Sugar Update

Forgot to mention I passed my Glucose Tolerance Test.  Good thing, because the night before I bought a ginormous bag of Saltwater Taffy.  Did you know it comes in Tropical Fruit flavors??????

28 Weeks

Oh hellooo 3rd Trimester!  So begs the question:  if I am 28 weeks along, does that mean I am 7 months pregnant?  (4 weeks in a month x 7 months = 28 weeks, right?)  But how can I have another 3 months to go?  That means I'm pregnant for 10 months - which is one theory.  The other theory is that a month is really 4 1/2 weeks long, so I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant, with 2 1/2 months to go.  Whatevs.  Let's get this show on the road!

In the meantime, here is a belly pic and I now realize this shirt doesn't make me look hugely pregnant.  But trust me, this belly is gettin real big y'all:

I spent today running some errands while Hubs is on call.  First stop: Home Depot to fix a mess THIS little girl made:


She looks so innocent...but don't be fooled.  I know she was snickering at me while I fixed the hole in the wall.

 Dakota gets has an "energy spurt" every day where she tears around like a dog strung out on crack for 5 solid minutes.  I firmly believe this is how she maintains her muscle mass when unable to run outdoors.  Her version of H.I.I.T.  (Sorry, lame workout joke)  Anyway, she and the Hubs were playing around one night and she flew into the wall, causing this:

After looking at it every day for WAY too long, I decided today was the day I fix it.  So off to Home Depot I went with  kinda/sorta an idea of what I needed to fix it.  I did have to call my dad at one point from the store -- he is coming to visit next week and said he'd just fix it then.  But having too much time on my hands and too much pride to not just fix it myself, I decided to forge ahead.  I asked one of the very friendly sales associates if he thought what I had in my cart would take care of it so I could impress my dad.  He said it all looked good and wished me good luck.

Here's the work in progress:

I first layered a 6"x 6" steel/mesh panel flush covering the dent.  That step may have been overkill, we'll see.  Then the DAP.  Don't worry, that DAP crap starts out pink, and dries white so you know when it's dry and time to sand.  Right now, it's white and ready.  So now I just need to sand, paint and *VOILA!* new wall!

This is a less expensive method than my other plan for this space:  Put a giant piece of furniture in front of it.  (That is still going to happen, but I figure I might as well fix it now.)

OK, if you are still awake, on to more exciting things, like the nursery!  I mentioned I purchased some custom art off of etsy.com and found some of the frames I was looking for.  Only they were black.  And black frames just WILL. NOT. GO.  So while at Home Depot, I picked up some spray paint in an Ivory shade that matches the trim in the room.

Oh....how I loooooove to spray paint.  Seriously, it's fun!  Don't worry, I used proper protective gear (I wore a mask and a giant old covering coat) and sprayed outdoors where it was well-ventilated.

I love how these turned out!  In case you are wondering, all this stuff is in Italian.  Paying a little homage to my Hub's side of the family:

I also have been going through photos for a MAYJUH project I am working on.  I am scanning in all old photos of my mom to make a digital photo album for myself, my bro, sis, and dad.  That's a lot of photos in her 49 short years of life.

Today she would have turned 55.  There isn't a day, an hour, STILL, that goes by that I don't think of her and miss her dearly.  Especially now that I am about to become a mother myself.  What I wouldn't give to have her here, to be able to call her with all my silly questions and worries.

AND I have lots of questions about what I was like as a baby?  What were HER pregnancies and labor experiences like?  I've been going through my baby books and love reading the notes she kept about me.  I can feel how loved I was and how proud my parents were.

So I'll end with this, a picture of me at 4 months.  Of course I spend hours wondering what our baby will look like.  Will he/she have my eyes?  Joe's nose?  My temper (hope not!)

Sugar, Stroller, Belly

This morning I had to fast (me no likey not eating!) and have my glucose challenge test done.  I drank the orange drink and having heard all kinds of negative things about it - I have to say - it was ice cold, sugary, and good.  Or I was just really hungry.  I then waited an hour and they drew my blood.  I won't know the results til tomorrow.  I put my pancreas through marathon-like training for this event, so I hope for a good number tomorrow.

While awaiting the blood draw, I saw my OB doctor.  I never know when I'm seeing him - either that, or my pregnancy scatterbrain can't keep it straight.  I didn't gain ANY weight since two weeks ago.  I was relieved, congratulating myself even.  My doc was a little concerned.  He asked if everything was alright and if my appetite was still strong.  I laughed and told him "Yep, I just tried to cut back on all the CRAP I've been eating now that the holidays are over, and eat way more fruits & vegetables".  He seemed pleased with this.  He measured my belly and it was bigger, right on track. 

Then he asked the usual questions "Having any contractions?" 
"Nope."  I said "I'm not sure I'd even know what they felt like, so my answer is no." 
He said "Oh, YOU WILL KNOW."  ((Yikes??))

