How very interesting

So the vet we saw on Saturday called. I missed her call yesterday regarding the blood work and urinalysis. But all of that was totally normal. I was a little surprised that they did a heart worm test and a thyroid panel, but I guess we did ask them to do a complete workup. So yeah, all of her blood work was normal and her urinalysis was great. It's good to know that she's a pretty healthy cat despite being horribly overweight.

Anyway, the vet called today to go over the results from the pathologist. This is where it got interesting. Very interesting. The mass was NOT cancer. Yay! Instead we've got a (rare in cats) cyst. It's pretty unusual to see these types of cysts in cats. But this was confirmed by 2 board certified pathologists at a reputable lab. The doc took wide margins when removing the cyst and it was confirmed that the edges were clean.

While the cysts are rare in cats, when cats do get them it is almost always associated with arthritis. So Patches is probably arthritic. No big surprise there. She's a big girl. Arthritis is a hell of a lot easier to deal with than amputation.

Patches is always going to be prone to getting more of these cysts so we have to keep an eye on her. They appear to be painful for her so we'll remove them as they appear. The doc recommends taking more radiographs of her elbow (the site of the cyst) to look for more cysts and to monitor the arthritis. However, because Patches would need to be sedated for that to happen she recommends waiting. So we'll get those done the next time she has to have something done (she'll need a dental soon anyway).

There's a chance that the first two masses that were removed were the same freaking thing. Itchy believes that it was cancer the first two times. I'm not so sure of that. While I am happy that it's not cancer, it's annoys the hell out of me that The Island vet didn't do more. The first mass should have been sent out to a real lab. I'll never ever let that go. Never. When the second mass showed up, it should have been sent to a real lab. Not some stupid lab in the Caribbean. Yes, it would have cost more. But since I was footing the bill for it, why did that matter? I would have paid extra. At least give me the option.

Anyway, I'm freaking estatic with this news! We'll get Patches started on some supplements for the arthritis and then we'll work on her weight loss. She's got a lot to lose but at least she gets to keep her arm!

Crazy Cat Lady

Remember how I told/showed you how much Patches liked the baby chair? Well, she is the proud new owner of her very own chair.

It's not the same but close enough. She's napping in it now. Itchy thinks I'm nuts but he's glad I got it for her.

In my defense, it was cheaper than buying a new cat bed. Half the price actually.

I'll get pics later.

ETA: Pictures
Cuddles in his bed, looking annoyed because I kept playing with his foot.

Patches in her new chair. Doesn't she look cute in her e-collar?

Update

Yesterday's trip to the vet resulted in one very sad and dopey kitten and two very broke owners.

The vet made the decision to do a full workup yesterday. I wasn't expecting that. A full workup for Patches involves sedation, so I was thinking that they'd want her dropped off sometime this week. But the vet we saw was cool with getting everything done right away even though she got totally behind schedule.

They ended up doing blood work, a urinalysis, radiographs, and they removed the mass. The mass is being sent out to the experts. Hopefully we'll have results by the middle of the week. It's nice that we won't have to wait an entire freaking month (like we did on The Island) to get some answers. Not to mention that it's being sent to a real accredited lab with real board certified pathologists instead of some unknown lab on some island somewhere.

Patches was pretty out of it when we got her home, but once she got comfortable she slept most of the day away. I made her a cat cave (I like to build forts) that she seems to be enjoying. She doesn't seem to have much pain today. She's not loving the e-collar but she can't be trusted.

Trip to the vet

Today we have to take Patches to the vet. She was limping pretty badly (but not badly enough to stop running for food) about a month ago. We thought it was because of a spider bite. We had seen quite a few spiders in the apartment a few days before the limping started. After about a week she seemed fine. Until Wednesday.

Wednesday night I noticed that she was limping again. Same leg as before. Which just so happens to be her cancer leg. Yeah. I was worried about this a month ago when the limping started, but now, I was freaking out. I grabbed her and started feeling for a lump. Which I found. In pretty much the same location as the other 2 masses. Itchy felt it too so it's not just in my head. What are the odds that this isn't cancer?

Stowa

Look kid, it's time to talk. It's been real fun and all, but this needs to come to an end soon. It's true your parents are slackers and we really aren't "ready" for you but we'll figure it out. We always do. You need to get accustomed to this anyway. We wing it a lot. You'll see.

The thing is you need to make your debut in the next 3 weeks. It's really your dad's fault. He is the one with the wacky schedule. He's starting a new rotation on Monday. He'll be on that rotation for 3 weeks. This would be an ideal time for you to arrive. He won't have a ridiculously insane schedule. He'll most likely be able to get time off and be there for your delivery. Not to mention that he won't have to go in early (and by early I mean before 6 am) and he'll be home at a reasonable time. It's more like a regular 9-5 job (and by 9-5 I mean 7-7).

The rotation that he starts after that won't be as flexible. It's a lot more demanding. It will require him to have weird hours. Odds are he'll be getting called in at all hours of the night. He could be in surgery when you decide to arrive therefore causing him to miss out on all that fun. Now surely you don't want your dad to miss this, do you? I didn't think so.

I'm not even going to mention how *uncomfortable* I am. I will once again remind you that the longer you wait, the harder you will have to fight with the cats to reclaim what was suppose to be yours. Patches will fight dirty. I'm not saying she won't share, but (she might not) you'll have to wait your turn.

I'm not above bribes. Name your price and we'll talk. I'm sure we can strike a deal.

Is this wrong?

So I had to buy Cuddles a new bed the other day. Well, make that another bed. The new bed certainly isn't going to replace the old bed. Anyway, he's been spending a lot of time in his bed lately, and since it's in the bedroom, it means that he's spending a lot of time alone. Which makes me sad. He usually hangs out with me. I thought that having a new bed that would stay in the living room would solve this problem. It worked pretty well. He really likes his new bed. He's been hanging out in the living room with me again.

Now the problem is that I feel bad that Patches didn't get a new bed. She doesn't have a bed at all. Sure she has the cat tree. And a pile of blankets on the love seat (which let's face it, belongs to the cats). But she has no dedicated bed of her own. She's never really shown an interest in having one. She's usually pretty content with sleeping on the floor, my neck, my bed, a pile of paper on the floor, or any old cardboard box that she can fit into.

But now that Cuddles has a new bed and Stowa's stuff has been filtering in, she's taken a sudden interest in their stuff. As seen here:
She's been sleeping in the bouncy chair since it was put together. I can't blame her, it does look awfully comfy. And she fits in it pretty well. Part of me thinks that I shouldn't let her sit in it. But then I can't come up with a single valid reason why she shouldn't sit in it. But what about when the baby gets here? I may occasionally want to put the baby in the bouncy chair. But Patches looks so cute sitting there and I feel bad kicking her out. I don't want her to resent the baby.

So I'm thinking about buying another chair. For my cat.

Invasion

The apartment is being invaded by Asian Lady Beetles. It's freaking gross. There are hundreds of these damn things hanging out on the sliding glass doors. A few have managed to find a way in. I guess that it's just that time of year, but it's grossing me out. Bugs usually don't bother me. We have an agreement, they stay outside and they live. They come inside my house and they die. It's win win. But there are just so many of them. I don't want to kill them but I want them off of my door.

The internet says that soapy water will deter them. I'm going to give it a try.

Umm, yeah. That really isn't working out so well. I think I just let in more bugs. If I could go outside without being attacked by these damn things I'd walk to the store to buy bug spray.

I'm in for it now

So I had my first appointment with the doctor that is suppose to deliver Stowa today. As you may remember, I was going to a NP at the PPC up until two weeks ago. I was routinely transferred to the OB because I'm 37 weeks pregnant. Stowa is technically considered full term at this point. She can come at any time now. If she waits for another 5 weeks she's never going to be able to get Patches off of her stuff. It'll be round after round of baby vs. cat for the bouncy chair! Maybe we can get people to place bets on it?

Anyway, I didn't get to choose my new doctor because of stupid insurance issues. When I found out who I had been assigned to I Googled her. Turns out most of her patients haven't liked her. Most of the reviews said that she didn't have the best bedside manner. For the most part the reviews are dead on. She doesn't seem to have much personality. Whatever. The appointment was fast with little to no chit chat. I can handle that.

Everything with Stowa is fine. Still growing as she should be, heartrate was good, and she is still head down. I apparently am fine as well.

