Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Ultrasound I had a dumb ultrasound day. It all started with Ann being late getting home so I was late getting to the clinic. I had to wait for her because Adriel was in bed. We had a conversation about half and hour before when I told her exactly when I needed her to be home and she was over ten minutes late. The lady was rather unfriendly at the desk and gave me a sheet of paper to read over with Kyle. Kyle was already there when I got there. I sat next to him and said "apparently we're supposed to read this together," in which he just blinked at me and went back to his magazine. So I began reading. It was talking about how I'd go in by myself for the first bit and then the tech would call Kyle in. Yada yada, right? I was barely a few sentences into the two paragraphs I was supposed to read, when a hurried male tech came out and called my name. I wasnt sure if I should have finished reading the piece of paper, but it's not as if I could tell the guy to wait a minute.
He wasn't mean. He wasn't overly friendly or helpful either. He was all about the business. He informed me that my baby's face was facing down toward my back which made it hard to get anything clear of the face. He let me know when he was measuring the arms and the legs, not that it mattered because I couldnt see the screen. Finally he let Kyle in and he briefly showed us things. He didn't let us look for very long. I'd say Kyle was in there with us for a total of three minutes. And the tech guy said a brief goodbye, told me where the washroom was and left. What we could see of the baby was nice. It was lying with it's legs curled under it's stomach. Sort of a classic pose I guess. I just had some expectations because when I was pregnant with Adriel, his head was turned the same way for my ultra sound, but the lady worked with me, in trying to get him to move and she got a good profile shot. She also let Kyle and I look for a long time. We saw his limbs move and we saw him yawn. It was cute and special. And this being most likely my only ultrasound for this baby, I sort of had some expectations. I know the head was turned and it wasnt the tech's fault, but he didnt even try to do anything to turn it. Anyway, we went out and I was confused about the pictures. I knew I would have to pay because they started doing that, but I wasnt sure how I was supposed to get them. So I went to the front to ask and the unfriendly lady told me I was supposed to let my tech know I wanted pictures. I didnt know that. It was probably on the dumb sheet that I had no time to read. I told her I didn't realize that and she stared at me blankly as if there was nothing she could do, so I turned to leave feeling the tears about to come. The whole experience had been so dumb. She then said she could talk to the tech and get something printed. She started to get softer when she realize she just about made the pregnant lady cry. It cost us ten dollars. Kyle was trying to get me to tell him what was wrong all the while and I didn't want to talk about it because the tears were still right there. I'm such an emtional pregnant mess sometimes!!! I knew the pictures wouldnt be that great because it's not like the guy knew, or tried to take any good clear still shots. And they're not. I don't even know what some of them are of, and they arent labeled like my Adriel ones. Kyle had to rush back to work (he came in all the way from parksville to see three minutes of ultrasound) so I had to wait for the pictures myself.
sigh.
I know I over reacted but I was excited about my ultrasound and it was so disappointing. Sorry for the complaining.
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Sarahstottle posted @ 2:22 PM
Monday, August 25, 2008
Camping Me and camping havent been getting along this summer. Since I had the weekend off due to my bosses going to New York for training, I thought, why not take the opportunity to go on a mini camping trip with Adriel? Surely it'll be easier than last year. He has more sense and stuff. The original plan was to go to a camp ground in coombs. Aimee and Scott (some family friends on Kyle's side) were camping there with their kids and it sounded nice- heated pool, hot tub, free showers, playground, yada yada. So I phoned. There was one spot left. We took it. Later that afternoon we got a phone call back and she said she made a mistake and they were fully booked.
