Merry Christmas! 3 days to go!

Merry Christmas!  

There is no doubt that our best Christmas gift is yet to come in just a few short days!  We are so excited to share today with our family and friends, anxiously anticipating Annie's arrival! 

I had my last appointment yesterday and everything is set for the induction on Thursday night!  See?  These are my only two appointments left on myCarle!  Crazy!!

We had a growth scan ultrasound yesterday at my last appointment and they estimate Annie to be about 7 pounds, 10 ounces right now (61st percentile)!  So, still right about average but slightly above.  Sounds like we will have a good sized baby girl, but not too big :)

Dr. Fulfer checked me yesterday and I am about the same as far as progression goes as I was a week ago...1.5 centimeters dilated, ~50% effaced, and her head is still really low!  That should help things when I come in for my induction!  

The plan is to call around 4:30pm on Thursday afternoon and Labor and Delivery will tell me what time to come in - or, if they are really busy, tell me to call back in a few hours to see if they have a bed for me.  I really hope that it's not too busy and I am able to get in Thursday night!  What a letdown that would be.  But, the hope is to get me in around 7pm on Thursday night for cervidil and a good nights rest :)  Then at about 7am on Friday they will start pitocin!  Dr. Fulfer said if everything goes well, to expect a baby sometime Friday afternoon/evening - or even Saturday morning!!

Please say a prayer for a safe delivery - can't wait to announce the birth of our daughter! :)

 

Daycare Decision!

The decision on where to send your infant to daycare is a difficult one - I'm sure many working moms/parents know the feeling!  You are trying to find someone that you trust with this precious little life that you love more than anything - and in our case, when she is so young, starting around 2 months of age. 

I had a pretty difficult time with this - throughout the last few months, I have put off finding names for daycare options in town, then I put off emailing or calling them once I had a list of names, and then of course after we met with a few, I put off calling them back for a few weeks.  We decided to go with the at home daycare route for a few reasons...1) I really like the smaller size of at home day cares and 2) this option fit into our budget a little bit better :).

We ended up interviewing 3 people all together....the first 2 were pretty good.  Overall, they had many great things about them and how they run their day care.  And, I think either of them would have done a great job in the end.  But, of course, I kept focusing on those couple negative things and couldn't get them out of my mind.  And, when I left the interviews, I just felt uneasy - I didn't leave there with this overwhelming sensation of, "yes, we love that day care!"

I didn't have that great, positive feeling UNTIL....the last interview :)  We interviewed her a few weeks ago - we left her house feeling really excited and happy about who we had just met.  And I must say, after having struggled with this decision for a few months, actually having that happy, positive feeling after the interview definitely told us something.  I emailed her last night to ask if she would be willing to have Annie in early March and she said yes!

I'm so happy that this decision is finally made - and that I feel nothing but good things about our final decision.  While I know nothing will make going back to work easy in March, I am hoping that feeling so good about who is taking care of Annie will make it just a little bit easier :)

Merry Christmas everyone!  3 days to go....

Full Term - 37 weeks!

Woohoo!  Full term!  It feels so great to make it to this point, but as everyone who has had a baby knows, this is also the point where you get so anxious and ready for your baby to make his or her arrival! :)

To start things off, I was SO excited to find out that I am indeed progressing (my hunch was right!)!!  At my appointment yesterday, I found out that I am definitely 1 centimeter dilated, if not almost 2 centimeters!  And, 50-60% effaced and her head is really low (station "0" for those who know the lingo).  So that is all good news!  Of course, doesn't mean that things are guaranteed to happen early, but, having some progression is better than none!  And, if I do make it to my induction, hopefully this will help things go smoothly!

But, as the doctor said yesterday - he was really happy to see her head so low for labor and delivery, but of course that also means that it is much more uncomfortable for me right now in the meantime.  That is indeed the case...

I hate to even use the word "miserable", because I don't ever want to think of carrying our daughter as miserable.  However, over this past weekend, I definitely have hit "that point" where I am READY.  One of the main reasons is that I pulled muscles in my leg/groin/pelvic area late last week and that has really made things hard to deal with.  It is very hard for me to walk - the waddle is in full effect! - and then going from sitting/laying to standing up is very very painful.  Just ask Ben, he has literally had to help move my legs when it hurts too bad for me to stand up from either sitting or laying!  Sometimes I feel like such a baby, but there isn't much I can do about it :(  My pulled muscles have started to feel a little bit better, so that's good.

"Woah!  Are you here to deliver today!?!?": says the women in the bathroom at Carle yesterday.  I guess that is what you have to look forward to when you are full-term!  This lady couldn't get over how large my belly is - she asked all of the classic questions like "is there just one in there?" or "you still have a couple of weeks?".  That's the first time I have had that kind of reaction!  I was actually kind of surprised...I don't think my belly is that big - I definitely have seen pregnant bellies larger than mine :)  Maybe it was what I was wearing...haha, who knows!  Didn't bother me too much since I am full-term and should be larger...but I can only imagine how much it would bother me if I wasn't this far along.

Here is my 37 week picture!  Must say, I will admit that I have that late pregnancy "look" (i.e. chubbier face, tired eyes, bigger nose) - not my best look, but it's worth it :) :)

All About the Induction!

