Reflections on Nov. 17 - 20

Reflections on...

being sick whilst pregnant. This past weekend I came down with a cold. Usually, when I get a cold, I'm a baby about it for, oh, two days. However, common cold coupled with pregnancy equals dramatic performance of the year. I have been miserable this week...just ask anyone who has dared to stumble across my path. My colds are never this horrible, I think b/c I usually seek some sort of medicinal relief; however, with baby gestating, I was leery of taking anything. Finally, day 3 into "cold from Lucifer", I buckled and was told I could take some Tylenol Cold. At night, however, my nasal passages decided to play cruel jokes on my sleep patterns. Do you remember that scene in Sleepless in Seattle where Annie (Meg Ryan) and Walter (Bill Paxton) are getting ready for bed and they go through this whole routine just so he can sleep b/c of his allergies? That was me this week. Ben would steam up the bathroom for me, I took hot showers at 2:00 in the morning, I stuffed tissues up my nose to alleviate the dryness, nothing worked. That is until I saw a commercial for Breathe Right Nasal Strips . I immediately ran out to the store and bought some. Oh, my friends, I cannot recommend these nasal friends enough. They have restored my sleeping patterns. They are a Godsend, and they're right in your cold medicine aisle. The cold seems to be dissipating, thankfully. Here's hoping that this will be the only cold I contract whilst pregnant.

Reflections on...

Parent/Teacher conferences whilst pregnant with amazingly horrible gas. Yesterday, we had parent/teacher conferences. At our school, we do them in one clean shot. High School teachers will sit in the gym at assigned tables from 12:30 - 8:00 at night (with an hour dinner break) and parents can come around to each table to discuss their child. It's just a lot of sitting and talking, but with snot clogged up to the wazoo and the gaseous activity of a large elephant, I was somewhat uncomfortable last night. I don't think it helped that I consumed meat balls during lunch...this only seemed to anger the gastrointestinal gods. I seriously would get up from my chair, walk over to a corner in the gym and let the gaseous symphony play it's putrid music. At one point, my friend Heather walked over to me and I had to quickly meet her half way so that she would not be caught up in the funk of partially digested meatballs. Bonus for parent teacher conferences this year: no crying parents.

Reflections on...

glucose testing today. So, I had to go have lab work done today to test for gestational diabetes. Every pregnant woman has to do it between 25 - 28 weeks. I have been warned about this test. It requires the woman to drink a small glass of this sugary concoction. Nearly every woman that I know who has had this test done has warned me about the vile taste of the drink they make you imbibe. So, I don't know if I had just prepared myself for cup-o-nasty, but she gave it to me and I thought she had mistakenly given me Orange Faygo; I loved it! The nurse was like, "you only have five minutes to drink this." I took a drink and wondered why this was not a beverage option at McDonalds. She was like, "Some women have problems with it, but you seem to like it just fine." I had it down in 20 seconds. I had to wait an hour before they drew my labs. So here's to hoping for no gestational diabetes. I got home with Taco Bell in hand and suffered a severe sugar crash, though...so I'm hoping that's normal.

Reflections on...

listening to Charlie Brown Christmas prior to Thanksgiving. Usually, I am a person who demands the respect of the forgotten Turkey holiday. I will not decorate or listen to Christmas music until after we celebrate giving thanks by ingesting large amounts of food and watching Harry Potter (Rick family tradition). However, I can't help myself; the baby wants Christmas music. As I type this, I'm listening to the musical stylings of the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Sorry turkey day--it's your fault for being so late this year.

The end.

Migratory pattern of birds in Hillsdale

For the last couple weeks, the scene outside my school every morning has looked like a staging ground for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Part II. I need to remember to bring my camera on Monday to capture the pure spectacle of all the birds. I'm not very familiar with the migratory pattern of birds; okay not familiar at all, but oi vey! Yesterday, I stayed in my car to wait for the bulk of them to fly over for fear of being the perfect target.

I know many of you (all three of my loyal readers) are saying, "whatever, Jeanette is one the most hyperbolic people I know...surely she's exaggerating." However, you three would be mistaken. The numbers of these birds has to be in the thousands. It is an orchestra of squawking. The sky is black with this army of birds. If they weren't smarter, I would fear for an uprising. The confusing thing is, they seem to just be making a circle every day; they are the most navigational challenged birds I have ever witnessed. In the morning they fly west and then seem to circle around, like they're considering flying south, but they keep remembering something--like they forgot to turn off the iron. It's an enigma to me.

A little more disconcerting--that I spend this much time thinking about these birds.

Sign of Things to Come?

I really do love being pregnant (somewhere some 9 month pregnant woman is laughing in my general direction). I have not had a difficult pregnancy in comparison with some women. I had my upchuck moments and food didn't really taste good until a few weeks ago, but it has not been horrible by any means. The best moment so far of pregnancy (other than seeing him on the ultrasounds) is when he moves. It is such a reassuring feeling. The weirdest sensation is when he rolls. It feels like that sensation you get when you're on your way down a big hill on a roller coaster, except slowed down.

His movements have become more frequent and more intense (which I hear is a good thing). Last night at 1:00 a.m., I think he was having his own private dance party in-utero. I could not believe how much he was moving. I couldn't sleep, it was so intense. Then, at 4:00 a.m., the dance party started back up. Then at 7:00 a.m. there was a Lord of the Dance encore. I could not believe how much I could feel him move. I'm extremely grateful for these impromptu dance sessions, but yowza!

I'm sure this is a sign of things to come for my nocturnal life.