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 :) :)