Why Mondays Suck…This is One Reason

Every day I get the privilege of joining the masses that take the bus out of our suburb into the city to go to work.  On most days, this is a boring trip punctuated by nothing more than late or early buses.  I’m sure bus drivers arrive early or late on purpose to see how many people’s schedule they can screw up.
Late last year, the bus company (which is owned and subsidized by the city) decided that they needed to make the transit system more efficient to save money which would in turn help to pay for their new $12 million dollar call system.  Now, I’m in favour of creating more efficient routes to save money, but what I cannot understand is how making the system “moreefficient” means that buses are NEVER EVER where they are supposed to beat the time they’re supposed to be there.  This makes us, the riders,annoyed which make the bus drivers surly and annoyed.  Who am I kidding?  They were surly and annoyed before these changes. 

We have about 10 major transit stations in this city.  Every day, I have to get off at the transit station hub that is in the middle of the city. Almost every bus in circulation will go through this station.  So it’s an understatement to say that this station is busy.  It’s a zoo at night!  You have to keep an eagle eye out for those slippery buses because if you glance down at your phone for .000005 second your bus will have come and then taken off like lightening.  These drivers have perfected the art of stopping and then immediately stomping on the accelerator pedal to peal off if they don’tsee someone frantically running towards their bus.  These same drivers have been known to pretend to not see frantic people trying to weave through the masses to get to the bus.  You can never be sure where exactly your bus will stop along the designated portion of the transit station for the busyou’re waiting for.

My stop is the busiest at night because it’s the stop for every express bus through that station and the stop for the several other very buses.

Let’s go back to Monday.  I’m blissfully waiting on the curb trying to spot my bus.  I’ve texted their new $12 million dollar POS system, but of course the thing is fried and tells me the bus has already gone by.  I know it hasn’t because Dre is happily sitting on the bus textingme the bus’ progress towards the station.  (Dre takes this bus from the downtown core.) 

I see the bus turn the corner and I start walking towards it since there are 2 stretch buses in front of it.  Suddenly, the stretch buses pull away and lovely driver decides that he needs to pull up to the stop sign. That’s OK…they do this frequently.  I don’t have to run after it because surely the awesome driver will stop under the sign like he usually does so I don’t have to haul my 6 month pregnant ass by running to said bus.  To make sure that the bus stops, I wave at it with my pass.  (See picture) Then I turn and start walking fast to the spot where he should stop. Bear in mind that the bus hasn’t even gotten close to the curb once in this whole story. 

Aren't my drawings so awesome!

Wait!  Are you kidding me!  Fucking POS bus driver just peeled away as if no one was trying to get on his @$%^$%^#@## bus.  He never even stopped. Now, a lot of buses manage to not stop at this station, but they usually have handy excuses like, “My bus was full.”  This bus was almost empty. It’s why I take it.   I hurry and text Dre, “Your bus driver is a fucking moron.”  in the hope that he’ll go chew a piece off of this particular driver’s ass. 

I’m looking for another bus and I see another express.  No choice, I have to take this one.  Of course, it’s full and it’sstanding room only which is great when you’re 27 weeks pregnant and your balance is shot.  I get on and try to hang on as the bus driver who thinkshe’s an Indy car driver squeals around the corners.  Then Dre calls me and tells me that he’s at the transit station since he basically got kicked off the bus.  What???   I tell him to get on another bus and I’llget the story straight later on.  He tells me that he’s calling a complaint to wonderful bus company.  I get to last major transit station and I have to get off as this bus veers into a suburb where my car isn’tparked.  I wait for another bus to come along to take me to my car and Dre arrives.

He tells me that when he noticed the bus driver not stopping he started yelling at him (from the back of the bus) to stop the bus and got up and went to tell him that he’d left me, his pregnant wife, behind.  Apparently,bus driver finally decides to stop at the end of this station (there’s noway I can see that since millions of other buses are blocking the view).  Bus driver tells Dre to look and see if I’m coming.  Hello?  Yes, I can magically see your bus through the other buses and will run for it and try to plow through thousands of people before you decide to peal away again.  Anyways by this time, bus driver is feeling self righteous and decides to tell Dre that I didn’t wave enough to get him to stop.  So Dre, the love of my life,tells him, “What?  You want her to stand there and jump up and down in joy to get you to stop?” 

Driver, seeing that he sounds like a moron now, tells Dre, “Sir,do we have a problem here?”

“YES, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!  YOU LEFT MY 6 MONTH PREGNANT WIFE AT THE BUS STOP!”  Bus driver tells Dre to go see if he can find me but that the bus might not be there when Dre comes back.  Dre gets off and driver slams the door behind him.  Dre turns back around and the driver opens the door again and asks him if he's getting on or off since he needs to go.  So Dre went to get his bag and got off the bus because he was so mad at the driver.

