What Next?

Really, I probably shouldn't utter those words.

It's been a while, would you like to know how my week went?

On Monday I had an appointment with my obstetrician, just a regular check-up. I mentioned my incredibly painful tailbone, he laughed, told me that perhaps I should stay off stairs, and gave me a prescription for Tylenol-3's. Then I went and hung out with Nadine and the babies, before watching her kids while she went out for a little while. When she got back I started to get a bit of a stomach ache, so I took Mary and headed home. At first I thought I was hungry, but by time I got home I knew it was something else. I got Mary set up in front of the TV, and curled up on the bed. The pain got worse and worse until I was in tears. I called Ian, begged him to come home right away, and crawled to the bathroom, where I curled up on the floor and howled (quite literally) in pain. Mary came over to me from time to time looking very worried and said "Mumma? okay Mumma?" I couldn't even reassure her, I just begged for help. Thats how Ian found me when he got home.

Ian managed to get me up off the floor and into the van, and we made a quick dash to the hospital, me yelling the whole way and begging for my mother. You know it's bad when a thirty year old woman is crying for her Mummy. When we got to the hospital Ian got me on a stretcher and we made our way to the Labour and Delivery ward. I remember sobbing to him that I was dying, and him saying that I would be fine. I also remember telling him that I wished I was dying...It was pretty bad.

I don't remember much else, the doctor talked to me, I remember being very rude and yelling at her, I remember writing in pain, and I remember getting a shot of sweet, sweet demerol. About 20 minutes after the drugs, I fell asleep. When I woke up, the Dr. was back, and I apologized to her profusely for being so rude. She said that all my test results were back, and that they were all normal, but she was going to admit me anyways, because she thought that the tests must be wrong. About 30 minutes later she came and told me that all the tests weren't back because they had run one of them over. My lipase, a pancreatic enzyme, was coming back as being at 23,000. Normal is up to 100, high is 300. So, needless to say, there was something wrong.

The first night at the hospital was awful, the pain medications didn't work very well, I ended up begging the nurses on a regular basis for more, and once got stuck on the toilet and had to have people help me get dressed and back into bed. All in all, it was plain misery.

I just got home from the hospital this afternoon, and while I'm not 100%, I feel much, much better. I also want to let you all know that Pancreatitis, it is the most horrible thing in the world. It was more painful than anything, even giving birth, even my sore tailbone. One of the surgeons who came to see me said that pancreatic pain is the worst pain of any organ pain, and pancreatitis is the most painful thing he's ever had to treat. Nice.

Anyways, that's pretty much how my week went. How was your week?

Ouch

On Friday evening, in a fit of crutch envy, I decided to fling myself down the stairs. Unfortunately, I was unable to recreate Liz's glamorous ankle injury, and instead landed with all my considerable weight directly on the edge of a step, right on my tailbone. I sat there on the steps at Raven's house, fighting 1. the urge to vomit, 2. the urge to weep and 3. the urge to stop breathing (that's how I cope with pain you see...I just don't breathe). Instead I forced myself to smile at my concerned friends and claim that I was just fine (puff puff, remember to breathe) and I just needed a moment to collect myself. After a minute or two of sitting on the steps and thinking "in, out, in, out...breathe" I got up, managed not to shriek at the pain, and stumbled over to a chair. I was really hoping that the pain would get better, but unfortunately it did not. About 20 minutes later I could not sit without intense pain in my poor bum, and I was incapable of bending over to pick up the diaper bag from the floor. I phoned Ian at work and asked him to please come straight to Ravens place to help me get Mary into the van, I hurt myself and needed to go home. He came, gathered Mary and I up, and we set off home. I wept the whole way, every time I drove over a bump it felt like someone was driving a spike through my tailbone and into my spine. I spent pretty much all day yesterday laying on my side on the couch, unable to sit at all. I did have to get up once or twice to feed and change Mary, but she was remarkably well behaved and easy to care for. Today I am a little better, it still hurts like a son of a gun, but not quite as badly as yesterday. I am actually able to sit, so long as I lean forward and don't try to get comfortable. I still can't pick things up from the floor, pick Mary up, or put on my own socks, but hopefully by tomorrow that will resolve. If not, I have a Dr's appointment tomorrow anyways. I really hope this resolves soon, I only have 2 weeks left till Mary and I head off to Regina, and there's a lot of packing I need to do before we go.

