Adventures in Pregnancy - 33 weeks, 1 day

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. My back doesn't seem to like sitting in front of my computer anymore. I have been making an effort to rest more even though I feel like I should be go go going all the time. I'm booked for a pregnancy massage tomorrow... it is a massage therapist who specializes in pregnant bodies... I am almost bubbling over with excitement on that one. I'm a sucker for a massage until normal circumstances... can't wait for one when I ache this much.

We had an exciting week. Journey decided to pull a fast one on us... bolted out the door like Forrest Gump and didn't look back. We put up a billion flyer's, advertised her on the radio and spent hours a night looking for her. Apparently, she was found by someone 2.5 hours after she gumped us but they didn't see a sign for 2 days. Now Journey is home under careful watch at all times.

On a less than exciting note, Cory's temporary contract at work came to an end unexpectedly. I was hoping to run it until the baby came so he could take some time at home with us without taking time off my maternity leave but the timing wasn't there. Oh well... he's applied for his unemployment insurance and has applied for a few positions in town as well. In the meantime, he is catching up on a few household items that are outstanding like.. painting a baby's room. :)

Adventures in Pregnancy - 31 weeks, 6 days

Crap it happened....

I found stretch marks :(

Adventures in Pregnancy - 31 weeks, 1 day

9 weeks left until my due date... why is it always so hot outside?? I'm really starting to understand why everyone looked at me with sympathy when they discovered my due date was at the end of the summer.

Cory and I started watching the Laugh and Learn about Childbirth. We have watched the first 2 segments. I have to say that they really oversold themselves on the Laugh part. I've smirked once or twice but laugh... not so much... I am finding it extremely informative though. It is running at a nice solid pace.

I am finding it more comfortable to "practice breathing" with only Cory as an audience. He is really good at the Hee Hee breathing... which would be great if he was the one who would need to do it... I, on the other hand, become light headed 35 seconds into it. Cory is trying hard to coach me but I think, at this late date, it would be best if he gave birth instead of me. He has a much better grasp of the concepts than I do.

Journey, our new addition, is coming along nicely. She is quickly learning new commands although her house training is a little suspect. We have been working on that. She now makes it through the night without an accident. Last night she was intertwined in a cat while she slept, so she has been almost completely accepted. I guess size does matter.

Adventures in Pregnancy - 30 weeks, 2 days

Prenatal appointment today... my last monthly one for the pregnancy. I am now seeing them every 2 weeks until 36 weeks and then once a week until delivery. That makes it seem like it's coming soon.

My blood pressure has been my crowning glory for my pregnancy. Once again, I clocked in at 120/70... I am very consistent. Connor's heartbeat has also stayed consistently in the 140's bpm.

My urine was full of sugary goodness... which I was told is a bad thing... they are happy with the blood sugar levels in the 5's but not so happy with the 7's. Supper seems to be my downfall meal, so Cory is revamping his meal plans.

I gained another 6 lbs over the last month, putting my weight gain at 33 lbs for the pregnancy. I was originally trending for 40 lbs but I think I may surpass that :(

Last night, I downloaded a "How to have a baby" movie... it is supposed to be everything I would have learned at prenatal class had I continued to attend... should be a good time! It's called "Laugh and Learn about childbirth". Wish us luck! I'll have a full review upon completion.

New Addition

Introducing our latest addition... Journey. She is a 2 year old Jack Russell Terrier... all of maybe 7 lbs. She's been here for 36 hours and has already assumed ownership of.. well... all she can see!

Adventures in Pregnancy - 30 weeks, 0 days

Greetings from the land of gestational diabetes. Boooooo

Well, I'm not actually diagnosed with gestational diabetes but I had some slightly elevated glucose results so now I'm testing my blood sugar 4 times a day and watching my diet. No more afternoon cookies :(

So my blood sugar targets are less than 5.3 prior to breakfast and less than 6.7 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and supper... After supper last night I was 7.3 (ooops), this morning was 5.9 (double oooops) and 2 hours after breakfast I was 5.3 (w00t). I have to say that I was hungry from breakfast to lunch though... Lunch was pretty big and I felt full afterwards, I'm just waiting another hour before I can test. I'm hoping to find a balance between good blood sugar and my happiness. If I can't control it with diet, I get to have insulin... ick.

With only 7-12 weeks left, I can suck it up. I'm really gonna miss my ice cream cones :'(

Adventures in Pregnancy - 28 Weeks, 1 day

Welcome to my Third Trimester! 86 Days to Due Date!!

Well, I have this feeling I'm going to be having Connor (we finally named him) early though... someone take note and see if mother instinct has any place at all. If I follow my mother's pregnancies, I'll still be pregnant in October. She cooked us good with 43 weeks and 47 weeks.

I have been saying that I will go early due as it would be ironic. The local hospital is not currently set up for epidurals, however, they will be in September. If I go early, I lose the option. But I keep dreaming that we are having an early birth... so let's see if that has any credence.

