03.01.13

So the GD stuff hasn't been as bad as expected.. I think the hard part is getting past all the hunger in the beginning.. but once past that, it's not horrific!!

Here's how they looked as of a couple days ago..

Sunday, 2/24/13, was an interesting day.. I had a little "watch over me" helper most of the day because of a black out I had. Kinda odd.. I woke up and had bfast as usual.. went to go take my blood reading and shortly there after as I was standing in the bathroom, the sunshine started fading. But not because it was going behind a cloud or anything.. my vision started tunneling and I knew it was going - quickly!  I made my way to the bed but by the time I got there, the vision was completely gone! I could still head the TV but could see nothing. Sitting down on the bed, I waited about 30 seconds until it passed and went on with life.. Hubby wanted Li to come and sit with me because he couldn't.. it was his weekend to work so he was down in the basement, working. So that was interesting!

Monday, 2/25/13, was an interesting, too!  I called the Dr's office to let them know about the black out and that little man wasn't moving a ton.. With a snow storm looming over the entire city - after just having gotten 11-12 inches!! - they wanted me to go to LDR to get checked out. So I did.. Here's what I wrote on my chat board that day...


On my phone so not much typing ability without frustration so ill make this short.. 

Had a blackout yesterday morning..
Called dr today and let them know about it and that fetal movement is low.. 
Dr said go straight to LDR.. (Where I am right now)

First test strip for fluid showed I possibly broke my water.. 
Ordered another internal swab test and US..
US tech said fluid index is 10.44. Normal range for gestation is 14-22..
Did an internal exam and I'm slightly dialated.. 
Did the swabby test which came back negative.. Yay!!

However, the Dr isn't happy I'm contracting every 3 minutes..
Gave me two pills of something that started with "P" and they will check me in 2 hours..
If all is well, I get to go home! 

I'm exhausted!!!

And I was... :) I took advantage of the down time and just relaxed.. Pics of lunch with a view. haha!

I had my follow up on Thursday, 2/28/13, to go over the GD numbers and for my 31 week appt. Sure enough, little man isn't so little!!  He's measuring between 33.5 and 34.0 weeks according to the Dr!!
My high blood pressure reading was a good one.. as said earlier, she didn't think my sugar levels were too horrific but still wanted me to continue working on them.. (whew!!) HR was 147.. just a growing little weed of a little man. I go back in 2 weeks.. start my NSTs on that Friday. :)  Only gained .8 this time - that made me happy.

Tonight, hubby's sister and niece made it in from Illinois for the baby shower tomorrow.. which I absolutely can NOT wait for!!!!!!! :)  I've been looking forward to it since it was first mentioned months ago..

Off to bed to get some sleep - and wake up bright and early tomorrow for some mega fun with family and friends! :)

02.17.13

Well just blah. lol.. So I already know that I failed the 1 hour test.. on Wednesday, 2/13, I went in at 8am to take the 3 hour glucose test. Dear GOD is that stuff sickeningly sweet!! lol.. Got it down between 805 and 807 so they did blood draws every 60 minutes after that. I was able to see my results had come in via my online digi chart but it said Results Pending or Unavailable. I knew they were in, though.. So, Friday morning, I called and waited for someone to call me back.

My understanding is this..

Fasting = Should be under 95; My value was 97 (finger stick) 92 blood draw. PASS!
1 hour = Should be under 180, my value was 209 - FAIL!
2 hour = Should be under 160, my value was 154 (I think..) - PASS!
3 hour = Should be under 140, my value was 148 - FAIL!

So they officially labeled me as a gestational diabetic. I'm still in the process of learning what all that means.. They told me a glucose meter would be at the front desk starting that day and to make sure I pick it up in time for my appt. with the diet specialist.. who should call me directly from the hospital sometime this coming week. Until then, I've pretty much stopped eating concentrated sugars like ice cream and candy (except for the 4D U/S which I kinda needed to do.. but it was just one time, one day.

