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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Everything is A-OK!

We had another doctors visit today and everything is right on schedule! She said I measured a little big for 30 weeks (I was at 34 cms rather than 30) so we got to have an ultrasound! The ultrasound showed Tucker as weighing 3 lbs and 3 oz. She said I have a lot of amniotic fluid so I guess that's why my belly is a little too big right now. Tucker is absolutely perfect! He was rolling around when we were in the waiting room, but as soon as I laid down for the ultrasound, he got real still - maybe a little stage fright! We got some good shots of his face and he looks like a little baby now and not a scary alien! I think he has my nose and Alec's lips. I've never seen my nose on a boy! My grandma, mom, sister and I all have that nose but no boys!

Here are some pics - these are of face, face and foot.




Our next appointment is in 2 weeks. I never thought I'd actually look forward to going to the doctor! I just love hearing all about Tucker and someone saying "Your weight looks good!"

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Uncomfortable

I didn't realize pregnancy would be so uncomfortable! I never thought about how my organs are all crushed together and my ribs are stretched to the max to make room for my ginormous uterus.

I tried to take a hot bath on Monday night to soothe my cramping back and abdomen, but our hot water tank was on the fritz so I laid in bed and cried instead. I couldn't sit or lay down in any sort of position and just feel comfortable!

Then I started feeling fat and ugly so that made me cry even more. I asked Alec if any of his dad books told him how to deal with me when I'm like this and he said they didn't. He just hugged me and tried his best to make me feel better.

We played Yahtzee which took my mind off things for a while. We played 6 rounds and in the end, we tied! How weird is that?!?! We had each won a few games and when we added up our final scores, they were both 1309.

I had a better day yesterday but today was crampy and uncomfortable again. I try not to wish the days away and enjoy (or at least accept) each day as they come, but it's hard when you hurt! I could not get comfortable at all at work. Alec ran some errands at lunch and I went with him just so I could lay back in the heated car seat.

Alec replaced the thermostat on the hot water tank so I took my hot bath, but that still didn't help. We have our next doctor's appointment tomorrow and I'm going to ask her what I can do to relieve some of this pain in my back, sides and upper belly. My body feels so tense like my muscles haven't stretched in months.

The cupcakes help a little, but only for the 20 seconds it takes me to eat one.

Monday, January 26, 2009

The Turkey's Almost Done!

Last night Alec took a picture of the front of my belly when we were taking our Sunday belly pictures. This morning...my belly button looked like it was about to pop!


I really didn't think my belly button would pop but now I'm not so sure! I think it was the extra cupcake I ate last night that got me a little bit closer.

Saturday we went to Wynona so Alec could help my grandpa cut some firewood. Hopefully he's set for the rest of the winter now! When we got to my grandparent's house, my grandpa stopped me when I walked by. I held my breath waiting for one of grandpa's ornery comments about how big my rear was getting or something. Instead, he said I was pretty! I couldn't believe it! I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day!

This morning, my amazing husband had breakfast all set up and ready for me! He even had my little cocktail of supplements in a dish ready for me to take when I finished eating. All I had to do was start the toaster and microwave and wah-lah! Breakfast! He's a keeper!




Today wasn't a very good pregnant day. I really don't know where else Tucker is going to go. I think I may need to have a couple of ribs removed or something! My back is aching and my stomach (just below my ribs) is killing me! After my cupcake, I may have to go soak in a really warm bath (not hot!). Only 10 weeks to go...ugh!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

I passed! I passed!

I spoke to the nurse at my doctor's office this morning and I passed my glucose tolerance test! Yea! I may go ahead and try to eat a little better anyway – make things a bit easier for me after I have Tucker. Also, I’m kinda at my weight gain goal so I don’t really need to gain much more!

I’ve been trying to walk a mile each day. Last night I only lasted ½ mile because my back started hurting. It’s hard for me to walk because I so want to take off jogging! I’m not a crazy avid jogger, but when I do any exercising, I really want to exhaust myself. It’s hard to get exhausted walking 2.5 mph for a mile!

This morning Tucker wasn’t doing his usual somersaults and kickboxing that he likes to do around 6 or 6:30. In fact, I didn’t feel him move till about 7:30 and that was only 3 little punches. I called my doctor’s office because I started freaking out...and so begins my obsessive worrying and frantic phone calls to my doctor’s office! I’m going to really try to control myself and not worry too much. Poor Berman has been to the Pet ER 3 times in his 5 years with me and I have his vet’s phone # programmed in my cell. I’m a little bit of a worry wart.

