[sunny72]

Yay for the Diva

[jencat215]

Hey Ronni-

I haven't been as good about walking as I should be. I was supposed to go yesterday at 8AM, but called my buddy at about 7:30am and told her I was just too wiped. So we were set to go today at 9am, but she called last night to change to 10am. When she got here she said- I just don't feel like walking. Me neither!!! But we did about 2.5 miles just to warm up and chat. She is leaving for Italy on Friday and I have been just so tired (napped for 3 hours this afternoon). Also, I am caught up in a book and usually that takes over me for a bit. I am waiting for DH, then we are going over to my work. This is my dangerous step- I am handling a large amount of RSV virus. I work in a BioSuite, and I don't want to be alone (no one else will be there on a Sunday). I have told my boss that this is the last RSV run I will be doing for awhile!!!

Yeah, I do love hanging out in the pool. We are trying not to do too much during our 2ww to try and let things happen.

DH was a big trouper in doing the walk for me. He claims he would have finished but his toe really hurt from a blister. I told him to take it easy cause he didn't train and even if you are a great athelete, you don't just wake up and say 'hey, I am going to walk 26.2 miles today in 100 degree heat'!

I've got everything for you on Thursday. I hope they see bunchies of good follies in there!

[hopeful2bmom]

Jen,
I nearly peed my pants when I read your post on the other thread about the iguana poop and a kitty barfer. I don't know anyone that has a cat that does not barf! My old cat used to throw up several times a day. Once I woke up in the middle of the night to pee and I steped and slid in cold kitty barf. Ewwww.

Sending positive vibes to all!!!!
Alana when is your beta?

[JustPeachy]

Hi Ladies! Seems like everyone is having a busy weekend. Thanks for all the congratultions on my big 20 week marker. No new belly pictures yet... I'm going to make DH take one tonight (scary as it is). To answer all the questions, yes 24 weeks is the official earliest viable point and yep I am still expected on bedrest at 28 weeks.

Brenna - Thanks for the bedrest journal idea. I've already bought a scrapbook as a creative project too. Bought the stickers and the whole bit so this will be a first for me.

Alana - I'm very excited to hear the FR is darker today. You need to line them all up on the counter and take a picture for us! Still no luck in finding a digital anywhere?

Heidi - I love the story about Stella and her cousin. Girls will be girls! I can almost imagine the two of them together. I hope AF will be here for you soon too - and not at a completely horrible time. As far as doctor excuses, can you pretend to just be getting all your annual exams done? Or, found a new hobby with a daily meeting? Book club at Barnes & Noble?

Shelly - Glad your electricity is back! Isn't it just amazing how disabled we become? The joke around here is that Atlanta didn't develop as a city until a/c was invented b/c it's just too hot down here. I'm totally reliant.

Jen - We're watching your countdown too. I was laughing at your DH and shopping saga. So funny that he has rated all the man chairs!! I can't drag my DH anywhere other than the outlet mall. Any good man chairs at Victoria Secrets when it comes time for that next round of bra shopping?

Ronni - I so wish I could have some lazy pool days around here! Think of me in your pool lounge with your smoothie. Don't worry about the evil BCP. It's almost over. Very exciting about your baseline u/s on Thursday. This is your month and you have a big group cheering you on.

Great idea everyone about wallpapering walls with insurance "this is not a bill" statements!! I should have done that in the nursery A constant reminder that Aiden needs an academic scholarship for college! Those things are ridiculous. I have met my $2,000 in-network deductible and the $2,000 out-of-network deductible (besides spending over $20K on IVF) but am now starting to get these "statements" for my overnight hospital stay showing some $3,000 balance at the hospital. I just don't get it.... isn't there a maximum out of pocket at some point with these things?! My goodness.

[hopeful2bmom]

Jen-
What do you do with the RSV? Are you testing sputum samples for RSV or are you actually playing WITH the virus itself? Interesting stuff...