So, we ended up just going to the Stussi's instead because the next day was the annual Stake Sport's day. I decided I don't really like camping there. I don't like how all the tent areas are so close to the gravel road where cars drive by ALL through the night. Plus, it sort of doesn't feel like camping to me to have a tent set up right by a road. It feels more like I'm camping in someone else's backyard. And to just go for one night (mind you, one night was enough) is a lot of work. Adriel didn't sleep well, neither did Kyle and I, although at least this time we were warm enough. Adriel woke up early. The park isn't all that well suited for his age. I mean, the one latter thingy he could climb only had one rung on it, and it was the first one. That morning we were all so tired and I started to get a headache. I had felt one coming the night before and took some tylenol before we left thinking it'd just go away. Well it came back. Luckily Katie and Brent were coming for the sports day so Katie brought me some more tylenol. It was Natalie and Michealah to the rescue because I had no energy and whenever I excerted any, my headache got worse. It was the kind of headache where bending over, or straining in anyway would cause throbbing. When Michealah and Natalie came, Adriel forgot I even existed and happily played with them for about two hours. Two hours of relaxation and visiting with Katie. Not bad.
After the picnic we packed up and stopped at the coombs market on the way home. Kyle just likes to go in and look at food. It was hot and crowded and my headache got worse. I was in a hurry to get out. But let me just say, ONE loaf of their yummy bread cost us 5.99!! So we got home, Kyle had a nap while I layed on the couch and watched cars with Adriel. I couldn't do much else. It was sister movie night and Katie and I had plans to see the sisterhood of the traveling pants. I didnt want to cancel because I thought it might go out of theatre soon, and since i wasnt feeling very well, I wanted a break from Adriel and putting him to bed. Watching a girly movie is a break.
At the movie my headache got worse. I have to say though, that I really enjoyed the movie inspite of it. There was a part where I literally choked on my crying. I had braced myself because Bethany said she was disappointed in it. I didn't go in with high expectations. I forgot that she's a lot pickier about movies than I am. I liked it. I mean they clearly changed a lot from the books but that was expected.
When I got home I was shivering and the head was bad. I went straight to bed with tons of blankets. It had gotten to the point where I couldnt turn my head, or even my eyes to look at things without large amounts of pain. Every movement was pain. Katie had given me some of Brent's special tylenol for his bad headaches before I left, and that seemed to do nothing for the pain and the fever. And so it turned out that I was sick. What I thought was just a bad headache seemed to be more of a flu or something. Although my only symptoms were headache and the random fever. I'm not one of those people who gets headaches on a regular basis.
And so Sunday was spent lying on the couch or in my bed sleeping, while it poured rain outside. And that was my weekend. I feel better today although, it seems touches of the headache are still lingering when I move too quickly and stuff.
It just seemed to be that put together with camping-ugggh. I mean all our gear is still sitting in our car waiting for me to get to it. And it has left me questioning- Is camping really for me??
ps- doesn being pregnant mean that it has to hurt to walk??
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Sarahstottle posted @ 8:40 AM
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Getting Bigger
So I'm a week behind in my pregnancy documentation. This is me at 22 weeks. I got a LOT of compliments on the dress at church, which is good, because I wasn't sure if it made me look tentish, or too pregnant. While Kyle took the picture of me, he said I didn't even look pregnant in it. WHAT? Silly boy, doesn't know things sometimes. Anyway the bun in the oven continues to take over my body...
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Sarahstottle posted @ 8:43 AM
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Ok so I should tell you about my "surprise" anniversary weekend with Kyle.
My hunch was right. We went on a kayak trip. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say that when I told Laura of my suspicions she asked if they even had kayaks that would fit my stomach. Ha ha, good joke, right? Well, there was a hint of real concern and I'm convinced she really was wondering.
Anyway, last friday morning we were off. Kyle decided to tell me in the car ride up that we were going to telegraph cove. It's this popular tourist place just outside of Port McNeil where there's many a whale to be seen. The plan was, to rent a kayak, put all out gear in it and paddle to a random beach, set up a secluded camp and then feel free to roam that water to find whales. Kyle, was unfortunately quite unorganized. I dont take full responsibility for the unorganization because it was a trip he planned and knew about for much longer than me. He was very concerned about packing light and wouldnt let me bring much. Even though we were going for three days he only wanted to let me pack one extra set of clothes. What if I get hot? What if I get cold? One needs options!!! Also, he knew it was supposed to rain but he would only bring ONE blanket!!! It was the little duvet blanket that the fwuffs and I got for Christmas one year from mom and dad. Yes, it's fairly warm, but not so big for two people. Kyle kept saying "we'll be fine," and believe me, I was unaware of the blanket situation until after we left. I thought we brought the sleeping bag too. He didn't even bring anything to cover the airbed with.
When we got on the water, the sun was peaking through the clouds. It was quite the kayak to the spot we were going to. Three hours. Three hours isnt THAT bad, but when you've never really kayaked before and you don't have well developed kayaking muscles, it's really hard work. The whole time we were like "ok, where's the whales??" Just as we were getting close to the beach we were camping at, a guy in another kayak asked us if we saw the orca. He pointed it out, way across the ocean. And sure enough, even though it was so far away, we saw it's fin surface, so huge and magestic, and heard it blow the water out of it's blow hole. It must've been huge for us to see it from so far away. We sat in stunned amazement as a whole pod came our way and went right past us. The rest of the way to our campsite (which we had been getting rather impatient to reach) we saw whale after whale and we were there in no time. It was SO cool!!!
Our beach was a small secluded bay with no other inhabitants except for one family way around the corner from us. There was a picnic table and a fire pit, and we had everything totally to ourselves. Kyle worked at getting a fire started while I set the tent up and everything. Kyle found his fire starting to be quite a challenge because every thing was wet, and he kept saying he wasn't a scout and didn't really have a dad, so he didn't know what he was doing. He knew about as much as I did though. He finally got some tips from the other campers around the corner and found this brambley stuff that would light on fire easily. I made us tinfoil dinners and we sat and got warmed by the fire. It was fun. All the while whales kept passing our beach, and we could watch from where we sat around the fire. At this point it was cloudy and the air was quite damp. I was already wearing my hoody (which I snuck along) and sweat pants.
Kyle had a few surprises, like he bought a portable dvd player for the occasion and rented some movies. He also brought jiffy pop which I'd never had before and proved to be quite good. We settled in our tent where I hogged the blanket and watched the bucket list. It was alright. Then it was sleeping time. This is where the trouble started. We were lying on a velvet mattress which stuck to our clothes, and the blanket barely fit over us, if we huddled as close together as we could. I couldnt sleep. It rained. I tied my hood around my face so that barely my eyes, nose and face were showing. At one point I just started crying because I was so cold and uncomfortable being so jammed up against kyle and I couldnt sleep. It felt like I hadnt even slept yet, and it was 3am. I have just endured one too many terrible raining camping trips where we are stuck out in the middle of no where and I don't want to do it EVER again!! When we finally woke up, it had been raining consistently all night. Kyle didnt think he could get a fire started. Everything was wet. We were relying on the fire to cook our food with. We decided to go back. We packed up everything all wet. We started our paddle back. The water was thankfully calm like glass. Eventually the raining stopped. We wondered if we were making a mistake. We decided that we'd go back and see how much it would cost to get towed back to our beach after we got some fuel for fires and a sleeping bag and stuff. On our way a pod of dolphins passed us. They seemed so small compared to the whales. It cheered me a little. It was just so neat that we got to see all the marine life in the wild. It's like a dream. By the time we got back, I was soaked all through my hoody and I was frozen. I could barely walk, something to do with being pregnant and sitting for so long doing something that my body was wasnt used to. The kayak guy said it would be 200 dollars for a tow back. That was more than what we'd spent renting the kayak for three days. We sat defeated not knowing what to do. We didnt even get to go to the actual spot where all the whales supposedly are, called Robson's Bite, where the get up and rub themselves on the rocks and stuff. I was so tired of paddling, and all wet and cold, I had no desire to paddle back and then reset up all our wet gear.