I was just telling Ben yesterday how happy I am that we actually have an "end" date - which I know is very unusual for most pregnant women.  And, I still feel that way - it's nice to say "only 2 and a half weeks at the most!!".  If it wasn't for my scheduled induction on the evening of the 27th, I could be saying..."wow, it could be any day now, or it could be like 4-5 more weeks".  I'm a planner, so I like that I'm saying the first thing :)....not to mention, we KNOW we'll have the tax deduction for a baby this year :) :)

BUT - after talking with my doctor today about how long of a process inductions can be, boy oh boy do I hope that miss Annie decides to make her appearance before my induction date on the 27th!!!

After hearing in baby classes that inductions don't always work (news to us!!) and sometimes people are sent home after an unsuccessful induction, I wanted to get some clarification from Dr. F on whether or not I could fall into that boat.  Good news - no, I won't - mainly because I actually have a medical reason to be having the baby early (the "trial" inductions where people get sent home happen if someone is doing an induction only because they just want to deliver the baby).  Therefore, there is no way we will go home without a baby after I've gone in on the 27th.  But, I wanted to get more information about what would she do then in the case that the induction doesn't seem to be working.

Basically - it boils down to this: I (we) are really crossing our fingers that I have some sort of progression before my induction - i.e. some sort of dilation or effacement at my appointment next week (when they first check for this) or my last appointment on Christmas Eve.  If I am not progressing naturally, there is a much higher chance that the induction could be a very long process.

If I am not showing progression by the induction date, I would go in for cervidil the night of the 27th and then start pitocin at 8am on the 28th.  If pitocin does nothing to start contractions and labor just isn't progressing at all that first day, then they would stop pitocin and give me more cervidil overnight on the 28th.  Then - they would start pitocin the next morning for round #2.  If the pitocin STILL doesn't start labor, then that evening (the 29th), I would most likely have a c-section.  If pitocin does start labor on that second day, then they will let labor progress as it wants to - meaning (and this is the kicker)...that if my labor at this point wants to take another 24 hours, I could go into DAY 3!!!!  Haha....wow, that's crazy.  I knew inductions could take longer, but I never imagined possibly that long!

I am happy that Dr. F wouldn't jump into a c-section at the end of the day one - I would love to avoid a c-section if possible.  I am also thankful to know ahead of time that this could happen.  Of course, that's the worst case scenario and hopefully it will not be that long.  And, let's REALLY hope that I am progressing at least a little bit by my 38-week appointment next week or on Christmas Eve!  Cross your fingers with me please :) :)

So I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens :)....(and we all know Annie has her own "plan" anyway....)

Less than one month to go!

It's hard to believe that there is less than one month to go!  Monday marked exactly one month to my due date - but because I'll be induced early, we are now at 23 days and counting (at the most!) - eeks!!!

We are SO excited and just cannot wait for her to be here!  There are still some big "to-do's" left like packing the hospital bag, getting those final things off our registry, and actually writing up my birth plan - but overall we feel really ready! 

Overall, I have been feeling really well!!  I haven't hit that "miserable" point yet - I mean, yes, there are things I won't miss....like having to pee every 5 minutes (and then nothing coming out), or the terrible hip pain I have from sleeping on my side, and the constant worry that something is wrong with the baby....but overall, I would say my attitude is staying pretty positive :)  

Luckily miss Annie has cooperated and stayed head-down over the last few weeks...no more flipping breech recently (phew!).  That is always a nice thing to hear when we go to our ultrasounds on Mondays.  One of the things I cannot WAIT for when she is here is to kiss her chubby cheeks - they look so cute and chubby and kissable on the ultrasounds! :)

We had another growth scan last Monday (the 26th) and Annie is measuring right around 5 pounds, 10 ounces - which is in the 52nd percentile, so she is "average"!  We are so happy about this - it means that my insulin shots have really paid off!  Everything has been going well with my diabetes too - my units are up quite a bit at every meal, but the most important thing is that my blood sugar numbers are controlled and she is growing at a decent rate! 

One odd "symptom" I have been having recently is that every now and then (maybe once every other day) I see spots in my vision.  I didn't really think much of these until I was reading an article yesterday that was about "the top symptoms you shouldn't ignore during pregnancy" - well guess what was on there?  Yup!  Spots in your vision.  Of course I had a mini-freak out moment, but called the nurse after hours and asked her.  She said it could be a sign of developing preeclampsia, but since I didn't have the corresponding headaches, my blood pressure has always been normal, and no protein in my urine at my appointments - she wasn't too worried.  I am definitely going to talk to the doctor about it tomorrow though at my appointment.  The nurse thinks it's just one of those equilibrium things when I go from laying down to standing up (which is when it happened last night).  Sometimes I'm amazed at some of things that happen to your body during pregnancy that are actually connected to pregnancy (does that make sense?) - like I would have never guessed seeing spots could be the result of something having to do with pregnancy.  Well, I guess I know now :)

We were SO bad about taking our bump pictures for a few weeks!!!  But we FINALLY did this week, so here is my 35 week picture!  It's funny to look at my 35 week picture compared to my 26 week picture (which is the last one I posted) - it's amazing how much I grown!!!

And a bare bump photo too :)  I don't know if my belly button can be stretched anymore than it already is...! haha

  

Nursery Pictures!!

