Birthdays and Movies

Today is My Evil Mother's birthday. Had my grandmother not reminded me in church yesterday morning I would have completely forgotten. That is how disconnected I am from her and her life. I suppose I should get her something. I feel obligated somehow. Not that I bought her something the last two years (just returning the favour since she hasn't bought me gifts for the past 5), but we exchanged gifts at Christmas and I guess this has set the ball rolling again. Her birthday is before mine, as luck would have it.

It's my birthday soon. I have no idea what to do. It's the second consecutive year that I am pregnant, so no drinking or partying for me. Rudi wanted to take me to The Mount where we had our wedding reception, which is a very sweet and romantic idea. I kind of feel like a restaurant would be a bit of a waste though since I'm suddenly very fussy about what I want to eat and risk throwing up my expensive meal or feeling like I want to throw it up. That kind of sucks the fun out of it.

Any suggestions for what I might do?

The weekend was not bad. I managed to scrape through without throwing up, but did feel nauseous most of the time. I managed to schedule in a nap on Saturday and Sunday...but I still didn't want to get up this morning.

Yesterday we went to Canal Walk to watch Ice Age 3 in 3D. I freaking HATE Canal Walk. It's a HUGE shopping center and we got lost trying to find the cinema. We were constantly consulting the maps and still feeling completely lost. The queues for popcorn were really long and Rudi barely made it in before the movie started. The movie was pretty cool. Ice Age seems to be one of those franchises that aren't deteriorating every time they release a movie. We had a good giggle at the fact that the "monster" in the movie was named Rudi :)

I'm really looking forward to watching Harry Potter: Half Blood Prince with Leebeesa next Sunday. The reviews are already sounding good!


************SPOILER ALERT****************

If you have not yet watched Knowing with Nicholas Cage and you don't wish to know how it ends, stop reading now. I warned you.

I really enjoyed the idea of the movie. I liked the 'puzzle' aspect of it...and the supernatural feeling it had to it...but then there were aliens. I'm not so much into sci-fi so didn't find that part interesting or well thought out in the least. Personally I don't think I could think of a better way to end it, but I think there was potential there for a fantastic ending. When I was under the impression that just the two main character's children were being taken I wondered about the inbred race they would spawn, so I was relieved to see other pods or spaceships or whatever taking off from the planet earth.

I liked the way they chose to end the world. BOOM.

I also found it a bit confusing when Caleb (son of Nicholas Cage's character) started writing down the numbers. This would lead me to believe that the numbers don't necessarily 'run out' and that he is perhaps predicting further events. I found that small part a little bit contradicting.

But I'm no movie critic! Let me know what you thought!

Sickness Is Me

My demise?


Phew. Not in the best of moods today. I feel so sick!

We went for the braai (BBQ) last night with the M&M's. I call them this because everyone in their household including their two sons have the letter 'M' as their first initial. They were very hospitable and were gracious hosts. They didn't even mind that I watched 7de Laan when we first walked into the door (they don't really watch the programme). Yes I know that's very anti-social and rude, but I never catch the omnibus on a Sunday and it was quite and interesting episode to boot!

I must say they really did spoil us. We had chips (crisps) and dip for snacks. Steak, chicken kebabs, sausage, potato salad and potato bake for the main. We left well fed and with a Tupperware container full of food.

I packed away almost a whole bottle of Amarula and regretted it almost immediately. Amarula is very rich and creamy and immediately after adding food to that rich and creamy mix in my stomach...I felt really ill. This morning the feeling lingers. I feel nauseous. That's about the crux of it. The nausea. I've taken tablets for nausea, but they don't seem to be helping.

Cherry on the cake? I'm working. Cherry on the cherry on the cake? We have a braai at Fence's place tonight. I am really not feeling up to it and now not for the reason you think. Previously I didn't want to go because I know I'll probably be bored to death and I'm working on tomorrow, but now I'm going to be sick *and* bored. Lovely. I suppose I could stay home, but I'll probably just lay awake the whole night wondering when Rudi is coming home. He's also not feeling well, but I don't think that will stop him from going.

I'm definitely not drinking tonight. Really.

I can't even pee in cups

So in case you were wondering, Rudi did come home on time on Saturday. Only problem is he came with Lindor and family in tow. He did what men usually do. Told his friends he is game for a braai and then said 'I'll just check with the wife'. Doesn't leave me much choice does it? If I say no, I look like the bad guy. If I agree then everyone is happy but me. With much groaning I gave in. I knew he would not stop nagging until I said yes (he had already had enough beer to make him whiney). The condition was that he needed to clean up after they left.

The braai wasn't too bad. Lindor and Rudi were sufficiently drunk leaving Lindor's wife and I rolling our eyes and sighing at the idiotic conversations we were forced to listen to. Lindor was extremely unhappy that their fishing trip had yielded no fish. He is convinced Rudi jinxed him because he would not let him pee on his new Shimano reel. Wait. What?! Apparently it is tradition to initiate your new reel by peeing on it and if you don't (or someone doesn't) you will have bad luck fishing. Rudi says I may pee on his reel. He seems to forget that I'm a girl and I actually cannot aim when I pee. Um. I meant ewwww. Perhaps we can just tell Lindor that Rudi and I peed on the reel in some kinky way and he would no longer believe the reel is jinxed. Or we could pee on the reel.

I undressed, changed and dressed Lindor's six month old baby before she was put to bed. Sjoe. It's a lot harder than one would think. It didn't help that she was kicking as if her life depended on it! I think I need a lot more practice! I'm pretty sure it's something you get better at. Rudi also kept to his word and cleaned up on Sunday morning before I got home from church. Bless.

I think I'm feeling better this morning. I might just be imagining this slight nausea and random heartburn. Perhaps I'm just crazy. Still have to wait all the way to Saturday before anything is revealed. I spoke to Rudi about taking a blood test. He said he thinks we should wait till Saturday at least. If nothing happens on Saturday I'm going to go for a blood test on Monday. No doubt. Everyone keep your fingers crossed, OK?

Nellie is on maternity leave from today. Lucky cow! I'm going to miss talking to her. We're kind of cut off from each other right now as my phone bill is already sky high and she doesn't have funds to recharge either. We'll manage though. I think I'll type her a very long e-mail to keep her busy a bit later.

Oh. The finalists of the SA Blog Awards have been announced. Go vote here. Don't worry about looking for my blog amongst them, it's not there, but I would recommend you read some of the finalists as they definitely deserve their spots.

Saturday Business

So I finally got my ass into gear and walked today. I didn't walk particularly far and the walk wasn't more strenuous than usual, but when I got home I felt sick to my stomach. As if I could throw up because of the exertion. Strange that. I actually still feel a little queasy. Didn't stop me from eating two hot dogs for lunch though. Bah.

I also did my filing. I didn't have nearly as much as I thought I would have, but I clearly haven't filed since November. I also haven't collecte post from my P.O. Box since January, in other words I STILL have catching up to do *sigh* At least I've gotten my new files in working order and all the loose papers lying around into one place.

I also cleaned the house and even took the bin out. That's usually Rudi's job. Rudi has gone fishing with Lindor. He left around 10:00 this morning and will *probably* be home by 18:00. He says he'll be home by that time...but we'll have to see. He's not great at coming home when he says he's going to.

Anyway. I'm at my grandparents house which has broadband. You'd think I'd be less bored. They've both nodded off leaving me without any company and rugby on the TV. My grandfather won't admit to his nap if he catches me changing the channels.

I had a nice hour long conversation with Nellie earlier. I'm hoping to call her back a little later. Pffft. So bored and wondering why on earth I'm nauseous when I'm not sick. I'll give you three guesses what I'm thinking and the first two don't count...

One tube, one test?

I was feeling sick yesterday morning...and the evening before after having a Savannah (or half of one) and a ton of garlic. When Rudi opened his eyes this morning the first thing he said to me was 'Are you naar?' (naar = nauseous) Shame. We Poor chap has his hopes up for this month.

We had a lady come to our house to draw our blood for the life insurance tests. I asked her if she could draw some extra blood and do a pregnancy test as well, but unfortunately she didn't have the correct tube with her. She said if I had asked her earlier she could have brought a tube with. Darn. Maybe it's a sign that I should just freaking wait and quit being so impatient. My cycle is due in 8 days. It's a long time to wait. I'll still have to wait another week after that anyway to be sure it's really late and not just irregular. I hate this.

On the upside, although she struggled to find my vein as they inevitably always do, she only stuck me once and managed to get all the blood she needed. Only one vial. She said they are only doing an HIV test though, so I'm not sure what the nicotine racket is all about. Is that a scam? Do they just call you up and say 'We found nicotine' to increase your premium? She did say that they may use the same kind of tube for the nicotine test...but she couldn't say for sure. Interesting that. We'll see what the results say.

