I know I just did a News & Notes post, but I guess we haven't had any significant stuff happening lately so all I have are snippets to cobble together!
Since the last post had a notable anniversary, so should this one. Twelve years ago today I found out I was pregnant! Hard to believe. I mean, in some ways it feels like we've been parents forever, but considering how vividly I remember some parts of that day, it's amazing it's been that long. I'd just come back from the awesome but utterly exhausting trip to see the Chihuly exhibit in Pittsburgh. I didn't sleep well on the trip due to a huge dinner (my pregnancy digestion was SLOW) and rooming with two snorers, so I thought it was just that. I had all day Sunday to recover, but I was still spent on Monday. In the prior couple weeks I had come off taking some drugs to get my cycle on track so we could try to get pregnant, and yet my body wasn't responding how the doctor said it would. In fact, I was feeling so fatigued that I was convinced something was wrong. Before I called the doctor again, I knew I should stop and get a test because they'd definitely ask me if I was pregnant. I'd had a blood test a few weeks earlier before I started the medication and it came back negative, but in retrospect, presumably I got pregnant right before or right after that test. I drove home on that rainy night and stopped to get tests at the dollar store (I think it took two stops, actually), and the positive on the test was plain as day almost immediately! It was shocking and exciting and terrifying, all at the same time. And just as I suspected that night, nothing has been the same since! I think to some degree I still find the second half of November to be a bit mentally challenging because I so vividly remember the isolation of being pregnant, feeling sick all the time, being incredibly nervous about miscarrying, and not being able to tell anyone about it. I think together with the colder weather and the dreaded approach of winter, it has just stuck with me all these years. But everything--including the very existence of this blog--can be attributed to the new reality that began that day.
Last week seemed busy as usual but was generally uneventful. Jacob is enjoying his practices with his new basketball team, which starts playing in a few more weeks. Carter had his flu shot, which was traumatizing as usual in the moment, but a non-event once we stopped at Tim Horton's for consolation Timbits. I feel like I did a lot of evening running around--grocery shopping, winter coat shopping, killing time during basketball practice, etc. On Friday we headed to Buffalo and Craig and I went to an art exhibit for his cousin, who is a fantastic photographer. The exhibit was at a studio in my hometown, ironically, and it was fun to see a bunch of his family on my turf! We even snuck in a drink at a local bar while we were kid-free! On Saturday Craig was off to do Knighthawks stuff at the arena in Buffalo, and my mom and I went to a bazaar at her old church (a long-standing family tradition, with my grandma back in the day) and a craft and vendor sale in the gym at our old church/school (oh, man, the memories...so many hours spent there). We stopped back home and picked up Jacob before heading to my parents' current church, which was doing a giant basket raffle. It's quite the event, with over 200 prizes--mostly theme baskets but some large ticket items, as well. We didn't win anything (much to Jacob's dismay), but we did have a pretty good time dreaming about it. After that we swung back and picked up my dad and Carter before driving to Rochester (in my parents' car--they then dropped us at home so we could drive separately) for my cousin Lori's housewarming party at the house she took over from her mom, who moved back to our hometown. It made for a very long, very full day, but it was a good one. Although, I should mention that as we were packing up for Rochester, I managed to whack myself in the eyebrow with my parents' car door. I was opening it and must have started bending down too soon to pop the trunk, and either their door was heavier or is shaped differently than mine, so when it swung open, it clipped me just above my left eyebrow. I was shocked to see bleeding, which I then saw was from quite a gash, but luckily it seems to be healing okay. But after twisting my ankle on Monday (stepping off a curb and having my heel land on a stick, which immediately made my ankle give out) and not feeling much better from my sinus infection, it was definitely the cherry on top of a tough week physically.
And no, my sinus infection (or whatever it is) is still hanging in there. I actually felt almost functional on Friday, the last day of antibiotics. I wasn't feeling so gross or tired, and what was coming out of my nose seemed much less icky. But then I was a bit of a mess again on Saturday, so I laid off the Mucinex in hopes that things would dry up a bit--which I needed after constant noseblowing. But now I'm still congested on the one side and there's still thicker stuff coming out at times. I'm feeling considerably better than I was during the worst of it, but I'm clearly still not healthy. I'm sleeping better thanks to one mostly clear nasal passage, though, which does help. Still waiting to hear back from the doctor to see if more needs to be done for the side that will not clear out.
Over the last couple days we were thrown head-on into winter with a pretty significant snowstorm. It feels really early for 8-10 inches of snow, mid-20s high temps, and single-digit wind chills, but it's here nonetheless. I actually panicked a bit yesterday because I knew my car needed new tires (even rain was making them a bit slick), so I called the mechanic before the snow really got going and was able to drop it off. I then spent the afternoon at home, safely watching the snow pile up. It was pretty nasty by early evening when we went to pick up the car, but thank goodness I got the tires because the commute was rough. I was up at 5:30 and dragged Craig out to shovel with me so we could get it clear before I had to hop in the shower shortly after 6am, in order to ensure I could get Jacob to school on time. Luckily we had an uneventful morning, because we needed all the extra time to get him to school just on time, and then I spent another 45 minutes driving to work--80 minutes in the car in all. Ugh. I was ready for a nap before I even got to work. Thank goodness I brought caffeine with me. I am not ready for this yet. Give me a couple more weeks to get through Thanksgiving and I will be totally on board...but for now, I just want easy commutes and a little more fall.
I spent most of the snowy day freaking out about our health insurance. It's open enrollment time at work. For as long as I have had health insurance, I have had a PPO plan. Last year there was a tool as part of our enrollment kit that lets you fill in a bunch of information and it tells you which plan is better for you. When I tried it out last year, it told me that we should have a high-deductible plan. I was doubtful and assumed that I probably forgot to enter some things into the calculations. I just didn't have the brainpower to work through it beyond that, I guess, so I just kept our old plan. Well, I did it again this year and once again it said the high-deductible plan is better. It even had a graph showing where the money was going (premiums, co-pays/co-insurance) plus what a worst-case scenario would look like, and it was clearly saying (by a solid couple thousand) that the other plan was better. Huh. I obsessed over it most of the day, asked people on Facebook, and crunched numbers over and over again. I spent nearly an hour on the phone (mostly on hold) with the insurance company trying to unlock my online account (oops) and then figure out what my one Tier 2 doctor (my allergist) might cost me. All numbers keep pointing to us changing, but it scares the crap out of me because so many people insist that you can't do one of those plans with kids. But then a couple people insisted it worked for them, and again--the math keeps saying that we'll spend less out of pocket with the high-deductible plan because the premiums are significantly lower whereas the maximum out-of-pocket (which doesn't count premiums) is only slightly higher. Then when you take into consideration FSAs and HSAs, and pre-tax considerations...it's so much to consider. Oh, and they made vision coverage separate, too. It's moments like this that I wish my brain didn't shut down at the sight of financial scenarios. Banking, health care, insurance, investments...it all makes me nuts. I'm lucky I can balance my checkbook at this point. Craig is probably even worse in most cases (though he did get life insurance and some investments taken care of years ago), so I'm essentially on my own with this one. I have ten days to figure it all out. Wish me luck!
The rest of the baby stuff (minus the clothes) is going on Thursday. Bittersweet but necessary. If I know myself, more on that later. For now, off to bed. Hoping for a healthier, less snowy day tomorrow...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment