Tribute to our WWII Veterans

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A Visit from BFF, Tiffany & an update

This week has been busy, AGAIN!  That's good though because I can chalk up another week.  My HS friend Tiffany lives in Chicago and she is down here visiting family and me!  I worked as much as possible so that I could take some time off to visit with her.  We went to dinner last night then got snoballs.  I had THE BEST chocolate snoball with condensed milk that I have ever had in my life!  I forgot to take pictures :(  Maybe I will get another chance on Tuesday.  We may be hooking up for breakfast before she flies back to the Windy City.  I can't wait. Also, Tiff gave me a wonderful little book of prayers called Mother's Manual by A. Francis Coomes, S.J.

(Update on pregnancy)

This week I got my results back from the AFP test .... all normal!  That's more than I can say for our little pumpkin's parents. I'm still getting migraines, they usually last through the night into the next day.  I take Ty.lenol, but it hardly ever helps.  I also have tried ice packs after a warm bath.  My headaches are directly associated with shoulder and neck tension.  I went to see my acupuncturist this week and it seems that all of the immunity points relieve the tension and the headache, so I suspect that allergies are the main culprit.  Zy.rtec has worked VERY well for me, so much better than Clar.itin ever had.  I guess I'm more allergic to cats and dogs than I thought, but they are my children too and they are staying inside.  

I noticed that in the mornings my belly is softer and smaller north of my belly-button.  In the evenings I look and feel like I've eaten a whole pig.  It's hard to move and breathe.  My acupuncturist suggested that my digestion is slow and I'm just filling -up so to speak.  I'm still very thirsty in the evenings and can't seem to get enough water.  I'm sleeping harder since I started the aqua-aerobics and swimming, which means that I don't wake up when I have to pee!  No ... not that!  I wake up in the morning and literally have to carry my belly to the bathroom while carefully dodging the way-too-slow cat that thinks the the best route from point A to point B is to travel in a zig-zag pattern.  She follows (leads) me to the toilet every time I have to go because once I sat there and brushed her while waiting for something to happen. I know, TMI.  Well, now she thinks that she is going to get brushed every time I go to the bathroom.  NOT!  

Let's see what else ... my energy is picking up in little spurts.  Today I washed the dogs and planned on taking them to the park for a walk, but got too tired by the time they were finished being bathed.  Oh well!  This weekend they will be able to play and romp around when we go to Abita Springs to visit my folks for Mother's Day. Maybe I will get more me pictures!

14wk pic & spring flowers

Haley and my Joseph's Coat roses...Lilies...

..And, here is my 14 week pic ... could be a better shot, but I was working solo.

When does the feel-good period kick in?

I'm 16 weeks and 2 days today.  I've been having a good day here and there, but no real burst of energy that lasts more than 30 minutes.  My back, neck and feet ache and I'm getting migraines several times a week.  What gives?  Am I going to be in pain for the rest of my  life?  Probably!

I'm still seeing an acupuncturist, a chiropractor, a PT for body work and a massage therapist.  I only work a few hours every day, so I really shouldn't be that stressed out.  I'm also swimming and started the aqua aerobics this morning.  Swimming kicks my butt, but it feels so GOOOODDDD!  

Anyway, am I the only one having a hard time here?  Also, why do I look like I swallowed  pig whole when others at 16 weeks have this little pooch below their belly-button?  Just wondering ...  Is it all genetics, or am I just a fat type of person?  Stupid question I know, since I've been too afraid to post any pictures.  Soon ... I will build up the nerve, soon ...

Our Little-Uns ...

This is Haley, rescued at 6 months old.  She had climbed out of a 6 foot chain link kennel and was hit by a truck.  After nearly $3000 of rods and mesh to hold her front legs together, she can now run faster and jump higher than any dog I've personally ever seen.  Haley is 5 1/2 years old and she is a full-blood yellow lab.

This is Rain, he was also rescued at 6 months old, exactly 6 months prior to Haley.  Rain was dumped onto the Interstate over Lake Manchac.  He was trying to stop traffic and I decided to pick him up before he got hit.  He was making it very difficult for everyone on the road to avoid running him over because he would run into their lane and start jumping straight up and down.  I pulled over to the shoulder of the road and opened my passenger door and he jumped in, curled up on the seat and fell straight to sleep.  It was raining that day.  Rain looks like he is part chocolate lab and part pit bull.  The jackasses that dumped him tried to clip one of his ears then they probably noticed that he doesn't have a mean hair on his big block head.  Well, g

ood for us and better for him that I picked him up.  He's my "special" puppy.

