Hmmmm

I've decided I don't really like the whole "title" feature. I mean, what if I just have a bunch of random things to say but no real theme? Trying to decide on a title that encapsulates the post doesn't always work for me.

The month of July has been busy but fun. We were in Canada at the beginning of July to visit John's parents, brother, and nephew (can't remember if I mentioned that before). Then, a couple of weeks later, I went to Utah to hang out with some friends (and my little sis) for the weekend.

Funny story: I was standing in the living room of my sister's apartment in Provo. It's on the second floor, and they have a very small balcony with sliding glass doors that open out on to the balcony, which as it turns out, is a good place to sit if you want to watch traffic headed to and from the pool. So, I'm standing in the living room, pretty much right in front of these doors, looking at some knick knacks above the TV when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a group of girls walking below on their way back from the pool. They walked by, and as they did, all four or five of them turned their heads, stopped, and did a huge double take at seeing my profile. Guess they don't get many pregnant girls hanging around the complex. I seriously started laughing; they were so obvious. Later, I told my sister that I was doing my very best to spread rumors about her apartment while there - creating a phantom pregnant roommate and all. I made an appearance at church the next day, too, just to shake things up, you know. Let me tell you, being in a singles ward again after three years, especially a BYU singles ward, was very strange. I think I'll stick with my own ward.

The day after I got back from Utah (well, really the day I got back, since I didn't make it home until about 2 a.m.) was our third anniversary. That flight back was the least crowded nonstop I've been on in years when traveling between NYC and SLC. Guess there aren't many people LEAVING Utah the night before Pioneer Day, huh? (Yes, yes, we got married in Nauvoo on Pioneer Day, and yes, our flowers ended up, by chance, being RED roses, WHITE calla lillies, and BLUE hydrangea; luckily, we got a freak cool day in the middle of the normal Nauvoo July heat that year, and those flowers really were lovely together, trust me.)

To celebrate went to dinner at 21 Club, which was very yummy, especially the halibut, the lobster, and the lamb. I highly recommend their tasting menu (sans wine, of course). Every year, I think that next year we'll both take off work and spend the whole day together. So far, it hasn't happened yet, but there's always next year, right? One of these days we could perhaps actually leave the heat and humidity behind for a relaxing vacation somewhere less stifling than the city at the end of July. Maybe if I start planning now . . .

This past weekend, we went baby shopping for a Saturday night date to pick out an outfit for the baby to come home from the hospital in. It was really fun. Then, of course, one thing led to another, and we ended up buy several outfits, including this red velvet Christmas dress. It's a 3 month size, which in this brand I think means more 0-3 than 3-6, but she's measuring small now (30th percentile was the result from my ultrasound a couple of weeks ago; not small enough to worry about, they said, just on the little side), so hopefully she'll be able to fit into it sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Baby clothes are the best. You can get so many more outfits than you can in grown up clothes!

While we were in the shopping mode, we also dropped by the Manhattan Mall for some Arby's (thanks to Suzi for mentioning on her blog that there is an Arby's in the city after all). Mmmm, curly fries.


We also took what could have been a great picture of the empire state building if we had used a tripod. Oh well.


Oh, since I haven't posted any in awhile, here's a 29.5 week tummy picture from the Utah weekend. I had a really cute one from a few weeks before, but John decided that it was getting weird to post pictures of a shirtless belly. Any opinions? I just think the bare belly is so much cuter than the maternity tent clothes covered version. Must be the nudist in me.

Tick tock

As I sit here waiting for documents to be loaded so I can help review them (a thankless task in the best of circumstances), I thought now would be a fantastic time to jot down a quick blog entry. But then, I started to write and realized I had nothing to say. What to do?

The past few days have been a flurry of doctor's office visits. After the visit to the dermatologist Wednesday (my copay for 10 days worth of that prescription ended up being $75; insane!), there were the couple of leisurely hours spent in labor and delivery on Friday (due to decreased fetal movement; after an hour on the monitor, some waiting, an ultrasound, some more waiting, an internal exam, and some more waiting, I went home with a clean bill of health). Then, my regularly scheduled OB appointment on Monday, which just happened to be the appointment at which I got to wait around for an hour for the gestational diabetes blood glucose screening. That appointment led to another appointment the next day for an ultrasound to assess fetal weight and determine whether the baby is growing normally since apparently my stomach is not growing as fast as it should (although the rest of me seems to be doing fine). Of course, results will not be available for another week. Whew.

Really, it has been an eventful week after all, just not in that "Oh you'll never guess what I did this weekend" sharing a fun anecdote with your friends kind of way. (Over the weekend, we went to see Harry Potter.) On the plus side, all this doctor's office activity led a partner with whom I work to call to remind me that the firm's top priority is my health and therefore, I should definitely not be worrying about my hours or anything like that and to just let him know if I needed to take some time off (he was very sincere; it was actually quite touching). So, the document review may be boring, but compared to my other friends at NYC law firms, I guess this really is a good place to ride out the next 9+ weeks until maternity leave.

And if you just read all this only to wonder why you bothered, remember that I did warn early on that I had nothing interesting about which to write. It's not my fault you chose to disregard that warning. May next weekend bring experiences that lend themselves more easily to witty or sarcastic blog entries.

Stress

So, apparently, staying up virtually all night when you are pregnant as part of a marathon effort to file a brief that should have been finalized days earlier is a bad idea. Word to the wise. A few days after a marathon session that led to the filing of this beautiful brief in Medellin v. Texas,

I started developing a rash. Like any paranoid pregnant person, I called my OB, where the nurse told me put Benadryl cream on and watch it for a few days. It's probably PUPPPS, she said, a rash many pregnant women get, especially toward the end, for which there is no known cause or cure. If you still have it Monday or Tuesday, call and we'll refer you to a dermatologist. When blisters started to appear, I began to doubt her judgment (also, that Bendryl cream? not even taking the edge off). I did a little research of my own and came to the conclusion that I had developed . . . wait for it - shingles.

Hold on, you say, isn't shingles relegated to people with autoimmune diseases and those over 50? Who gets shingles in their 20s? Excellent point. The doctor told me I must be under too much stress and I should try to destress. Ha! Between an unreasonable partner at work, virtually no progress to date on renovations that need to happen before the baby comes at home, and general pregnancy craziness, I think that's unlikely. Ironically enough, a few minutes later, he then proceeded to get into a fight on the phone with my OB because she had apparently slighted him by taking an inordinately long amount of time return his call. In his defense, it was a long time, and his office had called three or four times, making it clear that they were waiting to speak to someone before letting me leave; hopefully she will have forgotten by the time I go in for my next appointment Monday.

In the meantime, I'm on my way to shell out a chunk of change for antiviral medications that may or may not work, since they're supposed to be started within the first 72 hours. I've now had this for over a week (a big thanks to the nurse who said to watch it for a few days and the dermatologist's office that needed a couple more days to fit me in). Sigh. At least I can take comfort in the fact that I only have ten weeks and two days until maternity leave.