So basically dumb ass driver didn't stop when he was supposed to and instead of waiting for Dre to go get me, he took off as fast as he possible could.  Jokes on him though since Dre called customer service twice and filed a complaint.  Customer service agent told him on the second call that another gentleman had also called to complain about the "appalling behavior he witnessed on the bus".  Dre's co-worker called to file a complaint...she takes the same bus we do.  Even I called customer service and that is not like me.  I hate phones and never use them, but I was so mad that I didn't think I could adequately convey my message through the online forms.  The customer service agent I spoke to said that EVERY bus driver is required to stop at major transit stations.  Driver is going to have a least 4 complaints against him for the same incident reported to his supervisor.

So that was my lovely trip home on Monday.  After that Dre and I went to do the groceries because we were both too mad to make dinner and then ordered pizza.

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

(I got this off of The Bump and the person I copied this from didn’t remember where she got it.  Anyways, I’ve included my thoughts in bold because I can’t just let you guys read this and not put in my opinions.  Come on!)

Need to buy this!

I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm....
If you are thinking, surely she doesn't mean me- then you should probably read this twice. (Yes, I mean YOU!)

1) The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is "Congratulations!" with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you an a$$. (Asking me if it was planned when I’m 28, have been married for over 2 years, and have a steady job makes you a douchebag or someone who doesn’t think a lot before blurting out whatever goes through that brain of yours.)

2) Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father- not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase "my baby". (Bahahaha!  Love it!  My mother actually told me that SHE was the grandparent as if that gave her more say than ME the mother.  I need to send this to her.)

3) On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it. The same goes for the name of the baby. (I need to come up with something to meddling people that tell me what they think before it happens.  I don’t want to be standing there just giving them a dirty look because I can’t think of a good comeback quickly enough.  I always think of great ones after I walk away.)

4) The body of a pregnant women should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone's stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman. (For some reason, a lot of the people I work with think it’s fine to touch my baby belly whenever they feel like it.  Really!  Do I walk around randomly groping you and standing in your personal space?  All my friends have managed to ask before they touch me so I can’t figure out why co-workers and acquaintances can’t figure this one out.)

5) Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight- ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is "You look fabulous!".  (Co-worker asked me what my doctor thought about my weight gain.  In what reality is this an appropriate question…ever?  When I tell my friends I’ve gained about 17 lbs, they all tell me that I don’t look it and I look great which is awesome!  Also, if you’re going to tell me that I look like I’m 2 months pregnant when I’m 6 months pregnant on the bus be prepared to get the bitch face.)

6) By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don't need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes.  (Or cold.  Or tell me how lucky I am that I won’t have to be SO HOT when I’m huge like a beach whale {their words, not mine}.  I’m aware of the temperature and also the hormones they make me snarkier so don’t tell me the sky is blue and that winter is cold.)

7) There is a reason that tickets to L&D are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. Like everything else in life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital and the parents’ home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to "help out". If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.  (Someone needs to tell my mother this.  She hasn’t gotten the memo that I don’t need her to “teach” me how to be a mother…her words.  Also, no one is allowed in while I’m in labor unless your name is Dre, doctor, or nurse.  I’m not pleasant when I’m in pain.)

8) If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should cleanup the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping. (Interfere with my schedule and feel the wrath!  I’m just saying.  We’re trying to get the new baby on a schedule here not make sure the grandparents get 10 hours each of baby holding time.)

9) The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less. (I might post this on my door except it’ll say something like this…”If you disapprove of how I do things, though bananas.  Tell me you disapprove of how I do things and I might kick your ass.”  Just a thought before you come hold our new baby bundleJ  Do you think they’ll like my sign?
I hope this helps- it sure makes us feel better.

Signed,
All Pregnant Women

Week 27

The 3^rd Trimester has finally arrived!  Woohoo Week 27!  I’m officially 2/3 of the way done and I really don’t feel prepared most of the time and at the same time I just want it to be February so we can meet the baby boy and I can go back to feeling normal.  Now, I know most pregnancy books and websites claim that the 3^rd trimester starts on Week 28, but they obviously can’t count.  Since I don’t plan on being pregnant for 42 weeks, I’ll use math and divide a standard pregnancy (40 weeks) in 3 which gives us 13 weeks and 2 days.  That equals to the 3^rd trimester starting on Week 26 and 4 days, but to make our lives easier we’ll just round to Week 27!

