return, crush on Marian. Also, we both agree that the real Robin Hood would be utterly repulsive in terms of hygeine, living in the woods in the 12th century. I also think that the actor who plays him looks skinny and weasely when not in character. Marian is, however, adorable, even if she did wear an enviable saffron cardigan that seemed anachronistically modern in design in the last episode. Also, one could imagine that an actual Marian probably didn't smell like shit all the time.
• The BBC's new style mavens for the 2007 season of What Not To Wear are terrible. In replacing Trinny and Susannah, they also tweaked the format, and now we don't get to see the victims' wardrobes getting trashed, and they do a lot less at explaining the rules for what styles on clothing to look for, focusing more on the color. I'm taking it off the TiVo's season pass.
• I got really tired of Six Feet Under (on Bravo), and skipped about 5 episodes to watch the series finale, which was enough closure for me, so I erased all the skipped ones and took that off season pass as well. It was just not that interesting of a show.
• 30 Rock used to suck and now it doesn't suck. It's like The Portriat Of Dorian Gray Studio 60.
• I used to not watch Lost, but now I like Lost, but I can't talk about Lost, because D's about 7 episodes behind.
  
• I tried The New Adventures Of Old Christine, but the laugh track made it utterly intolerable.
  

Ultrasound #4

Today was ultrasound #4, where a doctor reads the ultrasound data and looks for any kind of abnormality that might explain why all the extra fluid. He couldn't find anything wrong, everything looked good. Unfortunately, we still have to go back in three weeks to make sure things are still going ok. The baby's current position makes it difficult for him to see what's going on in her throat, where any swallowing issues would occur, but he seemed to think that the size of her stomach indicated good swallowing ability.

In the good news column, the baby hasn't grown precipitously in the past week since ultrasound #3 - she's measuring as weighing 5lb 3oz, and in general, her stats put her at around 34.5 weeks, which is only two weeks ahead of schedule instead of three. So maybe she's mellowing out on the whole growth thing, and she'll end up normal-sized by the time she's full-term. Or not. She could end up unbearably huge - literally unbearable. But let's hope for the normal-size thing; that sounds much better to me.

Good v. Bad

I've put off writing about the latest rounds of tests, because they've been one after the other, so I figured I'd wait til they were all done, but there's another one tomorrow, and I think it's just going to keep going, so now's as good a time as any to check in about what's up.

BAD: Ultrasound tech says there's way more fluid around the baby than there should be, and the baby is measuring two weeks larger than is normal for her age.
GOOD: Her heart and bladder functions look normal.
BAD: If the fluid and the baby's growth continue at their current rate, then either the size of my uterus will trigger pre-term labor, or the baby grow to be too big and I'll be unable to deliver it.
GOOD: There are a few reasons these things happen, and some are treatable. My doctor set up a bunch of tests, to see if we could figure it out.
BAD: First attempt at re-taking the glucose one-hour test: show up at the hospital at 7am so I can get to work on time afterwards, only to find that my doctor's office had not yet sent in the order.
GOOD: Order gets sent in that day, so I can take the test the next morning, one day before my doctor's appointment.
BAD: At the OB appointment, I find out that I failed the glucose test, and I have to go do the 3-hour one, to see if I've developed gestational diabetes. My doctor also wants me to meet with a maternal-fetal consultant, who will do some tests to figure out if maybe there's an anatomical reason for all the fluid, like if the baby's not swallowing correctly or something. Also, she's going to get me a nutritional consult, so I can adjust my diet, especially if this is gestational diabetes.
GOOD: My OB seems to be an aggressive advocate on my behalf.
BAD: My 3-hour glucose test is scheduled for the Sunday morning of the weekend my parents are visiting.
GOOD: If we get an early dinner, we can work around the fast and meet for brunch after all the testing.
BAD: Do you know what a 3-hour glucose test is?? First, I fast for 12 hours , then I go to the hospital, have a vial drawn to check if my blood sugar is in range to start the test, then drink the nasty flat orange soda. Then wait an hour, have another vial of blood drawn, wait an hour, have a third vial of blood drawn, wait an hour, have a fourth and final vial drawn. It is boring to sit around the lab waiting room for four hours, hungry.
GOOD: A call to my OB's office today, and they already had the results. I passed the test, so I don't have gestational diabetes! Go, pancreas, go!
BAD: I don't have gestational diabetes, so now it's that much harder to figure out why the baby's too big and why there's too much fluid.
GOOD: I have a meeting with that maternal-fetal consultant tomorrow, so maybe something will show up in that.
BAD: Something could come up at the consult tomorrow. Anything explanatory that the consultant can find would be bad news - anatomical disfunction or disfigurement!
GOOD: It could be something completely unknowable that doesn't show up at all.

So that's what I've been up to this past week. I'll post again when we know something new.