Brief Update

I had my final appointment with Dr. Dix today, the perinatologist. I also had another ultrasound. They measured the baby and said she was weighing in at 6 lbs. 10 oz.! So they're predicting that if I go the full three weeks, she'll be about 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 pounds at birth. The lady also said she had a full head of hair and very chubby cheeks! I'd already seen the cheeks, but it's funny to think of her with hair. I had an inch of jet black hair when I was born. So it looks like she's taking after me quite a bit so far. Everything looks good. Dr. Dix is happy with my sugar levels and was encouraging about being near the end. She also confirmed that I would not go past my due date, that she would tell Dr. Stamps, and that he would do what she told him to do!!! So that's that! Jay is hoping (and praying) that she'll come on the 10th so she can be a little Easter bunny...and so I'm in the hospital on Good Friday and over the weekend while he's off. There had to be a rational reason too! And that's about it for now. We'll keep you posted.

Here's a picture of me on my first day of life. Jay said I looked like a sumo wrestler! I only weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. but I was chubby and had LOTS of hair! And below is a picture of our baby. I've posted it before, but you can compare the two pics.

The Beginning of the End...

37 weeks along:
Big news!!! I had a lovely doctor's appointment today (no sarcasm intended) and found out I am dilated 1 whole cm and "thinned out" 80%!!! Doesn't sound like much, right? But I am pretty darn excited since this means that the process has begun and it really truly won't be too much longer. Dr. Stamps said he was happy with this progress, especially being a first-timer. He said this meant that if I did have to be induced for some reason, (they won't let me go past April 21) that they would probably be able to give me a "gentle push" to get things moving and that being thinned out that much already typically meant an easier labor. SOUNDS GOOD TO ME!!!

I thought it was perfect timing that I received a box from my parents today with blankets and outfits that were mine when I was a baby, including the blanket I was taken home from the hospital wrapped up in. Everything is so sweet and I can't wait to use them with/on my little one.
I also discussed my birth preferences with my doctor today, expecting quite a bit of resistance, and found that he was pretty much fine with everything...except the episiotomy debate. But considering he was OK with everything else and we thoroughly discussed his opinion on this question, I felt like I shouldn't push him. The appointment was very light-hearted, much UNlike many of my other appointments, and I left feeling like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders...Jay said my uterus! He's so funny! Overall everything was very positive and I'm just so excited I can't hardly think straight! I suddenly feel the urge to get the house completely in order. I don't think it's the "nesting" phase, just the fact that I know she could come at any moment and I want the house to be clean and in order before she gets here. Jay? Where are you?

Picture commentary: Jay was VERY excited about putting all the baby gear together and immediately tore the stroller and car seat out of the boxes as soon as he saw them. Then he had to try them out of course. Mollie was a terrible candidate as she's a scared little mouse and jumped out immediately. Maggie, however, being the queen bee she thinks she is, sat quietly as if she was completely meant to be pushed around by a human!

Best Shower Ever!

Yes, that's right. I'm claiming that my baby shower was the best ever, which I feel free to do since I had absolutely nothing to do with it! My hostesses went above and beyond the call of duty and threw one heck of a party! My good friends Evie Stark and Carrie Jordan, my mom, and Pat (my mother-in-law) planned the whole event via e-mail since Evie lives in St. Louis and my mom in Maryland. The food was unbelievable and the decor was whimsical and lovely and matched the style and colors of the baby's room. The games were fun and entertaining, and of course, all the wonderful guests were the icing on the cake. I know Evie spent so much time working on the invitations...and correct directions!...and her decorating ideas, though not all coming to fruition, could have been featured in a magazine. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to talk to everyone as I was trying to scarf down the amazing food that I decided to indulge in for once, and then the present opening began! So I apologize to those I didn't get to speak with, but I appreciate everyone for coming. I felt very special and loved, and I'm so thankful that this baby is being born into such a large and loving "family." That means so much to Jay and me. We're so grateful for each and every one of you.

My parents stayed for the week following the shower to help me get organized and finish purchasing everything I'll need to start us off. All the baby paraphernalia is quite overwhelming, but I think we're at least ready for the first month or so! Four more weeks to go.