[jencat215]

Susan- well, today I harvested a 5 day infection of RSV. Basically we will be doing a viral protein extraction this week to use as a positive control in our RSV test kits. It is an established SOP that seems to get made every few years, unless a big demand goes up for it. It should be a manufacturing process, but my boss doesn't think anyone without a PhD could handle it. Totally not true. Far from it. But anyway... I did work with RSV in grad school. I was a x-ray crystallographer and my thesis project was to solve the 3-D structure of the F (fusion) protein from the virus. So I did very little with the actual virus, but did mostly stuff with the viral genes, putting them into a baculovirus (insect virus) system to propagate the baculovirus and pump out lots of protein.

I don't do the testing. That is QC. Ewww. Gross. Sometimes in our lab they test poo samples for Clostridium. Ewww. No way in hell I will do that!!!

There she goes again...


Oh, about stepping in cat barf while going to a midnight pee...been there, done that...

Rach- Vickie's doesn't have good man chairs either. And I am kinda pissed at them. I really would like to buy products made in the USA (sorry Canucks and Kiwis). Actually, I wouldn't mind if stuff I buy is made in Canada or NW/Australia. Or Europe. But Vickie's bras and panties are made in Cambodia and China and places like that. I am very wary of buying anything made in China these days. And I think the large variety of colors/shapes/sizes confuses DH. You do have to keep it simple for them

Oh, we thought we met our out of pocket expenses too. Still the 'this is not a bill' papers come. I could probably pave a path from CO to GA with all of them!!!

[hopeful2bmom]

Jen you and my hubby would have a ton to talk about. he was a bio chem major undergrad/pre-med and he did a lot of testing on fruit flies with viruses and such. i am not even sure what he really did but I know that he loves proteins, bacteria and all that good stuff. Today he opens people's skulls up and messes with their brains in the OR. Ewwww. I honestly don't know how he does what he does. He took me to the cadaver lab once and I almost barfed. There were half mangled, grey, wrinkled bodies with heads missing! I asked where the heads were and he said some of the resident took them to practice on!!!!! Yikes!

[jencat215]

Oh how fun! If I wasn't a scientist, I would like to be a forensic pathologist. Thought about med school, but **** I wouldn't want to deal with people like me when they are sick! That is why I would have considered pathology, but I probably would have to have dealt with the live 'uns at some point.
Either that or work for the CIA or FBI. I could be a Jennifer Garner in Alias type...

Think your DH would let me watch one of his surgeries ? We could do a trade. I help with cutting someone's head open, he can do some lab work for me!!! Come on Susan- what is wrong with a bunch of dead headless bodies??? Better that they are headless and dead, then headless and alive (oh how I miss horror movies. DH doesn't like them. Thinks they give me nightmares. Although I do like to stay up at night watching stuff like X-files, by myself in the basement, then run upstairs to crawl into bed with DH, shaking until I go to sleep, then have disturbed dreams...Ah the good ole days.

[JustPeachy]

Jen - Pave your path from CO to GA and come for a visit!! I am with you on the whole China thing. I looked at Target, Babies R Us, and a local kids store and wasn't able to find a single toy not made in China. What the heck?? Out of all the brands - Gymboree, Baby Einstein, Fisher Price, Lamazee... I tried them all! And these are toys that a baby would be sucking on... kind of want a made in the usa tag (or canada or europe). I went online and found some options so I may end up ordering those. Very weird things going on with our import economy. I just heard Bill Maher joking around this week that everything at Walmart is made in China

[hopeful2bmom]

I was majoring in forensic psychology but then i realized it's not glamorous. The job market stinks for that field and you usually get stuck working boring cases in a law firm. I switched to counseling psychology. Only two more years until I complete my PhD (it never works out that way, it will take me ten years)

DH loves when people come to observe his surgeries. If you are ever in RI for some strange reason (only one hour from Boston) then call me up! He would love to talk science with you! He is a brainy, brain, nerd , geek. He has the common sense of an ant though, poor thing. That's what you get for being so darned smart! Can't even boil water...

Anyone have any good tips on how to get plaque of the doggie's teeth? She used to have pearly whites now she has bad breath and nasty yellow stains on her teeth! I can't stand to look at her!

[jencat215]

Heck, pretty soon our eggs and sperm will be shipped to China so we can have embabies!!!

Actually, be very careful because I have heard that now places like China are putting the Made in the USA labels on their stuff, so Americans will buy them. Why are we putting ourselves in such danger just to save a few measly bucks???

