Seriously Dr. W????

Yesterday, I had my 37 week appointment - however Dr. C is out of town so I saw Dr. W. I've seen her once before and didn't really get a good vibe from her but after today I REALLY don't like her.

• She kept talking about "the second time around" insinuating this is my second kid. I corrected her... twice. 
• When she measured my belly she said "oh right on target for being 36 weeks..." um... I corrected her again telling her I'm actually 37 weeks. I know the measurement is still normal either way but still irritating. 
• She couldn't find his heartbeat - even after I showed her exactly where they always find it... after she finally found it she had to pull out her iphone to time it cause she "forgot her watch today." WTF? 
• When asked about taking a birthing class, I got a lecture cause I said we haven't and that we didn't plan to?! Seriously lady??? Seriously? 
• Dr. C told me that if I wanted she'd do an internal which I actually really wanted just to see if anything's going on yet.. but after that I didn't want her to touch me. 
• She gave me the great news that I tested positive for that Group B Strep crap! I know it's nothing serious and that I just have to get treated while in the hospital for delivery but just the fact that SHE delivered the news makes it that much more irritating! 
• To boot - all of this lasted a total of about 5 minutes... Dr. C usually takes at least 15-20 min sometimes longer if we get to talking... thanks doc for the pointless appointment?!

As ready as I am for Landon to make an appearance I've got my fingers crossed that he waits until next week for Dr. C to get back... here's hoping!!!

A Watermelon???

Seriously??? Wow... I love how thebump.com compares weeks 37-40+ to the watermelons?! That's scary.

Here's some info from their website:

Baby's now the size of a watermelon!

Your full-term (yay!) baby is gaining about 1/2 ounce a day and getting his first sticky poop (called meconium) ready. He's also brushing up on skills for the outside world: blinking, sucking, inhaling, exhaling, and gripping (it's getting strong!).

 

Your Pregnancy: Week 37

"Today (ok... technically Monday) brings two beautiful words: full-term. Now, whenever baby's born, he's likely to thrive. Also thriving? Your nesting instincts, which are behind those sudden urges to bake, clean, or embroider a onesie. (Feminists, take your issue up with nature, not with us.)"

This.is.true... today marked day one of SERIOUS nesting!  

I thought I'd been nesting before - cleaning up the house, getting Landon's room ready, organizing the closets - but today had nothing on the last 8 months. I woke up at 6:30am, which by the way felt like sleeping in since I've been getting up at 5am every since I switched my work schedule?! Adam left for the day and I went to work on the house. I started by actually cleaning my vacuum?! Who cleans their vacuum? Anyway, then I moved on to the baseboards (they are actually white! Who knew?), then I dusted... everything... from the ceiling fan to the walls, shelves, knickknacks, behind the couch, seriously everything. At one point I started on the bathroom - sprayed the shower down along with the sink and toilet to soak. All the while I had the laundry going.

Around 10am I realized I needed to get my butt in the shower cause I had a baby shower to go to at noon. The house was a complete mess still and I hadn't even touched our bedroom or the kitchen?! But it was really nice to get out and take a break.

After the shower I came back home and did some more laundry, finished vacuuming, mopped the kitchen & the bathroom, cleaned out ALL the cabinet drawers in the kitchen and wiped them down. What else... oh put our bedding back together since I washed all that. 

Then FINALLY ate dinner!!! Now... I'm sitting here staring at a HUGE pile of laundry that I need to fold - I think maybe that will wait till tomorrow. I'm exhausted!

 

Le Sigh.... Walking on Clouds

Or pillows... or swollen feet rather. Sigh....

I'm so done - I've checked out... from here on out it's just a waiting game and I'm so ready for the prize.

