Kennedy's Dentist Appointment

Kennedy went to the dentist yesterday. Her dentist is so great that she didn't even know she got a shot. He removed the bad tooth and sealed 'em all again. She would NOT believe that she got a shot. She is still skeptical. She named her tooth Smiley because it looks like it has eyes and a mouth. I'll try to take a picture.

Kennedy's Abscess

Yesterday Kennedy informed me that she had a loose tooth. At first I didn't pay much attention to it, and then I told her to let me look. It looked strange. It was red around the gums like an open wound and there was a funny chip of tooth sitting there and I'm pretty sure there is another tooth pushing that one out because it doesn't seem to have much of a root. Well, it also started swelling and turning really red, within hours. I had to hurry her to the Kidscare to get an antibiotic because they say that infections can settle in her heart where her surgeries were. They just told us to get her a dentist appointment A.S.A.P. It was really scary and Kennedy thought she was really going to die. She's also mostly afraid of the shot that the dentist is probably going to have to have to extract that stupid tooth. Poor thing.

She had another one a couple years ago. She had this one terrible cavity that had been just sitting there basically since it had come in. One night she got a real bad fever. I didn't associate it with the tooth at all; assumed she was just sick and put her to bed. She woke me up in the middle of night moaning in a strange way. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she wanted a drink from the drinking fountain. She was TOTALLY delirious. It was the scariest thing ever. I had to call my mom to rush us to the E.R. Then the stupid people couldn't get her blood and she was crying and it was just terrible and pissing me off. Poor child has been through so much with doctors. They finally just put her on an antibiotic, told us to make an appointment with a pediatric dentist and sent us home. Probably all that trauma was for nothing.

The teeth surgery was a whole 'nother drama in her life. She was FREAKING out scared, thinking they were going to poke her or hurt her. It was totally worse than the other surgeries because she could actually talk. She was crying and so scared. We had to WAIT FOREVER with her freaking out the WHOLE time. They gave her a doll which was supposed to help her understand what was going to happen but she was much to scared to even try to relate to that at all. She wouldn't even draw the face on. The nurse had to do it. FINALLY they gave us some medication to relax her enough to go in to the operating room. She was SOOOO high. It is pretty funny to talk to a high kid. She was telling us the ceiling looked funny or something and grinning so cute. Then we finally could laugh because she felt better.

Ashley's Bike

Today I'll tell you a sad story about my sister's bike.

Ashley got a sweet new bike for her birthday: April 18, 2008. It is the first, maybe only gift that she has ever used and retain interest in. She walked home from school to come get it, ride back to the school, ride to her friends' houses, ride around the park...every day. She even lost tons of weight and got in real great shape. Well, it was stolen yesterday. Fantastic. Saddest thing ever. Although we're all mad at her for not putting it away better, I feel like my mom just has to get her a new one because she loved it so much. It's not her fault she's bipolar. Oh, by the way, she's bipolar. They put her on Abilify, which has scary potential side effects but we figure she is not going to have a life to live if she doesn't fix her craziness. Anyways, three days ago out of nowhere, she started talking slower and is getting less aggravating every day. It's amazing. I love Abilify and so does she. She is really excited about it. It's good to see her happy.

SUGAR!!!

I'm a sugar freak! I never eat sweets when I'm not pregnant. It really hasn't even been that bad until a couple of weeks ago, but the only thing I want to eat is junk. Mostly chocolate. But today I had this terrible desire for 1) Root Beer 2) Chocolate Brownies with Ice Cream and 3) Potato Chips. I'm out of control. I even have been drinking plain Coke. Not even DIET!!! AGH! I read something some strange lady wrote saying she ate a lot of sugar and she was fine but her baby came out not being able to produce insulin for a while. I don't know if I believe her. I don't know what to think, but I've got to stop!!! But not today maybe because I've decided to bake some brownies. I'm going nuts.

Baby Dropping

Saturday night I totally felt the baby drop. It was very odd and actually felt REALLY good. I no longer feel like my body is smothering my face, my rib is just a little sore now as opposed to tearing my insides apart. There is more room for my lungs and my belly even seems to be smaller than before. Still no room for my stomach, however. Small meals are hard to eat when you rarely feel hungry.

The only problem is I feel like my water could break at any moment. I've really been dreading that happening in public.

I believe I'm having Braxton-Hicks contractions quite often. I may just be achy and tired. I'm nesting so I'm cleaning and spending tons of money on house stuff and I'm probably just wearing myself out. It's really hard to get to work. I figure it's okay; I will just steal all of Nate's money and my tax refund is pretty hefty and I got my stimulus check. UGH. But I'm getting really excited! =]

Kennedy' Ophthalmologist Appt

Kennedy and I went to the ophthalmologist yesterday. We went a little early so we could be on time. Her appointment was at 9:30 a.m.

