Week 37 - February 20 - 27, 2014
This week definitely has been an incredibly busy one. For weeks I had mapped things out with the idea that I needed to get all my major to-do's done by the time I hit 38 weeks. It seemed kinda reckless not to, and besides if I did make it into 38 weeks it would be nice to relax and soak in the quiet while I could, right?
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| 37 weeks! Hannah's almost ready to go! |
Thursday started off with Daniel dropping Holly off at the vet for her surgery. The vet had recommended we have her spayed between 4 and 6 months and...it was kinda now or never. A newborn and a post-surgery keep-her-quiet puppy? No thanks. My 37 week pregnant self would prefer to chase/hobble after Holly and thank myself later. The first night though? She was far more pitiful than I was prepared for! Daniel was really freaked out and I could focus on nothing else but trying to keep her comfy. She cried out if she moved the wrong way and frequently whimpered. She spent the entire evening burrowing into me on the couch and seemed to feel best when she was deeply snuggled into me.
She spent the night sleeping in the crook of my knee (I don't move much as I can only sleep on my left side) and I had my first super mom moment at about 4 in the morning when I woke up from a dead sleep to the dreaded "I'm going to be sick" sound and rushed her into our bathroom in seconds. (Daniel didn't even stir). Poor poor puppy. But puppy getting sick on tile versus our bed? I felt triumphant and awesome. Once she went for a walk in the morning, got her first dose of pain medicine, and ate a little breakfast she was like a different puppy and has bounced back incredibly fast! (Blogging from week 38...they told us to keep her calm for 10-14 days and tomorrow is the 10th day and she is still doing really well! Hooray!)
Friday I got up and immediately got to work prepping the house for company and even pulled everything together with enough time to relax for an hour or two before they arrived! My Aunt Mary-Michele and Grandmother came to visit us from NJ! My Aunt Mary (also my Godmother) had graciously agreed to paint several pieces for Hannah's room and wanted to drive down to deliver them and see me! It was all so very sweet and fun to visit with them, show them our new home, introduce them to Holly, and show them what I had pulled together for Hannah so far! It was a quick visit, but we really enjoyed catching up with them! And...the artwork was beyond perfect and beautiful! SO in love with it! She did such an amazing job! My aunt also brought a whole collection of sweet books for Hannah's library as well!
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| Four generations! My sister Ali, myself and Hannah, Aunt Mary, and my Grandmother |
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| My Aunt and Grandmother brought some pictures for us to see...my Mom with a Baby Beth! |
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| Baby Beth! |
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| Little Beth and Pam with some of my Aunt Mary's fun artwork and troll collection... |
Saturday we bid my aunt and grandmother farewell, I prepped and ran my weekly tutoring session (I'm tutoring a student in San Diego via Skype for AP Euro - 95% of the time I really enjoy having a history teacher outlet), we crashed for a little while, and then finally made an inaugural trip to Baltimore for a double date night with our friends Stephanie and Brendyn. Definitely a place we need to frequent more often and we were really glad to finally make it out there!
I ran a bazillion errands with my sister on Monday and started day one of my four day saga to register my car (explained further below). We had agreed to try to meet up at least one more before my attentions were a bit (great deal) more focused on Hannah. And Monday night we had a lovely double date night with the Kunkles and enjoyed a childless dinner out, (one of their first) and one that we all recognized was probably going to be our last together for a long time!
Monday night I had an "is this it?!" moment. Before going to bed I had felt quite crampy and nauseous (not normal for me). Around 1:30 am I woke up with some serious rumbly tumbly and found myself shaking/shivering/trembling uncontrollably. (Both top signs of early labor!) I ended up in the shower thinking "well, I'll either feel better after my shower or at the very minimum I'll be clean and have my legs shaved if this is the real deal!" It wasn't. I got out of the shower feeling way better, but unable to go to sleep until I organized some hospital-bag type things just in case. (My glad was to have a bag packed by the end of the week. I had lots of things in the mail, desperately needed to laundry and just all around was not remotely ready). Would things have been fine if it was the real deal? Yep. But...I had truly thought I had at least through 37 weeks, really I have secretly thought I had until at least 39 and change, but wanted to be good to go by 38ish to be safe. Needless to say, Tuesday I spent the day a little wide eyed, a little manic, and a little obsessed with making to-do lists. Was I worried about the having Hannah part? Not really, it was more just the fact that I had about 100 loose ends and that if I had until the end of the week I would have 90 of them wrapped up.
