What's the deal?!

It seems like since I hit the 30 week mark I have been falling apart! I don't know what happened? It's like someone flipped a light switch!  I was doing so well. The only things I have had to deal with up till now was some fatigue and a little pain from the stretching scar on my belly.

It first started last week with the blood sugar problems, which by the way is going fine. Most of the time my readings are right at or below the acceptable level. Then last Thursday I started getting a sniffle which has now lead into a full fledged summer cold. Which of course makes it even harder to sleep at night since I can't breathe! And I have another Dr. appointment today to see if my suspicions are correct (and I have a uti) or if something else is going on. And if you have had a uti, you know how painful and miserable that is. I rested all weekend, trying to stay off my feet as much as possible,  hoping that would do the trick and I would be feeling better by today. Nope. I think I feel worse today than I did yesterday. I am not good at enduring pain and sickness, so I am anxious to feel better. . . . SOON!  I honestly don't think I can but up with feeling this bad for another 9 weeks. 

Progress has been made in the baby's room. We finally got the crown molding put up in the room last week. So, Jarrod spent most of the weekend caulking, sanding and painting it and it looks great. He worked really hard on it and it turned out so nice! We are all ready to start putting things together in there now!  I hope I am feeling better soon so I can get some things done!

So far so good. . .

I emailed the dietitian my meter readings from the last couple of days yesterday afternoon and I got an email back from her this morning that said to keep up the good work and email her my readings again next week. So, I guess I'm doing good enough that I won't have to go back to see her for another week at least. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!

Appointment with the Dietitian

It wasn't as bad as I thought. The Dietitian I am seeing is Bilinda Norman, and she was super nice. They gave me a cute, PINK meter and I have to check my blood sugar 4 times a day. Once in the morning as soon as I get up and then 2 hours after every meal. I also have to keep a log of everything I eat.  And I have to limit my carbs, which isn't going to be easy but at least I get to have some!  She gave me a neat book that has a lot of restaurants and it lists the values of the food items that they serve. It's very interesting! Like did you know there are LESS carbs in a Chick-Fil-A, regular fried chicken sandwich than one of their grilled chicken wraps?! Who would have thought??

The whole appointment was very informative. The reasons why it's important to keep your blood sugar regulated was eye opening. Gestational diabetes has little or no effects on the mother, it all has to do with the baby. The most worrisome are the baby gaining too much weight (which can also lead to respiratory problems and also require a C-section delivery) and then it can more importantly lead to complications, like hypoglycemia,  after birth. Did you know that the baby doesn't receive any insulin while in the womb? Their bodies won't start producing that until after they are born. But they do get all the sugar that you are eating and drinking.  As soon as the cord is cut after birth the baby's pancreas starts producing insulin. The amount produced is based on the amount of sugar their little body is expecting to receive based on what they have gotten while in the womb, which can be dangerous. I wish they would tell us all this stuff at the beginning!  Maybe I wouldn't have indulged in as many milkshakes and dingdongs!  Oh and by the way, there is no way to prevent this from happening. It almost always a problem brought on by pregnancy hormones. So, all the lettuce and exercise in the world, while it doesn't hurt, doesn't mean you won't develop gestational diabetes. And Bilinda was pretty confident that once I deliver my blood sugar levels will all normalize and I won't have any lingering problems.

I am supposed to take my readings from last night and this morning and afternoon and email Bilinda later and see what she says. So far all my readings have been low. Hopefully my readings will stay in an acceptable level and I won't have to do anything else. In fact if all goes well I might not even have to go back, I will just stay in contact with her by phone and email.

Just say a little prayer that this doesn't get any worse and that maybe it will just be a bump in the road!

Short but sweet visit to the beach. . .

 

 

Why do vacations seem like they take FOREVER to get here and then when they finally do, they are over in a blink of an eye?! I am so glad we had the opportunity to "get away" for a few days, but man it went by fast! For those of you who don't know. . .we went to Perdido Key (Pensacola,Fl) with Jarrod's parents and his sister and her husband. We left Thursday morning and got back late Monday night. We had such a good time! The condo was really nice and spacious! We hung out at the beach and pool for most of the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then all went out to eat at night. All the seafood was so good! We ate at the Crab Trap, LuLu's, Flipper's and a little hole in the wall place called the Original Point Restaurant .  We also took one of those dolphin cruises one evening and it was a lot of fun! Sunday night we had family pictures taken by a local photographer. I am excited to see how those turned out! I did make a decision. . .while it was fun, it's not a trip I would take again while 7 months pregnant! The car ride was pretty uncomfortable, and we had to stop about every hour or so because of my constant need to visit the bathroom and my left leg kept going to sleep! And while the idea of laying out in the sun all day doesn't sound like a problem, for some reason I couldn't stand the heat! I got so hot so fast! Plus, it took all I had to get out to the beach (it's really hard walking in sand with already swollen feet!). I wouldn't do it again, but I am so glad we went! The weather was perfect and we got to get some r&r and spend time with the fam, so it's all good!  Thanks to Terry and Margie for everything! It's a family vacation that we will always remember!

And I got the results back from the 3 hour sugar test and some of those readings were a little on the high side again. So, I am scheduled to see a dietitian on Wednesday afternoon. I have no idea what to expect at this point. I am just hoping and praying that it isn't something drastic . . . like [dare I say it??]. .  .NO CARBS?? Hopefully she will just give me a better idea of what foods I need to start eating and what things I need to cut back on. Please send up a prayer for me, I am a little nervous about my appointment!

4D Ultrasound Pictures

Hmmmm. . . who do you think he looks like??

Exciting Tuesday!

Since I am going to have to take the day off work and will be at the doctor's office all day tomorrow anyway, I went ahead and scheduled my 4D ultrasound for tomorrow, too. It's at 3pm.  I am really excited. . . .and a little nervous!  I can't believe we are going to get to see a glimpse of what are little guy looks like!  It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it!

And other exciting news, we are having the front of our house landscaped by Harmony Gardens. We meet with them Saturday morning and they walked us through the proposed design and all the different plants. They told us it would be about 2 weeks before they could get to us. Well, this morning Jarrod got a call and they had a cancellation so they are going to come to our house and work today!  Yay! I am so excited to see what it will look like!

Abnormal test results

My doctor's office called yesterday with the 1 hr sugar test results and unfortunately it was a little on the high side. I have no idea what the measurements mean, but my level came back at 148 mg/dl and 140 mg/dl is acceptable. . . anything over that requires that you take another 3 hr. sugar test. [Just lovely! Ugh.] I already had an appointment scheduled on Wednesday at 11:00, so they are going to do the test that morning. I have to be there at 8am, having had nothing to eat or drink after midnight the night before. They will draw blood as soon as I get there to measure the baseline “fasting blood glucose level”. Then I get to drink a big 'ol bottle of that yucky glucose drink. After that blood will be drawn and tested every hour for the next three hours. Sounds like fun, huh! Just what I want to be doing the day before I leave to go on vacation!

My iron came back low, too. Which means I will need to start taking iron twice a day now. And from what I hear that  is a pretty normal thing for the third trimester. I have read that some women actually feel more energized after taking the iron supplements, and that one of the symptoms of iron deficiency is fatigue and tiredness. . .  so, maybe having more iron in my system will help give me a much needed boost!

Please just say a little prayer that this will turn out to be no big deal. I am worried that I will have gestational diabetes and have to give myself a shot in the stomach everyday. [I shudder at the thought!] I know I will do it if that is what I have to do, but I REALLY hope it doesn't come to that!!