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34 weeks and getting close to the end

I had another ultrasound this morning, and it was a good news/bad news kind of appointment.

First, let me preface the news with some truth. Being at home, I’ve probably been doing more than I should — for example, I vacuumed the rug yesterday, and the other night I helped finish cleaning up the kitchen (in spite of the excruciating back pain signaling to me that I should sit the hell down), all of which I am definitely am not supposed to do.

Considering all that, the bad news first is that my fluid is low again. First, the perinatologist measured me at 4, then later amended it to 6.5, but either way wanted to re-admit me to the hospital.

Good news? Baby is growing well and is at Chris’ birth weight two weeks earlier. I’m not having stubborn headaches, major swelling or high blood pressure readings and I’m apparently not spilling more urine — which would all be signs that the pre-eclampsia is getting worse.

I know, from researching during my previous hospital stay, the dangers of having low amniotic fluid — the chief being that the baby won’t be able to move as much and could wrap the cord around its neck. However, the baby has been moving well — in fact, I’ve been joking that he’s already rough housing with his brothers, he punches and kicks me so much — so with everything in consideration, I decided to go against the perinatologist’s recommendation and stay home.

It goes against my instincts to not go with an authority figure’s recommendation. But I feel strongly that my mental well being contributes a whole heckuva lot to my physical health, and staying in the hospital as a precaution not only feels like overkill, it will stress me out more because it’s not as comfortable as being at home and I would have to be away from my family — again. I already hate that I can’t do what I normally would do for my family but not being able to be home to greet them, but instead having to wait on them to come out to the hospital, where — let’s be honest — they don’t quite know how to act also stresses me out.

Besides, I have another non-stress test Friday — a test where they
monitor the baby’s heartbeat for at least 20 minutes, check my fluid and my blood pressure — and the perinatologist, upon hearing my intention to not be admitted into the hospital, upped my scheduled NSTs to three times a week. Plus I have another ultrasound on Tuesday. If things continue to appear to deteriorate at that point, then I will acquiesce to the hospital stay.

In the meantime, no one has to worry that I will continue to bed rest badly — I’m typing this out on my iPhone (I’m about two hours in, haha), I’m making sure to drink plenty of water, I’m taking long naps, and staying off my feet as much as possible. I’m doing my best to stay out of the hospital until it comes time to have the baby, and with next week being 35 weeks, if hospitalization has to happen next week, both the baby and I will be more ready.

Panel-speaking husband

I think I forgot to mention this earlier, but Trinity was asked to be a speaker at this year’s LA-area National Writer’s Workshop, sponsored by the Orange County Register and my alma mater, Cal State Fullerton. I believe the panel he’ll be speaking on is how recent college grads can best package their work to get the most attention.

I have to admit – I was a little put out when Clanin (a copy editing professor I had who was the adviser for the Daily Titan during Trinity’s stint as managing editor) didn’t ask me to be a speaker on that panel – I mean, dude, I scored interviews from pretty much every newspaper in the Los Angeles/San Bernardino/Riverside/Ventura county area (not that I got job offers from all those places) except the LA Times, the Daily Breeze and the Daily News. On the other hand, public speaking gives me chills and makes me stutter, so I’m glad its not me after all. I wonder how Trinity is at public speaking. When I found out he was going to do it, I teased him, “you’re going to have to speak up!” (He’s pretty soft-spoken.)

Anyway, so for sure I’ll be there this year on April 29, possibly with a sign (heheh) and with my college buddies whom I’m sure will be there, to cheer on my husband. I’m hoping they have some tech-related workshops I can partake in also…

And less important, but coming up sooner, I’ll be at the Online Journalism Review‘s conference at USC on March 3. I don’t think I’ll be covering the conference, and to be honest, I saw the phrases “free,” “one-day conference,” and “online media” and was sold. However, I’m listed among the initial registrants, along with much bigger names like Adrienne Crew (Laist), Brian Humphrey (LAFD blog), Mack Reed (LAVoice) and Kevin Roderick (LA Observed). My boss thinks they saw “CBS” and decided to include me, never mind the fact I’ve been blogging since the late 90s. I just like to learn, OK people? Dang.

Holy haircut Batman!


If you’ve ever met me, saw me, or even read this blog on a regular basis, you probably know that I usually have long hair. Once a year though, I usually chop off about 6 to 8 inches. Well, my hair was so long that even though I cut 11 inches off yesterday, this is how much I have left. Why did I cut off so much hair? Stay tuned…..

Was there ever a Blogging Bandit?

Going through my usual diet of newspaper digest emails and blogs, I saw that my buddy Josh had done an amusing story about the history of bank robbers and their nicknames in Los Angeles. Is L.A. really the bank robbery capital of the world? I guess it would make sense, with the huge number of freeways we have, but on that same token, it wouldn’t make sense since there is so much traffic here. Hm.

I was kind of lazy this week, plus working on another project, so I neglected to mention that one of my former coworkers, Mark Madler, will finally be leaving the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader for the San Fernando Valley Biz Journal. Congratulations! GNP/BLR alums have a way of landing well – Josh is at the Daily News, Claudia Peschiutta is at Fox (after being at the LA Biz Journal and KFWB), Marshall Allen and Gretchen Hoffman are at the Pasadena Star-News, I’m at CBS. And that’s just within the 2000s. So, as much as I didn’t like the long hours and the more-often-than-not yelling/shouting sessions with certain editors, it was good experience and I really liked most of the reporters, editors and photographers I worked with. And honestly, I still really like local news.

Speaking of CBS, I thought about blogging this last night, but I was too tired, so Kevin at LA Observed beat me – we have a plethora of new blogs, including a new, station-affiliated one by longtime blogger Bryan Frank, aka BeFrank, whom I see every so often around the station. I should have known he was going to get a station blog after he left this comment.

Marriage

I was talking with an old friend from the now-defunct Mixture network and we were discussing our respective love lives (and for once, I don’t have to say ‘or lack thereof,’ the way I used to all the time!).

It’s hard to explain what makes a marriage like mine work. I just know that I adore and respect Trinity and I am so glad he decided I was the woman he was going to marry. I felt the need to explain to him the other day, that what really sealed the deal with me and him was that I respected his position on church and spirituality – that he actually stood firmly on something. Love is the easy part. Respect? That’s a whole other story. So few people stand for anything nowadays, and I respected that about him.

So it just so happens that I am preparing a Christian education lesson (yes, I sometimes teach Christian education – shocking!) on heroes and I stumbled on this article. Now, I don’t always agree wholeheartedly with what Focus on the Family says or stands for, but this article – so on point. If you’re married or wanting to get married and want it to be better, this article has some good advice. Now go read it.