We checked in and sat down and watched videos without much sound. It was REALLY loud in there besides. Kennedy checked out the play room but wasn't much interested in that. We looked at a few books but they were kinda kiddy books. There was one about planets (we thought) but only the first and middle pages were very educational. The rest of it was a bear telling us a bunch of stuff you can do on earth. I think we already know that after 8 years of being here. I tried to make her read a book about dinosaurs but she would NOT. I kept threatening to make her read it and she would just laugh at me.

We 10 minutes, maybe less, to see the nurse. She did a few simple eye tests with the eye machine thingy adjusted to her old prescription. I explained that Kennedy lost her glasses and we hadn't bought new glasses in anticipation of this appointment and her new prescription. She did pretty well with the right eye but the left eye was pretty bad.

We sat in the waiting room for a while longer. We were getting impatient as we had already done everything that was offered to us. We were both starving and Kennedy kept telling me we should just go down to the cafeteria and I told her we couldn't because we would miss her appointment.

The OTHER nurse finally called us back and we waited a minute for the Dr. Kennedy was making strange and loud noises. I think she must have been getting nervous or something. I told her people were trying to work around here and if I could hear them outside the door (and I could) that they could probably hear her. I told her she was going to be embarrassed when someone besides me came to tell her to shut up. Then the just said, "We have to dilate your eyes." So the nurse came back and put the drops in. I guess this is kind of uncomfortable. Kennedy didn't "make a noise" and the nurse asked her if it hurt so she must have thought she missed her eye.

We went back to the terrible waiting room. We were getting so grumpy. When Kennedy's eyes started to dilate she complained that she couldn't see very well. She wanted to see what they looked like so she went to the bathroom twice to try to see but she couldn't. I kept forgetting and I asked her about something on her pants and she got frustrated and said, "I CAN'T SEE, REMEMBER?" I almost burst into tears it was so pathetic. She said, "I can't even READ!" Oh it was so sad.

The Dr. called us back and looked in her eyes. He said that her prescription was "much different," for each eye and had changed quite a bit but that it was not like it was getting worse or anything bad was happening. He gave us a new prescription and then they wrangled us into making a new appointment in 3 months. Kennedy was picking her sticker and I had to tell her what they were. SAD! Then when we were in the car she had to ask me which way it went so she could put it on. OH NO ALMOST BURSTING INTO TEARS! Oh it was so pathetic I couldn't even stand it.

The doctor gave her those crazy sunglasses and she just hated them because they made her look like a dork. So of course I made her take a picture in them. I had to remember this terrible day!

Her eyes were still dilated last night before she went to bed. It was crazy. They were even still dilated this morning. So I took a picture of that too.

Financial Assistance and Griping about the Government (MAD AGAIN!)

I applied again for Food Stamps and Financial assistance because my hours have been cut A LOT and because 2 different idiots that my mom talked to said that they are more lenient in the last months of your pregnancy. The idiots also said to make sure to EXPLAIN that Nate isn't contributing ALL of his income to the household, that he is just paying half of the bills.

I'm about to murder my mother. She has made me fill out that damn application about four damn times in my life. I keep telling her I make too much and she sits and makes me feel like a fool because I'm not asking for help. STUPIDLY I let her intimidate me saying, "You just hate to jump through hoops. [The people] TOLD me [this is how it works]." Even though I argue that I don't see [the people] that she talked to behind the desk or even in the same office, I just fill out the stupid thing again and get all excited like she MIGHT be right. I fill out the THREE PAGE application, get all of my financial documents together and wait 20 minutes just to get someone to answer the phone for the application completion interview just to have another idiot lady tell me what I already knew. I'm RICH obviously.

Of course the idiots were wrong. I told the interview lady three times about Nate's income on the phone. I explained my pay cut to them three times. The lady said you have to be impoverished and basically have an income of $0.00.

So, because I have a house payment and a car payment, the government will not help me eat. I guess I should quit my job, sell my house and strive to be homeless and jobless so that the government will assist me. What kind of a bunked up system is THIS?! Who honestly has NO income and manages to come in to apply for this assistance? It makes me wonder who could POSSIBLY qualify? Who are they helping there?

My mom is obviously insane by the pure definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. It's just like when I get a sore throat. My mother is CONVINCED that it's strep throat EVERY TIME. I tell her and tell her it's not but she drags me to the doctor and pays to get a culture anyway, and WHATTYA KNOW! It's NEVER STREP THROAT! I'm gonna kill her.