The Countdown is On!

Happy Labor Day!  For the first time in many years, I labored on labor day.  I spent some of my day working today at Sendik's, and I quite enjoyed myself as I often do there.  Although, I did embarrass myself several times with silly stupid mistakes.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that I'm operating with a foggy, pregnant brain -- that's my excuse for these silly episodes.  Some happened privately (thank goodness), while others were witnessed by my customers and fellow employees.  Let me give you some examples:  

First, our bathroom has an automatic soap dispenser attached to the granite countertop.  This soap dispenser has been empty since I began working at Sendik's, and there is a bottle of regular hand soap on the counter.  EVERY SINGLE TIME I went into the bathroom today (which was more than usual -- hopefully another good sign), I told myself (yes, out loud even) "Rachel, do not try to use the automatic soap dispenser, it is out of soap."  And then, as I was getting my hands wet with water I'd find myself daydreaming, looking in the mirror and, yep you got it, waiting with my hands under the automatic soap dispenser that I just reminded myself was out of soap.  Sigh.  I also had many problems making change for people today.  Well, actually, I made their change just fine, but then I would second-guess myself and go back and forth about whether or not I gave them the correct change.  Truly difficult to explain adequately, but just know this -- I was not myself.

I am happy to report that my headache has subsided.  For the first time in a long time I am quite relaxed on the eve of school beginning.  If I rewind a year, two, heck even ten, I've always been a nervous ball of energy the day before the school year started.  In fact, there were several years I broke out in hives.  I am SO thankful that I came up with a plan to let me pursue my dream of becoming a nurse.  I'm not going to lie, it hit me harder than I thought it would when there were teacher inservices going on last week and I wasn't there.  But, I also know that because my stress level is so decreased from not being there that this pregnancy has a way better shot at becoming our reality.  So, as hard as it is to know I won't be walking down MSL's halls tomorrow, I will be forging my new path and attending my first class as a full-time student at UW-Milwaukee.  

Some of you may be wondering if I'm experiencing any symptoms.  That is such a difficult question to answer.  The doctors still have me taking estrogen and progesterone, which means that what I'm feeling could just be medication...or it could be something more.  I started both of these medications awhile before the transfer, so in my mind any of the symptoms I'm experiencing should have shown up then, right?  Well, I have some new ones to add since Wednesday.  Besides the headaches, I have heartburn.  Heartburn that is bad enough to wake me up in the middle of the night.  I've taken to packing tums into my pockets before I go to work, I have some in the car, and I also have a baggie full of them next to my bed.  I have increased the amount of water I'm drinking, so excessive urination is probably a result of that (although I do get up 2, 3, sometimes 4 times a night).  My sense of smell has greatly improved.  Yesterday, as Tony and I were watching a movie in our bedroom (The Other Woman -- I highly recommend it), I had to stop the movie for him to go check the cats' litter box...that was three closed doors away from me in a completely separate room.  I've also had some twinges and cramps, which is all very normal.  We are anxiously looking forward to Friday, and thank you all in advanced for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.  Thanks so much for coming along on this journey with us -- we couldn't have done it without such support along the way!