"Feeling the baby move?" 
"Yep."
And right then, he came at me with the doppler to listen for the heartbeat and my baby gave him a swift kick, Jackie Chan-style.  It startled both of us and we had a good laugh.  He said "I believe you now!"

He told me I'm about to start my 3rd trimester - which I already knew.  I asked if we could hit the fast-forward button as I'm getting antsy.  He just laughed (again, AT me, presumably) and said "It's going to fly by....you'll be up to your knees in poopy diapers before you know it."  That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  We spent the rest of my appointment talking about his kids and their pooping habits.  True story.

In other news, as posted on my Facebook status tonight:  It took me and the Hubs entirely too long to put THIS together:

He would like it to be clarified that after he "stepped in" it took 10 minutes.



TA-DAAAAA!!!  And that's how our baby will roll.

 The sad part of this story is, they arrived in a box, already somewhat assembled.  I'm not a good direction-reader, especially when the manual is 42 pages long.  My MIL dropped them off two nights ago as an early shower gift.  How awesome is that?  I'm 50% excited beyond words and 50% scared - I don't know what to do with this stuff!?!?  I can't put Dakota in them and wheel her around for practice spins either because there is a 50-pound weight limit (I checked).

I'm also going to need to start a rigorous weight-lifting program if I am ever to lift that car seat PLUS an infant at the same time. 

Things to look forward to for tomorrow: 
#1: It's my day off.  (Self-explanatory)
#2: The crib & changing table are getting delivered!  And assembled! By someone other than me!
#3: I'll find out the results of my glucose test.  Not nearly exciting as say, finding out the sex of your baby, but I'd rather NOT have Gestational Diabetes, mmkay, thanks.

And lastly, pictures of my belly at 27 weeks, 5 days.  Disregard my unkempt (work) hair!

27 Weeks

Not much happening, so I thought I'd post one of these ever-popular fill-in-the-blank thingies:

How far along: 27 weeks and 1 day

Total weight gain: 21 pounds.  After what I shall now refer to as the 7-pound gain in a month disaster, I've tried to scale back a bit and make better choices.  Like having just ONE dinner at night, instead of two.  Serious.

Now if I could just get myself to stop baking.

How much does baby weigh: Two pounds.  The size of a head of cauliflower.  Which might explain why my lady parts feel like they are going to fall out.  Sorry for the TMI.

Maternity clothes: Yes.  Except for work, I just went up one size in scrub bottoms and two sizes in tops.  Sometimes, if my new bigbottoms aren't clean (I only bought 2 pair), I'll squeeze it allllll into the smaller pants.  It's always interesting to play "Let's see if my pants split today!"  What can I say?  I like to live on the edge.

As for outside of work, I wear what I refer to as "The Uniform":  A rotatable, comfortable small selection of Skinny jeans (gray, dark denim, or black), a big top, and boots.  Add in scarf or fun earrings or necklace to accessorize and *voila*!!  Uniform.

Cravings: Anything sweet, with carbs and sugar.  I've been eating a lot of fruit, especially clementines, bananas, and apples.  I'm not so much digging meat these days, which is unusual for me.

Sleep: Is alright.  That is, when the hubbs isn't on-call (and his pager isn't going off every two seconds) or when the dog isn't licking her bum like it's her new fulltime job, or I'm not up to pee every 2 hours.  I'm a side sleeper anyway, so this whole "no more lying on your back" rule is fine with me.  Naps are almost a daily occurrence.  Sometimes they are 1 hour, sometimes they are 3 hours, it just depends how tired I am (or how much the pager went off the night before.)

Movement: Sporadic.  Sometimes, it seems like very long periods of time pass before I feel something.  But when I do, they are very low and deep little movements.  I keep expecting to feel something up higher, above my belly button, but everything is down way low.

Belly button in or out:  It's slowly making its way out....it's almost flush/even with the rest of my belly.  So weird!

What I'm looking forward to: In the immediate future?  Getting together with friends tonight.  Decorating the nursery.  My dad coming for a visit.  My baby shower.  Buying regular (NON MATERNITY) clothes.  I will never wear an empire waisted garment again, unless I am with child.:

Slightly more long term?  Winter being OVER.  And of course, ultimately, our precious BB arriving!

Milestone: Cool:  We are at 90 days to go!  Glucose Challenge test next week.  Also, this marks the last week of my 2nd trimester!!
Not so cool: I think in the last 3 days I'm seeing the beginning of stretch marks forming.  Why, oh why, I thought I might be an exception is proof that I'm a hormonally-deranged lunatic.

What I miss:  Ice cold beer.  Wine.  Sleeping all night.  Walking without pain.

So here is what WE look like this week, only imagine the lady figure rounder in the front and a little more plump in the back.  Hey, my baby's got a lot of cushion! 

27 Weeks

Next week