34 Weeks

Last week my doctor sent me for an ultrasound because she was mildly concerned that my belly was measuring small. Dr. B seems to think an ultrasound is the answer to everything, and I'm perfectly happy with that as it means I've gotten to see my little one six times so far this pregnancy! So as of Friday, Raeyn Drop was 4.9 lbs and in the 45% percentile. Everything looked great!

Due to a mess up with human resources, I unexpectedly had to go back to work this week. I thought I was taking the whole year off, but apparently I'm required to start the school year and work until September 16th. As a result, I will not have much time to finish getting everything ready for the baby. Fortunately, I was able to get the nursery mostly finished last week. The lesser priorities may have to wait until my leave officially begins. Hopefully the baby doesn't come too early so I still have time to finish everything!

Here's my outstanding to do list (or at least what I can think of right now):

• Organize nursery closet
• Hem curtains
• Nursery artwork
• Make a mobile
• Pack hospital bag
• Install car seat
• Figure out baby monitor
• Buy outstanding registry items
• Buy diapers

Drawer Organization

I'm 33 weeks along now and things are starting to get real! I've had a few panicky moments when I started to think about how I'll be full-term in less than a month and there's still so much to do.

I bought some Ikea Scubb drawer organizers ages ago, but I've been putting off the actual organizing part. A post from Svenny today inspired me to get started and I'm so glad I did. I washed all the clothes, towels, blankets, etc. with All Free & Clear and got to work. It took about 5 hours, mostly because I kept scrutinizing all the clothes and sleep sacks trying to figure out sizes of things. It would be super helpful if different companies could agree on how big each size should be, but apparently they think new moms need an added challenge.

In my pinterest/google search for tips on organizing a nursery dresser, I noticed that there aren't many good examples out there that really describe what to put inside. I found several great blogs with photos of open drawers to use as inspiration, but I thought I would label everything in mine in hopes that it can help others in their organizing journey. I suspect that I will make changes as I go, but for now this system made sense for me.

The canisters on top of the dresser will hold things like nail clippers, nasal aspirator, thermometer, and creams. All other clothes will be hung in the closet, which still needs a lot of work. But for now, I'm happy to get a big job crossed off my list!

Diabetes Debacle

Yesterday I had a meltdown and cried at the lab when I arrived for my 3-hour glucose test. I got my way because of it and I don't feel bad in the least.


I flew back from Miami in the morning and called the lab when I landed. I asked if I could come in for the test at 11:30 and they said that's fine. Fast forward to 11:30 -- it had been 12 hours since I'd eaten and I was operating on 4 hours of sleep. I had just trekked across the city on a train, a bus, and another train to get there. I arrived at the lab, waited 30 minutes, and was then told they don't do 3-hour tests that late in the day so I would have to come back tomorrow. Apparently they don't want pregnant women fasting for that long during waking hours. OH HELLS NO.



Cue hyperventilating and tears. I thew a bunch of logic at her too, like the fact that I had ALREADY fasted so it would be worse to make a pregnant woman fast for that long two days in a row. But I'm pretty sure it was the tears that got her to call her supervisor. A few minutes later, I had a refreshing sugar-loaded drink in my hand and I gulped it down before they could change their minds.

Lab protocol: 0
Cranky pregnant lady: 1

The waiting wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I didn't feel nauseous at all, and the tired/shaky feeling was just as likely due to my lack of sleep as to the sugar. I believe that years of practice consuming entire pies by myself in one sitting prepared me for this experience. Coming down from it later that evening was a trip, though. I had to take a nap and when I woke up it felt like I had a killer hangover.

The nurse from my OB's office called me today to give me my results. This time I had the presence of mind to ask for my actual numbers.
 
Fasting: 72 (95 is passing)
Hour 1: 160 (180 is passing)
Hour 2: 161 (155 is passing... how did I go up??)
Hour 3: 118 (140 is passing)

Apparently three out of four ain't bad, and they declared I officially do not have gestational diabetes! Huzzah! I'm still waiting for my celebratory pie.


(For anyone interested in practical information about gestational diabetes, I found this blog post to be very helpful: http://foyupdate.blogspot.com/2012/05/gestational-diabetes-my-story-and.html) 

Mmm, mmm glucose!

