What a supremely stressful few weeks

It's been a long time since I've posted. Mainly because I've been busy, but also because I've been a little overwhelmed as of late. For those of you who remember my posting about grandma being hospitalized a few weeks ago the update is as follows: She was discharged from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility earlier this week. She was only in the skilled nursing facility for twelve hours and her PEG tube (a feeding tube placed through the abdominal wall) started leaking. Come to find out, after ten or so hours in the ER on Tuesday, that she had pneumonia, and a staph infection. I had just done her advanced medical directive with her last week, so essentially we all knew this was the end of the road.
She passed this morning just after sunrise. I think she was ready to go. She told the minister Tuesday night that it was time to get this show on the road. Tuesday was her 85th birthday, and she was just so excited that she still got to have a birthday party. Apparently in 85 years of having birthdays, no one had ever thrown her a party. Granted, it wasn't the big party with her friends like she had originally been looking forward to, but at least she got to have one with her family.
There of course, has been more drama, but I don't have the energy to post now about any of it. Suffice to say, I'll be glad when this week is finally over.

Baby gifts already

Today two of my coworkers brought gifts for our baby to the meeting that we had over lunchtime. I just love baby stuff. They bought us toys from out registry, including the plush blocks, a prone activity mat, and two toys that attach to the stroller or car seat and kind of "jitter" and make noise when you pull on them. So cute. So I decided that as I unpackaged the stuff after work today, this would be a good day to start teaching the Max dog the difference between his toys and the baby's toys.
We'll see how it works out. He didn't really seem too interested in most of the baby's toys so far. He gave them the obligatory sniff and then walked away. The only one that held his attention was the yellow plush block, which when you squeeze it makes a quacking noise like a duck. This one he most certainly took issue with. I think he's grasped (for now) that this is not his toy thought, as he got scolded each time he tried to pick it up with his slobbery dog mouth. I'll just have to remember to wash that one before giving it to the baby. So now I'm off to write thank you notes. I figure the best defense in this case is a good offense and if I write the notes as the gifts come in, it's one less chore to deal with later on.

This may be the last week

for running prior to baby's arrival. I've been noticing after my last few runs on the treadmill that I've been having a lot of pelvic pressure and aching. I'm pretty sure that the baby has dropped down a bit over the past few weeks, as I've been feeling pain much more in my pelvis and lower back than in my ribs as I was initially. I'm going to see how I do with the remaining four runs this week and if the soreness post run continues I'll be dropping down to a walk for the remainder of the pregnancy. I'm figuring that it's almost time to stop running anyway, as I'll be thirty four weeks this Friday though...
Today we went and bought outfits for the baby to wear when we bring it home. I bought both a girls and a boys outfit since we won't know what we're having until it actually makes it's appearance. I figure I'll wash both outfits once it gets a little closer to the actual date of delivery, and whichever one we don't end up using will get given as a gift to one of the people that we know who are also having a kid in the next few months or so.
I also bought the book Baby Signs for Dummies. I've really been interested in some of the things I've heard about how teaching your infant sign language at a very young age makes it much easier to deal with them overall. It seems pretty basic stuff, and of course you're not looking to have a fluent conversation with them, but it allows then to communicate basic needs such as sleep, diaper change, milk, and more without becomming frustrated. According to the little bit of the book I read, it really doesn't kick in that they can communicate via this method until around six months, but they suggest that it's helpful to start signing with them around three months of age. I'll let you know how this works out for us.

I have an addiction

It's a big one...I simply cannot stop chewing ice. It's driving my husband crazy. I think he might kill me if I can't find a way to stop. Even knowing this, I still cannot stop chomping on ice cubes. Is there such a thing as Ice Eaters Annoymous?

Seriously late

But better late than never. It's the movie review of the new Die Hard...in a word, awesome. Bruce Willis is such a complete stud. The movie itself was pretty good, but I don't think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much if it wasn't for Bruce Willis. But then again, things blowing up, people getting shot at, and a random bad guy getting knocked out of a helicopter that was pursuing Bruce Willis' character by a huge spout of water from a broken fire hydrant, what's not to love?
I've been staying busy, work is crazy...I'm really looking forward to the extra day off tomorrow, even though it does kind of suck that it's in the middle of the week. I really think that Independence Day should be a holiday like Thanksgiving and they should make it the first Friday or Monday of July every year. Who do you think I need to petition to get this changed?
I've been trying to stay caught up on the work stuff, which is tough, as it's already time to do midterm grades for the student who's interning at my clinic. Plus I've been busy with my grandma. My mom's mom has been in the hospital for about a week and a half now. Apparently she had a small bowel obstruction, which did not respond to non-invasive care. So, long story short, she had surgery last Friday and is now out of the ICU and back into a regular med/surg room. She looks much better, but is extremely confused. They're hoping to get her started on a regular diet later this week and hopefully get her transferrred to a rehab facility by the end of the weekend.
One of the major problems with this situation is that that my mom and dad are supposed to be leaving on Sunday to go to New York for five days...and my dad pretty much refuses to cancel the trip even though grandma is not really doing all that great yet and could potentially slide downhill pretty quickly. (what do you expect when an almost 85 year old has major surgery?) I personally think he's being kind of an ass about the whole thing, and that my mom needs to put her foot down and refuse to go, but then again I'm a lot more assertive than my mother ever has been.
So, needless to say, next week will be more of the same craziness around here, except I'll be expected to visit the hospital daily instead of every other day, as "there won't be anyone else to check on her". Plus there's the added fun of watching my parents' dog (who has a whole host of "nevous stomach" type issues) and working, and this little thing called being eight plus months pregnant....fun stuff.