Canada's Next Top Model?

It has been snowing all day long. Snowing. Two days ago it was 16 degrees and we were raking the lawn. What is with this weather anyways? I am done with winter, so very done.

But here! Look! Mary was helping us rake (really Ian was doing all the work, I just helped by supervising the job) and at one point she decided to be a super model. These are three of her poses, she kept changing poses and shouting "Cheese!" at the top of her lungs. Ian says it's the influence of too much "America's Next Top Model," but I swear it's on after she goes to bed...






I also hate packing, so very very much. Today I got quite a bit done, or what felt like quite a bit....but I didn't make a dent in the stuff, so much stuff.

Anyways, I haven't much more to say, so here, look at another cute picture, okay?

Trucking Along

Wow, has it been almost a week already? Where has the time gone?

Hmm. Well, in spite of my actual birthday being a bit of a bust, the rest of the week has turned out quite well. Friday Ian, Mary and I went to Chili's for supper. Mary was incredibly well behaved and the food was good enough. After that we went for a spin through Costco to pick up some more of Marys juice boxes, and then we headed over to Ravens place. By time we got to Ravens though, I was freaky exhausted. I had intended to stay for Ladies of Hack, but by 8:30 or so I was dozing on the couch. I had enough energy in me to either stay up for a little while longer, or socialize, but not both, so we went home.

Saturday was a good day. We went to a wake for a friend of ours who passed away on the Easter weekend to go to, so we dropped Mary off at Ians aunt and uncles. It was a very nice way to spend the afternoon remembering our friend, and it was surprisingly upbeat. I've never really attended a "wake" before and it was a new experience for me. After the wake Ian and I went out for supper to Moxies and had a wonderful adult time. We ate steak and lots of garlic, and I pretended that I was able to drink a nice glass of red wine. We picked Mary up after supper, headed home, and then I went off to a cocktail party.

The party was wonderful, though strangely difficult. I was given a cake, chocolates, flowers and a gift certificate to the spa, but the best part was just hanging out with a fantastic group of people. I suppose it's not so strange that I had a hard time with it all, considering that it was one of the last chances I will have to spend with them before leaving for Regina. On the drive home I kept thinking that I really shouldn't go out with them anymore, after hanging out with them the last thing I want to do is move away from Edmonton.

Speaking of moving, things are pretty much finished. The people buying the house have had their financing confirmed, all the conditions have been removed from the contract, so now all we have to do is wait for Land Titles to do their thing and switch everything over. The other day we got a call from the rental company in Regina, and we officially have an address out there for May 1st, the big move is planned for the 14th, though Mary and I are going to Regina on the 7th. My father is going to rent a u-haul for us and help Ian drive it home, but we'll have to start working on recruiting our friends for help emptying the house.

Holy crap! So, the TV just made a huge bang, like a gunshot, and the screen went black. I think that's a bad thing, eh? It smells kind of burny in here now, I looked and I can't find anything actually burning or smoking though, and I can't reach the plug in to unplug the stupid thing. Huh. One less thing to move, I guess. I have been telling Ian that I want a new TV for a while now. Mary is going to be awfully miserable when she realizes that we don't have a working TV in the house though, I'm not looking forward to dealing with that. Of course, without the TV distracting us, I bet Ian and I will get a whole lot more work done around here...

Feeling Better

Hey! I feel much better this afternoon! It's surprising what getting out of the house and visiting people will do for you when you're feeling sorry for yourself, don't you think?