Lets recap how I'm feeling:

• My hands are swelling so my ring is too tight yet I refuse to take it off. I haven't went a day without it since the day we got married.
• My feet are swelling. As I type this post I've got them propped up on an upside down trash can under my desk. (And yes... I'm blogging at work... don't tell.)
• My maternity clothes are even starting to get tight. WTF - I just bought most of them less than a month ago?!
• I've been getting nauseaus every day in the middle of the day... not sure what is causing this but I've made more than one run to the ladies room thinking I was going to lose it. I haven't yet and it seems to subside after I eat lunch - maybe I need to eat earlier or something?!
• I'm exhausted. Walking up a flight of stairs makes me feel like I've just got done running a marathon - yet, I've still refused to take the elevator up the two flights to my office.
• I've mentally checked out of work - the ladies I'm training are just idiots and I'm so afraid of what I'm going to come back to yet at this point I really just don't care. If they eff up, it's their own fault and will hopfully have it cleaned up before I get back.
• I feel sleep deprived - whether I've had 9 hours or 4 hours it doesn't matter. I guess this is a dose of what's to come once Baby GB arrives?!
• I want to eat... EVERYTHING. Especially ice cream, cake, burgers, chocolate, french fries, candy, pizza... everything I CAN'T eat on my diet. Which is probably good so that I don't gain 20 more pounds in my last 4 weeks alone.
• I know this is TMI (too-much-info?!) but my boobs... yeah the girls are huge. And it's only going to get worse.

Photo Credit

It's amazing that just a week and a half ago I was feeling great! Walking on cloud nine cause I felt so good and was SO happy with my maternity photos... now I'm walking on a different kind of cloud - it feels like my feet are full of water and I'm walking on more of a waterbed!?

Le sigh.... woes me...

Non-Stress Tests

This week was the first of my new hectic work/doctor appointment schedule and I have to say, it wasn't that bad!

If you remember, Dr. C recommended that twice weekly I am to be scheduled for non-stress tests in addition to my regular (now every two week) OB appointments. I'm really thankful that my job is accommodating me during all these appointments and letting me change my schedule from 8am-5pm to 7am-4pm however getting up that extra hour earlier this week was brutal! I'm sure I'll adjust to that quickly though.

I was a little nervous about starting these appointments just because of the nature of them - basically having GD considers me in the High Risk Pregnancy category and also because, I've never been to the hospital... ever... for anything...

Anyway, I made it down there ok, found parking, paid my $2 for said parking, and proceeded to wander around the Women's Maternity Center of the hospital until I finally gave up and asked where the heck I needed to go. Adam gets irritated with me because I'm like a man - I hate to ask for directions - so I'm glad he wasn't with me :)

So I finally figure out which part of the hospital they had me scheduled in - the Women's Center for Fetal-Maternal Medicine - and I took note since I'll be spending a lot of time there in the next 5 weeks. They hooked me up to a monitor that they told me would be similar to one they'd use up in L&D when I actually go into labor. Someone freaked me out and told me that these NST's would be simulating a contraction - that's not the case! Basically, one strap around my belly monitors Landon's heartbeat and another strap monitors if I'm having any contractions. The tech also gave me a little clicky deal that I had to push every time I felt Landon move. She said that they'll monitor him for a minimum of 20 minutes and they need to get at least 2 good movements with significant raises in heart rate. Apparently when a baby moves their heart rate raises and that's what the whole test is about.

Of course, it couldn't just be that easy right???

Landon was asleep... at BOTH my Tue & Friday appointments... fabulous. Both days they let me sit there for the first 5 or so minutes waiting to see if he'd wake up. He didn't. So first they try and have you drink a cup of cold water to see if that would help. It got him going a little bit but on Tuesday but it wasn't enough so they used a little device that uses a combination of vibration and sound to really wake him up. The tech said it won't hurt him in the slightest but the second that vibration hit my stomach I got the hardest kick I've ever felt. He was awake!!! :) After that it was kick after kick and HR rise after rise. I did end up having to sit there for 10 extra minutes because I guess once he was awake the cover line of his HR was bouncing from 140 to 135 and without 10 minutes of a consistent cover line I'd have to keep sitting there so they could monitor. Today, the water alone did the trick and and his cover line was consistent at 135. 

They must have noticed that I was nervous though cause they did put my mind at ease telling me that they wouldn't let me leave their office if they thought something was wrong. If they did think something was up - they'd either call Dr. C or send me straight up to L&D, or both.

