Someone Else's Shoes

I'm wiped out...four days of non stop learning.

I had a blast though. Four days and five classes - learning new techniques and upgrading old ones. I'm looking forward to trying them out though I'm going to need some new equipment.

Something that happened this year that I haven't experienced at past shows. Since I'm so flippin' pregnant (I'm HUGE!) my ability to walk long distances is severely limited. Unfortunately, the location of the show makes walking a necessity.

Parking sucked. Three of the four days I parked up a hill and about a block away from the show. It was cheaper by $10 a day compared to parking in the hotel lot. Friday I had to carry my heavy suitcase down about six flights of stairs to get to my first class. I was late. I was exhausted. And ticked.

The hotel is NOT set up to allow easy movement for someone who isn't fully functional. Whether pregnant, handicapped, or just someone with a bad leg. The elevators are split so you can't take just one elevator to all the floors. You take one to the lobby and then have to walk to another one down to the first floor.

I really do have a better appreciation for how hard it is for people who aren't fully capable of walking up and down stairs. I am completely exhausted. My legs and back are killing me. And my feet hurt.

Thankfully my issue is temporary...hopefully at next year's show I won't have such difficulty. But there are a lot of people who can't just get rid of their handicap. There are a LOT of beaders / jewelers who are older. And a surprisingly high number who are quite overweight...enough to affect their walking. I hope they take that into consideration next year.

Walking back up to my car tonight after my final class I though I was going to bust a lung. It was ONE block but it was uphill and I was hauling my suitcase behind me (a rolling suitcase of course) ... I seriously could not have talked if I wanted.

But it was a great show and I learned a lot. I'm hoping to get some photos taken of the projects I finished tomorrow and hope to share here and on my other blog. :)

It's Not So Bad

It's been quite a stressful day...at least the first half. Hubby didn't get to bed until 5:30 a.m. and I had to wake him up at 9:15. :( Poor guy. I got up early so I could make his coffee and take care of the doggies. I also packed a few snacks, which we of course didn't eat (why do I bother taking snacks anywhere? We never eat them.).

Hubby slept while I drove the truck to Seattle. *gulp* That is stressful enough for me...but to have to PARK in Seattle. Actually parking the truck anywhere, even our driveway sometimes, makes me nervous. But I managed to find a halfway decent space. Then we had to had to find our way through the parking maze into the actual hospital area. That place is huge.

Thankfully we were on the main floor so it didn't take too long once we asked directions.

A few forms and a bathroom trip and we were being called in. There was no wait (in fact, I was in the potty room when they called my name so I made them wait!).

The ultrasound lady was awesome. Totally friendly and explained everything...and she didn't seem too concerned when we explained what my doc has sent us up for.

It's a teaching hospital so I had another doctor come in to review my file and do some more ultrasound surfing. She's a fellow (already a doctor though) working toward some sort of specialty in high risk OB.

Anyway...baby boy was extremely antsy and moved around a lot, which made it a bit harder for them. But they also said that it was a good sign, as I figured it was, that he moves a lot.

An hour later we headed out to find the cafe for lunch. I already told hubby that I was going to eat whatever the heck I wanted. I didn't have a soda - though I was tempted and if they'd had Dr Pepper I may have caved. I did have a plate of the most awesome French Fries evAR, along with chicken strips, and for dessert a piece of cheese cake. OMG...mouth watering. So good. I'm sure it was technically horrible cheesecake, but it tasted amazing to me.

And surprisingly, though I expected it to be over 200, my blood glucose was just a bit higher than it is supposed to be.

Lunch being over we headed back to wait in the waiting room for my next appointment ... no wait for that one either. They are speedy there.

The doctor came in and was absolutely unconcerned about the chorioangioma. It is actually smaller than my regular doctor said...it's only 2.5 cm. And it's on the opposite side of where the baby is...the concern is when the angioma is on the same side as the baby and the chord, where it can cause major complications.

They did find another growth (I can't remember what she called it...I think it started with an f) but it's on the outside of the whole uterus and isn't super big, though it could grow.

On the whole, we were pretty relieved after talking to the doctor. She was more concerned about the gestational diabetes. The baby IS too big for his age and if he keeps growing at the same rate he'll be a very very very big baby (9-10 pounds).

It doesn't seem to matter what I eat in the morning, or before bed, my fasting glucose and my after breakfast glucose is consistently too high. So it's not the food...it's the baby. And since it'll only get worse the further on I get they're going to try to fix it now. I'll start on some sort of med (not insulin) on Wednesday in the morning but I probably will have to start insulin.