Mary and I headed off to visit our invalid friend Liz this morning. We made her tea and tried to make sure she didn't do anything she oughtn't while her ankle is all sore and swollen. It was tough though, she's a formidable woman at the best of times, and now she has crutches....those are weapons in the wrong hands, people. Just ask Mary. Anyways, it was very nice of her to invite us out, and it really did the trick. I was planning on spending the day naked and miserable, and instead both Mary and I got dressed and out. After our visit with Liz we went off to the capitalist Mecca, also known as WalMart to buy much needed kitty litter and milk. I also grabbed a balloon on a stick for Miss Mary because she was so awesomely behaved all day long. We just got home, and Mary has happily gone down for a nap (a nap! she's actually napping!!) and I'm listening to Jesus Christ Superstar and belting along when the mood strikes me. I may even do some of the housework that I've neglected the last couple of days while down in the dumps.

Oh, and I got a fantastic homemade birthday card in the mail today too. Thanks Goody, I still have your birthday card from February sitting here waiting for a stamp. I'm such a poor tool...

Feel Sorry For Me

Really, this may come across as a desperate bid for pity, but it isn't. What it really is is me wallowing in enough self pity to drown a large horse.

My 30th birthday has to have been one of the worst in memory. Now, I'm not looking for expensive gifts or wild parties (though either would have been appreciated), but a little recognition from family would have been nice. I did get several emails from friends, including a cute e-birthday card (thanks Emmett!). My father had cookies from Cookies by George delivered to me, Ians Mum sent a birthday card with Mary's easter stuff last week, and we did order in pizza from Panago as a treat. That is all. Nothing from Ian at all, not even a card, he didn't once even say "Happy Birthday Jennifer." My Dad called, but my Mum and brother did not bother. I honestly don't expect a whole lot on my birthday, I would have been thrilled with a card from Ian and Mary, a phone call from my mother....oh well. So, my day was spent with a sore throat and a headache, and ended in a fight between Ian and I that sent me to bed in tears. I suppose this means that future birthdays will have very little to top in comparison to this one.

We got our lease application faxed off to the apartment building in Regina that we will be renting when we move there next month. Now we just wait for a phone call to us, and a phone call to Dad so that he can pay. We weren't going to do it quite this way, but Dad convinced us just to rent a place starting May 1st, and then we won't have to worry about a place to live when we move on the 15th, and really, he has a point. So, once again, he is forking over the cash for us. I suppose first months rent and the damage deposit is significantly less than the deposit he was prepared to pay for us on the house in Indian Head. I think that I will end up leaving Edmonton on May 8th with Mary and the van full of boxes, and Ian will follow the week later once he gets everything packed up. I have a doctors appointment in Regina on the 9th of May, and after all the effort I had to put into getting it, I don't want to mess it up by having to change it around.

Maybe today I will dress and get out of the house to enjoy the sunshine. It might make me feel better...

Rhymes With Dirty

It's my birthday, and I am now officially thirty. All I've gotten so far is a headache, a terribly sore throat and a new, husky, possibly sexy voice to go with it. Blech. I am trying very hard not to expect anything, I'm a grown up, and grown ups don't generally need anything special for their birthdays...but I'll be awfully cheesed if I don't even get a card from my husband. Right now the only surprise I've gotten from him is the discovery that he didn't replace the toilet paper when I got up at 4 am to do my pregnant lady thing.

Hmm, looking at the computer monitor is making my head ache worse, so I think I'll stop for now. Bye bye!

Roller Coaster

I am an emotional mess right now. Seriously. Between the excitement of finding a home we loved in Saskatchewan, the exhaustion involved in finding said house, the disappointment of the deal falling through....and now the fact that we have in fact sold our house in Edmonton with signed contracts and everything getting to the lawyer today, well, I'm not dealing with life very well. I weep at the drop of a hat, and let me tell you, hats are dropping everywhere. I can't watch anything on tv other than Mary's shows, and even those cause the occasional tear to slip free. Yeesh.

