Avery Marie: 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 24^th 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!!