Painting

It's day three of construction and, once again, I'm under siege and trapped in my bedroom. The fumes are getting to me, and I don't feel so great since it's hot and I've shut off the AC. There is no way I'm running the AC with them painting, I have all windows open and am hoping when it cools down later it will air out the place. Last night, we breathed in so much crap that we both woke up this morning with sore throats. 

Yesterday started off slow. We let in the workers and tried to get back to sleep, but they spent hours drilling holes out of the walls. They drilled a huge hole behind the front door for the new electric panel they're putting in. This panel will include the Shabbos clock for the AC unit, so we don't have to run it 24/7 over Shabbos. That left about a 2 inch coating of dust and crushed up wall all over the kitchen, living room and dining room. They had covered the living room furniture, the wall unit and the coffee table but I guess they removed the covering before they finished with the work because everything is just covered in white powder. Forget my kitchen or dining room tables. And, the dishes I left in the sink yesterday was full of both food residue and wall, so it took me an extra long time to wash up last night. I tried to keep a level head and remind myself that this is to be expected with construction, but it still got my blood boiling. They also carved out another huge hole in the wall next to the bathroom for the new electricity panel that will have to go in there too. It's a mess, and it's frustrating, but at least they're making some progress.

We had an insane afternoon/evening and I vowed to never book so many back-t0-back appointments like that again. It's too much. First, I kicked Pidgeon out of the house around Noonish when I realized he was getting some terrible cabin fever from being locked in our bedroom. He ran an errand and picked us up some lunch, which lifted his spirits a bit. We had a 1:30 p.m. appointment with our new OBGYN but she was running 2 hours behind and we didn't leave the house until 2:30 p.m. She saw us an hour later and we both stumbled over each other trying to fill her in on our situation. I purposely didn't point fingers to say that I was unhappy with my current OBGYN. There is no reason to bad mouth any Dr. to another one, I just told her we needed someone who was going to take a more active interest in our care. She was absolutely wonderful, until she said that she had made a decision to no longer deliver any new patients.

I literally started crying right then and there and Pidgeon pleaded our case. I guess our "plight" broke her, because she said we would be the absolute LAST couple she would take on as a new case for delivery. I could have kissed this woman, I was so happy. So, she had me hop on the table and did an ultrasound to take a look at our little babes. And, for the first time in ALL of the ultrasounds we've had, we got a clear picture our the baby's face. Beautiful. I started crying again just looking at this gorgeous little baby growing inside of me.

Pidgeon had a hard time making out the picture, but with some coaching from the Dr., he finally got it. And he screamed in shock! He thinks the baby looks like me. Then he told the Dr. that the baby has my nose - which the Dr. actually agreed - and we all just watched the baby sleep. It was so special. I have the print out and have to glue it into the ultrasound album I've been keeping.  We just started the third trimester and the next 3 months are going to be so hard - I think I'm just so excited and ready for the baby to be here already! 

So, after such a wonderful meeting with our new Dr., I made another appointment and then Pidgeon drove me to my next Dr. appointment. We parted ways for an hour while Pidgeon did some work and I filled my shrink in on the latest. She was pleased and admitted that she was really concerned about our previous Dr. It was nice to know she was on board with our decision, and I had a pretty good session with her. It was over about as fast as it began and I was exhausted but hauled myself to the corner to wait for Pidgeon to pick me up. I literally stood on the corner for 5 minutes when 4 separate cabs stopped and honked to see if I needed a ride.

Typical. When you don't need a cab, there are 4 just waiting for you. When you need a cab, you can't find one anywhere!

So, Pidgeon picked me and we drove back to the apartment for a quick dinner. We literally had just enough time to boil water, throw in a package of whole wheat pasta, wait 11 minutes until it was cooked, mix with tomato sauce and some red kidney beans and scarf it down before we had to get out of the door for our next appointment. I just wanted to crawl into bed and go to sleep but it wasn't not going to happen, we had our first 3 hour pre-natal childbirth preparation course. Fortunately, the course wasn't far from our apartment, although we did arrive a bit late.

And, since I hadn't listened to our instructors direction on how to get to her apartment, we went the long way and ended up hoofing up four flights instead of taking the steps. I was puffing when we walked into the room but we found seats and relaxed while she started the class.

The course is extremely diverse with 7 couples (including us) almost all due in November. There were two "Charedi" couples from Har Nof, both anglos, and one "Charedi" couple also anglo but living in San Simon. The rest of the group wasn't "dati" and all the women were anglo while the men were all Israeli. And then there was us. I loved the mix and thought it was very refreshing, and the class was pretty interesting and very open. We were able to ask all of our questions - and boy did we all have so many - in a very comfortable setting. The worst part of the whole night was that we got stuck on the lawn chairs and my ass was asleep by the time we got a break. That wasn't very fun. I had also sweat through my pants and was drenched from my waist down to my ankles. It was gross, but unfortunately it's my norm these days.

We left there around 10ish and managed to drag ourselves back home. I was so tired, I just ignored all the mess in the house and crawled into bed. Pidgeon brought me my shot and I did it from bed. Somehow though, we still managed to stay up until 1ish and I'm so shocked since I thought it would be an early night for us. Well, I guess the Midnight phone call from my sister in Cleveland didn't help. But, I was so happy to hear from her that I didn't care about the time difference. The kids ALL go back to school today in the States and I'm just thrilled that the summer is over!

I love September people. I love the Fall. It just makes me a happy person. Now, all I need is for the Jerusalem weather to cool off enough for me to comfortably walk around in sweats and a long sleeve t-shirt, and I'll be a very happy lady.

Well, I'm off to see how the painting is coming along. 

Yom Tov from Baka!