Well, it's Friday, so there's another featured video to your right. The last one, I realize, was a stretch. This one, however, belongs in the Internet Hall of Fame. (is there such a thing? If not, why not?). Seriously, check it out.
And happy Friday! I got a haircut yesterday, which is recommended when your hair gets too long. I also saw Transformers yesterday, which is recommended NEVER. Seriously. Disappointing. And I wasn't even expecting much!
...I missed this gem:9:42 p.m. A wildfire was reported in the 42000 block of McGuire Lane in Hayden. West Routt fire officials said a man was burning a dead horse, which is not illegal, and that the fire was under control.
Show me that in *your* police blotter, and I'll stop posting this stuff. God, rural America is awesome.
Here's the latest ultrasound picture. I think he looks like dad.
Just wanted to let you know that we had the BIG ultrasound today, and everything looks awesome (as you can obviously see). We also got some great 4D pictures. Kid was pretty quiet--hasn't been moving around much today. Guess he just wanted to be chill for the OB.
Anyway, that was a big sigh of relief for me--to see for myself that at least the structures of the heart, brain, stomach, face, arms, legs all look good. But I'm sure I'll find something else to worry about soon enough.
Man, I am such a mess today. I crashed last night around 10:15 or so, and was in the deepest of deep sleep when my on-call phone rang 2 hours later. I ended up having to go in to assist on a C-section right away.
I'm not a huge fan of surgery, but I don't mind assisting on C-sections because it's pretty mindless, usually a short amount of time (30-45 minutes or so) and it's nice to be right there when the baby is born. And I know it helps out the OB's.
But last night was so bad. It was warm in the OR to begin with, and I always hate being in a surgical gown with a mask on--very claustrophobic for me. But for a short surgery--no big deal. So we were about 3/4 of the way through, baby was out, doing great, and had already left the OR for the nursery, and I break out in this nasty sweat. Then I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach. Then a bit more woozy, and then I start seeing a couple stars, and finally had to scrub out before the procedure was completed.
I've never had that experience before in the OR (although, truth be told, during 7-8 hour long surgeries in med school when I was only allowed to "watch" but couldn't really see anything and they wouldn't let me do anything, I'd "get woozy" so I could go back to the doctor's lounge and read). But this just sucked. I was so embarrassed. Although it's way better to excuse yourself and sit down than pass out in the surgical field, which is very poor form. The OB I was assisting didn't realize I was pregnant (I go to the other group in town) and, well, the only good news is the baby is doing great. But I'm a mess today--I had a hard time getting back to sleep when I finally did get home about 45 minutes later, and had a full day today. I can't even read journals in my downtime because I'm just not processing anything.
I didn't get a chance to get any coffee this morning, so I finally broke down and had a Mountain Dew over lunch. Baby sez nobody messes with my momma. Only a few more patients to go....
So I was getting ready to go to work today, pull my favorite pants out of the closet, which I just wore to work about 2 weeks ago, and there is no chance in hell of me getting into these things, even with the rubber band trick.
I have finally accepted the fact that I need maternity clothes.
When Mark and I were back in Chicago, we did do a little maternity shopping with Ann, so I do at least have one pair of (ridiculously expensive) pants that has been patiently waiting for me to accept the inevitable. I paired it with a shirt I had also gotten that day, and thus was more comfortable at work than I have been in at least the past two months.
Thank God for these pants, as I will also be sporting them again tomorrow, and then I can get by with my jeans for the rest of the week (we're a bit more casual in Craig, and then it'll be Friday). But it looks like we'll need to be doing some shopping when we get to the Big City (AKA Fargo) in two weeks. Old Navy, here I come.
We have our next OB appointment on Wednesday, so we'll have the full ultrasound then to look at everything, but no, we're still not finding out if baby is a boy or girl. I would say I've gained about 10 pounds, but we'll verify that at the appointment. I'm 20 weeks today (YEA!! HALFWAY!!) and from here on out, am supposed to gain a pound a week. Holy crap.
Oh--and no wonder my pants no longer fit. The kid is about 10 inches from head to foot (man, just felt that foot again and again and again), weighs about 10 ounces, and my uterus is up to my belly button. This is so wild.