I did my glucose test to test for Gestational Diabetes.  Ugh!  So the drink isn’t too bad at first.  It tastes like flat, warm Orange Crush.  The problem is that you’re drinking a whole bottle of the stuff and by the end you’re not thirsty anymore and it’s so sweet that it burns the back of your throat.  You also have to drink it in 5 minutes.  So I waited for an hour and then had a blood draw because in this country they still haven’t caught on the fact that you can test blood sugar levels with a finger prick.  Also, my doctor is test happy and decided that since I was having blood taken that she’d also do a full CBC panel.  That would be 3 large vials of blood and the nurse really hurt me when she put the needle in which sucked.  So what this tells me is that there’s no way in hell that I’m doing the 3 hour test if I fail this one.  They can just treat me as if I have GD because I’m not getting 4 blood draws in a 3 hour period.  Nope!  Not happening! 

I’m going to IKEA on Wednesday and I hope to pick up the dresser for baby boy.  They still don’t have the crib in stock, but I’m hoping that changes when they open the big store in 3 weeks.  At least we’ll have the dresser and we can set that up and start filling it up too.  I need to keep looking for monkey decals, but they’re so expensive on etsy that I’m scared to keep looking. 

Dre also wants us to start packing a hospital bag just in case.  I told him that most people usually do this around 35 weeks, but I guess he wants to be ready.  I don’t even know where to start with the hospital bag.  I know people say clothes and toiletries for you, hubby, and baby.  The problem is that I don’t have any nursing stuff yet which is what I think I’d be packing and I wear my yoga pants so I don’t want to pack them in a bag in and not wear them for the next 13 weeks.  My friend also just told me to make sure to bring wipes to the hospital because they don’t have any.  WTF?  What kind of hospital that delivers babies doesn’t have diapers and wipes on hand.  So weird!  Anyways, I think I’ll try to start packing a bag and add stuff as I think of it.

Week 26

Week 27

My average weight this week is 169.3 lbs which is a .6 lb loss.  That’s right I seem to have lost a little bit of weight.  I didn’t really do anything differently, but all week I was about a pound lighter.  It’s weird, but my weight seems to have bounced back this week.  My total weight gain so far has been 16.3 lbs in 27 weeks.  This seems to be pretty good and I think that I’ll end up gaining around 30 lbs this pregnancy which is totally normal.  This is with eating a lot of extra crap I don’t need.  Yes, I do make sure to eat enough veggies to get all my mineral goals, but I do make cake and cookies and eat them.  Also, I’m not very active since it’s gotten a lot colder outside and it gets dark really early now.  Most of the exercise I get comes in the form of walking around stores while shopping. 

Heartburn and acid reflux come and go, but they have definitely not been as bad for the last week or so.  I’m still having a lot of problem with indigestion and I think that I need to increase my fiber intake to help flush my system out faster.  It’s not that easy to do during the week, but I’ll try anyways. 

I’ve had a couple of BH this week.  Very mild and I think it was just because I wasn’t drinking enough water or I was getting run down.  I still only have one stretch mark, but Dre pointed out brown spots by my nipples to other day.  They’re definitely not stretch marks, but they kind of look like sun spots except that the sun never touches that area of my boobs.  Weird!  I’m hoping that it goes away after baby is born. 

Sciatic nerve pain or whatever it is likes to come and go.  I think this might be a problem until I deliver.  There’s not much that seems to help.  The chiropractor gave me stretches to help it since my back isn’t cooperating when he tries to adjust that side.  They’re a lot like the stretches that my yoga instructor gave me to help with the leg cramps.  Now, I just need to remember to do every day.

I’m really looking forward to my baby shower this Saturday.  When SIL and I picked the date, it seemed so far away and now it’s in 5 days!  Time flies!  I can’t wait to see everyone and I hope they all have a good time.  I know I will because SIL has put an insane amount of thought and time into all the food, planning, games, decoration, and prizes.  I’ll post pictures next week!  So excited!  I can’t wait!

Baby is the size of an eggplant…AGAIN!  I think this is the last eggplant week.  I hope so because I’m starting to get sick of seeing that eggplant on my ticker.  Baby is now about 2 lbs!

Cake is the Best Thing Ever!

Had a movie day today with the girls.  I haven't done that in a really long time.  It was really nice.  I did get a little tired during the second movie.  I find that I get more tired more easily again. 
We watched Beastly and Burlesque.  I really liked Beastly.  It's modern take on Beauty and the Beast and I really like some of the imagery of that movie.  The tattoos that are on the main character and the witch are amazing.  Burlesque had some really good singing and dancing.  Of course, Christina Aguilera is the main character in that movie and she has quite the voice.   Overall, I quite enjoyed both movies.

I baked a banana cake on Friday night and iced it.  I decided to make a layer cake with it.  I blame my pregnancy cravings and hormones.  I brought it the movie day and we ate more than half of it!  Crazy, but it's so good!

Not the best picture, but this banana cake is soooo good!

Some of the other girls brought veggies which were an excellent choice, but I love to bring sweets when I go to places like that.  I've always been better at baking than cooking anyways.

