Friday

There are 2 weeks left until my due date! 2 weeks! Seems like it was just a month ago that I told Vance I thought I was pregnant.
I went to the Doctor for my weekly appointment yesterday and I wasn't expecting much. Low and behold, nothing really happened. I am "a loose 1, almost a 2" dilated and she joked about going into labor on labor day. As far as I know, all she did was an exam, but it hurt so bad for hours afterwards. I thought my vagina was going to prolapse. She ended the appointment with "we'll see if you make it to next week." Seriously, Doctor's have got to stop doing that, because some people who don't know any better take that as "Oh my God! I am gonna go into labor next week" and are terribly disappointed when their due dates fly by them and they are still hosting a small child in their uterus.
I am still going to complain about being tired of pregnancy. My stomach muscles feel like they are going to give out from holding up my massive mound. These contractions SUCK. If they don't hurt, they at least make me hunch over from the intense pressure and tightening. This morning I woke up to 3 painful contractions. I wanted to believe it was the end, but they stopped. Now my lower body is just aching.
Believe it or not, I never wanted to be one of those pregnant ladies that whined about wanting it to be over, but I seriously think it's just a typical reaction that every prego has. Some are just a little more up front about it.
After my appointment yeserday Vance and I decided to go cash in our WIC money. We had no idea how big of a pain it would be. Not only was the process arduous, but we had the slowest dipshit cashier on the planet. And worse, there were these two obnoxious wannabe punk teenage girls behind that smelled like B.O. big time. I thought it was the cashier or Vance or even me, but it was them. They kept dicking around and play fighting and nearly rubbing up on my man. They smelled like a gorilla cage. I hate HEB.

NOOOOOOO
Do you know the one thing that, if stripped of, can turn me completely infantile and dependent on others? My eyes, or rather, the things I use to make them work. My contacts. And tonight, one of them TORE.
I think it happened earlier before I took them out to sleep. It felt like there was something in my eye, like an eyelash. I kept picking at my eye. I didn't notice it until I put them back in. A big chunk was missing out of my right contact lens. I was able to put it back in, but I don't know how long I am going to be able to wear it before this tear gets bigger. It's really, really bad that I am still wearing it, but I don't have the money to go back to the eye doc and get a refill. Without even one of lenses, there is no driving whatsoever. I need to get this fixed ASAP.
In happier news, I am now on WIC. I finally got in and got my vouchers for food. I will now never be without milks, cereal, eggs, cheese, peanut butter, juice, or beans. It doesn't sound like a whole lot, but thats like $30 off our grocery bill. Yes, it's another social program set up so poor lazy people and illegal immigrants and thrive in our country, but dammit Vance works his ass off and still doesn't make enough, so we actually deserve this. When I get back to working at the end of the year I'll likely take myself off the program.
And then we went to this awesome chinese restaurant down south called Marco Polo. I didn't think it was chinese food by just the name, but the menu featured the story about Marco Polo and it made sense. They also offered Malaysian cuisine. It was DELICIOUS. And I found out I can eat with chopstix and Vance can't. I WIN THAT ONE.
So, no full moonish activity for me tonight. I have been having a lot of Braxton-hicks contractions, but nothing out of the ordinary. Damn. I was really hoping I would pop tonight.

