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 :) :)