JonesSoda , 26

This is gone!

I decided to start a new journal and make things easier. My old journal just has so much junk in it from the last two years, some that I want to remember, some that I don't. So I'm keeping it for myself, but taking it off for anyone else. Sorry guys [;)]

I went to my OB appointment on Tuesday, expecting a regular appt of course. First I found out I lost 3 lbs. Then the baby's heart beat was all weird. The midwife explained to me that her heart was skipping beats (an arrhythmia) and that she was going to put me on the monitor for awhile. I got really freaked out. She went and talked to the OB and he said to get me in for the emergency spot the next day at the fetal imaging center for an ultrasound, EKG, and to meet with the cardiologist. I was so scared all that day and night, my anxiety was through the roof! Seriously, just the words emergency appointment would scare any mom in the first place.

I went the next morning (yesterday) and had the tests done, it took forever. They found a small hole in her heart and also said that her heart is "firing" early and fills with blood too much and that it skips a beat to catch up with itself. They said normally one or the other happens but both at once is less common. But it's only something to keep an eye on, it could very well fix itself at some point, maybe even before she is born. So I will go back for another ultrasound/EKG/meeting in 3 wks if I am still pregnant and check how it's doing then. And after she is born they will do an ultrasound on her chest to look closely and see how she handles it. Also there will be a pediatric cardiologist there when I deliver and to keep an eye on her before she gets to come home.

Other than that... nothing much. The baby is still a girl (they asked if I already knew what it was and I told them I was told it was a girl but if they wanted to double check I'd appreciate it and they did lol). Thank heavens, I don't want to come up with a boy name now and worry about clothes and stuff all over again. She is estimated to be 5 lbs 6 oz (I am 34 wks pregnant). So she will be around 8 lbs, chances are, if I go close to or on my due date.

Here are some pictures of the ultrasound that they gave me, I will explain what I can of them. They are not good quality at all, she is big and there isn't much fluid around her anymore so it's hard to get a good shot. They said depending on the space in there sometimes they can get really detailed pics at this point but not for her.


This is her girl parts, I bet I don't need to explain much about that.


This is her face. Her nose looks funny because her arm and the umbilical cord are by her face so it kind of blended together in this shot to make her nose look huge. Her eyes are closed.


This is her looking straight on at you. Her chin is against her chest, you can mostly only see her eye sockets and that her head is resting on her arm (along the side/bottom of her face)


Again not a great picture but in this one she is either practicing crying, or swallowing. You can see that her eyes are open now.


Her healthy spine.


So that's mostly what's new here. We're not in the clear yet so keep her in your thoughts. It might sound silly to anyone else but this is all I can think about lately. I just want everything to be okay, I know that if something HAS to be wrong with her heart this is one of the better things to happen. But I can't stop thinking about it, wondering if something will happen, if she will go into distress during labor and be okay, if I will need a C-section, if she will be fine if she comes earlier than due, if I will be able to hold her right away or if they will take her off to look at her, if at my next appointment something else will go wrong, if she will end up stillborn. I know that sounds stupid. Also I can't help wondering if any of this is my fault, was it a vitamin I didn't take, an extra week or month I should have been on folic acid, was it because I had to come off my anti-depressants? It feels better kind of to just write it out. I need to just stop worrying and see what happens.

Well subby if you want, maybe nobody will even find this darn thing!

I got this in an email forward but I know a couple of these things are true so I figure probably most or all of them are- can't hurt either way right? I think if we share it with people, and post it in a few journals, it might actually make an impact and help people.


My line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon:

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.

One day is diesel, the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground, the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening... your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products play an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping.

All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor..
Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up; most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas i s being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

To have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers.

It's really simple to do.

And this is what goes down when you say BOO while he is eating: