Just Being Real: Stories from Pregnancy and Motherhood #1

I've tried to be very real throughout this whole pregnancy, and in life in general, because I don't think those blogs where everything is sunshine and rainbows do favors for anyone. I've had a lot of joy, happiness, and blessings that I've shared, and a lot of fear, complications, and disappointments that I've shared, too. I try to be as real as I can in my writing so that people see a fuller picture of my life. I know I'm guilty of reading blogs with only happy stories and thinking "why isn't my life like that!?". I'm pretty certain that people don't read my blog and think that ;), and that's fine with me! I like to share the good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly. So here are a couple of real experiences I've had in this pregnancy!

High blood pressure makes pregnancy very interesting. The most interesting experience I've had with it so far was when I went to my 29 week appointment and my blood pressure was up even after doubling my medication at 24 weeks. So, I got switched to a different medicine and my doctor told me I would need to do the 24 hour urine test the next morning. "No biggie," I thought, "pee in 24 hours and bring it in? I've got this!". Ummmm.... no! Collect every drop of urine for 24 entire hours AND keep it cold; that was my task. So I left the doctor's office, picked up my new medication, and drove to the hospital an hour away (nearest my home for dropping the *ahem* specimen back off) for the giant container I needed. Thankfully my nurse told me to ask for a 'hat' for the toilet because they did NOT offer me one! She also gave me the great tip of keeping the container in a bucket of ice near the toilet, lest I need to trek out to the kitchen a million times during the day and night. Not to mention the thought of carrying urine into the kitchen, or carrying the pee jug through the house, made me queasy. So any of you high blood pressure mamas, keep that in mind! Anyway, I got my jug and got my set up going at home. Steven was forbidden from using the master bath so I could leave the hat in the toilet. I started Friday morning when I woke up and decided to just work from home that day to make life super easy.

At least my toes were painted.

Except we had tickets for The Nutcracker that night. It is our last year going to what I call the real Nutcracker (live music! fancy performing arts center!) and I was not missing it for anything. Due to Steven's work schedule, I had to pick him up and then drive us downtown or we might be late. So as I left the house, I packed the only thing I could find that was water tight... a plastic reusable water bottle. Yes, I was worried about ahem...aim... but I had no other choice! I packed it in a lunch box with an ice pack. I went to get Steven and once I picked him up realized we'd be really early. And I had to pee. Already. I had just left the house where I went twice before leaving! And to think I had dreams of not having to go until I got home *snort*. Luckily we had enough time to go home first. Yes, we drove 30 minutes back home to avoid me having to use the water bottle in a public restroom and it was SUCH a smart decision. I just sipped water after that and didn't have to go again until I got back home. Taking it into the hospital was pretty painless unless you consider carrying 2 and 1/4 liters of pee in an orange biohazard medical container embarrassing. But I don't have much dignity left at this point anyway and, hey, I put a lot of work into the last 24 hours, so I carried it proudly to the lab where they took it from me and I could breathe a sigh of relief that I was DONE! One of my friends said she had to do it 3 times in her pregnancy. I totally thought this was once and done, but at least I know the deal if I do have to do it again. Prayers for no protein in my urine please! I would really like to avoid pre-eclampsia at all of course, but at least as long as possible. My very real lesson? There is going to be a LOT of unanticipated stuff these next 10 weeks so I'd better get used to it! 

Kind of a hot mess picture for multiple reasons, but the memory had to be made!

Next is a story about learning my duties in motherhood. So I bought all these various cloth diapers and inserts throughout my pregnancy. Probably too many but cloth things that babies poop in are oddly addicting. I bought some hemp and bamboo inserts which absorb better than microfiber (the standard insert). I threw in all the diapers and inserts with some RLR to strip and prep, rinsed a whole bunch of times, air dried the diapers and dryer-dried the inserts. Done! Back into the baby dresser it all went. I knew I needed to further prep the bamboo/hemp and my MIL got me a stock pot for Christmas. So back out came those so I could prep. And I googled (for the first time... fatal error) where I learned that brand new bamboo and hemp inserts should NEVER be washed with synthetic ones the first time because the natural oils will make the synthetic ones repel water. Or, you know, pee. Oops. So this weekend out came allllllllllllll the diapers and inserts. I boiled the hemp and bamboo, then put them on a couple rinse/spin cycles and dried them. The diapers and microfiber inserts got stripped again, diapers are hanging up to dry, and the inserts were dried. And it only took me a day and a half of constant trips to the stove, washer, dryer, and drying rack. My very real lesson? Always google first. Always. 

Hopefully they can stay put away until baby arrives!