Big Fat Bummer

So, I'm blogging from the waiting room of the local hospital after just chugging my THIRD helping of that yummy, orange glucose drink. You might remember that I "failed" my first glucose screening by a very small margin. But since I also ate oatmeal along with the orange drink that day- they let me re-do the test in the office yesterday- for which I fasted. Well....yesterdays results were WAAAAAY worse than the one a few weeks ago! My blood sugar was well over 200!! So high that the doc said, "that's really high! Lets take it again." They took it again and it read 190. Still WAAAAY too high!! So, alas, here I am. At the hospital at 6:15am after having to cancel my patients for the morning to determine whether or not I have gestational diabetes. They drew blood first thing to get a fasting blood sugar level (which came back within a normal range) and then I chugged that terrible orange drink. So, now they'll take my blood every hour for the next 3 hours. I should have the results sometime tomorrow.

The likelihood of me NOT having it is very slim since I have now failed 3 attempts at passing the darn thing. :( I'm totally bummed. I'm feeling a little better today, I guess. But yesterday, I was totally sad. I cried. Several times. A pregnant woman crying?! Shocking, I'm sure.

So, the two main reasons I'm sad about this news (which, admittedly isn't technically news yet since I wont have the results from this test until tomorrow) are:

1) Babies that come from gestational diabetic moms tend to be bigger. Not that I have anything against big babies-- if that's how God made them. What I'm NOT cool with is a bigger (basically has more fat) baby due to the fact that my body doesn't handle sugar the right way, and therefore, my baby gets too much which causes her to be bigger than she's supposed to be. This can also increase the risk of the baby eventually developing childhood obesity. :(

2) If I do have gestational diabetes, my risk of getting type 2 diabetes later in life is increased. Even with my history of (almost) always being active and maintaining a healthy weight...doesn't matter. The risk is there.

Other things like, I'd have to be on a low-carb, no-sugar diet for the remainder of my pregnancy (3 months) are also pretty huge bummers. What is that? The south beach diet?! Ugh. I love dieting....especially while pregnant. :( We went out to dinner last night for what Patrick called my "last supper." (Slightly funny). My doc said to load up on carbs and eat what I want the night before the test. She said my body should be able to compensate for anything that I eat- if everything is working correctly. So, I complied......I had sweet tea, cheese fries (been craving those lately), a salad, and a few fried pickles. :) Yummm.

So, that's the news for the day. I'll keep you posted on the results. I'm ready for bad news, but would totally welcome great news! Please keep Baby Bella and me in your prayers.

THIS is a big fat bummer.

Preggo Belly Update!!

So, I think I've been a bit of a slacker with the whole updating the blog thing. But, seriously, it takes so much time and I just don't feel like there are many readers out there. If you're still out there, give me a holla! :)

So, I'm almost 27 weeks along now (a little over 6.5 months). I think the last time I updated the belly stuff was 10 weeks ago- around week 17! Is that possible?!? My last belly bump picture was week 15. There actually wasn't a huge belly difference between weeks 15/16 and week 20/21. But, MAN-OH-MAN has my belly ballooned since then!! It's a little scary, I must admit! :) So, I'll just go ahead and show you the weekly pictures dating back to week 21. (Even though I haven't been updating the blog, I've been trying to be good about documenting "the growth" for Bella's little belly book that I'll one day, God willing, put together)!

PS. Looking back a these pictures, I almost always take them on Wednesday since that's my official I'm-one-more-week-pregnant day. Well, apparently, I really like to wear purple to work on Wednesdays. There is definitely a theme!

Week 21: Using a rubber band to hold the button together on these non-maternity jeans.

Profile at 20 week ultrasound!

Week 22: Yep! It- the belly- grew THAT much in 8 days! Woah!! Needless to say- no rubber band would be holding around THAT belly! These are full blown maternity pants! Cute pant though, huh?! :)

Week 23: Totally looks like I shrunk this week...maybe I was a little easier on the Oreos!
Week 24: No worries, the belly's back out in full force!
Week 25:

Week 25 family photo! Aren't we the CUTEST?!
Week 26: Yet again, another growth spurt in a mere 7 days!! Definitely large and in charge!

Wanna see something scary?! This is what my belly looked like with Ava at THE SAME TIME! - week 26! (Note- still wearing pre-maternity jeans (remember my "magic jeans?")...still implementing the rubber band trick here. I considered this particular week as the week I "popped" with Ava's pregnancy! Eeek!