Was a little peeved with Rudi yesterday. When he came to pick me up Lindor was in the car with him and they were both smoking. Are you freaking kidding me?! I was about to go for this nicotine test and both of them are smoking with me in the car. Idiots. Rudi didn't seem to think it would make a difference. He clearly doesn't acknowledge the dangers of second hand smoke.

Anyway. I'm really happy I'm off this weekend. I plan to go for a very long walk this evening. To make up for almost two weeks of no exercise. I swear I'll do it. I have to with all the junk I've eaten this week. Back on the bandwagon from today. From immediately. No more excuses!

Transitional

I already regret coming in to work. I am feeling very nauseous. I think there's a bug going around. Other colleagues are also complaining about not feeling well. I'm sure the aircon is conducive to spreading this bug too, but bless the aircon. It's going to be over 40 degrees again today. Pffft. I'm feeling truly horrible and today I'm probably going to have to do the horrible work I don't like doing. Maybe I'll throw up on my desk and get sent home. I'm not kidding. I might just.

Amber's nose wasn't looking good this morning. It started weeping and Rudi had quite a bit of trouble holding her down to clean it. She doesn't like being confined. He put some antiseptic cream on it as well, as much as he could get on with her wriggling around.

I forgot to mention that I received a post card from France the other day! My friend from Belgium went there for the weekend not too long ago and he thought to send me a post card. He's such a sweetheart. I love getting random post from all over the world. I still have to send him the bottle of Amarula I bought for him about 3 months ago. Rudi even aquired special foam containers to protect the bottle on it's journey overseas. Quite strange since Rudi is a bit jealous of my friend, who I will be calling Brain. He has a pet mouse called Brain. He doesn't quite understand our relationship. I suppose he just doesn't like the fact that I speak to another man. It's all very innocent, I assure you. I would never ever cheat on Rudi. Emotionally or physically. I would never be able to live with myself. I simply love him too much.

Speaking of loving Rudi...

...my microscope is definitely starting to show some ferning! There was a spot of ferning this morning. It's not yet fully ferning - so it is currently in the transitional phase. Moving on to ovulation. I was quite excited to see the little ferns this morning. Somehow I had convinced myself I wasn't ovulating. I'm crazy that way.

The obsession has tamed itself of late. I'm no longer VERY upset if I see other pregnant people. It still makes me sad, but I'm no longer as unreasonable about it as I previously was. I don't necessarily want to hear about other people's pregnancies yet though. I'm not completely preoccupied with getting pregnant anymore either. Sure I want to be pregnant and I'm using my microscope, but I don't completely freak out when it's time for my cycle to start. Somewhere deep inside I'm still dying to be pregnant. On the surface I've given up. I don't know if that makes any sense.

Better?

I've been feeling a LITTLE bit better since yesterday. Not exactly my old self, but a little better. The nausea seems to be subsiding a bit and I'm REALLY glad about that. I hope it lasts!

Last night I had a salad for supper with some ceaser salad dressing (I am LOVING salad at the moment, specifically cucumber, tomato and feta). The salad dressing was very vinegary and I got a little heartburn from it. Hopefully not a sign of things to come! I'm hoping that I can skip the heartburn thing, but I doubt I will be that fortunate. Some Gaviscon sorted it right out though.

I've been thinking about buying a cot soon. I think we're going to get a nice camp cot. We don't have space for a wooden cot and a camp cot will be handy when we're going out as well. Wooden cots are beautiful, but they are also quite pricey and take up a lot of space. Especially if you 'have' to get both. I think a camp cot is more versatile and can be used when travelling. We don't travel much, but we could take it with when we visit people, keeping the baby in a safe environment for people that haven't baby proofed their homes!

I might be starting to get a little excited...

P.S. I found this out on Monday already, but it's not that important. My mother is getting married on the 19th of October. I honestly cannot see the benefit of her getting married to Coke Head and cannot fathom what is going on in her mind...but she's a grown up and I am not HER mommy.

Murder By Hormones

Rudi is really lucky that he was not standing at the top of the stairs last night. I would have pushed him. Where do I start?