FINALLY!  The nursery is almost complete! :)  Even though it is not all the way done, it is complete enough for me to share some pictures :)  I'm too excited to wait!!!  It feels SO good to have her room pretty much done - I absolutely love looking in there every time I walk by, reminding myself of the best Christmas present we will be receiving in just a few weeks!  We really are blessed - and have so much to be thankful for this holiday season!!  

We LOVE how it turned out - we wish we could have painted all 4 walls, but since we are still in an apartment and hopefully will be moving into a house next summer, we decided just to paint one to lessen the amount we have to paint back when we move.  There are a few things we are missing - like you will notice we do not have a changing pad yet - that will be on the white dresser with either a cute pink polka dot or yellow changing pad cover :)  We also need to figure out decorations for on top of the bookcase and hang cute little hooks for her towel and robe on the wall by the dresser!

I have to give a lot of credit for how the nursery is "designed" to my husband.  He is the one that came up with some of my favorite parts of the nursery...the color combo being one of those things (the yellow wall and the gray/white additions to the room).  He also had the idea to get a gender-neutral gray and white crib skirt which we can use next time around even if we have a boy - genius idea Ben! :)  He also was the one to come up with the idea of putting the cute white flowers above the crib.  I'm sure there are other things I am forgetting...oh ya, like the beautifully refinished dresser that he did :)  I really got lucky that I have a husband with an eye for such things!  Must be that artsy, photographer brain of his :)

So please enjoy the pictures!! :)

 

 

Duncan LOVES to go sit in Annie's room - he can't wait for his little sister either :)

Weekly Ultrasounds & Induction Scheduled!

Despite the fact that I have to juggle still working full 40 hour weeks while going to two 2-3 hour appointments every week, we just love getting very frequent peaks of Annie on our weekly ultrasounds!!

Every week, we are getting a Biophysical Profile ultrasound (or BPP) - which basically means they are looking more at her movement, breathing, heartbeat, etc. during these ultrasounds.  There is no growth component to them (except for at 34 and 38 weeks when they add on a growth scan).

One of the best things about having so many ultrasounds is that it is easier to "share" these special appointments with family - my dad came to our ultrasound on November 1st and my mom came on the 12th!   I think it was really fun for them to see their granddaughter in "action" instead of just in pictures - she showed off a little bit too - she yawned a couple of times for them, moved her fingers, etc. :)  It was pretty special to share that with them!  I really wish that Ben's mom and dad lived closer so they could come to one too.

The November 6th ultrasound was especially fun for me (unfortunately Ben had to miss this one!).  We found out 2 major things - 1) Annie has HAIR!  She could clearly see hair on the screen...little fuzz coming off of her head :) and 2) Annie decided it would be fun to turn breech! :/  The funny thing was, we had just had an ultrasound on the 1st - so she went from being completely head down to head up in just 4 days!  Active little girl we have!! :)

The doctor said they don't worry about a baby being breech until about 36 weeks (I was 31 at the time).  Well, that is true that I shouldn't worry or start exercises to flip her quite yet because by the next U/S on the 12th, she was head down again!  Phew! :)  BUT - I swear over the last few days, she has been turning again and it would not shock me at all if we go to our ultrasound tomorrow afternoon and she is breech again.  I think I can tell when she is breech and when she is head down - so we'll see if my hunch is right that she is breech again!  I hope not of course, I would love it if she just stayed head down from here on out! :)

One of the positives of her being breech at the ultrasound on the 6th was that we could get some really great face pictures of her because she was staring right at the camera!  Here is the best face picture we got of her during that ultrasound:

Don't you just love those cheeks!?!?

Along with the ultrasounds, I also am really starting to enjoy the down-time I have at my appointments (never thought I would say that!).  I love getting the non-stress tests (especially when I have my favorite nurse, Donna) and then of course it's nice to meet with my doctor or Jessica, my nurse practitioner (who I love!), twice a week!  Ben usually just comes for the ultrasound but doesn't stick around for the NST or appointment...sometimes they can take an additional 1.5-2 hours.  Another reason I am loving my time at my appointments is because instead of bringing work work, I have my "baby bag" which is full of baby reading materials and books that I don't find time to read in the evenings.  It's nice to just take a few hours and focus on Annie and nothing else!

OH!  And how could I forget!!!  Last week Dr. Fulfer scheduled my induction!  Eeks!  Of course I hope we don't have to use it and I go into labor naturally, but it's kind of weird that we are close enough to actually be "on the books" for my induction!  So...if I haven't gone into labor before, the plan is to go in on the evening of December 27th to start the process!  But, if "things" look favorable before, then we will just go in the morning of the 28th.  Ben and I really need to start brainstorming something fun to do during the day on the 27th....that is going to be a long day waiting and anticipating 8pm to come around for us to go in! :)  Eeks!  Can't WAIT though! :)

31 Week Update!

It's hard to believe that I am past the 30 week mark...it really seems like time has flown by after about 20 weeks or so!  And, since I know I'll be induced at 39 weeks (if I haven't gone into labor before), then it is just a little bit less than 8 weeks at this point!!!  Ahh!  Kind of crazy.  It really hit me the other day when my dad said "it's hard to believe you will have a baby next month" - that was the first time I thought of it that way, but YES, we will have a baby next month!