Anyway, the nurse told me not to freak and to maybe have some pop or juice a little later to see if he reacts to the sugar. I had a Pepsi at lunch (doctor’s orders!) and sure enough, Tucker started dancing away! Whew!

Only 10 more weeks to go! Hopefully I can maintain some sense of peace and save all my worrying for after Tucker gets here!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Intolerant of the Tolerance Test!

So I had the big glucose tolerance test at my appointment on Thursday. This test is to see if my body is able to process glucose. Apparently when you’re pregnant, your hormones can slow down your insulin or something. If it can’t process glucose in a reasonable amount of time, then I have gestational diabetes and I’m limited to what I can eat or I run the risk of birthing a fat baby or a baby who will be susceptible to being fat.

The one-hour test on Thursday consisted of drinking a thick orange sweet drink (like flat orange pop or an unfrozen ice pop) then waiting an hour and having my blood drawn. Well I got my results on Friday. I failed my test! The normal glucose level is 130-140 and I scored 175. I’ve always been an over achiever, but I’ve never failed a test!

As soon as I got home, I whipped out all of my pregnancy books and looked on line. What did I do wrong to give myself gestational diabetes?!?! I was an absolute wreck and sobbed and sobbed thinking I had done something so horrible and now my baby and I were both at risk for something (though I wasn’t sure what). I knew I had a lifelong love of sweets. When other kids were sneaking into the cookie jar, I was sneaking into the sugar canister and would eat spoonfuls of sugar! And during my pregnancy, my sweet tooth has not been ignored!

Well it turns out there’s really no way to give yourself gestational diabetes or avoid them. Some girls just get them and some don’t.

So my next stop was the 3-hour (nightmare) test! I had to fast beginning at midnight last night (this morning?) and my appointment was at 8:00 this morning. I drank a glass of chocolate skim milk at 8:30 last night and that was the last thing I had. By the time I arrived at the lab, I was famished! They first drew a vial of blood then I had to drink more orange stuff. It actually wasn’t that bad since I was so hungry! Then I had to sit and wait for 1 hour and have my blood taken again. Wait 1 hour. Blood drawn. Repeat. So I was at the lab for a little over 3 hours. I was poked 5 times (missed a vein the first time!) and had 4 vials of blood taken. Needless to say, as soon as I got out of there, I made a beeline to Wendy’s for some nuggets and a Sprite. At one point in my restlessness, I almost just washed my hands of this stupid process and asked for the special diet!

So I should have my results tomorrow. I either have gestational diabetes and will be on a strict diet for the next 3 months or I won’t have it and will have just lost about 4 hours of my life being a lab rat.

Oh – and my hemoglobin levels were down a whole point so I have to take an iron supplement! This coming from the girl whose dad owns a cattle ranch and who has roasts, steaks and all sorts of red meat in a deep freezer! And the iron supplement can result in an unpleasant side effect (I’ll let you Google that one) so I have to take yet another pill for this! For someone who is a bit anti-medicine, I sure have to pop a lot of pills now! But since I had no morning sickness and no real issues so far, I’ll take these few unpleasantries. Now if the labor and delivery gods can be so kind…

Thursday, January 15, 2009

St. Johns it is!

We toured St. Johns on Monday night and Hillcrest today and the winner is...St. Johns! Hillcrest was nice and the Women's Health Center was huge, but we just liked St. Johns better. Now that we've decided on the hospital, we'll sign up for classes! In the Childbirth class, they have some of the husbands wear an empathy belly. Alec said he wishes he could feel what it's like for the baby to kick. Well now he can feel that plus a weight gain of 30 lbs, shortness of breath, increased blood pressure and body temperature, bladder pressure, low back aches, fatigue, irritabilty and much more! http://www.empathybelly.org/home.html

We had our 7 month check up today and all is good! I've only gained 4 pounds since my last appointment(before Christmas!). When the doctor was trying to measure my belly, Tucker was just kicking away! I'm not sure if she could feel him, but it was pretty funny.