Sorry, no pictures yet (I'd like to get rid of some of the boxes still hanging around before showing you the "end" result of all my work downstairs.
I finished the floors Friday afternoon, so we were able to get more furniture in on Saturday and Sunday. The office is set up (I'm writing this from within), and the only things really remaining to be done downstairs are (relatively) minor - install the interior doors and trim. It would help if I knew what the heck I was going to do with my new office doors, but I'm starting to think it would probably be best just to paint them white and be done with it (rather than trying to stain it - staining pine can be tricky). Eventually, I'd like to replace all the doors down here (three more, not counting the door to the garage), but that may take some time. We'll see. Doors can be expensive!
Anyway, things are coming together very nicely, and several things are already apparent:- The floors are beautiful - we really made a good choice,
- the paint we chose, which was kind of off-the-cuff, REALLY works out well with the floors, and
- we need a flat-panel TV.
We're a little too close to the TV as it is now, but once we're able to hang one on the wall (which the room was pretty much designed for), the den will be perfect.
The garage looks nearly empty now because of all the stuff we took out to populate the finished downstairs (still lots and lots of boxes), which is both good news and bad news. Good because, well, crap is out of the garage. Bad because it means there's a lot of furniture we'll need once we get the upstairs finished.
Like I said, I'll get some good pictures later. I'll try to get a teaser up in the meantime. Look for an update to this post.
Oh! I almost forgot. I hacked the DSL filter/surge supressor we got so that our phone and DSL work, but there's some real noise when you're talking on the phone, so I have to call the dum-dums where I got the part and get a replacement. But for now, it's working.
UPDATE:linkage
"Dick Cheney Skis in Jeans"
Man, I love Steamboat.
Some people are so freaking obnoxious. It can be really frustrating.It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.
– Thomas Jefferson
Sometimes I really wonder what this kid is going to look like. Mark IS a very hairy man.
It's so strange to be able to feel this kid moving around in me very frequently throughout the day. Happens all the time now, although whenever he's (July is a "he" month, August we'll be back to a "she" month) really kicking the same spot over and over, I'll have Mark try putting his hand there and without fail, the kid stops moving. Not even born yet and he knows exactly how to drive his parents crazy.
I've decided that making a pregnant lady share a double bed with her husband qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. Mark's done an absolutely beautiful job with the den and the office--we even watched the Daily Show for the first time in about a month down there last night, albeit sans TiVo (commercials are so pedestrian). But he needs a few days off before tackling the upstairs, which includes the master bedroom.
Worst thing about being pregnant is this monster guilt that overtakes you when you realize you are doing one of the forbidden things. And let me tell you, abstaining from drinking is a cake walk compared to some of this other stuff. A quick run down--no sleeping on your back (my ever expanding uterus compresses the inferior vena cava, one of the main veins returning blood flow back to the heart = bad for baby). No eating lunch meat--only recently heard about this one, which has to do with ingesting a bacteria called Listeria which can make me miscarry. All lunch meat needs to be thoroughly heated. No sushi--raw fish = badness, although Mark and I did go out for sushi a few weeks ago and just ate veggie rolls and fully cooked rolls. It's like near-beer--close, but still wasn't the same. No lifting heavy things--can't say I mind this one too much. No high-impact exercise. Now that it's been months since I've gone running, I'm really starting to miss it. I was looking at a marathon website not too long ago, and just got this nasty urge to go out for a few miles. I am, though, already signed up for the Half-Marathon in town next year June, as I was signed up for this year, but applied for their Pregnancy Deferment.
Anyway, those are my recent thoughts on pregnancy. OH--and congrats to Dave and Keri!!! Dave called us last weekend, but neither myself nor Mark could understand what he was saying in his message other than "And it's Steve's birthday!" so we just figured it was a drunk dial. Ooops. But Mark made sure to send them a nice present to say congratulations.
OK, enough procrastination. Time to get the day going.
Well, the DirecTV folks were scheduled to show up between 8 and 12 today, and lo and behold, at 7:45 the guy pulls in (well, pulls up to the curb, then he just waited until a couple minutes before 8:00). I expect everything will work perfectly as he showed up wearing a Cubs hat.
