The Bailey Chronicles

We have had trouble through out the entire pregnancy deciding what to do with our current living situation. At the moment we are in a crowded one bedroom apartment. We wanted to buy a house but the market is in bad shape thanks to the number President George “Dubya” Bush has done on the economy. With all of the foreclosures and the lending companies that are filing for bankruptcy, loans have become increasingly difficult to get, in return causing the rental market prices to sky rocket. We finally found a two bedroom apartment that is almost 1200 sq ft. renting for $1075. This is high for what we have seen in the past, but fair according to the market prices of today. In fact it was incredibly difficult to even find any two bedrooms available around here since the renters market is so concentrated. For years I have stayed off leases due to some unfortunate events with bad office management and Psycho neighbors, but now that John and I are married I am forced to be on it. Very intimidating for me, because if we get declined it's my fault.

John called the office at the beginning of this month to find out if we got our apartment and the leasing agent explains we where declined on our application. This breaks my heart. I knew it was my fault, I felt that I was letting down John, and our daughter wouldn't have her own room because of Mommy's bad credit. I tried hard not to cry, but the emotions and the hormones got the best of me. John was sweet of course and was confident that we would figure something out, but I felt hopeless. Our apartment was already leased out and we may now be homeless. It killed me inside, I knew we could figure something out but this place seemed so perfect and we were so excited about it. Then later that evening the agent called back and said there was a typo when John had filled out the application. Apparently he had tried to get us approved for $11,000 rent instead of $1,100. We were approved after all. This made our day! We move in on September 27th.

Also this month we acquired a temporary roommate in order to help out a close friend working through a slight marriage crisis. It's obviously not the best timing for this part of our lives, but I know if the situation was reversed they would do the same for us in a heartbeat. Although it's a little cramped and less intimate, I can say the roommate has been rather helpful around the house. The living situation cannot last long since John and I have just a couple months left to focus on just our relationship before baby Bailey comes in like a whirlwind and changes our lifestyle completely, but the plus side is that he, the friend, has taken on the chores of dishes, laundry, cat box duty, helped us pack up the apartment and will assist in the move. I am sure that any preggo can relate to appreciating an extra set of hands to help out during the third trimester. At times the stretching, pulling, and separating that is happening in my core can be rather painful, so I have no problems accepting help from others when it is offered.

Fall has started this month, introduced by a cold front that hurricane Ike dragged in. Unfortunately for Galveston and Houston the damages were horrible but by the time the hurricane reached Dallas it was barely a tropical storm. The weather has been rather refreshing lately and makes me want to sit all day outside in the breeze. Candi was kind enough to help us kick off Fall by making a yummy chicken pot pie in a pumpkin dinner that John and I were invited to. It seems to complicated for me to attempt, so I always look forward to the invite for that particular dinner this time of year. She has inspired me to find some of my own Fall recipes this year, to be tested on John, so that I can start some of my own traditions for Fall and Winter. I'll post any that make the cut. I think that the pregnancy (the food cravings) have made me braver to try new foods so it should be interesting. Most recipes will probably have some form of squash or pumpkin for the simple reason that I see so much variety in the market during this season and never get to buy any because I don't know what to make with it. Not this year my friends!

Aside from the discomfort I have been experiencing from entering the third trimester, I hope everyone can be reassured that since the gall bladder surgery I have been feeling quite well. I still get the occasional case of heart burn from time to time, but it is no where near what I experienced the previous trimesters. I can honestly say for the most part I enjoy being pregnant this month. I did make the mistake of starting a book Candi gave me called Mommy Has Locked Herself in the Bathroom. I say mistake because while the book is giving great advice on positive ways to handle the stress or raising small children through the help of God, it is freaking me out about what is down the road for us. By the time I got to the chapter about how your relationship changes with your husband I broke down. Partially a combination of that particular chapter, the roommate's marriage issues, and that stupid movie John took me to recently called Burn After Reading with Brad Pitt and George Clooney (all about miserable marriages and lives but trying to keep an outside appearance of happiness) and then mix that with hormones and natural insecurities about life changing events equals a recipe for emotional breakdown disaster. Don't worry it only lasted one night, I believe I am fine now, back to being excited again about the baby, but I did have to put the book down and pack it away in a box to be read after baby is born LOL!

There is also a slight chance that I may have prenatal diabetes. I went for my glucose testing about a week ago and the results came back inconclusive. So now I must go to the lab for further testing. To say the least I am not pleased about this. The next phase of testing will be a 3 hour event. First, I will fast for a minimum of 12 hours. Then when I get to the lab they will take my starting blood and make me drink a yucky sugar drink. I will proceed to wait an hour in the lab for my next blood draw, then immediately drink another yucky sugar drink, wait another hour and have a third blood draw. Then I will drink ANOTHER sugar drink, wait a third hour, and have a fourth blood draw before I can eat anything. If I throw up, which they say is quite common since you have to do this on an empty stomach, then I will have to do it all over again. I will not allow myself to get sick because this sounds like a cruel form of torture! To recap: 15 + hours of fasting, 3 yucky sugar drinks, 4 blood draws and 3 hours of sitting in a lab while pregnant! I am sure it's a good thing to screen for, but I figured I would have noticed by now if I had prenatal diabetes... right? Oh well, if I do then I guess that will give me motivation to stay good on my diet during the holidays this year and I hear it's only a temporary condition.

To end things on a more positive note, these are things I am looking forward to for next month: Decorating the nursery, New apartment, Fall weather and meals, BTW this is my favorite time of year so it's very happy for me, Pumpkin carving party, and of course Halloween which I plan to wear my preggosaurus shirt for!

Things I was pleased about this month: No more nausea or severe indigestion, approval of the new place, and kicking off Fall with yummy Chicken Pot Pie in a Pumpkin!