I’m exhausted. I think I’m getting to the point of, “Okay, when are we done working on the house?” I’m tired. Den’s tired. We’re both very snappish with each other as we’re fighting with doorknobs and paint and things-that-never-are-as-easy-as-they-look. We put all the repainted doors up – and found that two of them wouldn’t close. So we had to move one hinge, plane some off the top of the other one. Then the doorknobs, we replaced those too – and of course, even though they all fit into the same holes, they wouldn’t latch. So we had to move the strike plates. It’s all little stupid things, but after the tenth time you think you are done and something gets stuck or won’t work or whatever you just want to throw down the tools and yell Oh for fuck’s sake! I love my house. I hate my house. I love my house.

I sat on the floor in Kate’s room and watched as Den put the last screw in the doorknob and tested the door. It clicked shut. Before he could even say a word I was reaching for the box that held the bouncer and said, “You know what that means!!” I gleefully opened the box (well… eventually – those suckers are hard to open) and started putting together the bouncer. “You don’t waste any time,” Den commented wryly. Hell no. I’ve been itching to assemble it ever since it arrived, we just needed to be able to close that door to keep the cats off of it. (Which was a wise decision – I hadn’t turned my back for two seconds, we were IN the room, and when I turned around there was a cat laying on it!) Then when that was done I pulled out the little travel swing that we had for Devin, put that together too. So exciting! So cute! So… sore. Oomph. It’s hard to bend over while sitting on the floor.

::

Today was my very first NST. I was confused as to where to go at first, but eventually was found and directed into a little evaluation room, completely with a Machine That Goes Ping! Kate’s heartbeat was heard soon as she put the monitor on me – though I didn’t recognize it at first, the sound quality was a bit weird. She brought me some juice and I got to just lay back and do nothing but keep craning my head to look at the heartrate on the monitor. She was all over the place – literally and figuratively. She’d kick the probes, which made a big whomp! sound. Her foot was pushing around my ribs. She’d squirm. Her heartrate was obviously reactive (which is what they want to see – heartrate going up with activity). The other probe on my belly was the contraction monitor. And I could see on the strip the other line, kept showing little blips upward. I didn’t even feel all of them, though some were the obvious ones (which resulted in more than a “blip”).

After leaving me to my own devices for around 20 minutes the nurse came in to check on me, she barely glanced at the heartrate strip before declaring it beautiful. But she frowned at the second one. “Are you feeling these? You’re only 34 weeks…” Hahaha. Yeah. The contractions. I told her I’d talked to my Midwife about them. She wanted someone to double-check, so she got the Midwife on call to come take a peek. I explained what the Midwife had said on Saturday night, and how I’ve been contracting on and off for a few days now. “How are these compared to that night?” she asked me. “Oh, these are nothing, I barely feel them.” “Okay then! I’m good with that.” And off she went, lol!

I was supposed to have an appointment with my Midwife when the NST was done, but I had gotten started a little late and then had to wait for a while for that Midwife on call to show up, so I was really running behind. Next thing I know my Midwife popped into my little room and cheerfully announced that she was doing my appointment there today, tee hee. (It’s rather nice that their office is literally across the hall!) I’m measuring perfectly at 34 weeks, obviously the baby’s heartrate was fine, she knows about the contractions. I explained to her that for some reason I get them worse at night than during the day, and half the time I only know when I’m having a contraction because I have to pee. She told me having a full bladder can actually bring them on worse, so just make sure I keep peeing. (As if I had a choice!)

And then she looked over all the appointments the Midwife had gotten booked for me last time. Yeah. So not right. I did get booked for an NST every week – that’s what it should be. But then I was supposed to get a Midwife appointment next at 36 weeks and weekly until 40; a growth ultrasound every 4 weeks like I have been getting all along; and there was some question as to whether I was supposed to have BPPs (bio-physical profiles) in there somewhere. what I ended up with was a NST, Midwife appointment, and BPP every week from now until my due date, and no growth ultrasounds – with the BPPs booked on fridays, which isn’t even a day that I can do. So yeah, umm. Today we (my fav Midwife and I) both looked at the sheet and said, “Errrr, that doesn’t look right, does that look right to you?” She said she’ll fix it. *sigh* And the truly irritating part is that, because of schedules and what was available, I have to see that other Midwife for the next three appointments. Ugh. This would all be SO much easier if I didn’t have to juggle three different things! I have half a mind to just cancel all of it and tell them I want to see Midwife ___, screw the rest.

I need some damn sleep… I was wide awake last night for no reason. Then the sun comes up and all I want to do is sleep. *sigh* I think I have maybe 2 weeks of energy left before I start just curling up in my recliner and waiting for the baby to come. Just need to make sure things get done.