Babies, babies
Jackie's little girl was born yesterday at 5 pm. Her name is Yalena and she was 7 lbs and 19 inches long. She is beautiful. I went to the hospital to visit them and to talk to Jackie about her experience. She had a hard labor that ended in a csection. She seems okay...said she was so out of it from exhaustion and meds that she just didn't care.
It's just so weird to see what comes out of a pregnant lady's belly after so long. Yes, I know babies come out, duh. But it was just weird holding Yalena and looking down at her and thinking that she was in Jackie's belly...and there's one just like her in mine. It comes out crying and squirming and needing you. It's so much more than a change in physical condition. An actual person comes out of it. It's weird. Very, very weird.
And seeing that little sweetheart finally has just made me so much more anxious to meet mine. I came home and packed my bag, filled out some more of the baby book and went through more of his little outfits. I just want him here so bad, it's crazy. I am seriously the most impatient person in the world, and so these last few weeks are absolute torture. I am trying to be pragmatic; I have less than 4 weeks tops before my son is born. It's the fact that it can happen anytime now, not an exact moment that is planned, that makes me insane. It's actually going to require a little intuition on my part to know when. I'm not very intuitive, which is my way of saying I'm not going to know what the hell is going on until his head is hanging out of my vagina.
I guess I am just saying I am so done with being pregnant! I can't freakin say it enough!
I'm so sleepy right now. Yalena cried a lot in the room. She cried when Matt (friend of ours) handed her to me and it kind of scared me. I think the excitement took it out of all of us. Imagine how Jackie must feel! I have to take Vance to work tomorrow. I have this "meet the pedi" thing at Austin Regional Clinic at noon to pick the baby's pediatrician. I guess it's a good thing I'm still pregnant. Okay, after tomorrow afternoon he'll officially have no more good reason to stay inside me.

37 weeks
Nothing special happened at yesterdays appointment. I'm still only 1 cm and not any closer to popping than last week. The good news is my friend Jackie is being induced tomorrow morning! She says she actually started feeling contractions after her biophysical profile, so she could end up going in naturally tonight. I hope she has a fast, natural delivery! GO JACKIE!
I am typing this right now with no contacts in. I took a nap with them in and now my eyes feel like they are on fire. Actually, it feels like I might have scratched my right eye. I am going to leave them out for a few hours, let the lenses soak and then try to wear them again. Seriously I am not sure I will be able to make dinner without eyes. Anyway, if there are any typos in this post, it is because I am damn near blind.
After Vance got home I decided to drag him out to the pool with me so I could go swimming. It was awesome. Since school has started, the place was totally empty. He opted out of swimming and just wanted to hang out by the pool and flip me off since he knew I couldn't see it ("how many fingers am I holding up?") It was sooo nice. Stepping into that water just felt like all of this weight has been lifted off my entire body. And it's so hot outside...feels good just to be immersed in cool water. Even after swimming we stayed out underneath a shady tree and just layed there and talked. Nice afternoon.
Well, my eyes are being strained beyond belief. I am going to go rest them for a bit.

Socks
I washed my baby's first load of laundry yesterday. It consisted of his 0-3 mos clothes, bibs, receiving blankies, burp cloths, and tiny wittle socks. Unfortunately the sock ogres are relentless. They would even steal the socks of an innocent unborn baby. Two pairs of socks are now missing their buddies. So sad. Those bastards.
I am trying to keep busy, but all of the things that need to be done before he is born is being taken care of. I don't want to run out of things to wash or organize. I will have some sort of house work to take care of everyday, but I don't want to run out of baby-oriented activities to keep me occupied.
Tomorrow is my 36/37 wk Dr's appointment. All they are going to do is check the vital's and my cervix. I am not counting on any big changes. I really want to get him out of me, but he is not coming until after the 14th, I just know it. That is just my luck and how it happens for first time young moms. The younger and fresher the uterus, the more cozy.
And Tuesday is a full moon! Apparently there are going to be some neat-o lunar activities happening next week. Supposedly on Monday night you're supposed to be able to see Mars and some other star or something and it's going to look like a pair of evil red eyes in the sky. Tuesday night is not only a full moon but a total lunar eclipse, and it's supposed to last about an hour and a half. I bet babies are going to come shooting out of vaginas and into space on that night. I am not looking forward to the false labor and the uncontrollable urge to howl at the moon.
Goodness, it is 3 am, I should go to bed. If anything happens at tomorrow's appointment I will update. Good night, assholes.

