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Home > Two weeks till due date! Plus other random updates

Two weeks till due date! Plus other random updates

March 19th, 2012 at 05:36 am

I was having a tough week with a lingering cold that was cycling through various symptoms. Friday night I was so relieved that I'd managed to work the whole week and not get too far behind, and was thinking my cold was subsiding. My teeth were feeling tender, but that wasn't uncommon with a cold (I had surgery a few years ago and they've been sensitive ever since).

But by Saturday afternoon, the ache had turned into a throb and there was definite swelling. I knew it had turned into an infection.

I recently switched to a new dentist; my job changed insurance again and so this was my second switch in two years. I had my first checkup last month, and the bill was about $230! I'm still contesting that to see if they can get insurance to cover more of it. So I wasn't thrilled I'd have to see them on a weekend; if that was a checkup, what would an emergency visit cost?

But turns out they didn't have any after-hours contact info on their website or voicemail message. So I went to my insurance site and started dialing in-network dentists nearby, until I found one that had an emergency number. I explained I wasn't a patient but that they were in my insurance network. The paged dentist called me and, when I explained my history and symptoms, said he trusted that I knew an infection when I had one (I've had two before and this was mimicking that exactly). So he didn't ask to see me, but called in a scrip for antibiotics and a small amount of Vicodin to get me through the worst of the swelling and pain. (He sounded like a great guy; if my new dentist doesn't straighten out this dental bill, I may switch over to this practice for my next checkup and see if they're any better!)

I don't know how much it's going to cost (so far just $14 for the two prescriptions), but I'm sure much less than if I'd had to go see someone. So far the swelling and pain do seem to be lessening. Of course the Vicodin's made me pretty useless this weekend, but so was the pain before that.

I threw up this morning because I stupidly took the medicine on an empty stomach, but other than that I've been taking it OK. Unfortunately, either because I've been less active, or because the Vicodin is causing constipation, or because I have to eat before each dose, I gained 2 lbs. at my weigh-in tonight. I'm now 3 lbs. over my starting weight for the year. Sigh. My goal seems farther and farther off!

I added $25.26 to the EF, but I still haven't gotten back to our starting point for the year, due to the lease renewal and other expenses that ate up some savings.

So those two goals aren't going great so far this year. Another goal, to research some products to find out about they're made, I haven't even started on yet. But all the other stated goals are going great. Plus, I've achieved a few other things that weren't even on the list: implementing "Getting Things Done" (and thus lessening stress, clearing out clutter and filing years of disorganized papers); starting a family dinner routine; figuring out a way to avoid buying a car this year; and reading probably more books in the first three months than I did all last year.

And anyway, I'm finding it hard to care about a few more pounds on my body, or a few less bucks in the bank: We are so close to meeting our new little guy! AS is just over 2 weeks from her due date. She's getting more and more practice contractions, the baby is head-down and very low; feels like it could happen any day now! She's having weekly ultrasounds and extra monitoring because of her high blood pressure, but so far the baby has been doing great! There have been a few times she got sent to the hospital because they're being extra-cautious and will make any little irregularity in the testing get checked out, but every time, it's turned out to be nothing. This is one healthy, active, kicking, squirming, weight-gaining baby-to-be!

We've bought nearly everything we wanted to get before the baby came; we just need some breastpump supplies and new bottle nipples. We have a crib promised to us, and a two-kid stroller all picked out that we'll buy new; but neither of those are needed for the first month or two. (NT left some notes on cars in our condo parking garage to see if anyone would let us rent the space under their storage container to park the giant stroller; we won't buy one until we know where we can put it, since we know it won't fit through our condo door!)

AS has gathered a lot of the stuff for the hospital bag; some things we'll need right up until the day (like this laptop!) so we can't pack it all the way, but we could pull it together really fast now.

We need to talk to our friends CC and NJ who will look after little AA if we need to be at the hospital outside of daycare hours (which will probably be the case since both other adults want to be there for the full labor, though after that we could take turns staying at the hospital depending on how long the stay needs to be). They've already agreed to be there for us, but we need to make sure we're all on the same page.

We've also had lots of offers for rides to the hospital, so we should make sure we have everyone's cell numbers and times they'd be available to be called (some volunteered if it's during work hours, while others said call me anytime day or night).

While writing this, I realized I need to touch base with our lawyer, to find out when he needs to be alerted to the baby's birth to get the adoption going! I'll email him tomorrow.

So yeah, little things like being 13 lbs. off my weight goal instead of 11? Easy to put that in perspective! Heck, I've barely even worried about how my accountant is doing on my and NT's taxes. Big Grin

3 Responses to “Two weeks till due date! Plus other random updates”

  1. mamasita Says:
    1332149397

    What an exciting time for all of you! I'm sure the extra weight will come off within the next month, you will be too exhausted to eat and exercise will be your "me" time!

  2. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1332190139

    Getting so close!

  3. LuckyRobin Says:
    1332190949

    It's fun watching you be so excited about the baby coming. I'm sorry about the infection. One thing my doctor always recommends when taking Vicodin is to take a stool softner, or it can back you up for weeks. Most pharmacies carry them behind the counter, but they are OTC meds, just apparently people like to walk off with them because they are embarrassed to ask for them, so a highly shop-lifted item.

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