Well, here are some pictures from the shower. Most of these came from Janae's Hardy amazing talents...thanks, Janae! I'll post all of the pictures on facebook.

Baby at 35 weeks

I had another ultrasound yesterday. I guess I'll be having one every week until she gets here. They are mainly checking her size and that there's enough fluid around her. But since my mom was with me yesterday, the technician also took some time to show us her face and took a 3D picture. It was so amazing to see how much she has grown and how much she looks like a full-grown baby now. She definitely has my nose and cheeks! They look just like my first day baby picture! Here she is at 35 weeks, 5 pounds.

It looks like she's blowing smoke, but that's just her umbilical cord floating in front of her face. Everything looked healthy and on track. My stress test was just fine although she said I had a "contraction" while I was there which I had no knowledge of. I guess that's pretty normal at this stage. I had my Strep B test and they also drew some blood to check my white blood cell level, which was weird. I haven't had my blood drawn since our emergency on Christmas, but they're just now checking those levels again. They were a little high then and also at my initial blood draws. I'm not really sure what that means, but I guess I'll find out soon enough.

This blog is a little backwards as I had my shower on Saturday and should be writing about that first, but I don't have the pictures ready yet! My parents are still here and will be until Sunday. We're on a mission to get everything organized and prepared for the baby. It's been wonderful to have their help. Although their presence has made my diet and sugar levels go haywire and I need to boot camp it today to get back on track! I blamed my bad levels on them yesterday at the doctor's office! Well...it's the truth! But like I said, making the effort to get back on track today because I know I can and I'm planning to stay unmedicated!

I guess that's all for now. I'm feeling pretty good...just exhausted and big! I'll put some new pictures of my belly and the shower up soon. Toodle Loo!

The Tree

FINALLY!!! The tree is finished! Jay and I finished it last week. So now the only thing left to do in the baby's room is put a triangular shelf up under the tree/over the dresser in the corner. It will be made out of rustic wood to sort of fit in with the tree. Here are some photos of the finished product.

7 Weeks and Counting

Today I finally had my appointment with the perinatologist. After two weeks of taking my sugar levels 4 times a day and eating 6 very healthy meals a day, Dr. Dix decided to put me on a small dose of oral medication at bedtime to get my fasting level down, which is the first level I take every morning before eating. This is the only level that I haven't been able to get under control. I'm not very happy about having to take medication, but I'm also kind of tired of fighting...fighting with my diet and anxiety to get that level down. So hopefully this pill will work or they will keep upping the dosage until it does.

She was happy with everything else, including the size and health of the baby. We had another ultrasound, as you can see from the pictures. The technician estimated that Running Bear weighs 4 lbs. 7 oz. which puts her in the 39th percentile for her age, although apparently her head is on the large side!!! She's a Sallie after all! This is very good news (being in the 39th percentile) as one of the main concerns with a diabetic mother is a large baby. So she is just below average which is a good sign that my problems are not affecting her at all. However, because I'm going on medication, I've been put in the "high risk" category and now will have to go in for a stress test every week to make sure baby is thriving. I also will have another ultrasound in four weeks to check her size again. The good part of all of this is that Dr. Dix said I wouldn't be allowed to go past my due date. And while I don't want to be induced, at least we know the latest possible date for the little one's arrival (April 21), which is kind of nice! I'm hoping she'll come before so I don't have to be induced. Despite the fact that I'm planning to have an epidural, I'd like everything else to be as natural as possible.

Not the best picture, but Jay took it with his phone in the ultrasound room today. Me at 33 weeks waiting to see the baby. She was pretty wild today and we put Jay's phone on my belly and watched it roll around. I love her wild days as I don't have to think about "kick counts." Her quiet days are always a little more worrisome, but she always comes back with a vengeance!

Today we got to see what body parts were hitting where. As you can see from the first picture below, her little foot is rather well-developed and was located just on my right side where I often get painfully kicked! It was actually pushing against my side while she was taking the picture! We decided she has her father's foot structure as the technician said it was rather long and thin compared to what she was used to seeing. Short stubby feet run in my family. So that definitely didn't come from me! You can also kind of see her profile on the right. It's harder to see the baby at this stage in the pregnancy because she's bigger and her bone density makes it more difficult for the ultrasound to see through other body parts.