Tuesday I continued the car-based errand running saga (again, see explanation below) and then came home to finish the nursery! It was a very long jam-packed day, but my experiences the night before had thrown me into a nestling-level of focus. I may or may not have been up at 10:30 hanging pictures on the walls, but...having the nursery decorations done done done was definitely one of the things on my to-do list for the week! And it made me feel so much better (and honestly, I could be more thrilled about how it all came out!!!). I'm going to put a separate post together about the nursery - click here to see Hannah's Room!
By Wednesday I was 37 weeks 6 days and decided that if I were to answer the "how are you feeling" question honestly the answer would be miserable. I am relieved I managed to get within 15 days of my due date before I would use the term to describe myself, but that doesn't change the fact that I just feel crappy. All.the.time. Everything hurts and sleep sucks and I pretty much can't get comfortable. But...again, fifteen days out from my due date, sooo...it is what it is!
Reality check?
Rings still fit! Shoes fit if I loosen my laces, I don't have the killer chipmunk cheeks I was picturing...but I have those pregnant cheeks, especially when I look at a picture of myself from the fall. My innie has been an outie for a week or two now. Biggest complaints? I have pain right at the pubic symphysis spot that only seems to be getting worse. Carpal tunnel is still an issue, but one that I keep in check with a splint on my right wrist each night, so I can't complain about that too much, it is very manageable. I can trace Hannah's profile with my hand along my belly...and can feel her spine, bottom, and how her legs are curled! This past week her movements have slowed down and my little wiggler has grown so much she is now only able to be my fairly big squirmer. But it's a sign of progress for sure!
My Car Saga - Adventures in Becoming a Legit Resident of Maryland
To get my car titled and registered in Maryland....
1. We couldn't register my car within the standard 60 days from when we moved because we purchased it new in 2007 and it was the fall of 2013. Problem? For seven years my car is considered a "new car" in Maryland. To register my car I would have to produce a bill of sale and if I paid less than 6% sales tax I would have to pay the difference to the state of Maryland. We bought my car in SC which caps at $300 so we were going to owe 700-1000 dollars. No thank you. My car is awesome, but not remotely new at 90,000+ miles. We decided to wait until the house sold to register my car and claim I was a FL resident up until that point. (And if the house wasn't selling then we would keep our Homestead Exemption as well)
2. Maryland does not allow my car to be tinted up to the level that it is. So to keep my tinting We decided to see if we could get a medical exemption for my complexion and super high skin cancer risks (pretty much everybody in the next two generations of my family have had some form of skin cancer, and for Hannah's sake there's a melanoma risk on her dad's side as well). So I...
a) called the MVA (which is much more popularly known around America as the DMV) hotline and verified what I needed to do...this was a 40-60 minute phone call
b) called a dermatologist to set up an appointment to get a letter that defended my need to have a tinted car. After forty minutes of run around I was told I actually needed a letter from a general practitioner. Really?
c) Day 1 - I called a general practitioner, waited two weeks for my appointment, and saw a physicians assistant who agreed with me and issued a letter identifying that my tinting was a medical necessity.
d) Day 1 - when I called the MVA they said from there I would need to take the letter to a MVA to get a certificate prior to going for my car inspection. I went to the local MVA in our county only to find out at 4:20 that I needed to actually go to the "full service" MVA (out of county) to see an ASED officer (which closes at 4:30). I waited for quite a while to find this out.
e) Day 2 - I was supposed to have a Honda service and car inspection at 8 am...but the full service MVA office in Glen Burnie doesn't open until 8:30. I called them, told them I would be late, and this morning I went to the Glen Burnie MVA office where I met with an ASED officer who told me I actually needed a letter signed by an MD and that a PA (physician's assistant) was not enough. Sigh. I said I had an inspection this morning and asked if I needed to return to the MVA once I got my letter before I went to the inspection and they said no. Okay!
