3.14159!
Tonight will be a domestic sort of night. We are leaving tomorrow evening to spend Thanksgiving with the In-Laws, and though I am dreading the long drive during peak nausea hours (though I am now down to one Zofran a day! My colon is wriggling with glee!), I am looking forward to getting away for a long weekend of reading, eating mashed potatoes, and talking incessantly. Scott teases me about this, but the fact is that I come from a family of competitive talkers who make you fight for every word you squeeze into the conversation, and spending time with his comparatively silent family gives me a rare chance to talk and talk and talk, in whole complete sentences even.
Anyway, I offered to make and bring the pies, one pumpkin and one apple, and have yet to finish ingredient shopping. I was going to make the crusts last night but ended up lolling on the couch instead, as is my wont. I probably should have taken my powerful fatigue into account before agreeing to something so labor intensive, but as you know I am quite stuck up about my pie-making abilities, and god forbid I pass up an opportunity to show off. Besides, I find peeling apples soothing, and it sounds like a perfect way to spend an evening (until I actually get to the evening, which has an irksome habit of coming at the end of the day, when I am out of energy and sapped of my will to…well, anything, really). BUT! Tonight is the night, I swear. I will at least make the crusts, and probably whip up and bake the pumpkin, as a pumpkin pie is really no work at all, once the crust is done. In fact, next year I will probably have the babies do the pumpkin while I lie around with my feet up. (I will open the cans for them, of course, so they don’t cut their fingers on the edges. And I have heard that babies have a heavy hand with the cloves, so I will leave the monitor on, just in case.)
After work I am going to pick up the apples, which is the best part of pie shopping. I use two Granny Smith every year, but the rest I vary according to my mood. An apple pie needs multiple kinds of apples, you see—some tart, some sweet; some that hold their shape and some that soften. I also need to procure a rolling pin. Every year I mean to buy one, and every year I use an empty wine bottle instead. This year, alas, I am pregnant and have no empty wine bottles, so the time is right. Wine bottles roll crusts crookedly, anyway. I am also thinking about getting one of those silicone pastry mat things so that I can roll out the dough without getting flour deep in the cracks of my lovely counter tops. And I need another pie plate, because I still only have the one.
I am going to purchase some of the above items at Bed Bath & Beyond so that I can also get a body pillow that does not send me into a rage every night at three a.m. I have a Boppy “Pregnancy Comfort Pillow,” which I am beginning to hate with the fire of a thousand suns, and I am thinking a plain old body pillow might serve me better, but alas Target carries no such thing. The Boppy pillow has this odd filling-less spot in the middle, and really only works if you have the top half under your head, where your regular pillows are supposed to go. I find it baffling, and usually end up folding it in half or kicking it to the floor in a nocturnal snit. But I really do need something.
There is an Old Navy next door to the BB&B, and I am thinking of venturing in there for some pajamas/housepants. Scott gets very testy about my housepants addiction, so I am marketing this pair as Pajamas, Necessary for In-Law Visit. Necessary because I do not have any pajamas, because truth be told, I never wear them. I sleep in a pair of underwear and nothing else, which keeps you warmer in the winter (True!) and cooler in the summer, and also it just feels odd to me to sleep in clothes. Do you all wear pajamas? Am I a freakish naked-sleeper? Around the house I wear housepants and a tank top, adding a cardigan when it is cold, and truthfully that would probably serve me fine for the In-Law visit. But then I would have no excuse for housepant-shopping, so never mind that.
I am realizing that with all the errands I have to run (groceries, BB&B, inevitable time-suck of Old Navy maternity wear), I am going to be famished by the time I get home. And then if I eat I will fall into my post-prandial couch stupor. Maybe I will save the pumpkin for tomorrow. But then I would have to do the apple tomorrow afternoon, and bake both, which is probably asking for trouble as we leave at 6:30 sharp and I don’t get home until, oh, four. Hmmm. That isn’t going to work after all, seeing as how I was planning to use that time to pack. Maybe I will leave work early tomorrow, and try to get home at two. Maybe I need to suck it up and finish the pumpkin tonight. Maybe I need to stop typing my thoughts verbatim and get back to whatever it was I was talking about before this tiresome stream-of-consciousness digression.
