Jeffrey, can you clean the toilet? NOW!

The sickness continues but it was a puke free Friday. I often hear her bellow for me to clean the toilet as she is gonna be bowing to it shortly. I am amazed at how much control she has, it's like she can schedule them. She called me the other day on the way to see a customer and asked for my advice on the best place to pull over on 79 to throw up. She settled in on the Mt. Nebo Park and Ride. She had planned a short trip to Myrtle Beach about a month ago before she was getting sick and she decided to go despite her sickness. So her and Leanne were off to the airport this morning and will be back Wednesday. We have a date for her first baby doc appointment in a couple weeks and she was told she had to continue with the morning shots until at least then. That's about it for now, good luck to my friend Debby who is doing a 24 hour long walk for the cure this weekend.

Heartbeats!

We did an ultrasound today and saw the heartbeats. One baby was hiding a bit but we did see a heartbeat on both and got to see arms, legs and heads. It was very exciting to see what actually looked like a person and not just a blob. The heart rates on both and sizes of both were in the normal limits and we were released from the clinic and will start seeing the regular OB Dr. now. Andrea felt a bit better today, we are hopeful that it was the Ginger that did it and she will continue to feel better.

Squirrel

I made Andrea get out of bed and took her out for soup this evening. We tried to go to Domenico's for French Onion but they were closed for the holiday. Could Filippo work any less? We ended up at Panera. She got through a bowl of soup without throwing up which is more than I can say for dinner last night. No pukes today but she has been attacked by the poopie monster. I went and got her some Ginger pills at the pharmacy today to see if that helps and she is wearing something called Sea Bands. They are sweat bands for your wrists that have a ball that pushes on some pressure point that is supposed to help. We are basically trying everything we find on the internet. If she does not feel better by tomorrow we are going to sacrifice a squirrel. We read about it on http://www.pregnancyvoodoo.com/. I wonder how many of you will go see if that is a real site. When we left Panera I asked her if she wanted to go anywhere else. She said back to bed. Even if Kohl's was having a buy one get three free sale she would not go. Now that is sick! We are going to the Dr. tomorrow for an ultrasound. I can't wait to see those little hearts beating away.

Things they are a' changin!

I want to go boatin, nope she is sick. I want to go out to eat, nope she is sick. I decide to make something to eat at home, no good, the smell makes her sick. Maybe I should just go to bed, nope, been kicked outa there also. She has trouble sleeping and I snore. Off to the guest room. How about some lovin before I am banished? Nope, "are you insane"? She has spent the last few days in bed. The afternoon, evening sickness continues and it is starting to anger her. She is definately tired of me waking her daily to stick a needle in her and unfortunately the sickness and needle will continue for about another month. She did go out with the neighbors the other night for awhile. She had a craving for something strawberry. Patty came through with Strawberry Sorbet, tasted good going down, not so good on the way back up 30 minutes later. Next craving was a toasted cheese sandwich. In the 12 years we have been together she has never asked me for a toasted cheese sandwich. With a quick raid of Belva's kitchen we accomplished this one and it stayed down. It is great to have good neighbors, even better to have good neighbors with stocked kitchens. My life is definately changing, maybe this is what Obama was talking about.

Good Andrea story

I am not sure if this can be attributed to pregnancy but Andrea told me a great story I had to share. Andrea had a claim that she has been working for months as the man that made the claim has been busy taking care of his sick wife. Andrea called him today and he said that he was sorry that he had not called her back since his wife had been sick and now his son was dying. Andrea felt terrible that she was bothering him and told him how sorry she was. At the end of the conversation she again stressed how terrible she felt and how sorry she was about his son. The customer called her later and said that he thought she had misunderstood what he had said. He had said that he was sorry that he had not called her back because his wife had been sick and now his PHONE was dying. Does pregnancy effect your hearing?

One week and counting until we get to go do another ultrasound. I don't think I wrote about the first ultrasound in any detail, I was a bit taken aback that day. It started with Andrea going in to change into one of those one size fits all sexy gowns and heading into the ultrasound room. I was made to sit in the waiting room that I will tell you about at another time. I will give you a hint as to what it is used for though. I hate it! Anyway, I think I was not allowed to be with Andrea because I am fairly sure the staff there hates me. That is a story for another time also. The staff eventually calls me into a dark room where Andrea is laying back and there is a monitor that shows 2 blobs. Andrea can't see the screen yet but I could and for a second I was confused as to what this was that I was looking at. Being somewhat intelligent I remembered that we had put two embryos in and there were two blobs on that screen. I was so excited but waited for the official verdict. The tech turned the screen towards Andrea and told her that there were two in there. It would be hard for me to explain Andrea's reaction but it was a mix of yelling, shrieking, crying and yet again yelling "twins, twins, oh my twins" over and over. Those of you that know Andrea well know that she is not the most quiet of people. Needless to say we did not need to tell any of the other staff in the building that we were successful. They all heard. She then got dressed and we went back to a waiting room where we just sat and stared at the wall for a few minutes. We really did not say much. Just sat there and thought about things until we were summoned to meet with one of the Docs. I can't wait to see the difference in "Gestational Sac A & B" as they refer to them as or "Bella and Tumas" as we refer to them as ( short for belly and tummy ). As for the current situation, Andrea continues to be sick about every afternoon or evening. She continues to be fairly "musical" and seems to be sleeping a bit better. She has had a few cravings but they have been for mostly healthy foods. She never ate salads before and now likes them. The one thing she missed was Diet Coke. The whole artificial sweetener thing is bad as is caffeine. Splenda is ok so I started my search for a diet caffeine free drink sweetened with Splenda. I looked at convenience stores, grocery stores and online. I had about given up when I found it at Giant Eagle in Seven Fields the other day. Diet Rite w Splenda. You would have thought I brought home a winning lottery ticket. She was getting tired of decaffeinated iced tea and water. Who would have thought a tasty beverage would make such a difference. I guess it is the little things in life that matter.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Andrea is sick about every day now, she is unable to fall asleep at night and is often up until 2-3am and she is very busy at work. She got 5 new claims on Friday alone. She is not complaining but she is not necessarily very happy. So knowing all this, when my friend Stacy called me Friday to tell me that Seven Fields was having a big garage sale and there was lots of kid stuff out I thought I would do a drive by. I was headed that way to see a customer anyways, maybe I can find something at a great deal. nothing seems to make Andrea smile like baby stuff these days. I was on the bargain hunt and with a mentor like Andrea training me over the years these Seven Fields sellers did not have a prayer. My eagle eyes spotted 2 baby gates from the road. I pulled in and walked down the driveway trying to look as uninterested as possible. I did not go up the the gates at first, I walked around a bit looking unimpressed. You gotta know how to play the game. These are skills I learned in the straw markets of Mexico and they were about to pay off. I strolled up to the gates and picked one up, they were fairly new and I was sure they were perfect. They said $15 each. I had no idea what these things cost new but I am sure much more than this. The owner walked up and told me that he paid $30 each for them at Lowes last year. I offered him $20 for both and he countered at $25. At $60 last year add 5% increase in cost since then and 6% sales tax I would now pay $66.78 for these and settled on $25. Carrying them back to my car I was proud of my work and could not wait to show them to Andrea. Now came my disappointment. First I was told that our friend Maria had bought 3 baby gates at a garage sale just weeks ago for $10. That's $10 for all 3. I was then told that they were the wrong kind. We needed gates that had a door attached so you don't have to climb over them to get up or down the steps. Apparently there is more than one kind of gate made and I bought the wrong kind. I was then informed that my thinking for myself privileges were being revoked and all baby related purchases would need prior authorization from Andrea. I have attached the picture of the gates. I am accepting offers.