I'd now like to take this moment to let you all know that after experiencing all this, we didnt have our camera with us. As we were leaving the house, I asked Kyle if he had it, and he didnt, so he jumped out of the car and went and got it. I assumed he packed it in the backpack with the rest of our stuff. So while we were out on the water I said we should be taking pictures and it turned out he left the camera in the car. I was so disappointed. He was quite defensive about it and said that I could at least take some responsibility. But I refuse to, because I didnt know the camera was just sitting loose in the back seat of our car. So I don't even have any amazing pictures to show for it.
We called it quits then and there. We stopped at a gas station and got some hot chocolate and we spent the rest of our time in courtenay at a cheap motel.
And that's the sad ending to our anniversary weekend.
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Sarahstottle posted @ 8:42 AM
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Frumpy, Lumpy and Slumpy I'm doing a quick post during my visit to Vancouver, particularly at Laura's.
I had a great birthday on Sunday, with many lovely gifts. Mom and Dad got me a purse from the fair that Dad's been working at. Amy gave me a beautiful carved wooden bracelet which I love. Jordan and Tracy got me this cool facial mask that goes on warm. Laura and Bethany surprised be with a very pretty maternity dress, and Bethany got me a scarf and Laura got me a delicate necklace. Kyle got me Lululemon pants at my request and demand. So I got spoiled. We had a potluck at Mom and Dad's. Amy was the first of the family members to arrive and she kept wandering into the kitchen and popping potatoes into her mouth. Laura and Bethany made sex in pan for me which was gloriously delicious!!! SO GOOD! I want more. Anyway, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself because I got here on Saturday afternoon.
Of course the first thing that Laura and Bethany and I did was go to Whole Foods. Laura and I decided that Bethany was worthy to be shown it's many delicious surprises and greatness. Unfortunately she didn't share in our enthusiasm though because she was feeling sick and everything seemed to enhance those feelings, so she left within the first five minutes. Fine. Better she leave than stay and end up not appreciating it's worth, ya know?
After we went to a maternity store that was right by where we parked. We were able to get the parking spot because it was reserved for new or expectant mothers. I love being entitled to things like that. There should be more parking spots reserved for expecting mothers, or mothers with babies, in my opinion. In some ways it's similar to being handicapped. Anyways- I tried on tons of outfits and was picky about them. I'm feeling picky about maternity clothes this time around. Dont know why. I just am. I ended up buying a brown shirt, against the firm suggestion from both Bethany and Laura to get the black and white one. But in my defense the brown one was on sale. Then we went back to Laura's to pick up stuff for the fireworks. It was the finale to the celebration of lights competition. I stayed in the car with a sleeing boy, while Laura and Bethany collected the necessary items. Bethany was a kind sister and wiped the yuckies off the chair for me and ended up carrying it the whole way there too. We parked on granville island, had a little bit of a walk, took a ferry across the way, and then had a long bit of walk til we got the fireworks watching spot. Then we waited. I was nervous about the waiting period because I didnt want to be constantly chasing Adriel around, or what if I lost him in the huge crowds of people? But he was actually really good for us. He generally stayed near by and even played nicely by himself while Laura, Bethany and I played a round of consequences. When the fireworks began Adriel climbed on my lap and cuddled with me. He loves fireworks. He pointed out baby ones and big ones and whenever there was a slight pause, he'd say "more fireworks!" It started out with commentary about BC's history and there was really lame elevator music and we all thought that it was canada's presentation and we were so embarrassed. But apparently it was just a tribute to BC day or something. Afterwards was Canada, who won the competition and it was really really impressive. Better than I expected. So good infact, that it made the US and China who went afterward seem somewhat lame. So we left feeling proud of our country. Towards the end of the fireworks, Adriel cutely turned his face to my neck and suggled in and went to sleep. It was so cute!!!! It was a long walk back to the car and an even longer drive to get home because of traffic. I stayed the night at mom and dads. I ended up getting to bed around 1 and I was exhausted.
And that's day one of my trip so far.
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Sarahstottle posted @ 11:12 AM