Braziers, Big Babies and Puppy Dog Nails



 Good day everyone!

Last week was jam-packed with all sorts exciting/exhausting happenings.  I was looking forward to taking it easy all weekend.  At this stage of my pregnancy, my interpretation of that is very little walking, propping up in bed and reading my baby books. 

I keep threatening Adam each week with “this is my last grocery trip.”  I haven’t made good on that.  I’m too much of a control freak!  I am THAT lady.

I am the one that organizes the order in which her groceries get loaded onto the cash register conveyer belt.  I have also recently taken to “shooing” away the bagger and bagging my own groceries if he doesn’t listen when I try to instruct on which items should be bagged together (HELLO! Frozen goods keep refrigerated goods cold! Duh!).  Eggs and bread?  Ha!  I don’t even let the cashier touch those items.  The cashier is forced to use the scan gun while I hold those two items in my hand then I quickly bag them and place them back in my cart. 

Oh yes, I am now, a full-fledged control freak. 

Anway, enjoying the perks of a country that celebrates every holiday with a day off, I lounged around the house on Thursday (our Friday) for Islamic New Year.  Adam made us pizza and wings from scratch.  He has always been great at tailgate food and baking, but he is developing mad skills with traditional American cuisine.  Since most restaurants here can’t quite nail traditional favorites, he has pulled up his sleeves and mastered items like pizzas from scratch (for the sake of our baby’s cravings of course, not mine).

Friday morning, (with loud huffs and puffs) I jumped into our SUV for some grocery shopping. 

We ended up back at Toys-R-Us where I bought Savannah one major item to be my official Christmas gift.  I have a feeling my trips to the store are really approaching their end.  I realize she won’t be able to play with anything for months, but every baby needs gifts at Christmas!

What a UAE store normally offers

We hopped around two grocery stores for all our items and by the end of the day, I realized the time had come for me to retire all shoes except tennis shoes and my favorite Haviana flip-flops.  I’ve reached the icky swelling stage.  Ditto for clothing – if it doesn’t stretch, it’s not fitting.  Luckily I only have two more weeks in the office before I get to begin working from home.  So, until then, I can hide myself in my  flip-flops and stretchy clothing in my office.  Though my hands and fingers haven’t taken on sausage quality, I do feel some pressure by my wedding rings and so have decided to not wear them for the remainder of the pregnancy.  Hope everything returns back to normal in a few weeks.

Anyway, on Saturday, we woke up pretty early to make the drive to Dubai for our 35 week doctor’s appointment.  We always use this excuse to stop off at the major Dubai malls.  Abu Dhabi has decent malls, but really, no other place on the planet has malls as big or decadent as Dubai.

There has always been one major exception – the Victoria’s Secret stores here have always sucked.  For whatever reason, they only carried their fragrances and shower/lotion products.  I had set myself up to order everything I needed from the US.  However, we discovered the grand opening of the first full Victoria’s Secret store in the UAE at the mall yesterday!  I am seriously excited about this!  We walked by the store but didn’t go in since there was a line guided by velvet rope waiting to get in and we had to head out to our doctor’s appointment. 

What the new Dubai store offers-notice: NO "Angels"

From the outside, I could spot all the major lines they offer!  Interestingly enough, through a little Google research, I found the battle in bringing their undergarments to the UAE revolved around the advertising campaigns.  Amazingly enough, the manequins here are allowed protruding "nips" while it is completely unacceptable for Miranda Kerr or Aurdriana Lima to flaunt Victoria's Secret products in a storefront display.  So, everything is on manequins. 

Before leaving the mall, we made a stop at a local book store to continue adding to Savannah's book stash.  I LOVE to read and I have always LOVED collecting books.  I want to be sure this is one of the first good habits we instill in her, a love of reading!  So, we each selected some basics along with some special Christmas items.  I'm still on the hunt for a nice hard-bound copy of the Polar Express.  It was sold out at the store we visited, so I may need to special order!  Nothing motivates the competitive shopper in me like something being out-of-stock!

Savannah's book stash additions

We then made our way to the American Hospital to meet up with our doctor.  She did a couple of quick tests and checked my belly.  At this point, she’s refusing to give me weight estimates.  She did say something that pretty much sealed the deal about Savannah’s size.  I asked if she was going to check if I had progressed any “down there.”  I’m only 35 weeks, but she said that her method of checking “provokes” the baby and labor could be kicked off.  So, she’d rather wait until after the 37 week mark.  She also said that even though I’m only 35 weeks, because the baby is of “good size” that if I went into labor, she would not attempt to stop it.

What does this tell me?  We have a BIG baby on our hands.  Though this is my first pregnancy, I have always been able to sense she would be big.  Her punches and kicks have intensified even more as she’s flipped into birthing position.  Two weeks ago, she was 5 lbs, 3 oz.   If she’s putting on the traditional ½ lb a week, she’s already over 6 lbs.  She has anywhere from 2 – 5 more weeks to grow!  Thank goodness my doctor has a very calm bedside/no nonsense manner.  When she noticed I was worrying about her size, she told me, “No momma grows a baby she cannot give birth to.  There is no reason this baby will not be born naturally.”  She’s very anti C-Section unless absolutely medically required, as am I.  

So the visit went well…that is…at least anything related to the visit itself.  Halfway through our visit, we received a panicked phone call from our nanny/maid.  Teddy had accidentally pulled off one of his paw nails and was bleeding.  I was trying to stay calm, but was pretty freaked out about it.  These doggies have been our only babies for years!  Adam was all-out panicked, which of course, made me panic even more. 

I finally got enough information out of her and the internet to instruct her to pour cold water on it and have him rest his paw on ice.  This stopped the bleeding and numbed it at the same time. 

Poor Teddy-full of meds and with bandaged foot

As soon as the doctor’s visit was over, we raced (at a safe speed of course) home.  By the time we arrived, Teddy had eaten his supper and seemed to be in good spirits.  His paw was still bleeding a little, so we packed him in to the car and drove him to the Australian Vet. 

It turns out that even more initially painful, him losing his entire nail was beneficial.  He didn’t require any additional clipping or cutting.  They cleaned out the wound, bandaged him up and gave him a shot of antibiotics and pain killer.  He was woozy by the end of his trip, but loves car rides, so was still in good spirits.  You could tell our poor pup didn’t feel good as he slept next to our bed all night.  To make sure he didn’t bite at his bandage, he was put in a cone.  Teddy, like all dogs, hates cones.

He’ll be in the cone for about two days, then we’ll remove it when we remove his bandage.  He’s on oral antibiotics for 5 days.  He's a strong pup and I'm sure he'll be on the mend in no time.

With that, it’s back to work!  Over the weekend, I was moved into a bigger office!  It’s really not that different from my old office, but I do have bigger windows and more cabinet space.

Hope everyone has a good week!  I hope for a calm one without any medical emergencies, both people and K9 related!