1. Gestational diabetes. Obviously I'm bitter, lol, but really: You make a woman drink an entire soda bottle full of nothing but sugar and orange food coloring in under five minutes; what do you expect her glucose levels to do? Oh, what, they're high? After chugging a bottle of pure sugar? Are you serious? AMAZING.
And the symptoms of high blood sugar: Fatigue. Irritability. Frequent urination. Uh.... Sounds like a fairly normal pregnancy to me! :-P I feel no better and no worse for keeping my glucose levels under control (which I have been doing quite well with diet, thank you very much). I'm still worn out; the general discomforts of this huge belly still make me irritable; I still have a baby using my bladder as her personal trampoline. Explain THAT, gestational diabetes!
(Disclaimer: I know GD is true; I know there is a problem with the way my body reacts to sugar. Nobody needs to feel compelled to educate me on the subject. Just let me have my little rant please.)
2. Non-stress tests. I'm almost to the point at which my OB and Maternal / Fetal specialist want me to do twice weekly non-stress testing (at which they will strap monitors to my belly for a given period of time to make sure the kid's heart is still beating or something). Never mind that I have to drive 90 minutes each way to the doctor because our small hospital doesn't have the equipment. Leaving that annoyance completely out of the question -- what's the point? In the absence of some reason to worry that the heart might not be beating (say, if I hadn't felt any of her usual movement or if I'd started to bleed or been in a car accident or some other traumatic event), what are biweekly NSTs supposed to accomplish? Heaven forbid, I could have a normal NST on a Tuesday and an unexplained still birth on Wednesday. (Knock on wood that I won't.) They're not predictive or preventative of anything. The only point I can think of is to reassure hypothetical lawyers.
But enough of the grouchy things.
Things I love about my new house
1. The curb appeal. I've never lived in a house so charming from the outside! It's got classic lines, a lovely columned front porch with a huge old-timey lantern hanging from the portico, lots of large trees, and sits on one of the few remaining brick streets in town. It makes me smile every time I come home to it.
2. The natural light. Every room has windows, and every window is GINORMOUS. We're talking ~8 feet tall (I'm guessing; my measuring tape collapses if I try to extend it to the top of the window frames), 5+ feet wide.... The formal parlor and dining room both have large bay windows (with southern and western exposures, respectively). I've mostly kept the shutters closed so the house doesn't get too hot, but as fall arrives and things get more temperate I'm going to start experimenting with the light for portraits. I have to get ready to document Cuatro's first everything, after all (or at least for those few months before she's mobile and runs away from my camera like the other girls do)!
3. Having two bathrooms again. Ahhhh! Definitely a plus in a family with small children (with their attendant small bladders and short tempers) and a pregnant lady. ;-)
4. Having a dish washer again! I couldn't keep up with dishes for five people multiplied by three meals a day (plus snacks!) (plus cooking pots and pans!) when I had to wash them by hand in our little rental house -- dishes were my nemesis. My sink was always full of dirties; my counter and stove were always full of drying things. But now? A load or two a day in the handy-dandy dishwasher, and it's so much easier to keep the kitchen looking tidy! Hooray for modern conveniences! (Though funny that I had to move into a 108-year-old house to have them again....)
5. Historic details. I love the molding throughout the house. I love the high ceilings. I love the random carving on the banister. I love the pocket doors. I love the dining room chandelier -- which, the Realtor informed us, is original to the house (1902); it used to be a gas lamp, she said, but the homeowners converted it to electricity around the '20s (and if we ever want to sell it, call her first! Though why would we want to?).
6. Storage. There are spaces everywhere! For everything! From storage bench window seats tucked in cozy nooks at the end of hallways to good sized closets to a mudroom and pantry and (slightly creepy, low-ceilinged) basement with shelves and space galore...! Not to mention the garage and separate storage shed outside. Score.
7. Stairs. That's an odd thing to love in this age of open floor plans, but it's nice to have a clean division of public space (living room, parlor, kitchen, etc., downstairs) and personal space (bedrooms, full bath upstairs). Plus it offers me daily opportunities for exercise, lol.
8. Proximity to the library. Our new house is about two blocks from our town's very nice public library -- walking distance! We rarely went there before, but now I've got all three girls signed up for story hours (Tuesday afternoons for Uno and Dos; Wednesday mornings for Tres) and we plan to spend much more time there.
Things DH found today while working to clear out the overgrown yard
1. A turtle (whom the girls have christened Alex; they hope he will stick around and be our pet)
2. An old fashioned iron
3. A sun face paving stone
Things Uno said about DH's findings
1. "Holy crap!"
2. "Can you believe these amazing artifacts? They don't make this stuff anymore. I bet it's clear from the 1960s!"
3. "What if there are more artifacts underneath the house? And people could come from all over and pay to see them? And there would be reporters and photographers with flashes and we could be famous!"
Things I want to eat immediately after Cuatro gets here, if it's true that GD disappears at delivery (which it had better or I might punch somebody)
1. Pizza Hut pan pizza -- any flavor will do (though I like tomato and mushroom quite a lot) as long as it has that thick golden brown buttery delicious crust!
2. A small strawberry malt.
Hmmmm. I guess that's all for now. :-)
~RCH~