Hi! So, on a completely unrelated subject, we got the results of my Cystic Fibrosis bloodwork, and it was “normal.” I thought the wording was puzzling, and asked the genetic counselor if “normal” meant “negative,” as in I am not a carrier. Apparently it only means that I am very unlikely to be a carrier—there is no way to be 100% sure. Does that seem odd to anyone else?
Anyhow, one more hurdle down! Now I can focus all of my neurotic energy on snagging that elusive peri appointment. They have my referral, so I will call tomorrow and attempt to set a date. I know they most likely haven’t received the records from my OB’s office, but if I wait until they have them in hand to schedule an appointment, they will be scheduling weeks out, and I will already be 15 weeks on Saturday. I am hoping they will agree to put me on the schedule with assurances that the records have been sent and should be there shortly.
Failing that, I will fashion a voodoo doll of the receptionist from the fax coversheets of all my “records transfer” requests and run it over with my car. Either way, I am not leaving for vacation without an appointment on the books.
19 Comments
Okay, delurking to talk about pie! I adore my French rolling pin (bought at Williams Sonoma, but I can only find it on Amazon now- the Vic Firth one). If you’re anyway buying a rolling pin, go for this one- it’s so easy to use and clean. Plus, you know, French!
And I only sleep in pajamas when it’s cold.
Nudity and pie, I guess that’s what gets me to talk.
Not all Old Navy stores have maternity wear. I had to go to the dreaded MOA to get maternity when I was pregnant. So you may not be sucked in by it after all (unless you live by a better Old Navy than I do).
I think OB offices should give body pillows to their newly pregnant patients rather than that stupid tiny diaper bag full of formula and magazines. I couldn’t find one anywhere.
OK - so now we talk about CF screening. My family recently discovered that a close family member has an atypical form of CF - not just a carrier. He was screened for the most common mutations and was found to have one. To fail the “sweat test” that is done to diagnose CF, there must be 2 mutations. The bottom line is that there are certain mutations that only run in family lines and are not wide-spread in the population. The only way to identify these is to basically inspect the gene of the person who is affected, looking for an abnormality. These mutations will not be found in the general panels that labs run because they are so specific to certain family lines taht it is pointless to test the general population for them. Unfortunately they are just as likely to cause CF as a well-known mutation. I do not have the known mutation that my family has, and the other one is unknown. We were able to test my husband for all common mutations and he came back normal as well. This is as close as we’re getting to a definite answer.
My nephews both have CF and at least one niece is a carrier. Neither my sister (not blood-related to me) nor my BIL have any family history of CF at all, but both their boys do. (We’re waiting on the results of the new baby). It’s odd that that can’t tell you 100%, but I suppose really low statistics are as good as it gets with some things like that - I’m guessing you have CF somewhere in your genetic pool?
I sleep in a tank and underwear most of the time - not exactly street legal, but i hate flopping around all night.
Yum. Pie. Sigh.
Pie. AH. Pie is simply the best.
RE: CF results. (As explained to me by my MD when I had bloodwork done prior to TTC because my mom is a carrier and 2 of her sisters had CF): The reason why they can’t give you a 100% is because CF can come from any one of a number or combination of genetic mutations.
If you don’t specifically know of a close relative who had CF and, more importantly, do not know what their CF gene was, the labs will do a general CF test which can tell you, for the most part, whether or not there is a possibility of CF genes. If you do know the mutation, the lab will do a specific test for that mutation and related ones, and then they can tell you 100% yay/nay.
I’m happy that the babies don’t have it! Good luck with pie making and the trip. Happy Thanksgiving!
Love your post title. AND the image of the Science Babies making pie. Smart, good-looking and great cooks - amazing!
We did CF screening before IVF, and from what I understand they said that neither of us are carriers, so we can’t pass it on to our kids. There wasn’t much wiggle room in the way it was put to me, but now I wonder.
Nakes sleeper here. Not even any skivs. And I also change into housepants the MINUTE I get home from work. Makes life so much better. And I like buying new ones before a trip, so you’re totally justified. If you need someone to sign off on the receipt for you, just let me know… Have a great holiday and talk those in-laws right into the ground!