So, here's the latest news. As I mentioned above, the contract has been signed by all parties on the sale of our house, and it is at the lawyers place right now. Ian spent most of the day running around getting things done at the lawyer, bank, and with the people who are buying the house. I stayed at home with my crabby toddler, my leaking boobs, my sore throat, and trying not to bawl. Anyways, that means that we are very close to having our house officially sold. The current plan is to rent something in Regina for the beginning of May, even though the house deal will not go through till mid may. That way we have somewhere to live in Regina for a few months so we can find somewhere to live. We have to sign a 4 month lease, which is not a terrible thing. That also means that we will have somewhere to live and if we find a house we like we can take August posession, and have plenty of time to move in at our own pace. I am not excited though, I haven't the energy to get excited. I certainly haven't got it in me to deal with the disappointment if I do get excited and this deal falls through too. So, I will be excited when we get the money for the house from the lawyer and I see our bank account balance shoot up like we won the lottery.

In other, non house related news, have I mentioned how cute my daughter is? Yesterday I had an appointment with my Doctor, and I had to take her with me. She was a bit of a wild woman in the waiting room, but thankfully we only had a 10 minute wait, and that's cause I was early. She was very good when the Dr came in, and charmed him by saying hello about seven hundred times and just looking cute. That all changed when he got me up on the table to poke at my belly. Mary got very upset and started crying when I lay down on the bed, and came to my side weeping. I tried to comfort her and talk to her, but she was having none of it. As far as she was concerned the man in the white coat was doing something horrible to her Mummy, and she needed to do something about it. So when the Doctor got the doppler out to listen to the baby's heartbeat, Mary hit him! I shouldn't laugh, and I at the time I was pretty mortified, but it was awfully sweet that she was so worried about me. And this from the child who couldn't have cared less when I fell down and wacked my poor head.

Disappointment Squared

I am incredibly upset right now, and wobbling on the edge of tears. We won't be moving any time soon it would seem, at least not until July most likely. I won't go into reasons here, but we ended up having to call off the offer on the house in Indian Head.

Anyways, we'll be in Edmonton for a few more months now, which isn't really a terrible thing. More time with our friends, more time to get things arranged, and I'll be able to continue going to my Obstatritian here which is a really fantastic thing. I'm much more comfortable being with the doctor who delivered Mary and has helped me through the difficulties I've been having with this pregnancy.

Our New Home (we hope)

Here it is!

http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3d1%26rlt%3d%26cp%3d%26pt%3d20%26mp%3d0-0-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26Beds%3d3-0%26Baths%3d0-0%26f%3d%26ft%3dall%26o%3dA%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26ptgid%3d1%26aid%3d3274%26MapURL%3d%253fAreaID%253d1651&Mode=0&PropertyID=5597138

We placed an offer on this place yesterday before the long drive back to Edmonton, received a counter offer this morning, and are likely to accept the counter. That means that if all goes well with the house inspection, this little place will be ours as of May 4th (May the fourth be with you)! I'm a little excited. We weren't sure about this house at first, it's quite a bit smaller than what we had hoped for, and Ian didn't like it quite as much as I do (I love it), but all the other houses we saw over the weekend (except the one in Vibank) were real duds and this one really is beautiful. It's older, but there has been a tonne of work done on it. It's small, but it has a huge kitchen, nice sized bedrooms and is on a giant lot in a town that I have loved all my life. The town is a little far away from Regina, it'll be a 45 minute commute, but there is lots there, including the possibility of Ian finding work in town.

Today Mary and I are both sick, we picked up a bad cold from the step-family, so we aren't going to do much. We do have to pick up the contract for the sale of our Edmonton house, and tomorrow Ian is taking the morning off so we can go to visit the people who are buying our house and fill out the paperwork, go to the bank and chat with them, and lastly go to the lawyers and get the ball rolling. I'm awfully excited about the whole thing...I really hope that everything comes together the way it should without much dificulty.

