In the spirit of Festivus, it's time to air my grievances with this pregnancy.
** Imagine my face in this pouty expression as I rant **
I failed the 1 hour glucose test with a 179. Normal range is 65-140. So now I have to take the 3 hour test at my next appointment, which will consist of eating a high-carb diet beforehand, fasting, drinking a larger super sugary drink, and then getting blood taken once every hour for 3 hours. And I won't be able to eat until lunch, after the test is completed. I really hope I don't have "tha sugahs." I love food wayyyyy too much (and my autonomy to choose what I eat)....and let's not even think about the insulin shots.
All of a sudden, after the end of week 28, I have constant sciatic nerve and back pain. The sciatic pain is a twinge, ranging from slight to sharp, in my left rump and upper leg area. It causes me to limp, which doesn't work well with my existing pregnant waddle. To alleviate these pains, the RN that teaches my fitness class suggested I wear one of these:
Great. So I'll add that to my current variety of underwear supplements, including bra extender, camisole, and bella band. I'm going to be a walking piece of spandex.
What happened to my great pregnancy hair? It's back to being the usual rare-good-hair-day situation.
I miss the 2nd trimester.....
We had another routine prenatal appointment today, with my regular GYN, Dr. Lynch. I had to redo the 1 hour glucose test because they lost or dropped my blood sample from the last appointment (I'm still not exactly clear on what happened, and the staff at the Belmont office didn't seem to know either, so it must have been conveniently left off of my chart....). The blood test hurt more than usual, but I'm not sure if it was because they did it in my right arm (they always do my left) or because of the nurse's methods -- she got two samples much quicker than they usually get one. Yuck.
Weight -- I'm up 26 lbs at 29 weeks. I thought the dr. might give me a little warning about it, since it's a bit on the higher range of all the "averages" I read on the intarweb, but he said it was fine.
Teeny's Heartbeat -- Heard it strong and quickly at 150 bpm.
Dr. Lynch said everything looks great, and we start our 2 week appointments now, so we go back in early December and we'll see a new doctor at that appointment.
We are officially in the third trimester now! And all the "joys" have come right along in full force -- aching back, difficulty sleeping, leg cramps, difficulty getting up from sitting / lying, peeing all the time, etc. Teeny is still moving around regularly, but now that he's bigger, he has less room, and many of his wiggles can be quite painful -- especially up towards my ribs or over on my side. I often have to poke at him to coerce him into moving away. Last night he did something that made it to where I couldn't take regular breaths because my lungs had a sharp pain on my inhales. Luckily I got him to move and got my lungs back after laying down.
We started our birthing class, Birth & Beyond, at the hospital this week. Here's the description from the website:
This series of classes will help prepare Mom and her support partner for labor and birth. Couples learn all about the labor and birth process; practice positions, massage, relaxation, and other methods to cope with labor. Medical pain relief measures, induction of labor and Cesarean Birth are also covered. A Series consists of 4 weeknights or 2 Saturday classes. Couples will tour The Birthplace during the series
There were about 12 other couples in the class, but there wasn't really much time for interaction. And the teacher is one of the RNs who does my Moms in Motion class, so it was neat that it was someone I already know. We spent the first part of the class watching a video detailing the various stages of labor, and afterwards the teacher discussed the stages in more detail and offered a lot of random tidbits of information (when you can get admitted -by cm measurement that is, how to tell if your water has broken or if you've really just peed yourself again, etc). The final part of class was spent on the floor learning some relaxation techniques to help with early labor (a whopping 6-12 hours!). I don't see myself really getting down on the floor and doing massages during early labor -- I'd much rather use her (earlier) suggestion of taking a Tylenol PM and getting some self-induced rest! But just in case that's what my labor-crazy mind decides it wants, we know the techniques now :) Next week's topic --- pain management techniques (and yes, I will need these, because I've got at LEAST 6-12 hours of pain in early labor before I can even get INTO the hospital, much less when they decide I can get the almighty-science-is-my-hero-wonder-drug-epidural).
Next week we have another check up with my regular doctor, Dr. Lynch, and I have to redo the glucose screen test. I'm not sure what else they'll check for outside of the normal stuff, but I do believe we'll get on the 2 week schedule fairly soon.
Here's the 28 weeks picture (and we updated the belly pics image gallery):
This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family (we alternate each year with my and Josh's families) My sister, her boyfriend, my three nephews, and baby Nathan all came over to celebrate at our house. Unfortunately, my mom wasn't feeling well, so she had to stay home -- but she still managed to get the turkey cooked for us!
I had a harder time than usual hosting, because the third trimester is bringing the heftier aches and pains of pregnancy to the forefront. I worked from home on Wednesday, and took advantage of my remote access to get started early on cleaning up the house. By that evening, I was worn out, and my back was aching! I actually had to adopt the back-holding pregnancy waddle to help alleviate the pain as I walked. But alas -- there were floors to be mopped and desserts to be baked, and I worked nonstop until 11:00 or so. And Josh was such a sweetie helping out with everything he could and rubbing my back.
Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving:
Taking a break from getting all the food ready for a quick picture
It's not alcoholic!! But I put it in a wine glass and sipped on it anyway so I could pretend....
Last minute prep for the big meal
Everyone at lunch -- Wayne, Nathan, Jerry, Angie, Dustin, Josh, & Timothy
Angie & Nathan -- what a cute picture!
Thanks to this awesome website, I was able to do a lot of pre-planning for Black Friday. I don't typically go out for the deals, but I have in the past, if the savings are worth the hassle. This year, we intended to buy a Nikon D40 camera, so that we can have it for Teeny's no-you're-not-going-to-have-your-eyes-shut-in-every-picture baby pics. Sears was listed as having the camera at the best price I had seen it thus far (and we've been researching it for several months), so we planned to get it from there. Luckily, I kept monitoring the Black Friday website, and noticed that Staples had their sales online on Thanksgiving day (as did several other retailers) -- and they were offering it at the exact same price and with free shipping! I was so glad to be able to get the good deal and stay away from the crowds! We also snagged an awesome deal online for something else we were looking to buy, a portable GPS system (since we opted not to go for the pricier in-dash model in the Highlander). I'm so proud of my relentless research and awesome deals!
Since we didn't have to waste our energy with the Black Friday crowds, after we slept in much later than usual for us, we spent the rest of the day leisurely putting up Christmas decorations and the tree. It was a bit harder this year, again due to the aforementioned pregnancy aches from the shoulders down, but not as bad as earlier in the week. We cleaned out a spot in our office for the tree by taking out the loveseat that sits in the corner. We had a lot of fun thinking about how next year at this time we will have a crawling Teeny, and our tree will probably only have ornaments outside of his reach :)
Here are some pictures of us getting the tree put together:
Josh putting the big pieces together
Me putting up some of the last ornaments
Mocha and me admiring the finished tree
We didn't finish getting all the decorations put up, but we still have the rest of the long weekend!
You're so HUGE!
• "Yeah, I'm actually a week late and my water could break at any minute -- stand back!"
• "I know, I gotta start cutting back on the burgers and booze."
• "I'll try to take that as a compliment."
• "Yeah, but I'm going to lose 20 pounds in a day. What about you?"
• "Well, ya know, I'm growing a life. What have you done today?"
You're so TINY!
• "Doesn't feel that way to those of us looking down at the belly."
• "I've decided to gain all of my pregnancy weight in my ass."
-- from my Parents.com email
We put together a bit more in Teeny's room this week --- we finally picked out a glider, and it arrived. Josh put it together this weekend, and we've got it set up in the room. I ended up adding a navy blanket and the dinosaur pillow to make it blend in the room a bit more, and it looks great. I'm not sure if we'll use the ottoman or not -- for now, it's tucked away, because it takes up too much space just sitting out in the middle of the floor.
The curtains also finally came in at Pottery Barn Kids, so I picked those up, along with a rod at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. And we also chose a closet organizer at Target to help optimize space and storage. I'll have to get some more pictures once we get the curtains and wall decor up. Not much more to go!
As promised in my Week 22 post, here are my favorite things about being pregnant:
- Stretchy pants
- How fast my hair grows --- great timing, since I'm growing out the length and layers!
- Nails that don't break as much
- Having a valid excuse for being tired or taking a nap
- Teeny moving around and confirming that he's healthy and active
- Decorating and outfitting his room, wardrobe, and essentials -- I love shopping!
- Talking with Josh about what it will be like when Teeny is here
- Having Josh talk to Teeny through my belly
- Eating what I want (within reason) without as much guilt
- When I disagree with Josh, I always win, because I get a 2:1 vote!
Lots of things to look forward to in the next week! We will officially be in the 3rd trimester, and Teeny will celebrate his first Thanksgiving holiday. Also, it's only a 3-day work week for me, and I really need a break from the office!
I finally took a picture with my head in it! I went out for Christy's birthday celebration Friday night, and (sadly enough) it was one of the first times I've actually made an attempt at pulling myself together for more than a casual outing.
And here's the official 27 weeks belly pic:
We've finished our baby registries!! I can't believe it. Countless hours of research (online and my trusty printed guides) and many hours in the store, and now we have a definitive list of what we'd like to buy before Teeny makes his debut into the world.
We registered at Pottery Barn Kids (many of my "want" items) and Babies R Us (lots of our "need" items). We did PBK a month or so ago, because I had to go in there to pick up some things and just wanted to get it finished up. We did a leisurely stroll around the store and probably spent an hour at most scanning up items.
