The Bensons v. Plano PD

You can file this story away in the "That Bi*ch is Pissed" folder.

OK, it's not as bad as it sounds. Really! But here's the lowdown. In mid-December, I received a letter in the mail stating that I owed $100 for running a red light. Boo.

So I looked for the when and where.

April 2011. No, that's not a typo. The City of Plano was sending me a notification for a red light ticket from more than 2.5 years ago. This was the first we were hearing of it. There was no picture included to prove I did it and no intersection - nothing - just a letter saying you need to pay this or we're putting a registration hold so you can't renew your vehicle registration. Bitches.

So over Christmas break, I had the hubby call. They essentially said that they sent the ticket and a follow-up to us (turns out it was our old address that we hadn't lived at for over 9 months!) He explained this and the lady was basically like, that's too bad, you can't argue it because it was from too long ago so you owe the $75 and a $25 late fee. After a little bit of smooth-talking that my hubby is so good at, she said she'd follow up with someone and call us back and then hung up on him. (No, she never called back.)

Cue me:

I'm talking snap-your-fingers-in-a-Z-formation mad.

As Greg puts it, "Oh, they messed with the wrong lady. Plus, you're a stay at home mom so you have all the time in the world to fight this."

My response:

Mmmm, not quite. (He was kidding.)

But over the past week, I've dealt with this during morning nap time. Connor's, not mine, unfortunately. Mostly because I get so fired up... and I just can't have sweet Connor around his crazy Momma when I'm dealing with things that really fire me up.

So my latest convo with Red Light Camera Phone Operator #3 was like this:

Me: But I never received the ticket to begin with. You've sent no proof via a photo and, um, this was nearly 3 years ago.

Lady: You're not the first person to have this situation. It doesn't matter if you knew about it or not, you still have to pay it.

Me: Our address had been updated with all state agencies and mail was forwarding, so it's not our fault that you were working off a database that wasn't updated. Can I at least have the late fee removed since this is the first I'm hearing of it?

Lady: No.

Me: Can I have a court date so I can present my case and argue it? (Can't you just see me entering the courtroom with Connor on my hip?! They clearly don't know they are messing with a former high school Mock Trial Lawyer. And I have the golden gavel to prove it.)
Lady: No, too much time has passed.

I got pretty mad, so I honestly don't remember all the details - I may or may not have threatened to call the local news station's consumer action line because "I think the public would be interested to know how the local government is trying to screw taxpayers and collect on something that allegedly happened almost 3 years ago. I say 'allegedly' because you show no proof!" Dramatic much? 

But eventually, I was able to talk to someone in the Plano PD and explain the situation. He was really super-nice and reminded me of a Grandpa. He got the late fee removed and even said something to the effect of "Shame on the State of Texas for not having their information updated." Yeah, take that, Texas!

So, long story short long: We got the late fee removed and we'll be paying our ticket.

Turns out I guess I ran the red light.

Woops.

Operation: Flip That Baby

A trip to the doctor last week (baby is totally fine!) and a sonogram gave us some news that we were not anticipating. Apparently, our little baby is breech as of right now. This means that instead of being head-down, his head is hanging out near my right rib cage and his spine on my side and his legs and arms are folded up in front of him. And note that when I say "little baby," I mean "ginormous baby." OK, not necessarily ginormous, but according to my all-knowing BabyCenter app, our little guy should weigh in around 4 3/4 lb. Nope, according to our sonogram technician, he's weighing around 5 lb, 5 oz. It's just a matter of time before I start having nightmares that my baby will come out this size:

But back to the whole breech baby sitch... Basically, my doctor and nurse (and 8-10 other not-necessarily-qualified-to-answer people) I asked seem to think the baby still has a few weeks to flip. If he doesn't, it's scheduled c-section city for me and I'm not a happy camper about it. And note that when I say "not a happy camper," I mean "I cried at the doctor's office, then cried at lunch after the doctor appointment, then cried some more at home." It's one thing to go through labor and for one reason or another, things don't work out and you have to have a c-section, but as a first-time mommy-to-be, I feel like a scheduled c-section is sort of robbing me of the experience. (Healthy baby is obviously the #1 priority!)

So, enter Operation: Flip That Baby (said like how they say "Spin That Wheel" on The Price is Right or is it Wheel of Fortune?). My yoga instructor has been talking about this pose you can do that helps to balance out your uterus (TMI?) and can help in flipping a breech baby. It involves kneeling on the edge of a couch with your forearms on the ground, head-tucked for 30 seconds. So, I've been doing those religiously. I'm also currently blogging live from my living room with my rear up in the air. (again, TMI?) I even entered the dangerous, but very informational Internet vortex of home remedies for flipping a breech baby. So far, we've tried almost every (perfectly safe) option:

• Inversions (yoga poses as noted above)
  
• Talking to the baby, being encouraging, asking him to flip, if he can. I'm pretty sure the hubby looked at me like this when I explained this one to him:

  
But bless his heart, he's trying to be supportive of my craziness, so he even got down at the bottom of my tummy and talked to the baby. I'm pretty sure it started out something like, "Connor, this is your father speaking..." :-)

• Putting a cold pack up by where the baby's head is (apparently babies don't like this) and something warm down at the bottom of my tummy. I think this pissed him off quite a bit as there was quite a bit of movement. No telling if he flipped, though.
  
• Playing music at the bottom of my belly (It's like a "go toward the sound" idea). I've set up a pretty awesome Baby Lullaby Pandora station. Hopefully, he's not all like "Ugh, Mom, turn that shiz off..."
• Shining a flashlight at the bottom of my belly (similar to the above craziness, babies are supposed to "go toward the light.") Thirty seconds after starting this, we felt bad and worried he might get scared so we stopped this one.
  
• Peppermint oil - I haven't tried this one yet, but apparently you rub it at the top of your belly and babies don't like the smell, so it makes them want to flip.

I go back to the doctor on Thursday, but won't have another sonogram until next week, but we're hoping he flips before then. If you can, please send your prayers, good vibes and whatnot that he flips. Or if you know of any other tips or have experience with this issue, I'm definitely open to them!