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| *shudder* this is the Glen Burnie MVA...are all those one way signs really necessary?!? |
**I also had difficulty leaving the parking lot because a couple was fighting in their car, with the door open in a way that blocked my ability to back up...and I had a really hard time getting their attention as they passionately screamed at each other...Sigh.
f) Day 2 - I drove back to my doctor's office in Columbia and gave them the letter and an "info sheet" from the ASED officer and asked for an MD's signature. I waited a few minutes and ta da, had a letter with both signatures, one of them MD. Check.
g) Day 2 - I drove to Ellicott City to the Honda dealership for the inspection and 90,000 service. I have since been told that before my car can pass inspection I need to return to the Glen Burnie MVA with the new MD letter and get a special "tint inspection and tint waiver" form. Then I can bring that back to Honda and they will be able to give me my inspection certificate. Then I have to go back to the MVA to register my car with the state of Maryland. I also have to have the MD's letter and the tint waiver letter from an ASED officer at all times to present to them if I am pulled over. If Daniel is pulled over and I am not in the car, he will be issued a repair order which can only be repealled if I go to an MVA office in person. My two rear tires also failed the state inspection...by like a milimeter. So frustrating. I made the guy show me to be sure and yes, in some places I was down to the wear bar, but still. Frustrating. Honda also wanted $362 for two tires. I laughed.
h) Day 3 - after my chiropractor appointment I drove to the Glen Burnie MVA (MVA trip # 3 for the week) and as soon as I parked a woman slammed her door open into my car. (I opened my door and shouted "Seriously?!?" at her), but she had taken off running as the male passenger from the car chased her through the parking lot, abandoning the kids they had in the car. Yikes! What is it with this parking lot?! I finally managed to find the ASED officer who looked at the letter and asked me to pull my car up to the inspection area. I did and he promptly glanced at my car and signed the official waiver form, stamped it, and sent me on my way! WOOHOO!
i) Day 4 - I had called around and priced tires and found some for a far more reasonable price ($162 after taxes). So I went to my OB appointment (38 weeks!) and then went to my tire appointment.
j) Day 4 - after the tire appointment, I rolled across the street to the Honda dealership and gave them my tinting waiver and told them the tires were replaced. It took a little longer than I had hoped, but after about 30-45 minutes I left the lot with a clean car (they ran it through the carwash - hooray!) and an inspection certificate! YAY!
k) Day 4 - I headed onto the Glen Burnie MVA (this would be MVA trip #4 of the week...seriously). No domestic disputes this time! The last potential hurdle was the fact that for some weird reason (I think the fact that Daniel had taken my car to get titled in FL on a Harris Friday) the title was only in his name. He had signed it over to me and we had even filled out the "spouse gift" form just in case, but that was the last potential snag. ...I had to wait a while, but all my paperwork was just right and after spending the standard fees ($270+) I walked away triumphantly with plates and registration in hand and a title in the mail! Hooray!
l) Day 4 - they transferred my ticket to the licensing area and I had to change buildings (it was after 4:30 now so I had to show evidence to get into the building "after hours" and I stepped in to find it sweltering and packed and my heart sank. The restroom had no toilet paper and I was really lucky to find a free chair amongst the 150+ people. Yuck. Just as I was messaging Daniel that I truly had no idea when I would be home my number popped up! Really?!? I almost missed it because it popped up so soon! And again, for this I had everything I needed! Woohoo! This lady was quite personable and in a short matter of time I was walking out with my driver's license as well!
So...4 days, 4 MVA visits, 2 docs office visits, 2 Honda dealership visits, and 1 tire place and I am finally a legit resident of Maryland who still has the tinting on her car AND didn't pay back-taxes on a purchase from 2007! I WON!
...The one way I didn't win? My drivers license picture is my 38 week rounded pregnant cheek self...forever memorialized for the next decade+! Didn't think that part through. Sigh. :-/
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