Stuff

Pregnant women need to sleep a lot.

I sort of forgot how much until a few weeks ago.

There isn’t much time in the day after that, teaching my kids stuff, and getting work done for blogging, if I could get an idea out in a coherent fashion.

So in the interest of having at least one new post up here this week, here is the bullet point version of the last several.

I’m still working on IRS forms, but this is the very last stage, I hope.

It got warm, my kids are swimming.

The Boy gets his “robot face” today. Also known as an expander and head gear to his orthodontist. Perhaps his jaw will get bigger fast enough that we won’t need to get braces alter to straighten all the teeth coming in.

We got to see Hannah perform again last weekend and had dinner with her. It was really good. It also made us wish for more time with her.

I am almost 26 weeks pregnant and have yet to have any kind prenatal care. I’ve been turned down by one subsidized insurance place because we make too much money, and then turned down by the next option, one we have used before, because we don’t make enough. So then I talked to the first place that turned me down and they said, “OH! Your husband is self-employed. That changes everything. You should have told us that.” (I did.)

So I resubmitted information waited a month when they told me it should be reviewed in 10 days and they still hadn’t seen it when I called. Let’s just say that cutbacks and the recent legislation have turned what was an already overworked and top heavy organization into a complete and total mess. An actual conversation I had.

“I’ve been trying to call the number I was given but no one has responded.”

“Oh, that number doesn’t work anymore.”

“What do you mean, it’s still taking messages.”

“Well, your local office no longer gets those messages, it’s been redirected here, only no one here checks them, so no one ever heard your message.”

“Great. What’ the new number?”

“Oh, there isn’t one. I will call them for you and give them your contact information and they will contact you for an appointment within 3 working days.”

That was 2 weeks ago. I am so full of optimism about this right now. Can’t you tell?

If it weren’t for the fact that I’m RH negative and in 2 weeks I need to have an antibody screen to make sure that I don’t need a rogham shot to ensure my blood doesn’t attack my baby’s blood if there has been a cross over, I would be tempted to just say throw in the towel and abandon the entire system altogether.

I’ve pushed out babies by myself before. Sure, there were people there, but I did it. I could do it again, barring anything unforseen. I’m about ready to go completely unassisted here.

I could go see my old midwife, (whom we can’t afford because we need to purchase a 6 passenger vehicle instead to fit all the kids, sob) she could order the tests, draw my blood and we could pay for that out of pocket. it’s only a few hundred dollars. hah! Then I could pay her for the postpartum shot as well.

These are the things I am considering as options right now.

I have an appointment tomorrow with some other agency that is supposed to be able to figure out this mess a bit and get coverage started. We’ll see if they can do anything.

We’re also probably moving in 2 months when our lease expires to someplace bigger. So I am staring around at stuff thinking about packing it all. Aaron goes to Thailand for 2 weeks in June. I will be packing while he’s gone I expect and then we move a few days after his return. I’ll be 7 and a half months.

I’ve done that before too.

Really, in spite of it all, this has not been a hard pregnancy. I’ve been here before so I know what I need to do, with or without a doctor taking tests. Jelly bean is kicking a flip-flopping up a storm and I’m sure everything is fine.

Between the IRS and MediCal I am simply weary of paperwork, and bureaucracy.

My neighbor, who was due a month after me miscarried a week and a half ago. The baby had a heart defect. I cried when she told me. The only good thing really, about losing a baby, is that you have an idea of what the person in front of you is going through. There are no words of comfort, not really. But a hug while she cries will go a long way toward helping her feel loved, I think. My heart is aching for her, and realizing afresh how blessed I am with every little kick.