Disappointment

We looked at many houses today. Several were ass. One, we fell in love with. It's the one in Vibank, and it was perfect, everything about it was perfect. We placed a generous offer on it. It was rejected with no counter offer. Damn.

Happy Easter everyone.

Thursday

Wow, is it Thursday already? I guess it must be. This weekend is Easter weekend, and next week I turn 30. I really can't believe how quickly time is zipping by. Sometimes I look at Mary and wonder when she turned from a chubby, toothlessly grinning baby to this energetic, beautiful, bossy little girl that is sitting on my couch.

Thanks for the advice on finding a doctor in Regina. For those of you who suggested my Dr's office do the footwork, it's a good idea, but not one that worked. Dr. Browns office had already sent out 3 referrals to the Doctors that he knew of in the city, and was rejected by them all. I did mention to all of the ones that turned me down personally that I could get a referral from my OB/GYN here, and the general response was a sort of "good for you, won't change a thing though." Luckily, the tenth, and last Obstatritian in Regina, was cheerfully happy to accept a referral from my doctor here and book an appointment for me in May. Yay! Unfortunately, it looks like this one is a Lady Doctor. I have no problem with women being doctors, and I will see a woman doctor if I must, but I really would rather see a male. I have no idea why, and I acknowledge that it's kinda odd, but that's just the way of it. By my 6th rejection, I realized that I couldn't be picky any longer and would have to suck it up though.

So, our house here in Edmonton is basically sold. Isn't that exciting? That means that we can go to Regina this weekend, look at houses, and actually comfortably make an offer. Then next week we will go to see the lawyer with our friends who are buying the house, arrange everything, talk to the bank, and....well....that's that. We will hopefully be in the Regina area by May 1st settling into our new home. It was iffy for a while because of the neighborhood that we live in though. The people buying from us want to rent, and very few rental management companies will handle houses in this area because the minute you put a place up for rent the Capital health authority comes in and does an inspection. It's not necessarily a bad thing, this neighborhood is rife with crack houses, cat houses and slum landlords. This house needs quite a bit of work, but I think that it can be done without breaking the bank (for some people, not us though) and it will pass any inspection with little effort.

I had my monthly ultrasound yesterday morning, and it went very well. The ultrasound was mostly performed by a student, and the actual tech was watching over her shoulder. My favourite quote from him was "This is how it would look if there were something abnormal (blah blah blah, insert random medical terms here) but this baby couldn't be more normal if it tried." That made me awfully happy. The baby is growing well, looking healthy, keeping busy kicking the crap out of my ribs, and my uterus is functioning within normal paramaters. The only small concern is that she is still breach, but she has about 5 weeks left to turn around into the right position before they start to get really concerned about things.

So, there it is. Lots of excitement around here, and I've even packed 6 boxes which we will bring to Regina this trip and store in my fathers basement. (by the way, if any of you in Edmonton have moving boxes cluttering up your space that you would be willing to donate, please let me know!). The cats and Mary still have no idea of the upheaval that is coming, I suspect Mary will deal with it much better than the boys though.

Troubles

Guess what I've been doing this morning? I have been phoning EVERY single obstatritian in Regina trying to find someone who will be my doctor. So far I have called nine of them and been told nope nine times. What am I going to do? There are only 2 more left on my list, I've phoned womens health in Regina and they gave me all the names they have. What happens if I can't find a doctor? I can hardly drive back to Edmonton every 2 weeks for my appointments, and 8 hours is an awfully long drive to deliver a baby when the time comes. There are a couple of GP's in Regina that deliver babies, but because this pregnancy has been a little higher risk than most, and because Mary's delivery was such a gong show, my Dr here wants me to see an obstatritian. Ugh. I may end up doing this all by myself like they used too in the olden days!

Cheese!

More pictures of Mary. She's just being so darned cute I can hardly resist, and I need to share the cuteness with everyone else too! She wandered into my bedroom and was very quiet, which is never a good thing....when she came out this was what she was wearing....