We could also see her little face which is quite a bit more developed than last time we had an ultrasound. She has the cutest little nose and lips! But I'm not biased or anything! We also discovered that the frequent bump that constantly pushes up and misshapes my belly just above and to the left of my belly button is her bottom! So I can start spanking her early as she often gives me a very clear and obvious shot! Her head is down below my belly button and she seems to be properly aligned for birth according to my birthing teacher...if she'll just stay that way for the next 7 weeks!!! It's fun to know where everything is as I was just guessing previously.

Diabetes Days

I went to my diabetes class this morning at the Turner Center. I was nervous, but prepared. I'd been prepping myself all week knowing that I was going to have to face one of my ultimate fears...the finger prick...and that I would have to do it to myself! I prayed hard this morning and kept telling myself all week that I have three tattoos and six holes in my ears. Could this really be any worse than those self-afflicted pains? Surely not! But I gave into my fears once again.

I was annoyed to even have to be there to begin with, which never helps my emotional level. I've been eating really well all week, completely changing my diet to accommodate my sugar levels, and even have lost weight, which of course is not OK during pregnancy. But the point is, I know I can control this on my own without having to stick my finger four times a day, keep a detailed meal plan, and have more doctor's appointments than I would like during the last few weeks of pregnancy. One positive note is that all of this conundrum should make the end go by fairly quickly. And I'm definitely OK with that!

Anyway, the nurse started the class off with some basics of gestational diabetes, what it was, what caused it, etc. She also went over those who were at risk for getting it and the only category I fell under was being over 25. That was the first annoyance. Then she was talking about things that could cause our sugar levels to go up, in light of discussing our scores for the four hour test. Stress was mentioned as one of the causes. And then it hit me...this is all the fault of the guy who attempted to stick me during my second blood draw of the long test! If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been at that meeting today! You see, only two of the four blood draws failed, and guess which one was the highest? The third one. Do you see the connection? Nameless man made me so nervous and stressed that during the hour between his draw and the next one my levels rose. So when I went back for the third draw, I was beside myself wondering if I was going to have to face him again! It's all his fault!!! (OK, this may be way over my boundaries for drama, but it makes me feel better to have someone to blame. I can curse him while I'm sticking my finger and that will definitely make me feel better!)

I sort of asked the nurse if this was a possibility, but she didn't seem to like the question too much and didn't really answer directly. So we moved on to the not so fun part. She very nonchalantly passed out a starter kit with a fancy mechanism that reads the sugar level almost instantly. Everyone opened there's and started playing with it immediately while I began panicking. I told her I needed help and instantly started crying just looking through the box and seeing the little needles. So she used my kit to explain to everyone how to put everything together and take their levels. No one else seemed to even be paying attention as they were level-headed enough to figure it out. Technology comes fairly easily to me, but I was so nervous that I couldn't think straight and the simple mechanism turned into a looming beast. So she set everything up for me and showed me what to do to work the lancet, but I couldn't do it. I asked her to stick my finger instead, which she did without comment or judgment. It's really no big deal, though it did sting rather more than I thought it would. But again, no big deal. You don't even see the needle and it works super fast and easily. Then she squeezed my finger to get the blood out and set it against the test strip which then read it immediately.

After that the rest of the class went smoothly as I could now put the looming fear behind me and concentrate on the rest. The second part consisted of diet information...not much new there. But on a positive note, I was so happy to see that the meal plan the dietician made for me consisted of a great deal more carbs than I'd been eating in the last week. It's kind of set up like weight watchers where I have to count my carbs but have choices based on sort of a point system. So I can eat yummy things, but if I choose to eat a cinnamon roll, that's all I can have for dinner! Obviously, I wouldn't do that, but if I got desperate...well, who knows what one will do in desperation! So I don't think the dieting part will be difficult at all and I only have to keep a diet diary for one week. I'll meet with the same dietician to go over what I've been eating and how my sugar levels relate. Then it will just be a matter of keeping track of my levels and meeting with the perinatologist. Who knows, maybe if I do really good, they won't make me keep this up the whole time! One can always hope! Only 10 more weeks to go...I can do it!

The fun part will be sticking myself at home alone! But as I told my husband and others, at least I can scream and cry at home to get through it and no one will ever know that I'm a lunatic!