What I'm finding out is that it really is a matter of making carbs whole grain ones, incorporating more proteins and fiber content as well as fruits and veggies. That's kinda about it! Doesn't seem to be the end of the world.. but the whole blood taking thing is what's gonna be the end of me.. I don't do blood at ALL! :(

Friday night was a good one.. we had our 4D U/S of our little man. He did NOT want to cooperate in the slightest! lol.. He had his fingers on his face.. his toes up in his eyes.. his cord was all OVER the place lol.. So getting some good shots was challenging but we got a few. :)  And a video. YAY! I can't wait to watch that one. He opened his eyes and yawned at least once so those were cute to see. But most of the time he was just sitting there, doing nothing but breathing. lol.. Not even asleep! Just being there. :) Maybe this will be an indicator of his personality? Maybe like his daddy.. super laid back and awesome. Seeing as though my husband didn't come to bed until 6am - when I got up for work this morning! - he can take the night shifts with this little man and let me catch some ZZzzz's. ;) hehe..

Saturday was a relax / grocery store day.. During the "relax" part of the day, the hubbs, child and I put together baby boy's crib! :)  When I went to the store, I bought a mattress for it - it really is a warm fuzzy feeling that things are starting to move in the right direction. :) Less than 2 weeks until my baby shower - I"m getting excited about that! One of the hosts is getting a menu together - sub sandwiches, pasta salad and something else I forgot.. and the other host is getting a cake. I can't believe how wonderfully blessed I am. PLUS my SIL (hubby's sister) I do believe is coming in from Illinois to join us!!  HOW COOL IS THAT!?!?!?! :D I wish my SIL from Cali could come too.. but she's got her hands SUPER full with 2 boys and another little one (gender unknown lol) on the way.. she's due in August.. She did surprise me when I had the baby shower for Liliana 10 years ago - which was amazing. But no such luck this time. And that's ok. Things are a LITTLE different this time around.

So that's about it for now.. one day at a time is the motto in the game of life! :)

Here some cool pics. :)

Valentines Day.. 

4D U/S Pics

The crib put together!!!

02.12.13

Welllllllllll... I didn't exactly pass my Glucose test. :(  I got the call yesterday afternoon but didn't get it until I left work which was WELL after the office closed. They left a voicemail that said they wanted to go over some test results with me. Blah..

So I called back this morning at 8 on the dot and sure enough, my results were crazy high - 185! They don't like to see over 135 so I bombed. My 3 hour test is now scheduled for tomorrow morning, 8am.

Fingers crossed everything goes ok!!!

Spring Clothes - Woohoo!

Old Navy has their "up to 40% off everything!" sale going on right now and I think I took advantage quite well! :) Got a couple of them in a couple different sizes because I'm not sure what size I'll need.. excited!!! :)

02.10.13

Oopsie! I was reminded this morning about my blog and that it hadn't been updated in a few. (blush) Whoops! lol..

Time is ticking away!!  I hit 28 weeks this past Friday.. Had my 28 weeks appt and of course the dreaded Glucose test - to which I'm quite sure I passed because no one has called me back. :) YAY!  On top of that, some other things from this appt include..


1. First time ever that they took my BP a couple times because it was high.. Dr said "the top" number was higher than he wanted to see but the "bottom number" was just fine. He didn't say what they were and of course like a dunce, I didn't ask. But, I called back Friday morning and asked b/c I felt like a dunce not knowing.. It was 148 / 64. I guess that's high for me since I'm usually in the 120s but not enough to truly worry about, I suppose. The Dr. made funky faces when discussing it but didn't ask me to come back for a recheck or anything. Maybe just a fluke? (shrugs)

2. I'm measuring 30 weeks. At my appt I was technically (according to the initial US) 27 w 4 d so they took the measurements twice.. crazy!!

3. I've gained 8lbs since the last appointment. OH MY GOD!!!!!!!! Up a total of 40 lbs now!! So much for keeping it under 35lbs the whole pregnancy! lol.. Hubby said weight gain is to be expected.. but God love him, he said it's all baby and he can't even tell I've gained much weight in other places. He's so sweet! lol..

4. Rh shot went a-ok! Glad it's over.. I'm not a shot fan. ;)

5. Since I'm in an "odd" week, I go back in 3 weeks to get onto an "even" schedule then continue on with every 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW! :D Things are moving right along!