Pie — yum (except I don’t like pumpkin, sorry!)
CF — you’ve gotten lots of excellent explanations (lots of possible mutations = limited accuracy)
PJs — uh uh, no thanks. undies and tank (boobs too big to leave flopping)
Have a great trip!
Yeah, I’m an undies-only sleeper too, although I’ve been trying to sleep in a shirt because for some reason I think I’ll look weird all huge, pregnant and naked.
I always make the pecan pie for Thanksgiving, because it’s my favorite.
Have a very happy Thanksgiving!
All about the naked sleeping. It means that I have less to do come morning (either get up and put on gym clothes or get up and shower. None of this removing then putting on, nonsense). Also it’s far less restrictive to my often restless movement.
I wear undies and a tank to bed, or sometimes the tiniest of cotton nighties–I am a Sweaty Sleeper and need the light layer. Then when I go to the in-laws I end up wearing a giant T-shirt and flannel pants because I have nothing else. My MIL gives me flannel pants nearly every xmas because she thinks I wear them all the time.
Even if you don’t have maternity at your ON, they have (or had, last year when I was pg) these awesome yoga pants with fold-over top that are EXACTLY like maternity pants waistbands–I lived in those things.
Have you tried the Snoogle body pillow? I didn’t think I would like a special “pregnancy” pillow at all because I am VERY particular about my pillows, but my friend gave me hers and I LOVED it. It went under my head, between my knees, and up to support the belly. Even better, I could turn over without dragging 17 pillows with me and lie sort of on my back propped up on it. Well worth the money.
Oh, and I’m a tank and undies girl too, glad to know that I’m not the only one with (ahem) flopping issues.
I wear lots of clothes to bed. And socks. I’m this close to wearing a cap (you know, like ‘ma in her kerchief and I in my cap had just settled down for a long winter’s nap).
I can’t sleep with anything on my legs or close to my neck. I can wear a tank top or big shirt and underwear…or nothing at all.
Clothes? People sleep in CLOTHES? But… but… it’s… sleep time!
Sensory hyperawareness forced me into naked-sleeping… couldn’t stand the feel of tags, seams, et al. I DID wear those ridiculous socks with discrete toe compartments for a time, to cut down on the sensation of my toes touching one another (some people are kept awake all night by dark thoughts or hard drugs or hot sex… me? Toe-on-toe contact!).
It seems like everyone did a pretty good job of answering your CF question. I hope that you and your hubby have an awesome Thanksgiving!
I just heard about this V-pillow in the newspaper (http://www.thevpillow.com/) and was thinking of getting one for myself. Something shaped like that might help. I think they’re more popular in Europe.
Hi! I’m a long time reader who has never commented before, but I just want to throw in my two cents about the Boppy maternity pillow! I got the same one as you and hated it for the very same reason - UNTIL my belly was really really big and I needed a pillow tucked under it to hold it up when I lay on my side. Then the Boppy was really handy because I could put the short side under my belly, the flat spot between my legs, and the long side under/behind my back for support. I ended up loving the pillow and using it every single night. It was the only way I could rest comfortably toward the end. So don’t toss it out yet!
Wow…what a wide variety of topics! I too love baking pies. Oh and cheesecakes too. Never tried the wine bottle rolling pin method, however. But we got like 3 rolling pins as wedding presents. Hell, I could have sent you one of mine!
On the CF front, our RE ran the tests b/c of DH’s family history. He is a carrier, I tested negative. You got some pretty good explanations, but I can add in some statistics that my RE gave me. A caucasian’s chance of being a CF carrier is 1 in 25, and genetic testing will detect about 90% of carriers. So my husband tested positive and I tested negative. Given the above statistics, my chances of being a carrier is 1/250. Now in the event that 2 people are carriers, there is a 1 in 4 chance of a baby will develop CF. So even with my 1/250 chance of being a carrier there is only a 1/1000 chance that we’d have a baby with CF. So the odds are relatively low. Does this make any sense?
Naked is the only way to sleep! Glad to hear about the CF! You coming to IA for thanksgiving??