Before Rudi left for darts last night (he plays in a league) Amber brought me a gift. A gift in the form of a bleeding little field mouse. She promptly dropped it on the bed and continued to chase the poor thing around. Once I realized she was really chasing something I jumped up screaming. Rudi rescued the poor thing, much to Amber's dismay.

I was feeling really sick last night and took new bedding out with every intention of putting it on the bed, but I never really felt up to it. I noticed that the housekeeper had removed the bucket I keep next to the bed for emergencies and send Rudi an SMS to please bring the bucket up when he got home. The bucket was in the garage and I had already showered and gotten into my PJ's when I made the discovery.

I managed to doze off at about 21:30 and was thoroughly enjoying my sleep. Rudi came ambling in at almost 23:00 (which is normal). He came up the stairs - a bit merry - and woke me up to ask me where the bucket was. I mumbled that it was in the garage and proceeded to try and sleep. He then woke me up again to ask me 'What's this on the bed?' - referring to the bedding I had taken out and not put on the bed. The light was on and he was perfectly capable of seeing what was on the bed. When I didn't answer him he repeated the question. Enraged I got up since I had realized that I needed to pee at this point.

He then HOPPED into bed. My stomach was aching and I was feeling really ill. It felt like he was jumping up and down on the bed next to me. I voiced my dismay - at which point he was fed up with my bitching and finally he let me go to sleep. He also left the bucket downstairs. I don't know why he bothered getting it.

At that very moment I really would have seriously injured him had I not felt incapacitated myself.

Co-incidentally I had to get up at 3:30 again to pee. Pregnant women are supposed to start urinating more frequently around 5 weeks, but I have been getting away with it. I think it has begun.

Peeing and Puking. That's me from now on I guess.

Not much to report

The exam I wrote yesterday didn't go too badly. I felt I found a lot of the answers. I don't usually stress about tests and exams after I've written them since I can't change the outcome. I've generally been really good about that.

The baby is putting me through my paces again. I stopped taking the tablets that help for the nausea since I was feeling better. It's only once you stop taking them that you realize how much they actually help. I'm feeling like crap again this morning, but hoping they'll kick in and do what they're meant to soon.

We're going to visit Nina with Boogaloo this afternoon. Nina had a baby boy about a month ago. I'm looking forward to meeting him and spending time with a little baby. Get some practice in!

Tomorrow we're having a picnic for (Uncle) Steve since he's going back to Pretoria and he asked that we all get together one last time.

My grandfather is doing really well. I'm actually blogging from his place. Rudi and Crack Head wanted to come and fish in the dam here so I decided to come and spend some time with him.

Other than that not much to report. Hoping to have a nice relaxing weekend.

UGH!

Ugh. I feel like crap again. I am so sick of this! I sincerely hope that it will end soon. I’m sure the people around me are sick of hearing about it too. I can’t help it. I don’t feel like engaging with people or doing anything. I don’t feel like eating anything. I just feel horrid. I threw up IN FRONT of Sarah yesterday. I was so embarrassed.

We went to the Baba Indaba this weekend. We didn’t buy anything as we decided we’re only going to start buying things once I’m further than three months, but my grandmother wasted no time in knitting up a storm! Her neighbour also saw the cutest pair of white socks and bought them for me. People just love buying stuff for babies.



I will be SO happy when I'm not sick anymore. I'm taking tablets for women with morning all day sickness and it helps a little. I just want to feel normal again. I'm supposedly over 2 months...so another month? *sigh* What choice do I have? It's not like I can 'backspace' or 'delete' this. Stuck with this now. Also stuck with having to figure out how they are going to get this baby out of me. Can you say 'Give me the drugs?!'.

Add nausea

I feel horrible today. I was fine the whole weekend, until this morning. I feel like throwing up. I haven't actually thrown up, but I sure as hell came close just now.

The ladies facilities at work have this distinct strong smell that hits you every time you walk in. It's rather unpleasant, but I suppose it's mainly bearable. Nobody seems to have complained enough for them to do anything about it. I went to the loo just now and seriously nearly threw up in there. Ugh.

I was feeling ill last week as well, but I let a quack doctor convince me that it was all in my head. The quack doctor is supposed to be taking the place of my doctor while he is overseas (just when I need him). He told me to go home, forget about it and see how I feel in a week. *sigh*

Leeza has referred me to her doctor in the interim. I have an appointment tomorrow at 16:30. We'll see if we can get to the bottom of this.