This little girl is Rita.  I rescued her 15 years ago come June.  She was about 4 weeks old.  I rescued her from death row at the SPCA on Japonica St. in N.O.  She gets more awesome with every year that passes.  Why did I name her Rita?  See Animaniacs' characters Rita and Runt.  They were my favorite cartoon characters.

Please consider rescuing animals before purchasing them.  And don't forget to spay and neuter.

Labels

Gass Passer's post today inspired me to write this.  At first it was just a comment on her blog, but it has stirred up more feelings than I can write in a comment.  Those that know me well, know that I HATE, yes HATE LABELS!  It all started in elementary school I was labeled as a "B" student.  You may not think that is so bad since "B" comes just one notch below "A", but there were only two class levels and "B" didn't stand for "better"!  I realized that we "B" students were labeled when I got to high school and the talk around school made me realize that I was sheltered to the point of not knowing that I was good enough to go to the smart peoples public school or smart enough to apply to a university.  Luckily I did get into a Catholic school, but it didn't take long to figure out that we were the "red-headed stepchild of the Archdiocese", a school full of "B" and low-income students.  I am however proud of my alma mater because we had the best damn volleyball team in the city.  The "A" Catholic schools shivered in fear at the sight of our team.  I also belonged to the best class ever to walk those ancient halls.  Anyway, I digressed.   

One of the biggie labels that sticks out there is "Infertility".  That is one that is written on the forms at my doctor's office.  I didn't know that I was infertile until I read that, nobody ever really told me.  "Spontaneous abortion" was one for me also, as it was with so many others, so I've read here in the blogosphere.  When I went to get my RhoGAM shot after my first miscarriage, they gave me this card to carry in my wallet and on it was a box checked "spontaneous abortion".  I nearly came unglued.  How dare they ACCUSE me of having an abortion!  HeHe, yeah it's funny now, to think of how ignorant I was of these things.  I must have googled those two words fifty times.  

Anyway, I really think in this case only that insurance diagnosis codes should be listed as numbers.  That way I can have something else to google and I will not have to be reminded in BIG BOLD LETTERS that I am anything less than perfect.

Crawfish season is here!

Before I get to the crawfish, I need to update on all the other stuff.

Acupuncture is AWESOME!  A few days after my session, I woke up and my sinus congestion broke loose.  I felt half-normal!  I have NEVER had this happen.  As I may have mentioned earlier, since I started the heavy duty fertility drugs in November 2006 I would get sick every 6 weeks like clockwork.  It would go  like this:  stuffy head, post nasal drip, cough, chest congestion, fever, go to the doctor, start antibiotics and Atuss (love that stuff!) and 2 - 3 weeks later congestion breaks up and I seem to get well.  This time it lasted all of one week!  I still am suffering with allergies being as everything is in bloom and I'm allergic to everything, but I'll take this over a respiratory infection any day.

On the work front, I'm not going to be able to go back to my private massage practice.  I tried it and became out of breath quickly.  So, money will be tight, but we are having a baby!  The safety of the baby comes first.

This weekend has been very nice so far, despite the rain.  Yesterday my brother and SIL boiled crawfish at my parents' house, so we made the trip to the country for an extraordinarily relaxing and fulfilling day.  We had (of course) boiled crawfish, stuffed artichokes, other munchies and strawberry shortcake to top it all off.  I had two helpings of that!  YUM!  I wish I had brought my camera and taken pictures.  It's very unlike me to not have a camera in my hand, but since I've started gaining all of this weight (most of it starting with the OHSS in Nov.) I've been avoiding the camera.  I'm looking pregnant now, not just fat, so I really should pick up the camera and start snapping away again.  So, (hopefully) look forward to some pics on this site of my daily life and other more fun occasions.  I may even get creative.  Who knows?

BTW, exercise is coming along slowly.  I went swimming twice this past week.  I was able to swim for 10 min straight, freestyle, the first time and 15 - 20 min straight the second time.  Both days after swimming I started dragging big-time, so if I have an appt. to go to that day, I will have to get my swimming in afterwards.  I'm looking forward to my endurance increasing.  Also, I did the prenatal pilates dvd once.  I have lots of progress to look forward to there also, but it is a great workout and I'm looking forward to having "hot-legs" by October.  As for my abdominals, well, I work those everytime I blow my nose.