Yesterday, we introduced Theo to the next door neighbours 11 month old daughter. I have been very apprehensive of his reaction to little people. You always hear stories of good dogs going bad with a new baby. One of my co-workers had a baby a few weeks ago and their dog is now muzzled based on his reaction to the interloper. Theo licked her face, her ears, her arms... basically covered her with drool. He was very gentle and when he started to get too excited (he is still a puppy) he settled down as soon as he was told. I'm very very very proud of him.

I've learned a few pregnancy lessons this week. Allergy season is in full bloom for me, so I sneeze a lot. I have learned that although I am still master of my bladder, however sneezing is my bladders revenge for overfilling it. We have come to an agreement that I will not overfill my bladder during day light hours and my bladder will not force me to change my clothing. During Nighttime hours, I can still ignore it in exchange for sleep. I am dreaming about peeing a lot more lately though...

Oh yeah, I almost completely forgot... I failed my one hour glucose challenge test. Started the test with a blood sugar of 5.1 and after one hour I was at 9.1. So on Friday, I completed the 2 hour glucose tolerance test. I started with a fasting blood sugar of 5.9, they took three vials of blood from me at one hour intervals... should have the results later this week. Fingers crossed for negative on gestational diabetes...

Adventures of Pregnancy - 27 weeks, 1 days

So this is the last week of my second trimester.  Now that I'm entering my third trimester, all those tales about pregnancy are starting to ring true.  My ribs hurt constantly... especially along my bra line on the right side.  Cory can rub the muscles out and in minutes, it is right back to square one.  My low back starts to hurt easily.  Laying on my back seems to make that worse... I'm tired of sleeping on my side only... this is gonna be a long trimester.

I've been having dreams that the baby is born.  The first one, it turned out that the baby was a girl instead of a boy and we forgot to tell anyone.  Then the rest of the dream was me losing the baby all over the place and forgetting to feed her.  So I woke up feeling rather ill prepared for a baby.

Last night, I had a dream that the baby was born except it was one of my cats at his full grown size.  Mind you he is the one that most generally gets called baby boy when he snuggles and he is the sweetest... but putting a diaper on him was challenging and breast feeding was a nightmare.  Cory agrees with me that after all this, I better end up with AT LEAST a human baby.

I seem to have picked up a new pregnancy symptom (or at least I'm blaming it).  I take an antidepressant.  Have been for years.  When I don't take it, I get anxious and quick to anger.  It feels like my pills have completely stopped working.  I call it festering.  I find something that pisses me off and I fester on it... it blows completely out of proportion, increasing my anxiety level and makes me want to lash out.  

At least, I identify that I'm doing it and try to turn off the festering but that is easier said that done.  I know I'm just being hypersensitive.  I am able to prevent the lash out unless I'm cornered by the source of the festering.  It's a lot of mental exhaustion and tongue biting.  It makes me want to hibernate... I'm so tired.

Adventures in Pregnancy - 26 weeks, 3 days

The tired monster has come back but in a different form.  In the beginning, there just weren't enough hours in the day to dedicate to sleep.  Now... it almost feels like there are too many until moments after the alarm clock goes off.  The nights are LONG.  I go to bed so tired, I can't even read my book but I am sleeping so lightly.  I feel like I'm awake all night.  I am still master of my bladder so I'm not up and down all night (even if I should be).  Stay out of my path when I get up though.

I had a prenatal appointment on Monday.  These are becoming tiresome themselves and I'm only going once a month at this point.  I soon move to the once every 2 weeks.  At the end, it is once a week.

I gained 6 more lbs.  This is my biggest gain in a month and it wasn't anywhere near what I thought it was going to be.  It puts me at 27 lbs over 26 weeks.  I'm trending to end up with a 40 lb gain by the end of it.

My blood pressure was 120/70.... I should be a poster child for blood pressure.

I was not master of my bladder at the appointment and could not produce an urine sample.  This seems to shock the nurse every time.  Apparently she doesn't have pee-cup shyness.

I completed my glucose challenge on Monday as well.  They had me drink a bottle of sugary goo... looked and tasted like orange pop, even had carbonation.  (I was appalled that the little glass bottle was not recycle able.)  They sent me away for a hour and then drew some blood.  My pre-sugary goo blood sugar level was 5.1 (fasting).  

The fellow who drew the blood when I got back didn't tell me my results of the glucose.  He had much bigger problems.  He was the first person to have difficulties finding a vein on me.... EVER!!  I don't hide my veins, but he was determined to get blood from a little vein when the bigg'un that everyone else uses was pulsating right beside it.  He actually dug around until I said "ow" and he moved to the other arm.  I will be avoiding him in the future.

All and all, this second trimester stuff is pretty calm and quiet.  Not too much to report.  I declared my last day of work as August 22 and I've set the expectation that I will be taking the whole year.  We'll see how that goes once the time and money starts to fly.

Adventures in Pregnancy - 25 weeks, 6 days

I'm not sure what to make of this....

It's product called Epi-NO and one of my doctors recommended me researching it... it is approved by Health Canada and the FDA.... 

I'd be interested in some feedback