Today (and every Friday from here on out) in addition to the test above I got an ultrasound to measure the amount of fluid he's living in. To my surprise, it was a 3D ultrasound!!! It was awesome! While I REALLY was hoping to get yet another confirmation of Team Blue - Landon didn't want to show us the goods. But the fluid level looked good and he's got some chunky little cheeks :) He was also sucking his thumb at one point and he's also in the perfect head down position... so hopefully he'll stay that way :) Here's a glimpse of our little man! He's very flexible :)

Skinny Cow...

Craving sweets on a low carb diet SUCKS!!! But I found the loophole...

Skinny Cow No Sugar Added Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches... they are going to get me through this diet :)

Ok so they have 140 calories but they only have 30 grams of carbs! Which means I can have one for my evening snack and not feel the least bit guilty :) 

YUM-O!!!!

Stupid Gestational Diabetes!

My apologies for not posting sooner about the gestational diabetes diagnosis but I wanted to wait until after my second appointment with my nutritionist to make sure I had a good understanding of what I was dealing with.

It all started with this post. I was feeling VERY defeated, mostly because I had a very misconstrued idea of what gestational diabetes was. I thought it was my fault, I thought I had done something wrong, and worst of all I thought I had failed.

Last Thursday I had my first consultation with my new nutritionist. First off she took my weight (up almost 15 lbs) and my blood sugar (73) both of which were normal. Then she taught me how to use my new glucose monitor - good thing it's pretty easy and (fairly) painless since I'd be doing it 4 times a day; fasting before I ate breakfast for the day, then 1 hour after each breakfast, lunch and dinner.

My new best friend.
Photo Credit

Here's some information I found from the American Diabetes Association that I found really helpful:

"Pregnant women who have never had diabetes before but who have high blood sugar (glucose) levels during pregnancy are said to have gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of all pregnant women - about 135,000 cases of gestational diabetes in the United States each year.

We don't know what causes gestational diabetes, but we have some clues. The placenta supports the baby as it grows. Hormones from the placenta help the baby develop. But these hormones also block the action of the mother's insulin in her body. This problem is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance makes it hard for the mother's body to use insulin. She may need up to three times as much insulin.

Gestational diabetes starts when your body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs for pregnancy. Without enough insulin, glucose cannot leave the blood and be changed to energy. Glucose builds up in the blood to high levels. This is called hyperglycemia.

How gestational diabetes can affect your baby

Gestational diabetes affects the mother in late pregnancy, after the baby's body has been formed, but while the baby is busy growing. Because of this, gestational diabetes does not cause the kinds of birth defects sometimes seen in babies whose mothers had diabetes before pregnancy.

However, untreated or poorly controlled gestational diabetes can hurt your baby. When you have gestational diabetes, your pancreas works overtime to produce insulin, but the insulin does not lower your blood glucose levels. Although insulin does not cross the placenta, glucose and other nutrients do. So extra blood glucose goes through the placenta, giving the baby high blood glucose levels. This causes the baby's pancreas to make extra insulin to get rid of the blood glucose. Since the baby is getting more energy than it needs to grow and develop, the extra energy is stored as fat.

This can lead to macrosomia, or a "fat" baby. Babies with macrosomia face health problems of their own, including damage to their shoulders during birth. Because of the extra insulin made by the baby's pancreas, newborns may have very low blood glucose levels at birth and are also at higher risk for breathing problems. Babies with excess insulin become children who are at risk for obesity and adults who are at risk for type 2 diabetes."

Since my blood sugar levels were only slightly elevated at both my 1hr and 3hr glucose testings my nutritionist hopes we can keep my blood sugar levels with diet and exercise alone. I'm very thankful for this because if things are too abnormal or can't be controlled with diet and exercise alone then I'd be forced to give myself insulin shots! Let's hope we can keep things in check! I am to eat about every 3 hours and include protein at every meal and snack and I have been following a 2000 calorie diet of 6 meals a day that look like this:

• Breakfast = 30 grams of carbs
• AM Snack = 15 grams of carbs
• Lunch = 45 grams of carbs
• PM Snack = 30 grams of carbs
• Dinner = 45 grams of carbs
• Evening Snack = 30 grams of carbs

I've never been one to follow a strict diet or count carbs and calories so when I first read my plan I questioned how in the world I'd be able to do this. I'm also supposed to test my blood sugar 4 times a day which I have to tell you is mildly annoying but if these things are the least I have to do to keep myself and Landon healthy then I'm not going to complain and I'm going to stick to it. Lets just say I have a new appreciation for those nutritional labels!!! :)

When I get up in the morning before I eat anything I have to test and my number has to be below 95. I also have to test 1 hour after each main meal and my number needs to be below 130. Two high numbers in a row and I am to call my nutritionist.

The first night I had all my information my testing didn't go so well - I ate what I thought was a fairly healthy dinner and I went over 130 - I immediately knew this was going to take a lot more work so I vowed day 2 would be better and it was. I did research, I started tracking every bite I ate into my Sparkpeople.com account, I went grocery shopping for healthy and low carb food options and my numbers have been in check for the last week.

I had my follow up meeting today with my nutritionist where she went over what I've been eating and where my numbers have been for the last week. All is well! She was very impressed at how seriously I was taking it and how well I've been doing. She weighed me again and I'm actually down 4 lbs?! Not that I'm trying to lose weight but that was shocking to me that even while Landon is growing (I feel like my belly sticks out further every day now) that I still managed just by eating right to lose weight. She did mention that I should be trying to get about 300 more calories than I've been allowing myself and that I should be exercising more. But other than that I'm on track and as long as my numbers continue to be normal I shouldn't have to meet with her in person again. I do have weekly check in's but I just have to e-mail her my numbers every Wednesday.

I honestly have to say I was 100% completely wrong about GD - I was convinced I didn't have it, that the glucose testings were wrong and that I was already eating healthy. I wasn't - but now that I am I feel great! Its amazing how much more energy I have.

With that, I will leave you with what thebump.com says Landon is up to this week... we are now 31 Weeks!!!

Baby's now the size of a squash!
Baby's going through major brain and nerve development these days. His irises now react to light, and all five senses are in working order. (He won't pick up anything from his nose until after birth, though -- smell is transferred through air, not amniotic fluid.)

Baby Shower!

I got so caught up in Glucose Hell that I completely forgot to post about my fabulous baby shower that my mom & my sister threw for me!!! It was Jan 17th at my mom's house and we had so much fun.

First of all, they went with mexican food - which I of course couldn't get enough of! Between the Cornbread Taco Casserole (which I still need the recipe for mom!!), taquitos, chips, salsa, and guac... lets just say I'm glad I hadn't gotten my Gestational Diabetes diagnosis beforehand!!!

The first game we played was a baby word scramble - I was not so saavy at unscrambling even the easiest of words but who knew what a Layette was anyway??? Is that like a bassinett???

Second game was HILARIOUS - my sister took newborn diapers and melted a different candy bar in each. They then get passed around and everyone has to guess which candy bar is in each... via smell, texture and **ahem** taste (for the oh so brave!). So funny...

Then they had everyone take a piece of yarn to guess how big I am around my belly... all I have to say is I'm glad we didn't have the shower 6 weeks down the road as some of you may just have been right - but for now... THANKS GUYS... THANKS! :)

And... PRESENTS!!!! Seriously I'm so thankful for everything everyone picked out. I can't wait for Landon to make use of everything!

And last but not least - I'll leave you with the best picture of the day... I love my dad! :)

Failure...

Hmm... I just got the call - I failed the 3 hour test - I have gestational diabetes. 

I am in shock - what did I do wrong? I've only gained 13 lbs, I wasn't overweight to begin with, I eat pretty healthy, I exercise... ok not enough but I still get it in... 

I know I should be happy that this is the only bump that's really come up so far but I can't help it - I'm so upset. I think a lot of why I'm upset is cause I don't eat like crap but they made me follow that stupid EFFING carb overload diet for three days and now I have to go to a nutritionist who's going to judge me right off the bat thinking I eat like sh!t and am a lazy a$$. Maybe not... all I know is that since I'm already eating pretty healthy - my gym membership is going to be getting a lot more use.

Glucose Hell... part duex!

Well, I've officially experienced the worst part of my pregnancy thus far... the 3 hour glucose test.

If you remember from this post, I failed my 1 hour glucose screening at my 28 week appointment so last Friday Dr. C sent me the instructions for the follow up 3 hour long test to make sure I don't have gestational diabetes. Here's what she sent me:

"In order to prepare your body, we would like you to 'overload' your system on carbohydrates before the testing time. For three days preceding the scheduled test, your diet should include an additional 300 grams of carbs each day. Please note that this is in addition to what you normally eat. In order to do this you will probably need to have large snacks several time a day! We prefer you eat a variety of carbohydrates, not all just sweets.
The night before the test, do not eat or drink anything except plain water 12 hours prior to the test. The test will start with drawing a blood sample. You will then be given a sweet drink with a measured amount of glucose in it. You will have 5 minutes to drink this. The test is timed and will start when you complete the drink. Blood will be drawn hourly until designated hours (3) are up. You will not be allowed to eat or drink anything during this time, but are encouraged to drink water."

So, Tuesday morning I start the carb overload... and I didn't realize how hard this would be until I started looking at labels and the example sheet that Dr. C also gave me.

Food	Amount	Carb grams	Food	Amount	Carb grams
1 % fat milk	1 cup	12	yogurt fruited	1 cup	40
Bran Chex	2/3 cup	23	yogurt fruit	1 cup	19
Frosted Flakes	3/4 cup	26	Raisin Bran	3/4 cup	28
fruit juice	1/2 cup	15	bread/toast	1 slice	15
banana	1/2	15	sugar	1 tsp.	4
pancake syrup	2 Tbsp.	30	pancakes - 4	2	15
low-fat granola	1/2 cup	30	sugar-free syrup	2 Tbsp.	4

All I have to say is that is A LOT of carbs to add to your regular diet!!!

Anyway, I'm sure I didn't even come close. I tried to add an english muffin with peanut butter to my usual breakfast of oatmeal and fruit along with a glass of fruit juice each morning. For lunch, I tried to eat a sandwich or pasta along with milk or juice. Two of the nights for dinner we added bread and potatoes. The last night we had lasagna, also with garlic bread. With all those additions when I tracked my food at Sparkpeople.com, I didn't even reach 300 grams of carbs TOTAL each day, let alone on top of what I regularly would have eaten. I was full... miserable... and I really don't want to see another carb all weekend. Lets just say I feel like I gained 10 lbs in those three days. I haven't gotten on the scale to check.

This morning when I went into the lab for my test the technician described exactly as above as to how my test would go and I thought I'd be fine. Boy was I wrong...

She checked my blood sugar when I got there and told me it was 65 - she tells me this is normal. Then comes the 1st blood draw. Then the glucose solution - this time I get the lemon lime flavor... it's worse than the orange in case anyone was wondering. It tasted like a thick lemon lime soda with about 4 times the amount of sugar. Then, back to the waiting room I go to sit for an hour till my 2nd blood draw.

At first I played solitaire on my laptop, then I started to watch The Hangover with my earphones until I thought to myself that there were other patients who could see my screen and it was probably not the most appropriate movie to have playing in the waiting room... oops :) So I broke out my book instead.

About 45 minutes in I started to feel myself get REALLY queasy and the hot flashes and dizziness set in. I grabbed a cup of water from the cooler and sipped on it but it wasn't helping so I made my way back to the restroom and had a SERIOUS talk with the porcelain god. I had to beg myself not to upchuck the solution because I knew that would probably mean I'd not be able to finish the test and I'd have to do this all over again. I did hang out in there for a good while leaning against the wall cause it sure felt cooler than the waiting room... ugh! I can honestly say I haven't felt that sick in a LONG time, maybe ever, without throwing up anyway.

Finally the tech called me back for my 2nd draw and she must have realized how I was feeling because she asked me about 4 times if I would be ok. After the 2nd draw I made about 3 more false alarm trips to the restroom to keep things down but gradually started to feel better. For the 3rd and 4th draws the tech at least switched arms that she was drawing blood from but by the end I still felt like a pin cushion. FINALLY it was over!!!

I was supposed to go into work after but I called in sick the rest of the day... I deserve it right??