Christmas Shopping

Holiday shopping can be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes.  I've got a list of people in front of me that I plan to buy gifts for, even if it's just something small.  Some people were easier to shop for than others, probably because I know some of them better than others and therefore know what they would like the most.  My mom for one was an easy person to get gifts for, but my grandfather on the otherhand is the hardest person for me to buy for every year.  He doesn't want anything and he really doesn't need anything.  I really hate to get him a gift certificate and nothing else but he does like to eat out.  My dad and his wife I'll be getting gift certificates for but those were the only people I was going to do that with.  The only thing I can think of for my grandpa is a sweater or a sweatshirt.  I'm just really not sure.  My mom got him a sweater already so I don't know if we should do the same.  I've got a list in front of me of the things I want to go buy tomorrow and a list of the stores we'll have to visit.  Some people I know what I want to get them but I have to go to several different stores to find the right one.  Right now, there is 14, possibly 15 stores that we will be at some point tomorrow afternoon.  That's a lot of crowds to deal with.  Most of those stores are in the mall, which might even make it worse.  Plus, I want to look at baby stuff because we're going to be buying some of those bigger items soon and I'd like to pin down just which ones we want.  At some point and time I'm going to be forced to use a (gasp) public bathroom, since I'm pregnant, it's inevitable.  This is ridiculous, there's 11 people on my list and I'm going to end up at 14 or more stores.  I don't mind the shopping, I love spending money, I mind the PEOPLE.  They bump into you, are rude and walk too slow or they'll stand in the middle of the isles like they own the place.  I'm going to come home grouchy, and sore for sure. 

Got My Card

I got my Medicaid card today!!!!  =)  I'm not sure exactly what is covered.  It says: Doctor's Office Visits, Hospital services, Health clinic services, Laboratory and X-ray services, Emergency treatment services, Family planning services, Mental health services, Mental health services, Prescription drugs, Medical equipment and supplies, Rehabilitative therapies, Transportation to health care services, Vision care, Dental care ($600 a year limit) Nursing home and hospice care, Case management services.  But I don't know if that means those things are paid in full by Medicaid or what procedures are covered.  I mean, it says vision care but I'm sure that laser eye surgery isn't included in that.  I've done some looking online but can't find anything that is any more elaborate than what I recieved in the mail.  I may have to ask my case worker about that or ask if there's some pamplet or something that describes it better.  For now I'm just happy I got the card.  I'm so relieved that I don't have to worry about medical expenses anymore.  It's one less thing to stress me out and believe me, I stress easily since I'm pregnant.  I read online that MY medicaid could be taken away once the baby is born, even though people with children qualify.  I have a feeling I'm going to have to go through a whole new set of ordeals.  I was offered food stamps at the DFC but I declined them.  I'm only going to use what I need.  I'm sure I qualified for just about any kind of assistance the state provides but I don't NEED it so I'll continue to decline those as well.  I don't know what the limitations are on some of those things and I could actually NEED them someday and not qualify because I already used it.  Well, I'd better find something to eat for lunch or I'll pay for it later.

Shopping

Things are a little better today.  I went and had a talk with Shawn about what's been bothering me and it sounds like he and I will be going shopping alone on Saturday.  I usually wouldn't  have him do that to one of his friends but I thought just once I was going to ask him to do something for me.  The reason I say sounds like is because he had said before that I could go with him and his friend and then at the last minute acted like he forgot.  I've just been really stressed out this past month.  Feel like I'm in this mostly on my own.  Well, I've got a migraine so I'm going to go lay down.

Since no one else wants to discuss this with me, I guess I'm going to post it on my journal.  Apparently, Shawn made plans for Friday to go Xmas shopping with his friend Justin and then again on Saturday with his friend Paul.  I guess I just wasn't at the top of his priority list when he was thinking about who might have things they want to buy.  I feel like since he's making all the money, that I have no say so in what is bought for Xmas for MY family.  Again, his friends come before I do.  The only thing he's worried about is proving he's right and not figuring out the REASON I'm upset.  Now he's upstairs pouting for something HE did.  This always happens.  I get upset about something and he gets pissed off at me for being upset in the first place.  Now he's trying to get me to go shopping either AFTER he and Justin go or WITH him and Paul.  Gee, thanks honey, I'm glad I'm so important to you.  When I tried to explain to him why I didn't want to go with him and Paul, he gets shitty.  Well, let's see here, I would be the third wheel, HIS girlfriend.  They would spend the entire day making fun of me and by the time I got to go home I would feel miserable and just want to spend the night crying.  It'd be nice to have my feelings thought of once and a while instead of his friends coming first but I guess he'd have to run out of friends before that would happen.

Got Medicaid??

According to the supervisor at the DFC, I now have Medicaid.  I just have to wait for my card in the mail.  We had to spend almost an hour waiting after she got my paperwork but it was worth it if I get a card in the mail within the next week.  (I was told it would be here in 48-72 hours)  So I made another appointment with my OB, since I had to cancel the one I have for Monday.  It's for December 30th at 9:15am.  I WILL have my ultrasound on that day even if it means I have to go to the hospital to get it.  I'll be five months pregnant by then.  So I have a few weeks in case DFC screws up again.  The supervisor apologized and said she was going to have a talk with my case worker.  I just think the woman didn't like me so she "accidently" lost my papers.  As soon as we got there, someone let her know we were waiting, so she packs up her stuff and leaves.  The receptionist told us that.  She was joking about it but I didn't find it to be very funny when I've been calling this woman everyday for the last week. 