However, I did get the H1N1 vaccine today. According to many, many people I shall come down with some terrible disease at any minute. Wait, this might be it right now. Nope, false alarm. Turns out it was just more heartburn. Whew! I am officially part of the "government de-population program" now. I've always wanted to be a part of a conspiracy theory! It's so exciting. I really wish that there was a universal sarcasm font. It would be oh so appropriate for this.

Not liking this

I'm really not liking this. At all. It's cold here. It's only going to get colder. This will be the first winter Itchy and I have had since 2005/2006. I do not care for it. The thought of snow is just gross.

Hibernating sounds like the way to go.

36 weeks

Yep, somehow or another 36 weeks have gone by. It's gone by really fast. Life has sort of been a whirlwind since April. So many changes all at the same time. It's a little overwhelming when I sit back and think about all of it. And it's not at all what we had planned.

Anyway, I've got pictures for you. Here's the 36 week belly.
Here are the other two blankets I made for Stowa. Nothing fancy, but they should be warm. Normally I don't care for the tie together (no sew) fleece blankets. They just aren't my thing. But I had left over fabric and didn't want it to go to waste. And yes, those are cats. The crazy cat lady's baby has 2 cat blankets to match all the cat clothes that she has (Stowa has a lot of clothes with kittens on them).

Let's see, I put together more baby stuff over the weekend. I don't want to freak the cats out with all this baby stuff so I planned to do a little at a time. It worked well with my procrastination plan. Not surprisingly, the cats are more interested in the now empty boxes than the actual baby stuff. Anyway, here's the baby swing (thanks Grandma!) and chair.

Lastly, I can't remember if I posted this before or not. Itchy and I decided that it would be kind of cool to have a solar system mobile for the baby instead of the traditional babyish mobiles. So we bought this do it yourself kit. Let's all remember that I am no artist. I can't even draw decent stick people. But I think this turned out pretty well. We have little glow in the dark stars that we can hang up as well.

Tour

Itchy and I went on the hospital tour today. We did end up being the only ones on the tour. No big surprises, everything was pretty much what I expected. The only thing that I don't really care for was that you have to change rooms after delivery. It's not a huge deal but most newer hospitals keep you in the same room from the time to get there until you are discharged. Moving seems like a hassle but whatever. All the rooms are private which is all that I can really ask for. They really encourage breastfeeding as soon as possible after the birth and have lactation consultants there every day. They have a nursery available but encourage moms to keep their babies with them as much as possible. It's the only hospital in the area (from what I've read) that has a Level III NICU. Obviously I don't want to use the NICU but it's good to know that it's there if we need it.

Let's see, the tour guide basically told Itchy that his role will be to do whatever I want and need. She also said that my idea of laboring at home for as long as possible, not having people hanging around in the waiting room, etc were good ideas. Not that Itchy disagreed with that stuff, but it's good for him to hear it from someone other than me.

Itchy and I also talked about the whole grandparents visiting after Stowa arrives ordeal. And yes it will be an ordeal. His parents are so unpredictable. My mom has asked what we wanted her to do. She's also (much, much) more likely to be helpful around here than Itchy's mom. In an ideal world, I want the first day or two at home to just be Itchy, Stowa, the cats, and I. Then my mom would be here for about a week. After that, Itchy's mom and dad will come for up to a week (I'm sure they'll want to stay longer than that but seriously, one week is more than enough).

Reality is that Itchy's mom will pull the "I'm dying" card (which she is, but it's not like waiting for a week is going to make a huge difference. If it were, I'd make damn sure she got to meet her granddaughter). She's made comments that she wants to be here for the birth. I don't know if she's planning on trying that but I wouldn't put it past her. That would just suck. What the hell are they going to do before the baby is born? Sit on my couch and wait for me to go into labor? Yeah, that won't be awkward. So let's say that Itchy can talk them into waiting until after the baby is born. They are going to want to be here *right* away. I'd rather not be recovering from child birth with his parents trying to help. I'm guessing his mom's idea of helping will be holding the baby, bashing the cloth diapers, and trying to sneak in formula. Want to be helpful? Do the dishes. Not to mention that I'm not really cool with breastfeeding in front of Itchy's mom and dad. But really, who knows what is going to happen? You just can't predict crazy. Maybe they'll get here and be really respectful and helpful. Maybe they won't make me uncomfortable. Maybe they won't just want to sit at my house 24/7 without giving Itchy and I time alone to figure out this whole parenting thing. Maybe I'll be on such strong medication that I won't even notice that they are here.