Last week I finally finished school and I went in for my 1-hour glucose test before packing up my classroom. The sugary orange drink wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared, and the sugar rush actually made me feel great! (Until the big sugar drop later that afternoon, but chocolate fixed that.)

The nurse from Dr. B's office called me back on Monday and explained that I had failed the test. She didn't say what my number was, and I didn't know enough to ask at the time. Personally I think there must have been a mistake, as I am generally the KING of anything related to sugar. Baking with sugar? No problem. Eating sugary things? I have no equal. Regulating blood sugar? Er, apparently I need to work on that.

After my initial panic that this may cause problems for my vacation to Miami, the nurse assured me I could eat as usual during my trip and do the follow-up 3-hour glucose test the day I get back (July 9th). Little does she know what "eat as usual" means...

I didn't anticipate that the personal-trainer friend we're staying with is glucose-free and stocks her fridge with nothing but fruit and quinoa. Please someone come bring me a giant piece of blueberry pie with ice cream while I'm still allowed to eat it!!!

So here I am in Miami, 27 weeks pregnant, doing aqua-fitness and eating healthy. Fingers crossed that next week I find out the glucose results were a fluke so I can go back to my sedentary pig-like ways.

Hiccups and cramps, oh my!

I had my 24 week ultrasound appointment yesterday to check if the marginal previa had resolved itself. It had, and everything looked great! Heartbeat was 157 and baby was weighing 1lb 5 oz, both of which are right on track.

During the ultrasound, we saw the baby hiccup on the screen. At the exact same time I felt it and realized that's what I've been feeling the whole time! Apparently our baby is the one person on the planet who gets the hiccups more than I do. :P

Following the ultrasound, I had a regular OB appointment. As the doctor was about to turn on the doppler, she looked at my belly and noticed that I was having a contraction! Apparently the cramps I've been feeling when I walk a lot or bend down have been contractions too. Oops! She just wants me to pay attention to them and call if I start having more than 10 a day or if there's any sort of persistent pattern to them. It hasn't been happening that frequently, so we are not concerned right now.

I leave you with a picture of the baby yawning. Apparently we were boring her.

20 weeks and then some

Earlier this week I hit 20 weeks and we finally got to find out if we're having a boy or a girl! T was able to take time off work to come to my back-to-back appointments, which was wonderful.

After waiting 55 minutes (45 minutes after my appointment start time), we were sent in and got to see little raeyn drop on the monitor. The ultrasound techs were super nice, but the whole time they were sitting there talking about the brain and the kidneys I was laying there wishing they would move a little lower! After about half an hour of poking and prodding baby to wake up, they finally told me it's a girl! Another 20 minutes later and we were done. They printed out a few photos for us, but T still has them somewhere. One of the photos highlights our baby girl's labia, and T has decided to hang onto it for embarrassment purposes when she starts to date.

Everything throughout the scan looked great. Heartbeat was 157. They finally gave me the results from my sequential screening and said it all was normal. Just a 1 in 10,000 chance of the major concerns. The only issue was that the placenta was very low and partially covering my cervix. Since it's fairly likely this will resolve itself, I'm just thinking of it as a reason to see my little girl again in four weeks. On the off-chance it doesn't move I would need a c-section, but I'll worry about that waaaay down the road if needed.

Here's my obligatory 3-week bump pic (since every three weeks is about all I can handle) in front of our awesome new house:

 

And because I love this man madly and he makes me smile every day:

We sent these photos to our parents. T's dad remarked that he looks more pregnant but I will be the better mom. I can't disagree. :P

Second Trimester

Well, I'm officially in the second trimester now. Everyone keeps telling me how much better I must feel. Must I? Really?

After I ate a bowl of cereal this morning, T went to Starbucks and picked up a tall white hot chocolate and a lemon pound cake for me. Yum! I drank half the hot chocolate and promptly informed him that he should please move aside so I could go throw up in the bathroom. Note to self: throwing up hot beverages = not recommended.

Is it bad that when I returned to the living room I really wanted to drink the rest of it? T told me I shouldn't, but I think the lemon pound cake is fair game.