Tonight, me, my brother and Shawn went out to eat at Logan's Steakhouse.  I'm usually not a red-meat person but since I've become pregnant, I've been craving it.  I got a steak, baked potato and mac and cheese, plus they give you free dinner rolls and I had three and a half of them.  Believe it or not, when we left, I was still hungry.  I'm getting ready to go find something small to eat right now.  It's ridiculous how much food I can eat now without getting close to full. 

More Medicaid Crap

DFC keeps putting me off so me and Shawn went up there on Wednesday.  I was pretty pissed by the time we got up there.  The receptionist took my information, copied it and then was supposed to have given it to the supervisor.  I was told to call them the next day, anytime after 9:30am and that they'd have it figured out by then.  I called and again my case worker said that she was busy and would call me back.  I didn't even touch the phone all day and she never called.  I called again today and got her voice mail so I pushed 0 to transfer me to the receptionist, she said she would put me on with the supervisor but only transfered me back to my case workers number.  So, I'll be back up there this afternoon since they can't seem to get their head out of their ass.  I have an appointment with WIC on January 11th.  That was the soonest appointment they had.  It's supposed to take from 1-2 hours.  I've started a baby gift registry at Wal-Mart.  It's mostly got toys and stuff on it.  I only did it because my dad is being a real pain in the ass about getting something together for "his" family to buy baby stuff.  Then he lectured me because there was only toys and some little stuff on there but I want to get a crib soon and I don't want someone else going and getting it.  Plus, we can't decide exactly what we want out of a stroller, high chair and things like that.  I don't want to put something on the registry, only to not get it and have to scramble when I'm 8 months pregnant to find the money for all those things.  So I put a $400 rocking chair on there, that'll give him something expensive to buy and maybe get him off my case. 

I'm definitely starting to show more everyday.  My brother is constantly pointing at my stomach and laughing.  The harder he laughs, the more I know I've grown.  haha  Well, I'm going to go get something to eat.  I'm starving.

No rest for the weary

I went to my nurse's appointment today.  I found out very quickly that in order to attend my first doctor's appointment this coming Monday that I must have $780 as a payment on the full amount, which comes to about $3,000.  That only covers my doctor's appointments and the hospital, that doesn't include, blood work, any kind of labs, ultrasounds, etc.  So of course, the first thing I did when I got home was call the DFC. (department of family and children) I was told she was with a client and would call me back.  I went out to get the mail and found that I had mail from the DFC.  It said that I had a new caseworker, so I called her to see what the deal was, hoping she wouldn't be busy as well.  She asked for my social security number and couldn't find it in the computer, she then asked for my last name, she said the only thing that was in the computer at all about me was my name and that I had for whatever reason been denied of my benefits.  She transfered me back to my original case worker, who of course was still busy because I had just spoken with her a few minutes before.  Again, she said she would call me back and had even repeated my phone number, she never called.  I will be calling her every day if that's what it takes.  The lady at the OB told me that there was a family practice that takes medicaid pending insurance and I could go to them but I wasn't able to even find them in the phone book so now I have to call my OB back and ask them where this place actually is.  This is such a pain in the ass.  I'll probably end up going to WIC to see what they can do to help me since the DFC is so incompetent that they can't even enter my name and information properly.

My grandma was the person who took me to my appointment today just in case they needed to draw blood.  We recently got a new dog, and I had originally been trying to get her to adopt it but for whatever reason, she decided that she didn't want the dog.  Well, we did and we adopted her.  We hadn't told my grandma though because we all knew the lecture we would get so we were going to put it off as long as possible.  I was going to put the dogs outside before she got here but she got here while I was brushing my teeth (the VERY firstthing I do in the morning) so I hadn't had time to put them out and she saw the dog.  I then got lectured abouthow unsanitary it is to have this many dogs in a house, especially with a baby on the way.  I couldn't make her listen to the fact that it's not MY dog, I wasn't the one who adopted her, she's my mom's dog.  I was immediately put into a bad mood this morning.  I know my grandma is just trying to help most of the time but more often than not, she just ends up upsetting someone.  She does more talking than LISTENING.  Once we got home, she kept trying to get me to do all this housework even though I was on and off the phone with caseworkers then entire time she was here.  And she kept telling me how good it was for me to get up and out of the house.  Apparently, she thinks I still sleep in till 4pm.  I swear, she thinks I never leave the house, I must order all my clothes offline.

I think this is kind of weird, I had my blood pressure taken today and it was 80 over 53.  Isn't that a little low??  She didn't seem concerned about it but you'd think it would be a little higher since I'm pregnant and pushing more blood through my body to get to the baby.  I'll have to look it up tomorrow sometime.  I weighed 106 today, which, according to doctor's scales would mean I'd gained 6lbs.  According to my scale at home, I've gained 11lbs.  I would prefer the 11 since I was already probably considered underweight before I got pregnant and have been told I should put on a little extra weight because of it.  I guess have a low body weight when you become pregnant can cause a low birth weight when the baby is born.  Well, I'm going to go to bed now, I hope.  I had so much trouble falling asleep last night.  I only ended up getting a few hours of sleep and waking up a full hour before my alarm even went off.