Week 21

Actually, that's week 20. I'm really 21 weeks now. Don't look much different. That one actually looks bigger than what I think I normally look now. (And it took 3 tries to get a picture that good.)

Ah, but let's see. Today I had another appointment. The only other thing they had to say from my ultrasound results were that my placenta was in front which means it's harder to feel baby. Then they asked if I felt her every day... well, I don't know. I can't even tell she's kicking when I'm poking her and they think I should be able to since they can. I'm a first time mom--it's still hard to figure things out like that.

Still couldn't find the heartbeat with the stethoscope so they used the doppler again. Strong and normal. Measuring fine. Eating fine. Feeling fine.

Oh, but this heat. It's been lovely and 100 - 110 degrees the last few days. And we have another few days before it drops down to the 90s for the remainder of the week. It's pretty sad when it's still 90 at 9pm. And really tiring. I thought I lacked energy before? That's nothing compared to now. I think I'll die in Orlando next month.

We've discovered that our cats like ice though. Actually, that discovery happened a few weeks ago. I don't know if it's the shape, the coldness, or the noise they like. But they are drawn to it. So now we put some in their water every day. Hey, I like ice water too. Can't blame them.

I don't have much else to add at this point. Maybe something interesting will come up soon...

My New Job Duty

I wasn't going to complain about work anymore. But...

Last week due to a series of events, the one club that this office has found itself without a contact person. This week, a new person starts and wants to join the club. Oh wait, no contact person? Whatever shall we do? I know! Let's ask Suki.

Let's face it. I don't know anything about coffee. At one point in my life, I liked the smell of it in the grocery store. Then it got to be overbearing. Now it's just gross. My last job required me to occassionally make coffee and also offer it to clients who came in. It was there that I learned what black coffee meant.

Despite my lack of coffee knowledge, I acquired the coffee club. I guess it was because I didn't outright say no. So what does this mean? It means I get to collect dues every month and make sure the supplies don't run out. Maybe Larry will still be awesome and purchase the supplies (yeah, because I don't have a Costco membership either). (BTW, Larry really does rock. He wears shorts in the winter and is always happy. He really wanted to make sure that I got my Christmas present from him and his wife.)

How does this relate in any way to my job? If the club wants to continue, the point person should be a club member. This isn't an office thing. Anyone from the office can join, but a club is a club. And even if you want to pick someone outside the club (because you can still use the supplies, you just have to pay per cup so it's usually more beneficial to join the club), wouldn't it be smarter to pick a coffee drinker?

Consolation: It's a few more months. Just a few more months. (Yes, it's something like a mantra for me.)

Our Visit with Ultrasounds

Friday morning brought our ultrasound visit. We went into work for 45 minutes before going over to the doctor's. Jared thought I was crazy for doing it, but our off-site tape storage guys come Fridays by 8:30 and I didn't want there to be a chance no one let them in.

Someone at work (actually, he works from a different state) jabbered (IMed) me wondering if it was already time that I could be back. He dropped his vote for the pink team.

We arrived at the doctor's office. I drank all the 32 oz of water by this point and walking was mighty uncomfortable. Jared tried to help. "Just four more times of walking!" The view from the office was really nice. It was a nice little forest area which was unexpected since we were in Salem and right next to Willamette University.

The tech was very nice. She took some general pictures before letting me go to the bathroom because "you're all filled up!!" I guess water doesn't shoot right through everybody like it does for me. At this point, baby had its back towards us and was just laying very contentedly. When I got back much relieved from the break, baby had moved onto hands and knees.

Then the detailed pictures and looks started. We looked at spine, measured head, stomach, arm bones, leg bones, checked fingers and toes, etc. Its bladder was full too at this point so it was easier to see (later on, it was empty and much harder to see). Part of the time I had to lay on my left side to get baby to roll over more. We eventually got it face up (I actually had to go to the bathroom again to give baby more room to roll). It is best to check the heart in this position, I guess (hb = 148). She pointed out where the umbilical cord was connected and then pushed this button and red and blue came up on the screen showing us where the blood was to make sure that it was going where it should be. Baby wasn't much of a wiggler, which I already knew because I don't feel baby much.

