Blame it on Pregnancy

I made a mistake today. A big one. Big. But, it's not my fault. It's because I'm pregnant.

(I left about $9000 in a drawer at work.. unlocked.. and then went home. I'll be written up tomorrow.)

I burnt 3 of my fingers on a flat iron last week. It's because I'm pregnant.

I tell my mother the same things over and over again. It's because I'm pregnant.

I let Marshall go for weeks without any, and some days with more than enough. It's definitely because I'm pregnant.

I've bought so many clothes in the past 2 weeks. It's because I can't fit in any of my old clothes.. and I'm pregnant.

Enough with the excuses. But really.. being pregnant is a great excuse.

We've decided on how we want to decorate the nursery for the most part. Her bedding is the Crayon Collection from Bananafish, which we've already bought. Walls will be Yukon Gold. Marshall is highly considering cork flooring. His research justifies his decision and he'll be installing them. Whatever you want, Husband. And we'll also put up a beadboard wainscotting.

We're getting furniture from a family friend. Crib, dresser/changing table, chair and ottoman - all for only $250. And Momma's buying it. :) The sad news, we won't get everything until December or January. That means unfinished nursery until then. :(

And I will eventually get around to posting Hartley's most recent ultrasound pictures as soon as Marshall gets them out of his truck. I'm not procrastinating this time, it's Marshall.

Oh- before I forget. I started working with Maddie and Sassy months ago, preparing them for the baby. We would look and sniff baby clothes and toys a few times a week and I would say "baby" or "this is the baby's" over and over. Maddie lost interest. Sassy, however.. wow. She's a lot smarter than we thought. We've got a bag that has all of Hartley's things in it and when I ask Sassy "where's the baby?" she gets really excited, goes to the bag and looks in it. She amazes me.

the lab puppy thing.

Our dear friends the Downies went out of the town last weekend and had planned to board their puppy Callie. Why I spoke up and offered to keep her for a week, I have no idea.

I'm just a generous person, I guess.

We thought sweet Lola was a crazy black lab (mix), watch out. Callie is almost 9 months with bigger paws than Maddie. I'm not sure how much she weighs, but I would say at least 70 pounds. That's just a guess, I really don't know.

She's extremely powerful.. and so is her tail. Her manners aren't quite there yet, so jumping is an issue. So is yapping like a rat terrier. And scratching up our backdoor as she pleads (yelps) to come inside. Callie hasn't learned how to properly drink water either. She thrusts her head into a water bowl, with her mouth open, comes up and does not gulp. Thus causing water everywhere in the vicinity of the bowl. By day 4, she could only drink outside.

What was ruined? Grill cover, sprinkler, backdoor. This is all that we know of right now.

The Cold Hard Facts

1. I think my body grew between the hours of 8am and 4pm today. Especially the parts between my armpits and my hips.

2. Hartley enjoys sitting on my bladder.. a lot.

3. We can feel Hartley's body. She's knotty. It's strange.

4. I'm starving.

5. I'm excited about Hartley's (and our future children's) bedding that will be arriving any day now.

6. We're 20 weeks today. I can't believe we're halfway there.

7. Strangers notice I'm pregnant now. And can't believe I'm halfway there either.

8. I will never own or dogsit a purebred lab puppy again in my life.

9. I'd like to know where my husband is right now.

10. Because he has my dinner. And I won't repeat Number 4.

Slacker.

I've always been a procrastinator. I enjoy completing projects, don't get me wrong, but I take forever with starting and finishing them. And I neglect little things, like my poor blog. And my husband.

I should work on this before I have this child. I have new pictures of our little one, our little girl. But I haven't gotten around to getting them on the computer. Maybe tomorrow.. or the next week.

Exciting news for the Moore household...

We had our anatomy ultrasound last Thursday. Both of our mothers came and we had a good time watching the baby.. and mainly listening to the tech go on and on about how perfect, funny, cute, etc. the baby is. I love our ultrasound tech.. she always brightens my day.

Our first view of the baby.. the butt. It was clear. Girl! Momma and.. Mama.. had no idea what they were looking at and still have a hard time.. but the proud parents knew. Marshall even called it, I think in June.