We hit up Babies R Us yesterday, and it was a much different experience -- such a daunting task. It took us 3 hours to get through the store; the majority of time which was spent looking at tiny little bottles, nipples, feeding supplies, safety accessories, bathing gear and all the other "little" things. By the time we made it to aisle 4 with the strollers, I was mentally exhausted. But we did manage to make it through the store, and I think we've got everything covered. And if not, thank goodness, there's always the internet for updates!
Here are the links to the lists we set up at each store (I'll also add them to the right side links section). I was so excited just to make the decisions on what we want to use!!
Click Here
Click Here
Any BTDT moms with tips on my lists? Am I missing something?? Any suggestions on brand / type?? I welcome any advice :)
So I'm going to start this week's post off with a rant. I get tons of emails with updates on the pregnancy; some are delivered weekly and others on a daily basis. One of my favorites is the one I get from AmericanBaby.com, and it was also where I obtained the Ages & Stages header I put at the top of each of my posts. They were late sending my Week 24 email due to some technical problems and my Week 25 email never came (and they never answered my email asking why). The reason became apparent when I received my Week 26 email, newly designed, from Parents.com (the parent company of AmericanBaby.com). The header is different....and ugly --- see below.
** edit *** I had to take out the new ugly banner, b/c it's not an image, and it didn't format correctly on my blog. Yet another reason I won't be using it!
So I'm going to continue to steal the old style of headers for my blog posts, as long as they are available on the web (used the neat trick of changing the week number in the image's url). If they make them unavailable, then I guess I'll have to switch over to BabyCenter.com's.
While I'm on the topic of ranting, let's throw another one in here I forgot to mention the last couple of weeks. Some of you may have wondered if I ever got the results from my glucose test in week 24 back. Nope --- but I did get a call a few days later from a nurse telling me the lab couldn't process my blood because they either lost it or dropped it or something similar. So I have to redo the test -- drink and blood and all -- all over again at my 28 weeks appointment. Arrrrrggghhhh!!!
Teeny is kicking around more and more (he seems to have developed longer patterns of being awake and asleep). You can definitely see him moving in my belly now (which is still a bit Alien-ish creepy). But Josh gets a lot more interactive time with him now, and he even seems to respond to his voice. What was really funny though, was that Josh was watching a Jay Z special on the DVR, and when I walked in the room, Teeny started kicking and "dancing" around. So we laughed about how he takes after his daddy and is a Jay Z fan already. Then, a few hours later, Josh was watching some more of the special, and as soon as I went in the room, Teeny started moving around again! I had to make sure to balance out Teeny's hip hop experience and give him some Kanye and Common in the car on Saturday :)
Sleep is becoming more and more difficult. I can't find a comfortable position, so I toss and turn a lot. And I get hot and have to throw off the covers. And I have to pee frequently. And Teeny tends to start his rounds of exercise by 3:00 am. I guess it's preparation for when he's with us and needs attention in the middle of the night.
Things to look forward to next week -- we're going to complete our registry at Babies R Us and make some final decisions on what stroller and other gear we want to use!
Here's the 26 weeks belly pic:
...and out - to a bigger car that is.
We are selling Josh's Audi A4 (interested in buying the beloved A4? -- see it here) and are buying a new Toyota Highlander. The Audi barely had a backseat, and not much room for all the gear we're probably going to be carrying around for the next few years. We've spent a long time researching various SUVs and sedans, and have even walked out of Toyota of Gastonia twice (their numbers defy the logic of basic mathematics). I have to say - the Honda Accord gets an honorable mention (as does the sales guy at the Gastonia dealership that we worked with). But in the end, we decided the extra space in the Highlander was worth it, at least for the next 3 years.
I have to give props to my man here on this purchase though. He scored us a pretty sweet deal, and he did take on the lion's share of research when it came down to comparisons and pricing. He even figured out the formula for leases and wrote a program on his cell phone that we could use to help determine all the variables in the lease equation. He's such a dork -- and that is SO why I love him :)
We should be getting the new car in the next couple of weeks. I just hope it doesn't get my Altima kicked out of the garage, since it's definitely bigger than the Audi. We'll have to see....
My neighborhood decided to host a community yard sale last weekend (we had a rather successful one earlier this year in the spring), and my friend, Christy, and mother-in-law, Lynn, decided to come over and sell some of their things with me in the yard. It was way too early, dark, and cold for most of the sale, and wasn't nearly as profitable as the last one. I only made $35, which was hardly worth the time, effort, and freezing conditions. I think Christy & Lynn ended up doing a good bit better than that, but still not nearly as much as in the spring sale.
Highlights from the yard sale:
- Seeing the longest, gray mullet on a woman ever
- Meeting a real, life Joy Turner--- she even said "Oh SNAP!" to us
- Having an older woman buy the pleather pants for her daughter b/c they matched some of her boots
Here are some pictures:
Me & Christy
Me & Lynn