Susan- my DH is quite the nerdy geek himself. He can talk science until the cows come home! I've tried the dental treats with the cats, but they won't eat them. I have tried brushing their teeth, but they hate it. Poor doggie. Probably should stay away from coffee

Okay, so now my big decision of the night is:
a. Do I eat brownies and milk
b. Do I eat a rootbeer float

Funny thing about my DH, he is very well rounded. He is the total geek, can talk wine to a wine snob, can talk plants, especially orchids, to anyone and loves nature hikes, can talk sports and was cross country/track in high school/college, can talk cooking-loves to cook and even watches cooking tv shows (better him than me!), can talk/do anything outdoors (expect not good at skiing or ice skating- likes his feet on the ground), a good shopper, knows what POAS stands for, knows the difference between a plunge, demi and full coverage bra is, AND knows what a skort and capri pants are, without me even telling him! Well rounded dude. He is also great with parents, strangers and authority (bosses). Always recycles, ALWAYS puts the seat in the female position (and the 1-2x a year that he slips up, after getting the call to get to the bathroom immediately, he rectifies the problem), very charitable. Loves animals. And he cleans up nicely too!

[goob07]

Jen - I say you eat the brownies with a rootbeer float. No need for the milk as you'll be getting your calcium from the ice cream in the float, right?

I also say that you find a way to clone that husband of yours and sell the mini-DHs on eBay. Sounds like a keeper! My DH has his own good qualities but they're not quite as diverse as your DH's list. In fact, my DH is so fashion-challenged that when I bought him shorts that are longer than he's used to, he put them on and said; "Why did you buy me sprees?" I gave him the dog staring at itself in a mirror look and couldn't figure out what the hell he was talking about. Finally, it clicked for me. (I seem to be the only one who can decode his secret language.) He meant to say; "Why did you buy me capris?" He was dead serious and got a little miffed when I laughed at him. I still giggle when I think of it and, of course, now we always refer to those shorts (which are only mid-knee length) as the "sprees".

Peachy - I saw the pics of your nursery on the January Due Date thread and it looks great so far! Good choice of colors and the dark furniture is going to look so nice in there. Have the cramps subsided today?

[JustPeachy]

Jen - Can I trade DH too?? Or at least get a clone?? Hmmm... mine is currently yelling at the football game on tv and is vividly discussing his fantasy football team with me even as I type and am clearly not listening I KNOW my DH has no idea about the different type of bras! Hell, he bought a pregnant woman a little tenny tiny babydoll from Vickie's for my birthday and thought that was a normal gift for a pregnant person. Great if DH thinks there is anything sexy about pregnancy but no way am I prancing around in it. Was quickly exchanged! Oh, and my DH works in a restaurant and can barely boil water for hard boiled eggs. He did do a great job painting though so I'll give him one for that.

Goob - Thanks for the room compliments. I can't wait to have my furniture either. I'm so impatient. Can we time share on the cloned DHs? The cramps did get a little better today. Oh, and I tried to buy my DH some fashionable jeans and he thought I was crazy too. I just convinced him to stop buying pants with pleats!

[hopeful2bmom]

Ronnie that "sprees" story just cracked me up. My DH has been wearing the same short, pleated, chino shorts from Banana Republic for ten years. His shorts are shorter than mine. I have even tried to have "laundry accidents", but he still wears them holes and all. Yes a laundry accident is where I say something happened in the washer or dryer but it's really where I tore a hole or spilled bleach on the clothing that I can't stand! It's not working though!
Rachel- How did you convince DH to stop wearing pleats?? I need help!

I am still laughing about sprees!!!! That's hysterical.

Brownies milk and rootbear float all the way. So I am not the only bedtime snacker??? Although it's almost midnight here and I am still hungry!
Nite girls.

[jencat215]

I love the sprees story. I just read DH yours and Rachaels replies and guess what? DH knew what babydoll was!?!?

He is a great man. When my friend and I go shopping, he will sometimes come along and hold both of our items. And, although he did watch some of the football game earlier, he is now watching Lord of the Rings on TNT. That is, of course, after making our rootbeer floats. I guess I am a bit spoiled here.