Friday, May 25, 2007

Enough About Me....

One day home and truthfully, my life isn’t much different than it was in the hospital. I know I keep saying this, but I am astonished at how my energy levels are dropping by the day. Today, I had to work up the inertia just to take out the recycling. By “take out,” I mean bring it down the hall. Not a difficult task, yet it felt like moving mountains to me. I thought long and hard about showering, because that entails so many tasks that I don’t excel at, like bending and reaching and dressing myself. If I drop the soap one more time in the shower…..

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking maybe I was starting to go into labor. I was really nauseous and having contractions and I felt pain in my back and pressure on my cervix. Now each and every one of these symptoms can be easily explained and justified. Maybe my dinner made me sick to my stomach (spicy Thai rice) and the back pain could be from how I was sitting on the couch. Cervix pain could be Baby A and the contractions, well, what else can my uterus do these days? Still, I was up from 2:00 am till almost 6:00. And even though everyone says that you’ll know when you are in labor, why do I have the feeling I won’t?

The PG is getting bigger, much to my consternation. The doctor said it could get bigger—maybe even double in size—but I thought/hoped/prayed that won’t happen. Ha. I am still all stressed about the cancer thing. Lots of websites indicate that certain cancers mimic PGs and the only way to be certain is to biopsy it. The fact that it keeps growing just freaks me out. I know I shouldn’t worry, but, well, I’m the worrying type. Wednesday (appointment day with hand surgeon) can’t come soon enough. I have lots of pictures and I will try to upload them later and post a link for those of you who really want to see it.

It occurred to me that I never completed the Seven Things About Me meme that I was tagged for. Since my life is pretty much an open book, I think I will write seven things about Nicole instead. After all, she is an extension of me. And she can’t defend herself, so this can be fun! I won’t get to all seven in one post, but let’s get started:

1. Sleeping Habits: If Nicole could go to bed at 7:30 pm, she would. She loves her sleep, which is diametrically opposed to me, as I am happy with five hours a night. Most nights she is in bed by 9:30, but there are nights when she heads off much earlier than that under the guise of “reading,” but in reality, she just goes to sleep. She can’t sleep unless the bedroom closet door is completely closed. And she can’t sleep without white noise as provided by an antique fan that sits in the corner of our room. This rickety thing isn’t not child- or adult-safe. The cord looks like it is going to burn up any day now. And there is only an insinuation of a cage covering it, so if you walk by it too close your pajamas/clothes will be sucked into it, making a horrifyingly loud noise akin to jet engines. I try to convince her to get a newer, safer fan—perhaps something old-fashioned looking from Restorat.ion Hardwa.re—but she refuses. She is attached to the fan and I fear even toddling children won’t convince her to get a new one. Nicole is also prone to night not-quite terrors. She will wake up in the middle of the night yelling about crabs coming down from the ceiling and such. Sometimes she will just jump out of bed and run to the door. I have learned that engaging her in conversation will only make things worse, so the best thing to do is coax her back to bed and ignore her when she speaks in tongues. She recalls none of it in the morning.

2. Food Excitement: Nicole experiences Food Excitement on a semi-regular basis. This means that her mood is considerably brightened when the prospect of certain foods are in her near future. How this manifests itself: Quick hand claps, hopping up and down, and kisses for me. Foods that almost always induce food excitement include: black and white milkshakes, chocolate chip cookies, Carvel ice cream, Mister Softee, cupcakes and homemade cakes with a glass of milk. “Real” foods like sushi or hamburgers or pasta or pizza can cause food excitement too, but there has to be a considerable length of time between meals and true hunger pains. About once a year, Chinese food and buffalo wings will cause FE, which will almost immediately lead to Food Remorse.

I just heard Nicole open the freezer for an ice-cream sandwich. I just had a toasted almond bar. It was Old School Ice Cream Night in our house.

Three through Seven to come….

Pictured above is my bandaged, zombie-like hand. The bandage cushions the PG, but it is still hard for me to grip or hold anything. Ugh.

4 comments:

lagiulia said...

Sorry things are so hard. Amazing that you maintain a sense of humor. I don't blame you for worrying. You have enough to worry about with almost having two babies, and then the hand thing? Sounds like you're doing great in light of all that. PLEASE let me know if you need anything, even just a chat on the phone about your impending twins mom status.
By the way, what everyone says about "just knowing" you're in labor? I didn't. I had diarrhea and a sharp pain in my left pelvis all night long one night, and of course contractions but I'd been having tons of contractions for weeks. I just thought it was bad Thai food I'd eaten. Finally, I sheepishly called my doc the next morning, who breezily told me to come in to the hospital just for monitoring. Within 2 hours I'd gone from 2 to 4 cm and was supposedly having tidal wave contractions according to the monitor. So there you go. You really can be on the brink of having twins and be clueless!

K J and the kids said...

That my friend sounds like labor to me.
While waiting for the pain to get bad enough in the hospital to get an epidural I had some back pain (which I'd been having all along) and soon dilated to a 7 without thinking I was in labor.
The cervix pressure....it's happening girl. I'll give you until Monday. I'll bet you have them this weekend. Just my prediction.
I would call your doctor and tell him about the pain you have had and see if Ms. Nothingbothersher wants you to be checked. Probably not...as you haven't had any problems up to this point.
YOU ARE 37 WEEKS !!!! Can you believe it.
HOLY SHIT !

Request !!!!
Please post one last belly shot(s).
(better get on that :)

My wife...just like Nicole...she will plan and get excited for tomorrows meals while eating todays :)

lagiulia said...

oh yeah - i also had back pain that night. fyi.

Anonymous said...

I love that you are posting 7 things about Nicole. I can't wait to read the others. And I agree with the other posters, you are likely getting very close to delivering! Good luck! After then hand thing, I'm sure delivering twins will be a piece of cake.