Apparently if I'm on insulin, I can be a little more flexible with my food...which is good because my cravings have certainly kicked in. =)

I'll probably be offline the next week or so. Work is going to be INSANE and I'm only going to be in the office for two days. I have jewelry classes Thursday through Sunday, every day all day. I'm excited but it's not the most convenient time. Oh well...hopefully I'll learn some new useful jewelry skills. =)

Thank you everyone who offered prayers and thoughts. We still need them but at least this horrible scary part is over.

Heading to the Big Boys

So I've got my appointments set for Monday with the University of Washington medical center. An ultrasound in the morning (that makes 5 but who's counting?) and then meeting with a doctor in the afternoon.

The good news is that my MIL's latest bone marrow biopsy came back showing NO cancer cells! They aren't declaring remission yet but it truly is a blessing and we're very excited for it.

Of course she's completely freaked out by the chorioangioma news. I was ticked at hubby for spilling the beans. She doesn't need to worry about me...she needs to get herself better. Well, I guess my red eyes kind of gave it away - we had just found out in the parking lot before we went up to see her in the hospital. Talk about timing.

Hubby will be joining me on Monday ... and he'll be working on less than 3 hours of sleep. It should be super fun. /sarc

Hope everyone has a wonderful Independence Day. Hubby is working all day (I think it's a 12 hour shift) at a big 4th of July event so I'll be on my own. I wish I could move around better - it's hard to clean up when everything hurts and you've got a watermelon sticking out of your belly. :)

If It Isn't One Thing...

So I had to have another ultrasound on Tuesday because I'm measuring bigger than I should. I figured it was because of the gestational diabetes.

Nope.

Apparently I have chorioangioma.

What's that you ask?

Well, according to the very few links I could find about it yesterday it's a benign growth of the placenta, but it's still a threat to the baby.

Great. Just what I needed...a little more stress.

My doctor issued a referral to UW Medical Hospital in Seattle. When she told me that I lost it. Not when she told me about the 'tumor' but when she said she was sending me there. Because to me, going there is SERIOUS. I think that's where my dad ended up a lot of the time while he was fighting his cancer.

She said the baby looked fine in the ultrasound...but that doesn't make me feel much better. After all, he might LOOK fine but have mental issues. Not that I don't have mental issues myself, but I dread having a kid with similar or even worse issues.

I hope they can treat it somehow. The websites I browsed (there's surprisingly little info out there) said it can cause premature birth, fetal heart failure, and of course fetal death. *sigh* The one site says that labor is usually induced once the "fetus" (I hate that word) is viable. Well, hell, I think technically he's nearly viable now but I sure as hell am not ready for him!

It's encouraging when I feel the baby kicking around though. Which he was in the night and this morning.

We'll see what the "experts" at UW say. I need to call them this morning to make the appointment. No idea how fast I'll get in. And tomorrow is a holiday. My boss is just going to love when I ask for more time off.

* UPDATE *

Apparently this thing is so rare that even the OB doctors at Group Health haven't ever seen it. My doctor (not specifically an OB, but doing this for 30 years) has never seen it either. *sigh*

Since I Can't Twitter

I must complain in spurts here.

My coworkers are having cupcakes. Really really GOOD cupcakes.

And I can't have one. :(

So I eat my crackers, laughing cow cheese, and pineapple for my snack. And I am sad.

It Gets Even Better

*UPDATE* 7/1/09 STILL banned. :(
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Lovely...so I wanted to add someone to the folks I follow on Twitter. I don't follow tons. Nor do I twitter a ton.

MY ACCOUNT IS SUSPENDED!!!!!!! *&(**&$#@)*%#$

"This account is currently suspended and is being investigated due to strange activity. If we have suspended your account mistakenly, please let us know. See Suspended Accounts for more information. "

What the frack?!?

How the hell could anyone say my account was suspicious?!? Unless it's related to my stupid jewelry website which keeps getting hacked. I'm so ready to get rid of it!

Days Like Today

Make me want to quit my job.

I'm bored out of my skull waiting for other people to get me necessary data that I need to do my job. So in the meantime, trying to stay busy and productive, I'm trying to prepare spreadsheets and things for processes that are coming up soon.

Except I can't because my computer is being stupid. I can't copy and paste.

Copy. and. Paste.

SOOOO freaking simple and yet I can't do it. I've had to shut down my machine twice - first time it helped for several hours but the second time I was only able to copy/paste for a few minutes.

It's amazing how much I copy and paste without thinking about it...yet when I can't do it I'm completely stuck from doing my job.

I called the Help desk (which I tend to call the unHelp desk) and so far nothing. I asked for it to be labeled as a high priority and NOTHING...oh wait look. A ticket has been opened...finally. 15 minutes AFTER I called.

So now I twiddle my thumbs.