Progress!

I had my last ultrasound at Dr. Burstyn's office today. Marius was doing everything he was supposed to and was quite active. He's still weighing about 6lbs 14oz and he was practicing his breathing. An internal exam revealed that I am now 1cm dilated and..... 80% effaced!!! How crazy is that? On Friday, I was totally closed and only slightly soft, but not effaced at all. I can't believe how fast and how much things changed!

So now that my cervix is already doing it's thing, I don't have to go in Thursday night for the Cervidil. The plan now is to go in Friday morning to start Pitocin if I don't go into labor before that. Really hoping I can hold out til Friday!!!

Down to the WIRE!!!

Today marks 39 weeks! Holy cow!

I ran some errands yesterday, which included going to the mall to buy my new camera, so I decided to walk around the mall for like 20-30 min, plus the hour+ I spent standing in Best Buy. Last night after I got home, I started getting pretty crampy, then was getting some twinges in my cervix, then I stood up and had constant pain/pressure right across the front from hip bone to hip bone. So I paced around the house for a lil while, went up and down the stairs to switch laundry over, and the whole time I was getting shooting pains on and off that would stop me dead in my tracks until they passed. They weren't spaced apart at any specific interval, and I didn't notice any hardening at the top of my uterus, but I figured they were contractions, since I've never felt anything like that before.

Well, I had the same shooting pain (just once) while I was hooked to the monitors for my weekly NST today at Dr. Burstyn's office. It was confirmed that it was indeed a contraction. Woo hoo!! However, Sue (the NP) checked me and said my cervix is starting to thin slightly, but no dilation. Also... Sue was like "So, have you talked to the doctor about induction?" I told her how I talked to the doctor on Tuesday, but she was booked at Bellevue for the time I would be induced. She then said, "Well, it looks like we can get you into Albany Med to start Cervidil on Thursday night if you don't go into labor before then." WOO HOOO!!! I will have a baby by Friday night. Sooooo freakin' excited!!!!

Still more BS from the old OB's office.

Ok, so when I made my initial appointment with the new OB, they asked me to call and have Dr. Clark's office fax over my records. I called Dr. Clark's office and asked them to fax my records to Dr. Burstyn's office. They said they can't- that they'll have to photocopy them and I'll have to come pick them up. And the cost for photocopying would be.... 75 CENTS PER PAGE!!! I told the woman I was speaking to that 75 cents was really steep, so I'd have to think about it and probably wouldn't get everything copied (the chart consists of ACOG sheets, labs, and ultrasounds). The lady that handles the copying of records there wasn't in that day, so the other lady took my number and said she'd have the other lady call me the next day. Ok, cool.

So the next day, the records lady called me. I explained to her that I was unemployed and 75 cents was a LOT to charge to photocopy one page of information. I asked her to price things out different ways (everything, ACOGs only, and ACOGs/labs). After she gave me the prices, I told her I'd go with ACOGs only ($12.75!!). She then says to me, "OK, well, I already copied everything. I'll just take out what you don't want." Really? I mean, I'd assume that charging 75 cents per page was their way to pay for the toner in the copier, and here this woman is, just copying things all willy-nilly, and now she's just wasting paper and toner. They then told me that, in addition to paying $12.75 for the records, I'd have to pay the rest of the co-pays ($45) I owed them before they'd give me the records. (Keep in mind, I only owed them for 3 service dates that they hadn't even billed me for yet, and that didn't appear as balances due on my checkout sheet. AND when I started going there, I tried to pay my co-pay at my visit, but they told me I couldn't because they weren't sure what my insurance was going to charge each time. They'd have to wait until the claim was submitted to and processed by the insurance company before they could tell me how much to pay them, even though my co-pay is always $15 for an office visit. Then they'd send me a bill a month later.) Sooo... I thought "fuck that- they can shove those records where the sun don't shine, and I hope they get a papercut in the process." I didn't go pick them up, but instead called Dr. Burstyn's office to tell them I couldn't get my records because of the other practice's extortionist fees.

The receptionist at Dr. Burstyn's office said "Don't worry about it. When you come in for your appointment, you can fill out a release here and we can fax it over and request them from Dr. Clark's office." Awesome. So that's what I did, and Dr. Clark's office had my records faxed over within 20 minutes at that appointment. So why the fuck did Dr. Clark's office tell me they couldn't fax the information over? They never said anything about filling out a records release request and having my other doctor send it over. They just straight up told me that they could not fax my records to them.

Sooo... fast forward to today. I get a bill in the mail from Dr. Clark's office. I'm thinking, "OK, this is probably from my last 3 office visits, which they haven't billed me for yet." WRONG! It's a bill for $12.75, and in the "Description" column, it says "Medical records". ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS??? They're billing me for having to copy my records, when the lady, of her own accord, copied them all before even talking to me to find out what I needed??? I'm not paying them. I didn't want physical copies of my records in the first place- I wanted them faxed to another practice, but was told I HAD to have them copied. Dr. Clark's office can SUCK IT.

My first trip to L&D. Or, the Mesh Panty Experiment.

Yesterday, I woke up with a headache and my head was pounding all day. Tylenol, rest, and lots of water were doing nothing, and my feet started to swell a bit, so at about 10pm I called my OB, who wanted me to come to L&D to get checked out in just in case, since my blood pressure was a little high for me at my visit on Wednesday (130/80, when I normally run 110-120/70-80). Everything checked out fine - blood pressure was 115/75, urine and labs were good. Cervix still high and totally closed (grrr!!) Got percocet for the headache, which is gone now except for a little residual from being tired.

