Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Nesting, testing and baby dropping, oh my!


These last few days have been filled with some interesting changes and updates for me! Where to start? 

Nesting: A quick overview of the nesting instinct: Nesting is the name given to the distinctive urge to clean, tidy, and organize that occurs during pregnancy. And ladies and gentlemen, our house has officially caught the “nesting bug.” 

Neal and I have taken our home, turned it upside-down, and put it back together… all in two days. I’m NOT kidding. And surprisingly, NEAL is the one who started it. He said, “Let’s clean out our pantry.” And that turned in to about six trash bags on our curb, and a few more bags of things to donate. Once we started, we just couldn’t stop ourselves!!!  While we were reorganizing, we actually made lots of room for baby!  Who knew she could take up SO much space!

Every counter space we had was covered!!

I took this picture before the “nesting fever” got too bad. Once we zoned in, we didn’t think to take any more pics!  I’m just SO glad that we BOTH had the nesting instinct at the same, because I’m sure we looked CRAZY cleaning like we did! It was like Spring cleaning on steroids! :-)  At one point Neal looked at me and said, “Uh Oh. Someone’s nesting!!” Well, right back at ‘cha buddy! He was one dust bunny away from throwing on a maid’s outfit to match the feather duster he was carrying around! LOL! 

My glucose test: As some of you know, I had to re-take my three hour glucose tolerance test on Friday, August 24th because the first time I took it, my results came back “borderline,” meaning I was very close to being diagnosed with gestational diabetes. So my doctor gave me a month to follow a diet of low sugar and “good” carbs (no white, starchy carbs – goodbye potatoes!). I was STARVING when I woke up that morning (I had to fast the night before and during the test), probably because I knew what to expect this time around, and I wasn’t as nervous as the first time, . When we got to the hospital and I drank the sugar water, it tasted SO much worse than I remembered! UGH!! Then I had a regularly scheduled appointment with my doctor right after I drank the drink. While I waited for the doctor to come in, I started feeling extremely nauseous. So bad that I was really shaky and started to cry a little. Needless to say, I was NOT enjoying this appointment!!! BUT as soon as I heard Avery’s heartbeat, the nausea miraculously went away! :-) This is also when I found out that Avery has dropped!! This explains the terrible back pains, MAJOR pressure “down there” and frequent trips to the little girl’s room that I’d been recently experiencing!!  She’s definitely pushing on my bladder and sciatic nerve! It’s good to know that Avery is cooperating and getting into position for birth, even though she still has 5 weeks left! (I hope this is a sign that she won’t turn out to be a procrastinator like her momma!!) 

So, after the doctor’s appointment, it was back to the waiting room until my next hour to get my blood drawn. Luckily, the nausea subsided, but it was followed with extreme hunger and thirst, (My tongue felt like sand paper!), then more shaky feelings, and then I was EXTREMELY tired, and then the nausea came back. Because I was experiencing all of these symptoms, I just KNEW I would fail my test. That was the only explanation as to why my body was reacting this way; it just couldn’t handle all the sugar I drank.  

Glucose results: Fast forward to Monday morning, my phone rang at 11:43am, and I saw that it was my doctor’s office calling. I had JUST left the salad bar downstairs from my office building (You know, I’m still taking my diet seriously!). My heart sank. They usually only call when they have bad news. I tried to find a quiet place to take the call in our loud lobby, and reluctantly answered the phone. The nurse on the other end had an unusually chipper voice for a Monday morning… A few choice words crossed my mind, as I thought “How in the world can she be so happy giving someone bad news?!?” but she continued to talk. She said that my test results came back normal. At first, I didn’t hear her correct, because I had already made the assumption that it was bad news. So, I paused for a few seconds and said “Excuse me?” She repeated herself, and I almost started crying for joy right there in the lobby! I actually did a little dance; I didn’t care who was watching! So I followed up with, “Was I borderline again?” She said no, everything was great!! I am over-the-moon happy about this news!! 

With all that I went through these past few days and finding out I passed my glucose test and do not have GD, I will be rewarding myself to a helping of ice cream, topped with chocolate syrup and sprinkles, with a side of warm brownie...and french fries. Ok, so maybe I won't. But it sure sounds good!!! :-)

Here are a few photos from our maternity shoot. I will post more on Facebook soon!!









Photos taken at 35 weeks pregnant (August 27th)
Photos taken by Adrienne Walker Photography. She's WONDERFUL!!! 
Here's her website: www.awalkerphoto.com 



Thursday, August 23, 2012

Minor Scare!

On Monday evening, August 13, 2012, I had a run-in (literally) with our metal dog gate. I ran (hard) smack dab into the corner of the gate's door. The middle of my stomach took the brunt of the hit, which was pretty much hit from the top of my uterus to just below my belly button. It took my breath away! I just remember standing there for what seemed like minutes, hunched over in excruciating pain! Neal reassured me that the baby is protected inside of me and that there's plenty of fluid preventing her from feeling anything. Satisfied with his response, we went to bed.

The next morning my alarm clock woke me up at 6am. WHAT?!?! My alarm clock NEVER wakes me up anymore! Avery is usually moving around and giving me a wake up call around 5:30am. So I turned off the alarm (ok, I lied... I hit the snooze button), and rolled over. My stomach was hurting pretty bad, and then I remembered hitting the gate the night before. I suddenly thought about Avery. Why wasn't she moving?  I assumed she was just "sleeping in," so off to work I went. On my drive in to the office, I usually get some more of Avery's ninja kicks. But again, all was quiet downstairs. I was shaking my stomach with my hands, and thankfully I felt her move. It was very comforting to feel her move, but it was definitely a very different feeling than I'm used to. It was very faint. I know her moves, and these were definitely not normal.  At this point I started to worry. I thought I gave my child brain damage; I thought maybe my placenta detached; I thought maybe she had a "concussion." Every terrible thought ran through my mind as I sat in traffic.