I think I'm going to attempt to make a Maple Pudding Chomeur.  It's a traditional Quebec French Canadian dessert which my parents made all the time when I was a kid.  I think I'll attempt it in the next couple of weeks.

Three Wishes

It's Remembrance Day today in Canada (Veteran's Day for the Americans). 

It also happens to be 11-11-11.  It's one of the last years that the we'll have the "lucky" days.  Because of this, I want to wish for three things...

I wish for war to be over.  For the sons, daughter, brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers who go out to fight for our country and liberty to come back safe, alive, and whole.  I pray for the veterans who have given so much of themselves to make sure that we can have the liberty to make the choices that we make.

I wish for a healthy baby and for an easy delivery without complications or trauma.  I pray that when baby boy is ready to come out that he lets me know.  So many of the people I communicate with every day are having preterm labour or have delivered their babies.  I pray that I recognize the signs that indicate that I should go to the hospital if they do happen before my due date arrives.

I wish for my family to be healthy, happy, and safe.  What more is there to say?  Family is what connects us and is, in my opinion, one of the most important things in our lives.  Family doesn't always have to be flesh and blood, but can be those individuals that we invite into our hearts and treat like family.

Those are my wishes this year.

Lazy Sundays that Turn into Busy Sundays Sometime Hold the Best Moments

Sunday, Dre and I decided to just do our own thing and slowly wander through the day.

We got up and had grapefruit for breakfast (and other stuff of course).  I know, I know.  What the hell do you care about my breakfast eating habits.  Well, peeling the freaking things only took me half an hour.  I love grapefruit, but for the amount of work that's required to eat one I'm not sure that I'll eat them too often.  Of course, since I'm writing about them right now I suddenly have this extreme craving FOR GRAPEFRUIT RIGHT NOW!  It's a problem since I'm sitting at my desk at work on a very boring conference call.

After that, we decided to actually go to church.  Now, we regularly go to church, but since our church conveniently streams the services online every Sunday it doesn't help our lazy asses from getting off the couch and actually going there.  I think we need to get better at actually going since it's a huge church and meeting other people over there is not the easiest thing.  I want my kids to grow up in a church where they feel comfortable and have lots of friends which I something I missed out on.  My parents were constantly changing churches for one reason or another.  It made it difficult to make friends with people who had been attending the same church for their entire lives and had a lot of history together. 

Then, Dre took me out for brunch at Cora's.  He's so sweet!  I usually suggest everything that we do or whine about cooking and then suggest takeout or a restaurant.  I had this awesome egg sandwich wrapped in a crepe.  I even peeled away some of the crepe and dipped it in maple syrup...so yummy!  Since almost every plate at Cora's comes with a mountain of fruit, I also ordered their divine English Cream to dip my fruit.  Dre had a huge crepe filled with sliced bananas and Nutella topped with whipped cream.  He promptly went into a sugar coma after consuming 98% of it.  I'm not usually a huge fan of bananas, but I ate a ton of his bananas.  I guess that the baby is going to take after his dad there because Dre eats a banana a day.

Earlier, I had suggested going to visit the CHEO Dream Home.  Our local children's hospital puts on a lottery every year to raise funds for the hospital and the grand prize is a million dollar home built on a 2 acre lot.   IF you win the grand prize you get the house, maid service for a year, a car, and a truckload of money.  I really, really, really want to win this house every year!  So Dre and I buy tickets for it every year.  We're not very lucky because so far the only thing either one of us has won is a pair of binoculars.  The only problem is that if I did win the grand prize we'd have to move to the complete other end of town which would be really far away from everyone we know.  I think I would be able to deal with that though since I'd be living in a palace...did I mention that they give you all the furniture that is presently showcased in the house.  People, that includes about 8 flat screen televisions!  The draw is sometime in December of early January...we'll see if we won anything then.

I, also, love going through these house because (with the exception of last year's house which was horrid) they're usually designed to perfection. 

After all of that, we got back home and crashed.  Overall, we had a really great weekend just relaxing and doing the stuff that interested us.  I want to really enjoy these types of weekend because I don't think we have too many of those left.  I have a feeling that trying to do all those things with a newborn would be almost impossible.

So now I'm hoping that this coming long weekend is going to be equally awesome, but seeing as we have some not so fun stuff happening I think it might be one of those weekends that you wish just went by faster.

Warm bed, kisses, and yoga. That's my evening tonight. I'm all nice and relaxed now that I stretched all the muscles in my body in yoga class.

I wanted to come up with an awesome blog post tonight, but I got side tracked by FB and forum drama. So I'll say goodnight and tomorrow I'll come up with something withy to say or post about.

For now, I'll leave you with Pregnancy Rule #83839 - doing yoga while weighing 20 lbs more than before does not make you look or feel graceful. Good thing it helps me sleep like a baby.

Goodnight all!