Dr. Burstyn had me go into Bellevue, since she had 4 or 5 patients she was delivering there last night, and let me tell you, I do NOT want to deliver at Bellevue. Don't get me wrong, the staff was nice, but the whole place was WAY too "homey" and outdated for my comfort. Some parts of the room looked old and dingy (especially the carpeted areas, the bathroom/shower area, and the edges of the wallpapered walls). I'll take the big, modern, industrial, sparklingly sanitized Albany Med any day of the week.

I figured while I was there, I'd rifle through stuff and see what I could find. There were like 800 nasal aspirators in the bassinet, so I took one. I also decided to check out these famous mesh panties that they give you postpartum. I've heard about them, and have had some concerns about my ass fitting into them, and whether or not I'd look like a bag of suet. Well, they're pretty sweet. When I heard "mesh", I was thinking like, tulle fabric, or one of those bags that oranges come in. These are a really soft, EXTREMELY light... well, mesh. That's the only word I can think of to describe them. Ok, maybe like a really stretchy, soft cheesecloth? Anyhow, they TOTALLY fit my ass and are actually way more comfy for me than regular underwear with a butt (I only wear thongs because regular underwear just ends up in my crack anyway. My hips measurement is 10 inches larger than my waist measurement, so the butt of the underwear is always tight, while the waistband is big. It's just one bunchy, ill-fitting mess. The thought of wearing a pair of briefs, bikinis, or hi-cuts under any kind of pants makes me cringe). So I'm TOTALLY unpacking the Hanes and pads that I have in my hospital bag and will take as many pads and pairs of these mesh panties that the hospital is willing to give me (or that I happen to find) during my stay there. For all you other first-timers, here they are! If you weren't sure they'd fit you, oh, they will... lol

Project Crib: Mission Accomplished!!

Yes, you heard it here, folks! There is a crib in the "nursery"!! I put it together while Mom held the bigger pieces so I didn't have to lift them. I'm very pleased with it, although for some reason the bedding just doesn't appeal to me the way it did when I bought it. I don't know why. Maybe because in the last week I bought 3 different Japanese fabrics and those are what I'm picturing now? I don't know. Or maybe it's the red in the airplane sheet, and the fact that the sheet is mostly white? I'll try putting the blue sheet w/ tan & blue stars on it tomorrow and see if that looks better. I was afraid that would be too much blue. If I don't like that, I'll go get a solid brown or tan sheet and try that. I just don't want to lose Marius on a solid color sheet with a brown hue... lol

Well, anyhow, here it is:


(Yes, you're seeing this right. It's a plush rat. Isn't he cute? He's so fat.)

Super Awesome Ultrasound!!!

I LOVE MY NEW OB'S OFFICE!!!!

The ultrasonographer was happy and perky and talked and joked with me the whole time. She went into 3D and I got to see Marius' facial features for the very first time! He's got chubby lil cheeks and is cute as can be! This morning, mom, hubby and I all took a guess at his weight. I guessed 7lbs 8oz, mom guessed 7lbs, and hubby guessed 6lbs 8oz. Well, she took the measurements, and he was.... 6lbs 8oz! Hubby got it right on the nose. We got to see him yawn and practice his breathing! It was so awesome!

Here are the pics from today:




After the appointment, Mom and I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics to get some things, then to JC Penney to pick up the crib and mattress. While we were there, Mom decided we should go check out the clearance baby clothes. The clearance stuff was 75% off, we spent $54 on 13 outfits, and at the bottom of the receipt said we saved $167!!! Wow!!!! Sweet deals. We then went to Olive Garden for dinner. Yum! Then WalMart. I was out and about from 1:30-8:30 today, which is a loooong time for me. I'm totally exhausted. I feel like my limbs are gonna fall off, and the crib is gonna have to wait until tomorrow to be assembled. But today was a good day :)

Arrrgh! Burnt pasta!!!

I'm having a bad day. I'm just too tired to function properly, I guess. First, I ordered a big photo album to use for Marius' baby book (I mean, this thing is 12x16". It's rather large.) I had been watching this site for months, waiting for a free shipping coupon, and nothing. So on New Years Eve, I sucked it up and ordered it anyway, because I wanted to get started on the pregnancy part of the memory book. I had to pay TWELVE FREAKIN' DOLLARS for shipping on that damn thing. And don't I wake up to an e-mail from the company this morning - this week they're offering free shipping on all orders over $25. What the hell??? And they won't even credit me with the shipping because I "already used a cyber coupon". Yeah. Ok. I managed to find a coupon for 10% off my purchase, because that's all they were offering at the time. I saved $4.50. Big whoop.

So that's that. I'm tired. I'm hungry. We have NOTHING in the house that's ready-to-eat, so I decide to make the pasta portion of Hamburger Helper, because we don't have any hamburger. So I put it on our crappy ass stove, where the burners heat up with a mind of their own. I sit back down on the couch, am looking at baby stuff, then go to get up and stir the pasta. My back starts spasming like crazy, so I have to remain on the couch for a couple minutes til it passes. I make it to the stove, and this shit is at a hard boil, and I can smell some scorch-iness. I tried to stir it, and the pasta was stuck to the bottom of the pot. The noodles that broke loose were a nice dark brown where they were touching the bottom of the pan. NEVER in my 24 years have I EVER burned pasta. I'm Italian. We don't do that. It's like, a sin.

But you know what? I'm eating that crap anyway, because we don't have shit else to eat. And it's actually not half bad. lol