I helped him run a couple wires into the server room (so he didn't have to worry about falling on all my stuff in there) and unpiled-on the sat boxes so he could test them once he's done (he's still running the outside wires, but should be in soon, I 'spect). After he gets it working, I'll disconnect everything and clean up the floor. AGAIN.
Last night I trimmed in all the paint on the walls (it just didn't happen at lunch) and then D and I made fajitas. After which, I went downstairs to clean up. I started by pulling off all the painters tape we had used, which worked fine until I got to some of the stuff the drywall guys had put up, and when I pulled it off got parts of the walls and my beautiful paint job with it. Oh well, that's what touch-ups are for, I guess. Dammit.
After that minor fiasco, I vacuumed (to get any stray crap off the floor). In doing so, I noticed that one of the bolts (fused in the concrete) that was used to attach the old wet bar was still sticking up a little, so I ground that down quickly and proceeded to mop mop mop. By the time I was finished, it was quarter to 11. Damn, this stuff takes a long time.
So, after the DirecTV guy and I tread crap back and forth all morning, I'll have to clean AGAIN (as I was saying) before I can start on the floors. And like I said, the intention is to have the time-lapse up and running for this job. Hopefully I'll start today!!!
Starting the morning of the 4th (I skipped the parade), continuing yesterday and culminating today after work, I have primed the basement.
On the chopping block today: clear the floor, and grind away all the nastiness, getting it ready to put the wood floors down. Wes is also going to help me vent the dryer to the outside (it's not currently set up that way) so the downstairs doesn't turn into a sauna when the dryer is running (as it currently does).
I will paint tomorrow.
Then Sunday: floors!
I plan to set up the time-lapse again for the floor installation. I expect it will take a long time, and probably won't be completed by the end of the weekend - but I intend to do the office first and work my way out from there, so that I can get my office set up IN the office on Sunday night. Floors should be done down there by Tuesday, which means then we can start moving stuff in from the garage! Finally!!!
I think I'm going to start calling this kid inside me Pele, because every now and then, and with greater and greater frequency, I just feel a big ol' bicycle kick for a GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAL. Mark even felt a really big kick for the first time last night--I think it kind of surprised him. And today I've just been getting more and more of these kicks.
It's pretty cool.
I have today off from work, which feels awesome because I needed a bit of a break. I was on call all weekend, and granted, it really wasn't a bad weekend as far as work goes, but I just need a little break. That's one thing that's just so great about working with this group here--you really work yer arse off when you're on, but you do get some sweet time off. I'm on call for the Fourth, but then after that will get a good 6 days to do whatever. I'm sorely behind on my journal reading for work, so I'm hoping to get a little catch-up in. That's right, suckers, I'm studying on vacation. Bite me.
The house is a disaster. At least we are now 100% officially moved in and no longer renters, but easily 75% of our entire belongings are piled in the garage. We think the drywall guys are done, since they haven't been around for a number of days now and the walls sure look done, but they left some stuff here, so who really knows. I need to start cleaning the laundry room out so I can fire up the machines (they are currently covered in plastic sheeting that is covered in drywall dust). Good times.
Mark and I have been on a movie-going rampage lately. Maybe just stocking up as the last-minute-let's-go-to-a-movie days will soon be coming to an end. Go see Waitress--one of the best I've seen this year, great writing, great acting, good story, and Keri Russell is hot. Pirates was meh. Die Hard 4 was better than I thought it would be and worth a movie price. 1408 was great for a matinee price. Knocked Up was a bit too built up for me, but still a funny movie and definitely struck a bit close to home (although Mark is way better looking than Seth Rogen--and doesn't smell like pot!) Ocean's Thirteen was OK, with some good eye candy as always (mmm, Elliot Gould). SpiderMan 3--good, but the first one was the best. 28 Weeks Later--again, good, but the first one was the best.
Damn, we have been going to movies a lot.
And congrats to Missy and DJ on their second baby girl, Elizabeth Ann. Woo-hoo! Her kids are totally going to be throwing my kids down the mountain--if they can catch them!
And Go Cubs Go! So very exciting to see them above .500 again. And how about Ramirez and his walk-off against the Brewers? Awesome! Who is this team?
Laundry time. I need to start moving around so Pele will calm down a bit. GOOOOAAAALLL!
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