Here's a video I took shortly after the first shot, once she realized I had the camera out. Every time she spots the camera she goes into a frenzy of "Cheese!"ing, and once a picture is taken, she shouts "Again! Cheeeeeeese!" (this is my first attempt at posting a video, let me know how it works!) (If you're looking at this now and it doesn't work, look again in a bit, apparently it takes a while for the video to actually show up on You Tube. who knew?)

Tuesday

Good day to you all!

Well, I am still reeling slightly from the news about the house. All I can think is that it's a good thing I decided to be lawful and not burn the bloody place down when it was really annoying me!

Other than thinking about the house, talking to a friend who may buy the house, looking at new houses in Saskatchewan, and talking to our real estate agent in Regina, life has been awfully quiet. I spent most of yesterday morning in bed after fainting. I managed to hit the couch this time rather than the floor, so my head didn't hurt quite as badly, but I sure felt yucky for several hours afterwards. In the afternoon Mary and I packed ourselves into the van and went to WalMart for catfood and a few crappy plastic trinkets to put in Marys easter basket. It was nice to get out of the house in spite of the horrible weather and even worse roads. When we were all done and I was loading my purchases into the car, a fellow with an incredibly thick Newfoundland accent approached me and asked for spare change. Even before I could say anything he went on, saying "I know, most people tell me to get a job, but I have one. I just got here from Newfoundland a couple of weeks ago, I haven't got my first paycheque, and even when I do, I just can't find anywhere to live." I tend to be an incredibly soft touch most of the time, I would never, ever tell someone who is asking for spare change to get a job, and I am usually happy to give over a dollar or two if I have money in my pocket. This guy, though, well, I really felt for him. His story is just so plausible right now. There are tonnes of people coming to Edmonton from all over the place because of the promise of high wages, and then when they get here housing and rental costs are so high that they can't find anywhere to live, and end up sleeping in the river valley. Anyways, I handed over about 7 dollars, for which he was immensely thankful, and told me that I had gotten him halfway to sleeping at the Salvation Army shelter and getting a hot meal, rather than spending the night in the snow beside Walmart. I really hope he got the other 8 bucks he needed, it was miserable and cold last night.

Mary has been exceptionally cute this morning....she picked up a piece of garbage that was on the floor, and I commented that it was garbage. So she wandered to the kitchen, picking up scraps of her paper that she found on the floor, and put everything in the garbage! Then she went to my little vanity thing, and picked up all the stuff that the cats had knocked off in the night and carefully put them back where they belonged! I only wish she would do those things more often, most of the time she's making the messes and then commenting on them ("oh no! A Mess!") rather than cleaning them up.

Seasons

Well, that was the quickest spring I've ever seen. Last week was stunningly beautiful around here, almost all the snow melted, the sun shone (except for a bit of spring rain), and I even heard a robin chirping away on Saturday morning. I was sure that spring was here for good. Unfortunately this morning things are white again, it snowed, and the high for the day is only -5 or so. Sigh. Not that spring is a nice time of year around here, everything is so brown and filthy when the snow goes away, and it stays like that for a long time.

So, anyone wanna buy a house? We had 3 real estate agents through to look at the place yesterday, and I'm still stunned by what they said. The first guy walked through, looked around, talked to us about what else is for sale in the neighbourhood, and then recommended that we list the house anywhere from $215,000 - 230,000. I was stunned and to be honest I thought he was crazy. When he left I told Ian that the next guy would never tell us that much. But he did, and the third guy, who was by far the best and most thorough, told us even more, 224,000 - 245,000. I just couldn't believe it, I still can't. All three of them are pretty sure that if we list the house at the right price, we could sell it in a week and get more than we ask. This house needs a whole lot of work, and it just blows me away that in this market it is worth over 200 thousand dollars. I don't even want to think about what it would be worth if we had been able to put more work into it over the last couple of years.

Ugh. I just fainted again, though this time I managed to get to the couch before passing out. I think I'm going to go lay down for while, hopefully Mary will be content to watch tv and organize her books.