Then baby finally moved her legs apart for us to see this:
This is the view from the bottom up. Baby is a girl! And this is her little foot (not a very clear picture):
And this is what Jared calls her tragic pose because her fist is raised (she didn't open her fist at all):
And this is just her chilling out:

And wait, there's more! Well, actually the picture taking was done. This was a different place than where I went for 8 weeks. This place makes a DVD for you. It includes all the pictures they took plus a few movement clips, and the heartbeat (I think). They're mailing it to us, so I don't have it yet. Also, included in the charge of the 20 week ultrasounds are free 27 week 3D ultrasounds so we will be going back in early September to get those.

Once we got back to the office (we went out for an early lunch at iHop which was really yummy and I was starving), it wasn't long before I got a phone call from the guy who had emailed me before. "You gotta tell me!" I had some work that needed to be done immediately, but by the time I was able to get an email out about an hour later I (and Jared) had already told several people around the office as well as the few people who jabbered me.

So I did send out a mass email because I knew SOMEONE would feel offended that I didn't tell them. So anybody who currently works on our project knows that we are having a little girl. That flooded my inbox with many congratulations and "hope she looks like her mom!" and "pink clothes it is!" Hopefully there won't really be all pink clothes arriving at my baby's room. I DO like lots of color. I've already encouraged someone to give purple because even though it's not much better than pink, it's not pink.

Quick Update

Sunday morning came around and I wanted to go early so I could either duplicate or undo the weird-ness of the week before. Jared, bless his heart, still dragged his feet. So I only got there a little early. Enough to run through the songs. Luckily, the organ was back to normal (thanks to whoever played in the ward after me). I didn't have time to try to duplicate the problem, but during the closing hymn, I spotted "Acoustic Portrait" or something like that. It's a switch next to the "memory" and "cursor" buttons. (I actually don't understand the cursor button because there's also a spinning knob that acts like a cursor as well. That's one mystery I don't have to find out though.)

Saturday I went shopping. Maternity clothes are way more comfortable than regular clothes. And so much easier to find than modest, cute regular clothes. Now that there's no waist band keeping anything in and up, Jared thinks I look much more pregnant now. I only slightly agree. :) Ah, well. Today is 19 weeks and Friday is our ultrasound appointment.

Happy birthday to Andi today! She's excited to become an "aunt" because she has decided that waiting for Sara will take far too much time.

I've managed to startled Jared out of his sleep for a second time. This time I was close to screaming because my leg cramped up and that jerked me awake.

When I began this post, I actually had something to say but now I have quite forgotten what it is.

The New Organ

July is my month to play organ in church. And man, the organ and I just don't jive together yet. The manual professes it to be the newest, most bestest Allen organ. Except they said it different and used some different descriptions.

So you push the button and it turns on. It goes through its starting up process and menu. Then you can pick which "set" you want to recall. #1 is preset. #11 is mine. There's a dial that lets you select which set. There's a few other buttons that I don't know what they're used for. And there's a transpose button somewhere there.

Then you have your stops. Some of them have secondary sounds on them. There's a bass coupler and a melody coupler. There are also toe pedal stops in addition to the regular pedal stops.

So I'm playing around with my different options and trying some of the regular presets. And my ears start hurting. You know where there's just this.... almost hidden or low sound that just hurts right behind your ear? That's what it was. I couldn't tell if it was a combination of stops or the acoustics of the room (or both). The acoustics, by the way, aren't great.

So I finally decide on some different stops for my songs. Except there was still some problem. The most musical member of the bishopric called it 'reverb'. "The reverb is nice, makes me feel like we're the MoTab, but is there a way to turn it off?" Not to my knowledge! I couldn't figure it out. I don't know if it's the same problem, but to me, the sound lingered on after you stopped playing the note. Which... isn't usual for organs so I don't know how to deal with that.

Jared said it sounded big. Like we should have been in a cathedral instead. Someone else said it had kind of an echo. For me, it hurt my ears and made playing the hymns more difficult because I couldn't figure it out and it's not the way it should work.

Unfotunately, the Stake didn't see fit to have the ward organists attend the demonstration by the people who set up our organ. Luckily, our stake president's wife is one of my ward's organists with me. She talked about how you could make it sound like you were playing a grand march or whatever in a cathedral or you could keep it small or you could do this or that or the other with it. Somehow, I capitalized on the cathedral today. Except I used just normal stops! Ones that I used 7 years ago in Scioto Ward and again a few years later in Athens Branch. Our pipe organ only had 6 options for each keyboard so there wasn't much there.

Meh.... I need help. And more time.