We are getting so excited.  And I am a little bit surprised how ready we feel - neither of us are too nervous.  Now, we aren't physically ready, because the nursery is no where near ready and we don't have everything that we need, but at least both of us feel prepared to be parents!  I think part of the reason we feel "prepared" is because we have both accepted that we know we will not know everything and we'll learn as we go!  Now, will I still be saying this 6 weeks from now when the birth is right around the corner!?  We'll see :) 

We started our Prepared Childbirth Classes at the hospital 2 weeks ago.  It has been really nice to start actually thinking about the labor & delivery part of pregnancy - something we haven't really heard much about!  We still have 2 more classes left and I am really excited for the last week when we actually get to tour the labor & delivery floor at Carle.  It's been fun to learn about what to expect and also different coping/relaxation techniques, etc.  I must say, I am really hoping that I can go into labor naturally instead of being induced...but it is what it is and the most important thing is that everything goes smoothly and she is healthy!!  Besides the Prepared Childbirth class, we still have a few other classes - breastfeeding, infant CPR, Ben has a dad's only class, and a newborn care class. 

I've been feeling really good lately too!  My biggest "complaint" at this point would have to be the hip pain that I've been having from sleeping on my side.  And, I have been a little surprised how much harder it is to do things - like walking - I didn't expect to have issues with this type of simple activity until I was closer to the end of my pregnancy (especially because that difficulty started several weeks ago!).  I've learned I really cannot walk fast or I will get horrible ligament pain on my right side!  And not to mention, the bladder issue of course :)  That is FUN!

This week is the start of having appointments 2 times a week at the hospital until the baby is here - boy oh boy should that be fun!  I really don't mind the extra check-ups (ultrasound every week, non-stress test every appointment - who can complain!!), but each appointment is really long (2-3 hours) - and they are all during the day, meaning I have to miss that time at work.  I am also hoping to make up that lost time every week too so I don't have to use any sick/vacation time.  So, I'm sure I have some really long work days ahead of me before I have the baby!  I'm trying to spin the time I'll spend waiting at the doctor's office positively though - it's time for me to read my baby books that I never seem to have time for in the evenings.

We had an ultrasound on November 1st and it was really fun because my dad got to come with us - I figured we have so many ultrasounds, why not share a few :)  They estimate that she is just about 3 pounds, 13 ounces right now - which is in the 51% percentile.  We were SO happy to hear that she is right on track for size since I have been trying so hard to control my blood sugars with diet and insulin to prevent her from growing too large (i.e. decrease the chance of having to have a c-section and other issues related to gestational diabetes and a big baby).  This ultrasound was also fun because this was the first time we thought she actually looked like a baby - not quite as skeletal as in past ultrasounds.  We could see some chubby cheeks developing already! And at one point, we got to see her open her mouth and yawn!  That was SO cool!  Here are some pictures:

 

Profile shot

Front view!  This is when she opened her mouth!  I can't believe you can see all of her facial features so clearly - eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth!

We actually have another ultrasound on Tuesday - can't wait to see her again :) :)  I'll be updating soon (I promise) about the baby shower, pregnancy photos, and progress on the nursery! :)

Third ultrasound and first non-stress test!

Once again, I know it has been too long :/  Work has been very busy recently (3 work trips, many presentations, one grant proposal)...BUT good news is that things are getting back to normal and work isn't quite as crazy as it was over the past month.  I'm very happy about that - it was a little much for a while there, and I was worried about being too stressed for the baby!

So this will be an update for the last few weeks!  We had our third ultrasound on October 1st - this ultrasound was a growth scan, just to see how the baby is growing and making sure she is right on track.  Luckily, everything looks great once again and she weighs about 2 pounds (on the 1st that is when I was about 26 weeks) - which is right in the 45th percentile - they were very happy to see this! :)  Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound!!  Btw - even though it was confirmed during the ultrasound that it is definitely a girl (we got a great bottom up shot!), I need to clarify why these scans say "Blue" at the top!  Haha - hope that was just them hitting the wrong button!

Side profile shot!  Our good little Catholic girl looks like she already knows how to do the sign of the cross :)

Ahh!!  Front of the face! :)  Haha - these are always slightly creepy (the U/S technician moved the scanner and this is the image that popped right up on the screen...it was pretty funny)

Profile shot again - her cute little hand is up :)

Other few things that came up at the appointment on the 1st - remember that post I did a few weeks back that said "time to fatten me up?".  Well, I made it a point to make sure I was eating one more carb at lunch and dinner to hopefully start gaining weight.  They had to increase my insulin a couple of times because of this (I am now on 5 shots a day and the # of units I take keep going up too - which is expected).  BUT - at my appointment on the 1st, I definitely gained weight.  Try FIVE POUNDS in TWO WEEKS.  Haha...I was a little shocked to see that much weight gain, but at least it was in the right direction!  The good news is, the doctor wasn't too concerned and was happy I was at least gaining and not losing weight.  Other good news - luckily that amount of weight gain didn't keep up - at my next appointment on the 10th, I only gained half a pound in 10 days - much better :)  

Starting on the 10th, I am now on weekly appointments at the doctor - doing a non-stress test and appointment with the doctor at every appointment.  Then starting in early November, I will start TWICE a week (phew, lots of doctors appointments coming up!).  At the twice-weekly appointments we will have an ultrasound, non-stress test, and appointment every Monday and then a non-stress test and appointment every Thursday. 