August Showers
We had our baby showers over the weekend. I had a lot of fun. We got, I believe, everything we are going to need, plus money to get any thing we still need. He has quite an extensive wardrobe now. I don't think he's going to be able to wear everything. I'm going to have to change his clothes 5 or 6 times a day just to so none of the outfits go to waste. I didn't get any pictures, and the ones that other people took of me are frightening. If I come across any good ones of the cakes or decorations, I will post them.
My step-mom has come down with quite a scary illness. I woke up the morning of my showers and found a note my dad left that said he had taken Barnie to the Dr. She apparently has come down with either viral meningitis or West Nile, or both. And something is also wrong with her liver. It was obviously getting to my dad. Everyone was pestering him about why she wasn't in the hospital and why other tests weren't done, and antibiotics weren't given. How the hell is he supposed to know these things? He isn't a Dr, he just took her to one. She's not on the verge of death and until they find out the cause of her illness, there isn't a lot they can do. My brothers couldn't make it to the shower due to car troubles (car deaths, really), and obviously Barnie was too sick to make it to the other shower, so I got the impression that my dad was a little lonely. Vance and I hung out with him a little until he found other people to talk to.
I'm still blown away by everyone's generosity. These were people that we either don't know that well or haven't talked to in years, and they happily show up to a party and give us stuff. It's awesome.
In other news, I found stretch marks. Not on my belly or my boobs, but all over my ass. Purple ones. Out of no where. The upside it that I don't go around parading my bare cheeks. They can be my secret...
My friend is going to stop by on her way out of town, so I am going to blow dry my hair and straighten up a bit.

35 wks 5 days...Almost full term
Now that Rush has come and gone I have given the baby permission to be born whenever he feels like it. I went to the Dr today and had my Group B Strep test done and my first cervical check. Man was that uncomfortable. The good news is that the contractions have done some good seeing as I am 1 centimeter dilated and his head is locked into
position. As I said before, that does not mean that labor is imminent. Unfortunately it could still be another 5 weeks before anything happens. Thats good, because I would be so pissed if I went into labor this weekend. My baby showers are this Saturday. I asked my Dr if it was okay that I went and she said technically I am not supposed to leave, but we'll just pretend I didn't mention it. Our OB deposit is paid, so delivering at another hospital would be such a waste.
Vance and I enjoyed our monthly post-Dr's appointment date at Olive Garden. Today I was feeling well enough to order a dessert. I had the Lemon Cream Cake. It was so good, but so very, very sweet. The slice was huge. It was gigantic compared to my entree (Minestrone soup). I ate 1/4 of it and thought I was seriously going to puke. But it was worth it...I brought the rest of it home. I will eat more later.
I didn't sleep worth shit last night, so I am going to wind down and possibly take a nap.

I love the nightlife
Vance took some night time cold/allergy medicine and has passed out on the recliner in the living room. I tried to wake him up to see if he wanted to sleep in our bed, and he just looked at me funny and then fell back asleep. So adorable. I kind of like this. I am in my room with the tv on Nick at Nite, music playing on my computer, and I am typing away. 3 things I would normally get bitched at for. He'll come in eventually and go to bed, whether it's at 3 or 7 in the morning...but until then!
Fridays are the best. Everyday during the week is pretty much the same for me, but Fridays just feel more relaxed. Normally Vance comes home and I have to worry about how much time we'll have to hang out before he has to go to bed, except Fridays. We can stay up as late as we want and do whatever! Which usually means he plays World of Warcraft until midnight and then goes to bed. I'm back to not sleeping well at night. Yay.
Right now I have a large baby jumping on bladder and jamming his feet into my ribcage. I have been getting really excited about squeezing this little guy out of me. I am 35 weeks now and it's starting to feel like at this point just about anything could happen. I have my first cervical check at my next appointment, which doesn't sound exciting, and it really is quite gross, but it could indicate whether I am getting close to delivering. Well, it puts hopeful thoughts into a mom's head. I could be 2 centimeters dialated and not pop until a week after my due date. With my luck I will be closed up tight and not pop until a week or two after my due date. I'm telling you, nature is trying to teach me patience. It always happens this way.
My friend Jackie is due next Friday. I know once she delivers I will be that much closer to getting this guy out.