One more thing done

It hasn't exactly been the most productive week. This was Itchy's first week back to school after having the last 6 weeks off. It was weird not having him here. At least for the first couple of days. The cats and I are back into our normal routine. Or close to it. They seem to want to snuggle a lot more these days. Patches in particular. Cuddles has always been a lap cat (he's in my lap as I type). Patches wants to be held a lot more often. The three of us spent a good hour this afternoon just snuggling on the couch this afternoon. This really isn't a bad way to spend the day. In fact, I highly recommend it.

Anyway, one of the things on my to do list was to schedule a tour of the hospital. Having never been to the hospitals around here, I thought it was probably a good idea. Since I didn't know which hospital I'd be going to until last week (when I finally got my insurance figured out), I couldn't really schedule this until now. So tomorrow I'm going on a private tour of the labor and delivery unit at the hospital. The hospital does scheduled tours twice a month. You have to sign up to go on the tour. Apparently, no one else has signed up so I'll be the only one on the tour. At least I can be sure that my questions will be answered.

For Pete's sake, another one

Yes I had ANOTHER appointment yesterday. I wish I could just call it in. I'm pretty sure that I can take my own blood pressure. I can also tell them that yes, I do have mild swelling. I could have taken the "signs of labor quiz" over the phone (I passed the quiz by the way, Itchy totally failed when I asked him the same questions last night). The only thing I really needed to be there for was the flu shot I got, but honestly, it would have been easier to just walk over to Walgreens. I think I start my weekly appointments now. This was also my last appointment at the PPC. I'm being transferred to the OB that is suppose to deliver Stowa. Don't worry, it's not because there is anything wrong. It's just the policy at the PPC. Preggos get transferred at 36 weeks. Which is next week for me. No one needs to start calling to ask if I'm in labor.

Anyway, I've got pictures for you. Nothing all that exciting, but it's better than me just bitching about my heartburn (have I told you how bad it's been lately? It's terrible!).

Here is Stowa's dresser. It's a re-purposed entertainment center. Itchy and I bought it off of Craig's list (it came with our living room furniture) when we first moved here. We later bought a TV that was way too big to fit inside of the entertainment center. Since it was just sitting around, I thought we'd make it useful.
Obviously, I've got some folding to do. My organization skills are sub par. Not to mention that I haven't actually taken tags off or washed any of her stuff. I had a "what if Stowa is a boy" moment a few weeks ago and haven't yet been able to cut tags off.
I told you Stowa had a place to sleep. I know it may not look like the tent is on there very securely, but it is. Besides the cats have not shown any interest in it at all (despite the fact that Patches is in the picture with the Pack N Play and the dresser).
This is one of the blankets that I made for Stowa. I haven't taken pictures of the other two yet.

Sorry, Blogger won't let me rotate the picture. But since the little birds are facing every which way, it doesn't really matter.
That's pretty much it. I'm working my way down the "To Do" list. Since I'm at a point where it involves making phone calls and having to interact with people, I'm doing my best to put it off. I don't feel like talking to stupid people at this point. I also hate making phone calls. Email is so much easier. Did I mention that involves insurance? I hate dealing with insurance. It's stupid and no one ever gives me a straight answer.

At least she's got a place to sleep

I put my procrastination aside for a little while today. Stowa won't have to sleep in the laundry basket.

The cat proof tent arrived today. The online reviews were mixed as to whether it works with the bassinet portion of the Pack N Play or not. Since we are going to be using the bassinet part of the Pack N Play, I wanted to make sure the tent would work or at least be rigged to work. If it wasn't going to work, I wanted to know now so that I could come up with an alternative.

Well in order to find out if the tent was going to work, I had to put the Pack N Play together. That was easy enough. The tent was a little more difficult and I had to get Itchy to finish it because it just wasn't working for me. Anyway, it's all put together and the tent does indeed work. It may not be attached the way that they recommend attaching it, but it's on there and it keeps the cats out. We even put Patches on top of it and it held her weight.

So for anyone out there that is looking at the Tots in Mind Cozy Indoor/Outdoor Portable Playard Tent and wondering if you can use it with the bassinet, the answer is yes.