I went in for the first non-stress test (NST) on October 10th and boy did I LOVE it!!!  For those that haven't had a NST, what it is is a 30-minute or so test where they hook you up to a monitor tracking the baby's heartbeat, movement, and mom's contractions.  I also have to press a button every time I feel her move too (so they can track how much I feel her move vs. what she is actually doing).  After they see the baby's heartbeat raise at least 10-20 bpm for 10 seconds twice, the NST is over!

I loved it so much because I get to sit there for 30 minutes just listening to her heartbeat - and hearing/seeing her move that whole time.  I don't know what it was (the ice water?  the monitors?), but she was moving around like crazy during the test - more than I have ever felt her move before!  The monitors kept moving up and down on my belly.  Usually it's just a snapshot of her heartbeat that we get to hear, so it was so nice to sit there for 30 minutes and just listen to her.  I can't wait for Ben to go with me to a NST - I think he'll love it too! :)  

And we got great results from the first NST - she looked healthy and passed the test! :)  I was not contracting yet, which was fun to find out because I didn't think I was, but sometimes they are so subtle I may not be feeling them.

It's hard to believe I started my THIRD TRIMESTER on Thursday!  That means we are 11 weeks at the most away from meeting Annie...only 77 days!!  Wow - that's crazy!  We are making pretty good progress on the nursery too, which feels great.  We are almost ready to paint - we've ordered some furniture, but almost to the point where we will be putting some of that together too.  We have the bargain white dresser we need to spruce up - I just ordered handles today and Ben is going to try to match the paint sometime this week!

I am now 28 weeks and 3 days, 28 week picture coming soon! :)

26 week picture!

It's been a long few weeks on the road for work - but, I am finally home and done with work travel until after the baby comes (and hopefully for many months after that...)!  Even though this is a little bit delayed (I am now 27 weeks and 4 days), here is my 26 week baby bump picture!  Or, as Ben said in the email when he sent this to me..."here is your bump, I mean BUUUUMP picture!" :)  I definitely love that our Annie is growing and can't wait to continue to see my belly grow! :)  (will I be saying that at 8.5 months!?)  Hopefully I'll get to another blog post one of the nights this week, we had an ultrasound last Monday and have some new pictures/details on little miss Annie! :)

26 weeks!

Home preparations for miss Annie!

We have been busy "nesting" over the last few weeks/months making our home just perfect for our little girl!  Right now (and at least for the next 10 months), we live in a 2-bedroom apartment that we really love!  It's a great place and definitely the most "homey" feeling place we have had in all of our locations!  But, as you can imagine, having a 900-square foot apartment also means that we have to get fairly creative when it comes to making room for a little one!  Even though she won't take up too much space, I can't imagine not bringing her home to a nursery that is made just for her. 

So what does that mean?  It means that our second bedroom, which is right now filled with our extra "stuff", needs to be re-organized, cleared out, and transformed into a nursery!!!  Man o man, has that been a task...see exhibit A and B:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

BUT, we finally feel like we are making some progress!!  And, luckily I've been in the mood to get rid of things, which is a nice surprise :)  Now, our second bedroom looks like this: (much improved from the last few pictures)!!

Annie's room as of 9/20/12

The kitties have also been enjoying the packing... :)  Love these two! 

Sugar (right) fits just perfectly in that box, right? :)  Big cat likes to think she's little :)

The next phase is to move some stuff to long-term storage, re-organize our storage closet outside....then we get to move onto the fun stuff!!!!  Painting and putting things into the nursery! :) 

We have enjoyed picking up things here and there for the nursery!  We already bought a white dresser for her room (my sister found it outside of her school on sale for $60, can't beat that!) - we need to revamp it a little bit - repaint the top, new knobs, etc.  But, it's a great dresser!  You can see some of the other things we've picked up along the way on top of the dresser in this pic:

You can kind of see the color scheme - yellows, bright pinks, light teal (and owls!)

Ben also painted some fun accessories for Annie's room this weekend!  Thanks baby, they look great! :)

Now onto picking out the paint colors....hmm, which shade of yellow?  We are only going to paint one wall for right now because we plan on moving late next summer into *hopefully* a house that we buy!!!

Big decision....hmm...anyone have any great shades of yellow!?

In addition to the nursery, we also wanted to make our living room more "baby friendly."  Here is a picture of our old living room:

LIVING ROOM BEFORE

We decided that we wanted a rug/carpet that was a lot softer than our previous one - and one that was bigger.  Not that Annie will be really crawling before we move out of here, but of course we know that we will be playing with her a lot on the floor and want something comfy!  We ended up getting a pre-bound carpet remnant at Floor Depot on Labor Day weekend when they were having a 50% off sale - so we were able to get this 12'x9' carpet (which is SUPER soft) for only $120!  Can't beat that.

As you can see in the previous picture, while we love it, our coffee table takes up too much space in this smaller living room.  So we decided to trade that in for 2 soft ottomans, which can be used as foot rests and can easily be moved around to give us the space that we need!  We really like the new set-up!  And, we now have a small moveable table (made by my grandpa) that we can use while we are sitting on the couch!  So here is the new living room (once again, the kitties like this as well)!!:

SO...there is the update on our "nesting" :)  We can't wait to get all of the stuff to storage so we can really start putting the nursery together!  I hope it turns out as cute in person as it is in my mind! :)

Time to fatten me up!

....now that's a statement I never thought I would say!!

I went to the doctor today for a check-up and found out that while I had been on the right track the last few appointments, I lost another pound between this appointment and the last.  It's really hard to get it straight in my mind that that isn't a GOOD thing (you lose weight, it's good, right?!).  Well as I'm sure you can all figure, I shouldn't be losing weight right now and the doctor is starting to get a little concerned.  [Side note: once again, this convinces me that I will definitely be doing this meal plan post-pregnancy to lose weight! :)]

Overall, I'm a little bit frustrated with all of this though.  I don't feel like I have been starving myself by any means (and of course I would never do that on purpose), but I have also been trying really hard to control my blood sugar numbers.  So I guess in turn, that means I really haven't been eating all that I should be.  My doctor today told me that they would rather have me eat more carbs/food and have to increase my insulin than have me losing/not gaining weight.  SO, just when I think I have this GD stuff under control and my diet somewhat figured out - things get all mixed up again! :/

I feel like all I think about is food and my blood sugar numbers, and so now I guess I get to think about it even more!  I'm just really hoping I can get on the right track with my weight soon.  This is just coming at a time for work that is very busy and this just seems like "one more thing" that I need to deal with right now.  BUT, this is the most important thing I need to deal with, so I need to make the time!

So, my crazy organization side (thanks dad :)) came up with a solution - a daily tracking sheet for everything that I eat!  See?  Isn't this WONDERFUL!?  Yes, I used Excel to create this spreadsheet (something that my brother would be proud of to...)

haha...it's one more thing to track, but I think it will really help me make sure I'm eating what I need to (especially right now when work is a little crazy) and getting all of the food that I need to "fatten me up".  Now, I just really hope I don't fatten up too much :).  I'll eventually figure this all out...

Another side note: I also found out today that starting October 29th, I have to go to the doctor TWICE A WEEK until I have this baby!!!  Wow - that's a lot.  Good news - one of those appointments every week will be an ultrasound!  So, I guess even though those with GD have to "prick" themselves more, we get the reward of seeing our baby a lot more too :)  I'll take it!

24 weeks!

Man, it has been WAY too long since I've done a post!  Between work being super busy right now and trying to get the apartment ready for the baby - oh and my little brother getting married (such a fun weekend - still can't believe he is MARRIED though! :) ), I just haven't found the time! 

The last few weeks have been going well though - it dawned on me this last Thursday when I was officially 24 weeks that it is only 15 WEEKS AT THE MOST until this sweet baby girl is in our arms!  It's only 15 weeks (and not 16 weeks) because I found out at my last appointment that because of my gestational diabetes, there is no way they will let me go past 39 weeks.  They really hope I get to 39 weeks, but if I haven't gone into labor by then (which would be December 27th for me), then they will induce me!  So technically, even though our due date is still January 3rd, it is really December 27th at the latest!  Pretty exciting knowing that she'll be here before 2013!!  Our tax refund is also thanking us :)  Here is my 24 week pic!!  Even though my belly is getting bigger (which I LOVE), I think I'm due for a growth spurt any day now! :)

24 weeks!

It didn't take us too long to decide on a name - we had 1 girl name that we loved and about 5 boy names, so it made it easy for us when we found out it is a girl! :)  Her name is going to be Annie!  We just love the name - we love that it is old-fashioned, unique, yet not "weird" (can't do anything too weird with a last name like ours)!  And, I have had a couple of very special Annie's in my life too :)  Her full name will be Anne Jeanine Woloszyn - Jeanine is after my dad's mom, who passed away when I was in 4th grade.  She was such a great grandma and I miss her so much - I wish she was here to share in this special time with us.

Some other highlights from the last few weeks - Annie has started to move like CRAZY!!  And, Ben and my parents have gotten to feel her kick!  There was one night a few weeks ago that I was sitting on the couch and all of a sudden, you could see my stomach jolt forward from the outside.  I swear Ben and I sat there for about 5 minutes just staring at my stomach, looking at her kick from the outside!  It was so cool, I love that Ben's able to feel and see her movements now! :)

I finally feel like I am figuring out all of this gestational diabetes stuff too, which is really nice :)  I am up to 4 insulin shots a day (2 at breakfast, 1 at lunch, and 1 at dinner) - BUT my numbers seem to be doing really well.  I am still on a very low dose for each shot and I haven't had to increase my doses in a few weeks now (knock on wood!).  I haven't had any issues with hypoglycemia either, which is great.  Even though it's going well, I can't say I really have gotten used to giving myself a shot or that I like doing it by any means (sometimes it hurts like h*%*! :))...but, it's all worth it and I could have it much worse.  The other negative is that my cute baby bump now has bruises on both sides....pretty ugly ones at times.   But, I also am oddly proud of the bruises - knowing that I am doing some not so fun things for my child and that she's worth it (welcome to motherhood, right? :) ).  Here is the bare belly at 24 weeks (you can see some of the bruises...there is a big ol' one on the other side I decided not to share)!  No outie belly button yet, but it's only a matter of time :)

Bare belly!

I have another appointment on Tuesday and I am excited to meet with my doctor because we will find out my pregnancy "plan" until I am due.  Basically, every GD patient has a plan on when I get ultrasounds, when I start stress tests, etc.  I should have another ultrasound in 2 weeks for a "growth scan" - just to make sure she is the right size.  At this point, checking to make sure she isn't too big (common issue with GD) and also that she's gaining enough weight (since I started the diabetic diet, I lost 7 lbs at the beginning and just am now back to my pre-pregnancy weight, so they want to make sure she is right on track).  Can't wait to see her cute little face again in a few weeks! :)

Since my photographer never gets in my belly shots, we decided to have a little fun tonight and take a few with him too! :)  The first one is pretty silly...I don't know if Ben could ever have a belly even if he tried (although he is really trying here)!  Such a skinny minny :)

Okay, hopefully it won't be quite as long before my next post!  And, also so they aren't SUPER LONG like this one :)  If you made it to this point, thanks for reading :) :)

9 years ago tonight....

....is when Ben and I met for the first time!  It was my first weekend of college, and some new friends and I decided to go out for our first time as college freshman.  We ended up at an apartment party and not too long after we got there, I see the door open and in walks Ben...or little did I know of course, my future husband :)  What I absolutely LOVE is that I can vividly remember the first time that I saw him - walking in that door with the biggest smile on his face...the same smile that I get to come home to every day now!  We ended up talking later that night a little bit and he got my phone number....called me a few days later, and basically we hung out every single day for the next month until we "officially" started dating on September 23rd, 2003.  And the rest is history :)

I wanted to write a quick little note to commemorate today because one thing that I have absolutely loved over the years is to think back on the anniversary of the day we first met and think, "little did we know".  And especially this year as I am carrying our first child together..."little did we know"!

Just a few pictures to remember the years together....

Our very first picture together in 2003!

California 2005

Hallowen 2006

Graduation 2007

Colorado 2007

Engagement Day - February 24, 2008

Our first babies together :)

Wedding Day - January 3, 2009

Packers Game 2011

20 week picture!

My bump halfway through the pregnancy!

20 weeks!

Stroller thoughts - need input! :)

Option #1

OR Option #2?

When Ben and I were in Chicago this weekend, we stopped by Buy Buy Baby to take a look at some of their baby stuff (side note: it was SO much fun to look at it all!  I can't wait to start registering...).  As we were perusing the stroller aisle, we started looking at the Chicco Travel Systems.  My sister had recommended getting a travel system and my parents already have a Chicco car seat base, so we decided to go with that brand.  So our original plan would be to get a travel system and also an umbrella stroller since we obviously won't want to lug around a heavy stroller all of the time.

Anyway - as we were looking, one of the employees of B3 came up to us and started talking to us about an alternate travel system.  The stroller he was recommending is the Baby Jogger City Mini Single Stroller - which is a really lightweight stroller (weighs 16 pounds) that easily folds up (with the lift of a handle) - and you can buy a car seat adapter to make it into a travel system.  The car seat adapter you buy can hold multiple car seat brands, including Chicco.  I was really excited to hear about a lightweight travel system because a constant complaint I keep seeing of "normal" travel systems is the weight and how difficult they are to manage/fit in cars.  And this one truly is easy to manage and folds up really small - we got to try it out!  Also, even though this stroller is pretty bare bones (you have to buy the tray, cup holders, adapter, etc. plus a car seat separately of course) - the total cost actually comes out about the same as it would if you were to buy a travel system and an umbrella stroller (doing the rough math). 

So now we don't know what to do :)  I wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts on travel systems in general AND about the City Mini Stroller travel system option.  Few more specific questions:

1)  For those who have used travel systems, how old was your baby when you stopped putting the car seat actually in the stroller?

2)  This next question is especially for those moms and dads that have had kids in late December/January - with the time of year that she will be born, we probably won't be ouside too much.  That makes me wonder if we really even need to have a stroller that can carry the car seat.  By the time spring rolled around - were you still using your travel system?

So, any input or thoughts are greatly appreciated :)  Who thought buying a stroller would be such a hard decision!? :) 

20 weeks - halfway! :)

I cannot believe that I am already 20 weeks along...halfway!  It feels like it's gone by fast, but then again - when I really think about when we found out I was pregnant (late April), I really don't think it's gone by fast at all (not in a bad way!).  I think the fact that we didn't tell people for the first 12 weeks or so made the first trimester go fairly slow - but once I hit the second trimester, it definitely has gone by faster!

Even taking into consideration the medical stuff I've been having to deal with, I really really LOVE being pregnant.  I love that I can feel our little girl move now and that my belly is growing - I finally feel like when I wake up, I actually look pregnant, which makes me so happy! 

Speaking of medical stuff - a little update on what's going on with my gestational diabetes.  Maybe a few weeks ago I would have started this sentence with "unfortunately", but I actually don't feel the need to anymore.  About a week and a half ago, I started having to take insulin.  I was definitely scared at first because I just don't know a lot about insulin. When I went in for my "insulin how-to" with the nurse, I left feeling a little discouraged and upset that I had to start this medicine.  I think the fact that I actually have to give myself a shot (not a shot like an EpiPen where you just press a button - but a true shot) really started freaking me out.  And of course, the unknown of how my body is going to respond to this new medicine - especially considering it did NOT respond well to the glyburide pill a few weeks back. 

After actually starting the shots the next day and talking with a few people about how insulin is actually not as scary as it may seem - I really started getting a hang of it and realizing - "hey, this isn't that bad!" (a special thank you to the person who has been my "go-to" insulin person - you know who you are :) - it means a lot to me, thank you!)

The good parts about insulin:

• I have a humolog pen, which doesn't need to be refrigerated and I just carry with me in my purse.  I just click the dial to however many units I need (no measuring!)
• The needle is SO thin - I honestly don't feel it go in.  It is less painful than my finger pricks to test my blood sugar!
• My numbers are GOOD!  Despite a malfunctioning few shots the first week, which my numbers reflected, things seem to be under control.
• My dose is very low (for now at least), and even that low dose is controlling my numbers.
• Insulin is actually FDA-approved for pregnancy, unlike glyburide.
• Our little girl (hopefully!) is staying healthy and at a good size - this is all worth it for her!

The bad parts about insulin (I actually had to think about this for a minute...):

• I've been struggling with the fact that I don't really want to announce to the world that I am diabetic.  For instance, I feel weird taking out a snack in the middle of a meeting because I'm starting to feel like my BS is dropping - I need to get over that because it would be more embarrassing to pass out on the floor and have to get the shot in my upper butt or stomach :)  This happened in a meeting in Chicago a week or so ago - and I ended up not taking out my snack because of me feeling like it would be "inappropriate" with the group.  Luckily I was fine, but I really should have.  I will not do that again.
• The fact that I have to be religious about my mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack so I don't bottom out.  But, a little planning ahead and this really isn't a "bad part".
• It will be much more difficult to take insulin and get my necessary snacks when I am traveling for work.  But, a little planning ahead and I hope this won't be an issue either :)  I will get to try this out a lot in September - looots of traveling.

So there's the update - definitely praying that taking insulin continues to go well and that I never have to use my reserve "emergency foods" that I carry with me in my purse if I start to bottom out....or the emergency insulin pen!! 

20 week picture coming soon.... :)

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Between this blog and the last, that has definitely been the most exciting news!!!  Well, actually the most exciting news is that from what they can tell on ultrasound, we have a healthy baby girl too!  We went in for our ultrasound on August 6th and let me tell you, I was SO nervous (Ben can vouch for that!).  Even though we had an ultrasound at 6 weeks, this was really the first time we were going to see our baby looking like a baby and the one that they do the full body "check" for everything.  But, our fears were calmed a little bit when her cute little profile came up on the screen!  Here is one of the very first pictures we got of her...

I love her little nose!!!  She was all curled up!

It really amazed me how good the ultrasound techs are at deciphering what is what on that screen!  I know they are trained to do that, but still, it was pretty amazing they could pick everything out!  Ben was much better at "seeing" what the tech was saying during the ultrasound - must be that artsy/visual brain of his :)  I felt like I kept having to ask..."wait, what?" and then Ben would explain it to me lol - oh well, I'm happy to have him there with me :)  She was moving around a ton during the ultrasound (I had a spicy sandwich for lunch, that must have done the trick!).  And, she was moving around enough to show us that she actually is a she!  While they can't say they are 100% sure (as always), the tech said she is as sure as she can be that it's a girl!  Her heartbeat was 146 bpm!  And, the doctor said they saw the full checklist of everything they wanted to see - which is actually pretty rare for the first ultrasound!  Here are a few more pictures of our little one!....

One of our favorites!  Once again, her cute nose!  Those are her knees in front of her face. 

 

The slightly creepy front view of her face! :)  hehe

 

Her cute little feet!

 

Luckily, the weekend before our big appointment, we were able to take a fun trip up to Traverse City, Michigan with our friends Steve and Nyssa for a little getaway.  It really helped keep our mind off of things! :)  We enjoyed nice dinners out, time at the beach, an afternoon of driving up the nearby peninsulas for wine tasting, a trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore, and exploring downtown Traverse City!!  I wish I could have partaken in the beer and wine tasting, but it was still super fun - next time I will! :)  We had a blast with Steve and Nyssa - we are so lucky to have such great friends!!!  I really felt like this was the first time I could actually see a true baby bump in pictures of me!  Ben got a few really nice ones of me and my belly on the beach while we were there :)

One of the best things that has happened in the last few weeks is that I have started feeling our little girl move!!!  I think I felt her first around 17 weeks, but I definitely know for sure now that it is indeed her.  I am getting pretty good at differentiating between her movements and just normal stomach movements :)  It's pretty amazing!  We think Ben got to feel her move tonight, but we are not sure!  I know he can't wait to really start feeling her move regularly!  I can tell he likes seeing my growing baby bump - he gets a huge smile on his face when he comments on how much it is growing!  And he loves to touch the belly too :)

I was 19 weeks last Thursday, but here is my 18 week pic! Definitely a baby in there now, don't ya think?... :)