What a pain

I told you a while back that I'd be sharing details about diabetes and pregnancy. So far, my conclusion is - it's not so bad. Lots of monitoring and doctors appointments, but really, not much different than what I was doing before.

What has changed, however, is that I've had headaches off and on (mostly on) since 2/8/09. At first, I assumed Tylenol was all I could take. Then I called my OB and the midwife there told me I could also take Excedrin Migraine, which usually kills a headache in about 20 minutes. Well, not this headache. After a 2-day migraine, I took the midwife's advice and went to my primary care doc. He says it's likely hormonal and could last a few weeks, or it could hang out til the baby comes, at which point, I'm guessing headaches will be caused by lack of sleep rather than hormones. He prescribed me some Class C drugs and sent me on my merry way. I'm trying to avoid taking the drugs, but have succumbed to the headache a few times and taken Tylenol with Codeine. Today, so far (KNOCK ON WOOD!!) no headache. Yesterday, it kicked in during church. Other days, I wake up with it and go to bed with it and wake up with it the next morning, too. Ah, the joys of pregnancy. :) I can't really complain too much, though, because I had almost no nausea in my first trimester and I'd say it's been an easy pregnancy so far. Thank God for that!

PS - check out Anthony's post over at Being a Dad Ain't Bad for the dad's side of the pregnancy headache coin.

PPS - speaking of the dad's side, Scott has decided to share this blog with me, so he will hopefully be posting here soon, too! :)

The customer is always right?

Recently I've had 2 exceptional experiences with customer service. One good, one bad. The first was with Amazon.com. For Christmas, I ordered Scott a tripod for our digital SLR camera. He used the tripod a bit (maybe 3-6 times/month) and never did anything with it that would damage the integrity of the tripod. Then last week, one of the leg locks just broke. No real reason for it, it just malfunctioned and we couldn't get it to function again. So I emailed Amazon explaining the situation and how although it had been longer than their 30 day return policy, I didn't feel it was our "fault" and there was something wrong with the product. They agreed with me (!!) and sent me a label to mail back the broken tripod, and the next day we received a brand new replacement tripod. Easy peasy. I am a satisfied customer, happy with my experience, and with a working product. Great!

Then, today, we tried to return a baby heart listening device thing that we got from Burlington Coat Factory. We had the receipt with us, and had bought the thing with a credit card. Since the purchase, though, we've replaced the credit card with a new one because our old number had been on a list of numbers that were stolen. We didn't feel safe with that, so we replaced the card. Logical, right? Well, apparently Burlington doesn't think so. In order to return the item, you must have the exact card you used to purchase it. Nevermind that you're standing there with two other cards that go to the same account - that doesn't matter. What matters is that the numbers match (mind you, those numbers could have been fraudulently used, had we kept them, but who cares?). So, after explaining all of this to the customer service representative, she says her only option is to give us a Burlington gift card, which she says is "the same as cash". Sure, in Burlington it is, but if I want to use it at, say, Giant, I'm screwed. I say as much. She doesn't care - rules are rules. So I ask to speak to the manager. Who also doesn't care and agrees - who cares if the customer is satisfied or not? Rules are rules. If I want, I can come back Monday through Friday between 10 and 5 to have them call the corporate office. Which would be fine, except, you know, I have a job and so does Scott. So, we take the gift card, feel totally screwed and our requests ignored, and feel like "customer service" is a joke. It's really "corporate service" where they happen to have to interact with customers. I'm currently trying to sell the gift card and plan to never shop at Burlington again. Not that we ever really did - it was on a whim that that we went there in the first place. But still, I don't want to deal with a company who cares so little for their customers' needs. I'm ordering everything from Amazon from now on.

Does this exist in Outlook?

It would be handy if you could link pertinent emails to your calendar invitations in Outlook. Lately I've gotten several seemingly random calendar invitations that I later come to realize are related to a string of emails that I've been a part of. Do any of you know of a way to associate these invites with the email chain associated (but not obviously associated) with them?

Snow Day!

OK, so it's not a *true* snow day, because I still have to work, but I am working from the comforts of my couch with my pups curled up next to me, watching the snow drift down outside. Judging by the fence post, we have maybe 3 inches by now (maybe more, maybe less - I'm horrible at judging). It's our first snow of the winter, and while Claire will scoff from Syracuse, we're getting quite a bit (you know, for us). And it's really pretty, and it makes me happy. That's all :)

I Had A Dream

Last night, I had a dream. Not the kind that Martin Luther King, Jr. had, but an interesting and funny one nonetheless. In my dream, I was out to dinner with some friends including my church friends Karen and Cindy. At this dinner, the main course was...cupcakes. (Because who doesn't eat cupcakes for dinner? At a restaurant?) Apparently Karen would only eat square cupcakes, so she was cutting off the rounded edges. I was eating her "leftovers" (the rounded edges). Actually, I was inhaling them - eating them greedily and without abandon. At some point, I realized that I had forgotten to bolus (give insulin) for the cupcakes. At about the same time, someone from another table came to our table and asked if we would "star" in an impromptu play with the theme of "sugar causes diabetes". I adamantly refused (obviously) and got up on my soapbox in the middle of the dinner to educate the crowd on what causes diabetes and what doesn't.

When I awoke, my bloodsugar was 33. That could explain me eating cupcakes without insulin, and may also explain the wacky dream too.

The cat's outta the bag!

Scott and I received wonderful news on 12/4/2008 - we're expecting our first baby! I'm due 8/14/09 and am incredibly excited to be pregnant. I very much look forward to the second trimester, to sharing a little bit of what it's like to be a pregnant Type 1 diabetic with a fantastic team of doctors and nurses who are truly on my side, and to learning as we go along.

So far, things have been A-OK. My bloodsugars are not unmanageable, I haven't had horrendous bouts of morning sickness (just the occasional nauseous moment (or day)), and I am not bone-deep exhausted all the time, though I am sometimes.

In preparation for pregnancy, and to help the process along, Scott and I had weekly acupuncture therapy. I attribute my feeling of mostly-normal-ness to this practice, and highly recommend it for anything from fertility treatment to diabetes management to arthritis, etc., as long as you find someone you trust.

I don't feel like I'm really starting to show yet, but some people (you know who you are) think I am. I'll leave it to you to decide:

Oh, they didn't specify "grilled"

How I love Panera Bread. Their soups, salads, and sandwiches are all yummy lunchtime fare, and their chai latte is among the best I've tasted.

Sometimes, though, customer service is a little...quirky. I went to lunch with some coworkers and ordered the 1/2 and 1/2 - 1/2 a bowl of baked potato soup (21 g carbs) and 1/2 a sandwich. I asked for a "Grilled Cheese" (35 g carbs). The guy behind the register asked me what kind of bread (the kind on the menu) and what kind of cheese (also the kind on the menu). When I picked up my order, sat down, and opened my sandwich wrapper, I was surprised to find cold bread with two 1/2 slices of cold cheese in between - decidedly not a grilled cheese sandwich as I had ordered.

I headed back to the food prep area, and explained my situation. The response I got? "Oh, they didn't specify 'grilled'".