Profile at week 26 ultrasound: Looks like Ava's nose. The lips look like a different shape to me, though! 3D picture of her face at the 26 week ultrasound. She DOES NOT STOP MOVING, so it's a little difficult to get a completely normal looking picture. Lower face looks semi-normal, but the forehead is having some issues. :)

Soooo...there are the updated pics! Things are going relatively well right now. The biggest thing is that I'm MUCH larger this time around....even from the very beginning. Which hasn't really been a problem up until now. But, now all those things I got at the end with Ava- lower back pain, uncomfortable when/after eating, sciatica, not being able to sleep, feeling like my belly is very heavy, heavy feeling/fattening feet, etc are here now (and have been for quite some time)! All that paired with my profession makes it even harder. So, that's kinda a bummer...cause I've still got 3 months left. And that's a lot of growing. :)

So, other than that stuff, things are looking good! With Ava, I was so anxious to have her and meet her. But this time around, I don't seem to be in much of a hurry. I know my life is going to change drastically when Bella arrives, so I'm just enjoying our family of 3 for the time being. Also, it gives me time to give Ava a little extra TLC since I imagine her world will be significantly rocked come 3 months from now!

Some of you may remember that I had a 20 week ultrasound (when we found out Baby K #2 was a girl and also that I had a marginal previa). Well, I went in again last week for another scan to basically check on the previa. As of right now, it's basically unchanged and still there. They are still hopeful that it will move out of the way on it's own as Ava's did. So no big deal. We'll do another scan at week 36 to check it again. If it's still there at that time, I'm sure we'll start to talk about a planned C-section. Only time will tell, though!

I had my glucose test at that same appt. Well, I failed it. :( Apparently I wasn't supposed to eat my maple and brown sugar oatmeal along WITH the yummy (totally lying!) orange glucose drink. (I actually asked if I could eat the oatmeal, and they said yes, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to do it at the exact same time as the drink....or with the added maple brown sugar)! I missed the "normal" mark by a few points. They were gonna make me fast, go to the hospital, and have my blood drawn every hour for 3 hours to check if, in fact, I have gestational diabetes. But, I called them back just today and asked if I could just redo the test again (sans oatmeal) and they said that was fine. So, I'll be fasting before that one . I really don't want to do the 3 hour thing at the hospital. Sounds like a total drag. And yet another thing- my iron was marginal. So, they'd like me to take some extra iron if possible. Ugh. That's not gonna help me out much, if you know what I mean... ;)

So, that's really it. I'll try to be at least a little better updating the belly pics. I was so good with Ava, I don't want Bella to think I was slacking with her! I'll update soon with some Ava and Patrick stuff too!!! Tata!

Tickle Monster

Ava: "Daddy, can you come tickle me while I roll on the floor and laugh and say 'stop tickling me'?"

Patrick: (Smiling) "Sure"

I mean, how can you deny that?! :)

What's in a Name?

Yep, you read it right! We've decided on a name for our new little baby girl. I actually thought this wouldn't happen until MUCH later in the pregnancy. Patrick refused to even consider names before we knew the sex. I, of course, wanted to talk about boy and girl name possibilities before when actually knew what we were having. But Patrick and his ever practical self ix-nayed any name discussions prior to week 20. Party pooper, right?

Well, then week 20 came, we found out it was a girl, and we still didn't really talk about it. A few weeks ago, I started forcing name conversations when he couldn't escape- like driving in the car, eating dinner at a restaurant, etc. He didn't like anything I suggested- but, of course, didn't have any real suggestions of his own! So, I had thrown a few names out there as my top 3 or so- he poo-pooed all of them for one reason or another!

Then, a few days later, he text me: "I like ____ _____. Gave it some thought today." It happened to be one of my top TWO!! So, we took a day or two to really consider it and it felt right. We finally settled on a pretty little girl name.

So, what is it?? Well....are any of you familiar with a little vampire lover named Bella? :) Yep, we're totally going there. Her name will be Bella. No, not after Twilight (although, come on! Greatest books ever)!! And, when I said this name initially, Patrick said, "like after the vampire?" (If you remember, though, her name is actually Isabella Swan, she just goes by Bella). ;) So, anyway, we love it. It's short, feminine, goes well with "Ava" and is easy to pronounce and spell. All things I wanted in a name. Now, I wasn't particularly looking for a name that everyone else also has- apparently Isabella is the #2 most popular girl name this year. But, you know, you gotta pick something you like- and I like Bella. So, there. :) For a middle name, we decided on Michele, after my mom. Yes, only one L. Pronounced like regular "Michelle." :)

Besides- Bella means "Beautiful, Devoted to God, and Intelligent" (depending on what origin you look at)! Doesn't get much better than that!

So, there ya have it: Bella Michele :)

Purtty, ain't it?



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