So now, we can call her her. And we can also call her Hartley Caroline. Marshall called her Ms. Hartley the other day. That made me smile. I've even been pronouncing her name with a Southern drawl, like with Scarlett O'Hara. This is so much fun!


I've been slacking with taking pictures, imagine that. But my cameraman isn't the best, no offense Marshall. Anyway, Hartley Mo is a healthy 9oz with freakishly long legs. Those are from my side.. Marshall has surprisingly short legs. She didn't move around as much as I wanted her to. In the most recent ultrasound (July) she was doing gymnastics, but she didn't do anything this time. I was really wanting our mothers to see her being active. :(

Last Tuesday we started feeling her kick. Marshall came home from work and I was still napping away on the couch. Eventually I woke up and all of a sudden there was a huge thump in my stomach. Is that what I think it is? And then it happened two more times. I informed Marshall on what was going on and he put his hand on me.. she kicked for him, too! And that night before bed she kicked a few more times for us. Friday night she put on a real show. She started kicking on the right side, moved to the middle, over to the left and back to the right. Feels like a little fish swimming around in there. (Marshall wants her to be swimmer, too.)

Now I'm feeling little movements that only I can feel. And this morning she had a whole body spasm because it felt like my insides jumped.

I just think it's weird how suddenly I could feel her kicks. I started feeling little tickles in August and then out of the blue I felt a solid kick. We felt a knot the other night and Marshall decided to press on it really hard. I'm hoping it wasn't her face..

I'll try to get ultrasound pictures uploaded. I have a video, but it's at least 35 minutes long.. I don't think anyone wants to watch that.

No one ever told me..

There are many things I've learned the past few months about pregnancy.. that no one ever told me about.

Something I learned this week: my boobies now touch my stomach. I never thought this was possible. But then I found a sweat pocket in my upper rib cage.. why is this happening? Oh, my boobies are becoming even larger and I have this expanding stomach.. and they touch!

Do you know why God created constipation? So that women could practice pushing for labor. Really. At least that's what I'm thinking.

Nobody ever told me about pregnesia. No one told me that I would forget how to spell words, lose grocery lists, forget how to pronounce words, completely forget peoples' names.

I was never informed that my stomach would be hard as a rock when I woke up in the morning. Thank you, full bladder.

These are only a few, and I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting a lot more. But what's new, right?

I forgot, as usual..

I failed to mention a few important details from the past two weeks..

I have indeed felt Baby move. It was a little tickle for a few days and that was it. One evening I decided to focus on movements. I remember feeling some tickles a few days before that night, but I'm always moving around so I didn't think anything of it. And then I felt it, that tickle I had been feeling lately. It's weird. Like someone is rubbing the inside of my belly button. It went away after another day or so.. I don't feel it that much anymore.

We might have felt some thumps, but that could have been my stomach digesting. Who knows...

I try to discern movements before bed each night. Sit up in bed, with my hands on my belly.. poking around. We even tried Marshall's stethoscope. I thinks there's just a lot of natural gurgling going on in there.

And I forgot to mention how wonderful my husband is. Whoops. Sorry, Marshall. :)

We had babysitting duty (and no doodie!) Friday night. We watched Anna Kate (2) and Caleb (4 months). Anna is pretty easy to watch, when she's in the same room at least. She can entertain herself, which makes for an easy job. However, Caleb.. fussy! He needed to take a nap but he resisted, which made matters worse. He was hungry, but didn't want to be burped. My amazing daddy-to-be swooped in, after a long day of work, and calmed Caleb down, fed him, burped him, and got him to go to sleep. Oh, how thankful was I!

He didn't change any diapers, but that's okay. He saved me from losing my sanity and he let me eat dinner first. What a good husband.

In other news, Maddie continues to amaze me. She likes to help Marshall "burn" in the non-fenced-in area of our yard, so she's pretty much free to run around wherever. Sunday night, she was helping him and I guess Marshall didn't see her run off. Well, all of a sudden there's a knock at our front door. I thought it was Marshall's parents bringing us fried pies, but I was so shocked when I opened the door.

It was Maddie.

She left her Daddy and decided to wander around the yard. I guess she needed some water so she wanted to come inside?? She's so smart.. and polite. I trained her very well. :)

seventeen

The past two weeks have been a blur. I'm pretty sure I thought it was Thursday when it was only Tuesday. Our house is never clean. I eat way too much sodium, I think. Our insurance blows. Marshall is driving me crazy. And we haven't slept in the same bed 3 nights this week..

I have no recent picture because my computer (the one we've been using lately, that I have updated newest baby body pictures on) has decided to quit accepting wireless internet. So we're using Marshall's slow, crappy, falling apart computer. :(

But believe me, I'm showing. :)

Since school is back in, that means all our part-time college students change their work schedules. Which means I have to change mine, too. Instead of the wonderful 8-1 everyday, there are some days I have to go in from 1-5, or the awful days 11-1 and then 3-7. I think this is why I have no idea what day it is.

I'm still exhausted in the afternoons. Therefore, that means a dirty house and no supper for Marshall.

My most recent cravings include, but are not limited to, Ramen noodles, soup, and pickles. Yea, Ramen.. can't explain it. It's easy, quick, and flavorful. For the record, Marshall has never eaten Ramen. I think that's crazy...

And yesterday, I actually had ice cream (nutty chocolate.. yum) and then a pickle. I didn't even realize it..

Now, on to the worst part of our life right now..

Our Insurance. Or lack of. Prior to becoming pregnant, we were informed that our insurance was wonderful! Thirty-five dollar co-pays, a maternity plan that you can switch in with ease.. yeah, yeah, yeah..

What we find out, maybe 2 weeks ago, I think.. we owe almost $700 to our Ob/Gyn. Because our supposedly wonderful insurance doesn't pay. And that we have no "maternity plan." Don't fret, friends. We're sorting things out. I politely asked for a discount and received one. And our bills are paid.

It's just been a lot of unneccessary aggravation that has caused ulcers (really).

But what I would really like to tell you about is the conversation I had with the receptionist at the doctor's office.

This is after leaving a pleasant visit that only consisted of a finger prick... and after I informed them I would pay whatever we owed. And I think I'm going to liven up the conversation..

Ms. Receptionist, I guess I just owe the co-pay.

No, you have to pay the full amount. Remember, your insurance doesn't have a maternity plan.

How silly of me! I want to give you all my money. How much do I owe?

Well, the urine sample is this much and the hemoglobin is this much..

Really, I have to pay YOU to give you my pee? Crazy!

[so I fork over the money without any complaints.. and then..]

Ms. Moore, I think you should apply for Medicaid.. since you have no maternity plan.

[what? oh no she didn't..]

Woman, you don't know me.

You pay taxes, you deserve all the help you can get.

I'm pretty sure with my husbands income we wouldn't be eligible.

You're married? You might be eligible. It doesn't hurt to try!


...

Breathe. In. Out.

I left the office in tears. Marshall needed to hear what happened, but I didn't expect to start sobbing when he answered. Great, thanks pregnancy hormones. Not the opportune time for this, as I'm leaving a baby appointment.

All he could hear was me crying and no words were coming out. He thought the worst at this moment, something has happened with the baby. Eventually I got everything out, he was relieved. And I cried for another 15 minutes.

So.. we're going for the anatomy ultrasound on September 10. Marshall is invited back.. especially now that receptionist lady told me I was poor and thought I didn't have a baby's daddy.

Any guesses??

And finally, allergies have emerged along with some back pain. I slept on the couch a few nights, to prop myself up. And Marshall decided sleeping on the couch last night would help with his neck. We only have one couch, so I guess we're taking turns. We'll have to flip a coin for tonight.

Do I have any good news?!? I had a wonderful birthday and appreciated all my birthday wishes and gifts. Marshall purchased the first few sets of plantation blinds and installed them for me. And I bought items for our guest room, since we have real overnight guest this coming weekend. Marshall was also a good husband and bought me cookies and chocolate and took me out for Italian food and Starbucks.

If only my birthday was every month..