I had to take my glucose tolerance test today to test for gestational diabetes. I was supposed to fast for 3 hours before my test at 1. I had eggs and toast for breakfast and was planning on a snack at 10, but got busy. By the time I had to take the test, that thick orange liquid was like heaven! I was so hungry! After I drank the orange stuff, we had to wait an hour then have my blood taken. I was so lightheaded from hunger! When we finally made it back to work at 2:30, I completely inhaled my Delasandro's leftovers, a pudding cup and an apple!

So now we're on to appointments every 2 weeks and beginning week 36, we'll go in weekly. Yea!

Oh - and my belly button hasn't popped yet. I'm not sure it will. We can see the bottom of it now which is pretty cool. I've never seen the bottom of my belly button before! I'm just not sure the bottom will pop out and become the top!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Notes from the Belly

I've gotten to the point that I can't seem to get comfortable - not standing, sitting, laying down - nothing. I thought maybe I should give exercise a try (better late than never!). I walked for 12 minutes at level 2 (I used to run for 30 minutes at level 5 - not too bad for a short legged girl!) on the treadmill Wednesday night. I was hoping to make it 15 minutes but I started breathing hard and my heart was pounding! Later that night and the next morning my belly was cramping a little bit - all for a leisurely 1/2 mile stroll! Alec asked what he could do and I told him to take me to the hospital and get this thing out of me! He said "No way! I'm not ready yet!" So says the man who does not have a 20 pound baby strapped to the front of his belly! (I'm pretty sure I've only gained 5 pounds so far and Tucker is making up the rest of the weight I've put on!) I don't know what I'm going to do for 3 more months! This baby has no where else to go! I'm going to give walking another chance. I replaced all of my running music on my iPod with light walking music so we'll see how that does me.

Alec has been amazing - helping with everything from tying my shoes to rubbing my back. Since his massage technique doesn't quite work on me (he's pinchy!), he bought a hand held massager thing and uses it. He props my feet up and always makes sure I have a fresh glass of water where ever I am! He also takes care of the dogs, does laundry and dishes and picks up stuff I drop.

Instead of having our crib bedding custom made, we found a very cute one of a kind set at a very exclusive boutique - Target! I figured if I had something made, then I'll wanna keep it forever and I'm trying to ween myself from my pack rat ways. Anyway the sage, chocolate brown, cream color scheme is out the window. Now we're focusing on red, navy and khaki:

I like it because it's quilted and patchwork and not too "babyish". I think Tucker will be able to use it when he's a little older too.

We still haven't picked a middle name. It may just come down to when we see him and just saying the first thing we think of!

This week we have our 7 month (eek!) appointment on Thursday. I'll take my glucose tolerance test to see if I have the dreaded gestational diabetes! Lord I hope I don't have GD! I LOVE my sweets! It's funny - the closer we get to our due date, the more questions we have! This time, I have a whole page of questions for Dr. Hubbard! After this appointment, we'll start going in every 2 weeks.

We're also touring Hillcrest and St. Johns this week. Those are the 2 hospitals where my doctor delivers. After we pick which hospital we want to use, we'll sign up for classes - childbirth, basic child care, infant first aid & CPR, breastfeeding - and anything else we can find! I love learning and if there's a class about something, I want to take it!

On a sad note, Alec's Granny passed away last Sunday. Her body had just lived its fullest life and could not go on. We had her funeral on Thursday. I wasn't privileged to know Granny during her younger years - only recently. There was a video montage at her funeral and I got to see who Granny was. She had 5 children, 16 grandchildren and 26 great grandchildren! She seemed to be the kind of lady that I look up to (just like my grandmothers) - devoted mother, dedicated wife, loyal friend and just a little bit ornery! I'm so thankful that Tucker will be surrounded by so many amazing women - both living and those who have left us. It will only make him a stronger man.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year!

Today begins a new year and a new chapter in our lives. We stayed up till midnight (barely) and as we counted down to the new year, I just started crying (big surprise!). Ringing in the new year was bittersweet. We were saying goodbye to 2008 - a year when so many amazing things happened for us, but we were saying hello to 2009 - a year when more amazing things will happen for us!

We tried to decide what our favorite day of 2008 was - our wedding day? the day we found out we're pregnant? the day we closed on our new house? Hopefully Tucker's arrival will be the only major even for us in 2009!

We've eaten our black eyed peas for good luck so I think we're off to a great start!