>.<
Last weekend Vance's grandparents bought us the Glider and crib mattress off of our baby registry and had it shipped to our apartment. We didn't know exactly when it would get here, just that it would be here during this week some time. My main concern was the packages are large and we live on the 3rd floor. Of course, if no one answers the door the poor UPS guy is forced to take it to the office and leave us a note. The nice UPS man with a dolly.
So today I got up, ate breakfast, watched trash television and fell asleep. I was thinking the entire day "maybe the stuff will arrive today!" You'd think I would leave my door open or just hang out in the living room. So I woke up at 2 and checked right outside my door. Sure enough, there was the note. I tried to call Vance, but my phone was acting up. I got on AIM and he told me he had been trying to call me all day, but as I said before, phone was acting up and not letting me make or receive calls. His grandfather told him the packages would be arriving today and so Vance was trying to tell me to listen for the door. Stupid, stupid me. There are 2 very large, heavy boxes waiting for us in the office.
As I have mentioned before, this weekend is Rush. My brother got 4 tickets and at the time we weren't entirely sure why. That was probably 3 or 4 months ago, so we figured we'd find someone else to go with us. No one yet. Anyone want to see Rush this weekend in San Antonio?
It's funny how I wrote that. It's like I actually believe people read this.

Here it is
So here is the new layout. I got really tired of the pink and the 1 post. I changed it to blue and now you can read 3 posts. When I was younger I used to spend hours on elaborate layouts with all kinds of java script and graphics, but now I just don't give a shit. I just wanted a blog. Thats all. Nothing special. And Painted-strange.net expired recently. I have no plans to purchase a new domain in the immediate future, so for now here we are with a new name on my brother's server.
It's 1:30 in the morning and I am sitting up watching America's Next Top Model on my DVR. I tried to sleep, but Vance was taking up too much of the bed and it's too hot. I was half nekkid and still sweating. I got up and looked at the thermostat and it was only 75 degrees. The majority of the day I am sweating. I expect to be at least somewhat comfortable at night. Oh well, it's another one of the many joys experienced during pregnancy, and during the last few weeks when you're struggling to get any decent sleep. Sigh.
And I am hungry and there is nothing to eat. I just have to survive tomorrow until Vance gets home and I can go shopping.

Beautiful Progress
I can't believe it. After all this time, the nursery is almost complete. My brother took me shopping yesterday for baby stuff and today Vance and I busted our butts and got the room cleaned and the crib put together. We're still waiting to get a changing table/dresser and a rocking chair, but everything else is there. There is a well-organized mess of boxes and Styrofoam in the corner that is going to take a few trips to get down to the dumpster, but other than that I still couldn't be more relieved.
In a lot of ways I am glad we waited this long to get this stuff done. I could have gotten this done a month ago and been sitting around terribly bored all this time. At least I now have something to keep me busy until I pop.
I am also glad that thus far I haven't had any problems with my blood pressure (knock on particle wood desk.) My bp has been consistently around 120/60 with the exception of my last appointment when it was 112/64. And my weight gain has been alright. According to my BMI (total b/s, btw) I can gain up to 40 lbs and I am pushing it. It appears luckily that my weight gain has plateaued seeing as I only gained a pound in 2 weeks as of my last appointment. Maybe the nesting is providing good exercise?
The only things I will complain about is when I am on my feet for any amount of time my feet swell and contractions suck. Yes, they are the Braxton-hicks "practice" contractions, but they are starting to get uncomfortable and annoying. Just think, if these are annoying imagine how bad the real, productive ones are going to be!
And Rush is in a week! WOOT!