In other news.. For the past 9.5 years, my daughter has been in limbo land with the word "dad". Her biological one hasn't wanted crap to do with her so it's just been she and I. Anytime there was a "daddy" function, my uncle would step up and be the man in her life.

A month ago, she proudly asked her "dad" (hubby) to be her date to her school's annual Father / Daughter Dance. The dance was last night.. I couldn't be more proud of these two!!!!!  I'm soooo blessed!! :D What a great guy he is.. Of course I have my moments - what marriage doesn't! - but I'm in full belief this is the man God picked for me. :)

Here's a couple pics of them before they left.. he even took her to McDonalds for a daddy, daughter dinner. :) Look at her smile in the pic of the two of them!!!  When she's happy, I'm happy. Love it!

This past week I gave the baby shower invitations to my co-worker who said she would be mailing them out soon. I can't believe it's about that time - a BABY SHOWER!!!  March 2nd - it's creaping up in just a couple of weeks!!!There's a blue dress I found at Target.com that I might order. It's super pretty! Very simple though.. I want simple this time. lol..

But coming up before then is our elective 4D / HD Live ultra sound appt. One hour of scanning over our little man and a video of it all with unlimited pictures in "color" (sepia, I'm sure) as keepsakes. That's coming up this Friday, the 15th. Sooo exciting!

Had the LOVELY conversation starter with my boss this past week about my time off of work. The Dr. "ok'ed" 6 weeks off which is what I believe they do medically for vaginal birth but with little man not being here yet, we don't have dates set in stone. He (the boss) was all over my taking only 6 weeks.. until I asked him if he was opposed to 8-10. He said he was not opposed but we would have to talk to HR. I think he'll ok the 8 but not the 10. And knowing it will be completely up to him to decide what is ok, I need to be careful so he doesn't spite me with only 6 approved. That would piss me off horrifically! The thing that irks me now is that I've elected to pay for 12 weeks of supplemental income from Aflac based on the fact our corporate HR says they like to follow FMLA practices.. which says 12 weeks are available.   We'll see how it all plays out but I have this feeling it'll be 8 weeks post postpartum.  Wonder if I could finaggle some time off BEFORE baby gets here. hehehe.. Sad to say but I know it would piss him off so I want it that much more. lol..

The baby name front has taken a twist this past week, as well! lol.. I thought we had finally decided on Austin Alexander as the baby's name but hubbs says he's not so sure. It's still in first place but we had tossed out Grayson and Aiden but they got booted within 24 hours because of the "popularity" they have come in the past year or so. Hubbs is still considering Bram.. he won't let it go. So I guess I'll consider it, too.. maybe a little more than I want to. lol.. But being his probably only child, I want him to have a little more say so. I think it'll either be Bram Alexander or Austin Alexander for our son's name. Maybe we'll wait till he's born and see what he looks like. :) Here's hoping not too many more names get tossed into that pool to choose from. lol..

February 28th at 4:20 is my next baby appt.. WOW - Almost March!!!!!!!!!!!! Which is almost April.. which is almost my month!!!!!!!!!!!!!

01.27.13

One of my chat board friends started a thread today about being prepared for baby.. where you stand right now, kind of question. And for it, I had two responses.. 

Re. work - 

I take ONE day off and all hell breaks loose :(  They aren't detail oriented and don't dive into the level of work that I do to get a job done right.. When I was off for 2 weeks because I got married, I was dealing with residual issued for 3 MONTHS afterwards... I'm QUITE nervous about taking 3 MONTHS off. 

What I refuse to do is be "on call" for them if they need help.. either you get a schedule worked out for me to be available or you leave me alone COMPLETELY.  I'm head of Quality and he's wanting our only HR rep to do my job.. she's begged and pleaded with him (the boss) to hire someone because she it straight up telling him she can't do it. But he refuses.. 

This is going to get VERY messy.

Re. personal feelings - 

With each day that passes, I have a greater and greater feeling that Austin will be here in April.. so I'm lurking more here (not that I didn't already). :)

I'm pretty much a roll with it kind of girl.. and with this little man, that hasn't changed. I suppose that I'll be as ready as I'm going to be with what time and resources I have. 