When I got to work, I immediately called my doctor. Of course, I had to leave a voicemail (gotta love customer service these days). I decided to count kicks (which is what most pregnant women do around this stage of the pregnancy, but my doctor hadn't told me to start doing them yet). I was getting some VERY faint movements from her, but I was still counting them as "kicks."(I honestly couldn't tell if some of them were kicks or my breakfast settling!!)  I was able to get 10 light kicks in about 20 minutes. (According to the doc, if I didn't get at least 10 kicks in an hour, that's not a good sign.) So finally at lunch the nurse called back and had me do ANOTHER kick count. This time it took the entire hour to get 10 kicks. They didn't seem too concerned. But I was stressing about it ALL DAY!!

People kept telling me she was probably going through a growth spurt and was just sleeping more than usual, but I KNOW my baby and I KNOW what her kicks and movements feel like. This didn't seem normal to me, and it definitely didn't help me feel better to know that I hit my stomach so hard the night before. Luckily, I had a prenatal massage scheduled for that evening, so I thought it would be a good idea to get my mind off this situation for an hour. On my drive to my massage, she suddenly started moving... A LOT! She seemed to be back to her normal self again, performing her twists and rolls and kicks and jabs and making my belly look like a waterbed again!! And during my massage, I don't think she ever stopped moving!!! I'm guessing I just shocked/stunned her a bit? Or maybe it was just pure coincidence that she decided to sleep all day? I don't know and don't really care why she was so quiet, as long as she's moving around again like normal, I'm one happy momma!! :-)

On a different note, I have to retake my 3-hour glucose test tomorrow morning. :-( That means I get to fast...again. And get my blood drawn 4 times...again. Let's pray that my numbers haven't gone up! :-)

Ike giving some love to his sister!

34 weeks pregnant (August 20, 2012)

34 weeks pregnant (August 20, 2012)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Songs!


I've been thinking about labor & delivery (L&D) a lot lately, and I've heard a lot of women that play music to help. Being the jokester that I am, I thought it'd be fun to list some songs that would be very "appropriate" for the occasion. Some of these are obvious, some are funny, and some of them are a little inappropriate. I hope you get a good laugh out of them. Feel free to let me know if I'm missing some other good song titles!!! And I hope you all know that I will NOT be playing these songs in L&D. I will be playing NKOTB... DUH! ;-)

Just for fun (and some very inappropriate) song titles:
  • “Push It” – Salt N Pepa
  • “The Pusher”- Steppenwolf (Yes, I know this is about drugs, but the title is great for L&D)
  • “Baby” – Justin Beiber  
  • “Sweet Child O’ Mine” – Guns N’ Roses
  • “Born This Way” – Lady Gaga
  • “Breathe (2am)” – Anna Nalick
  • “Knocked Up” – Kings of Leon
  • “You’re Having My Baby” – Paul Anka
  • “Just Breathe” – Pearl Jam 
  • “Ace in the Hole” – George Strait (LOL)
  • “Who Needs you Baby” – Clay Walker
  • “Big Girls Don’t Cry” – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
  • “Inside of Me” – Madonna
  •  “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” – Puff Daddy
  • “Exhale” – Whitney Houston
  • “Let It Flow” – Toni Braxton
  • “What Hurts The Most” – Rascal Flatts
  • “On the Way Down” – Ryan Cabrera
  • “Scream” – Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson
  • “No Woman No Cry” – Bob Marley
  • "I Wanna Be Sedated" - Ramones
  • “Ooh Child” – Dino
  • “Weak” – SWV
  •  “Make You Sweat” – Keith Sweat
  • “It Ain’t Over til It’s Over” – Lenny Kravitz

On a more serious note, while I was looking online for some good song titles, I also came across some really good songs about birth and babies (or similar reference) that I'd like to share. I also included a link to the lyrics in case you don't recognize some of the songs. Some of them made me a little emotional while I was reading the lyrics!

Good lyrics songs:

Here are a few of the photos from an impromptu photo shoot that my neighbor took a few weeks ago! We wanted to get these taken in an empty field near our home before they mowed it!!!  On a side note, it was SO HOT outside (and this was after 7pm!)!! My entire back was drenched in sweat!!




Photos taken on August 1, 2012
31 Weeks & 2 Days pregnant
 

Monday, August 6, 2012

Naive!

I feel like this entire pregnancy I've been so naive! I THOUGHT I was in pain, I THOUGHT my body couldn't handle any more, I THOUGHT I was exhausted, I THOUGHT I was hot & sweaty all the time... Well, I now realize the first two trimesters were easy compared to the final stretch of this joyous life-changing event. I laugh at myself when I think back to the first trimester, thinking I was uncomfortable! And I'm sure I was warned from other moms that it was going to get worse, but I didn't hear them at the time. I just didn't think it could get any worse! Ha! I'm am so naive!!!

That being said, I would put my body through so much more, knowing that the final product will be Miss Avery Marie! I am constantly reminding myself to enjoy each and every ache, pain and spasm because I only have a few more weeks of it left! I'm pretty sure I'll miss all of it!!! :-)

Photo taken July 25, 2012
30 weeks & 3 days pregnant