We have diapers and a car seat to bring him home as well as a couple bottles of formula in the event that I can't BF at first.. with that in mind, everything else, DH could go get.. but we already have clothes and body wash and towels etc. 

I'm not terribly concerned about the things on my registry since we could go without them and improvise if we didn't have them and he came.. 

So.. to answer the OP question, other than work which I can't control their inability to be ready, I'm feeling very at peace right now. Ready for baby.. ready for labor.. ready for a new chapter in my life to begin. :)

_______________________________________________________________________________

Friday night was a big "blow up" night in our home.. I was telling a good friend of mine that it was one of those, I'm so angry I can't even yell! type moments. I'm really hoping it cleared some things up between DH and I.. And honestly, I'm ready to get back on anti-depressants. It's been REALLY rough. :(

Last night was an AWESOME time in Lawrence for a girlfriend's bridal shower.. but the events of the night started when I was on my way home. My back started pulsing – again. Like 2 weeks ago when I woke up in the middle of the night with contractions. So I drove a little faster.. then my front started spasming.. it never got tight or hard like a contraction would make it.. but it was pinging.. That’s about the only word I can use to describe it. Odd, I know.. so being an hour away from home scared me cuz I didn’t know what to expect. By the time I made it home, I was hurting pretty bad. I called down to DH to let him know I was home and just a slap in the face, I realized what I was feeling was the same back pain I had with DD the night before she was born. I immediately jumped into the shower and let the hot water just flow over my back to relax my muscles. I could feel Austin moving around quite a bit, too.. so I’m not sure if it was something he was doing that was making all this happen or if all this happening was making him move but there was a LOT of activity.

About 35 minutes after I got into the shower, I decided I was feeling better and it was ok to get out and into bed. I called my mom to let her know what was going on and it was about that time DH came upstairs.. I didn’t think the bug him about it just because I knew it was probably nothing.  But he heard the phone conversation and was like.. “What’s going on??” so I let mom go to tell him. Mom says I should call the Dr if it starts back up again, even remotely.. but so far today, nothing. I felt like I had just run a marathon after that incident last night was over so I crashed pretty fast – and that’s what happened with DD, 10 years ago. It wore me out!!  Not sure what exactly was happening but am VERY glad it’s over!

Aside from all that, I was up ALL night with acid reflux.. I finally went to the garage to get the Tums from my purse at 3am (that was in my SUV lol) but even they didn't help any. Plus with all the tinkling I had to do, last night was just plan ‘ol shot to hell. Lol..

Today I’m in bed, taking it easy.. DD went with my mom last night to hang out so I’ll pick her up later today. But other than that, just taking it easy! :)

01.24.13

99 bottles of beer on the wall.. 99 bottles of beer.. take one down, pass it around 98 bottles of beer on the wall!

Ok now let's try it in MY language!

99 days of baking remains.. 99 bottles to bake.. take one down, pass it around 98 days of baking remain! HA! I can't believe we're into the double digits... Cah-RA-zee!!!  Baby Austin is going to be here before we know it. I told hubbs tonight that for someone who has waited 43 years for what he wants, being down to just a couple months is pretty exciting! :)  He agreed. lol..

I think tonight's post is going to be all about pictures.. Not that most of my posts don't contain a lot of pics in the first place so, not much new. lol..

Me at work yesterday - we had an auditor in so I dressed up. Looking ca-ute! :)

 Babies-R-Us had a Trade-In event going on so we brought in Li's 10 year old pack-n-play and bought this nifty little combo! :)

The bedding set / theme we decided on for Austin.

The baby shower invites that are officially ordered!! As hubby says.. "They have elie-a-fents on them!!" He loves elephants. lol..

The crib!!  It came yesterday - a day early!!!

 Hubbs and Li chillin, watching a movie. :)

Tommee Tippee stuff from my registry!!!  A friend from college bought it for us.. SOOOO generous cuz this stuff isn't cheap!!

A swing a friend of mine offered to give us. This should be pretty nice if we do actually get it! :)

A coming home outfit I saw and just thought was SUPER cute!! Darn Etsy. HA!

I think that's about it for now.. Till next time! :D