Week 36 tomorrow

Tanner has taken a liking to patting my belly. He gets a little rough and excited, but he honestly has no clue why that isn't a good thing. He doesn't know his sissy is in there or that it hurts mommy when he pats too hard! But, he sure knows where mommy's belly is, as it is hard to miss!!

I had my regular weekly OB appt. yesterday and my high risk appt. today. The pelvic check yesterday showed no new information, other than he could feel her head. I am no more dilated or effaced than I was eight weeks ago. The fetal monitor showed normal activity and heart rate on Kinsey's part.

Today's appointment was the one that no one thought I'd need! Everyone thought we'd have a baby by now! However, the ultrasound showed our "chipmunk-cheeked" little girl to be doing just fine. There is still plenty of fluid around her and she seems to enjoy using my bladder as a cushy little pillow, much to my dismay. Getting a head measurement was quite difficult due to the fact the she dropped this past Sunday night. I knew exactly when it happened around 3am! Talk about painful...I cried for an hour and a half!! Tobin actually had to help me walk to the bathroom because it hurt too badly to walk and I could hardly support my own body weight. Anyway, they measured her at approximately 6 lbs and 14 ounces today!! YIKES!! Tanner was only 5 lbs and 1 oz, so I am in new territory for all sorts of reasons.

My sister and nephews are in town from Alabama. When the trip was planned, we all thought there was an excellent chance that Melody would get to meet her new little niece! Now, all signs point to the fact that Mel may have to wait until her next trip in October to meet her. That just saddens me and kind of stresses me out, but this is all on God's timeline and she is honestly better off staying put, even thought I would nothing more than to meet her too AND get my body back. Every single time I shift my body weight I just wait for my water to break. I am NOT used to these pains that occur in the last month!!! I have contractions all the time, but nothing regular enough to warrant a trip to Labor & Delivery. Due to bed rest, I had lost weight and lost all swelling. Now that bed rest is tapering down, that is all reversing!! I say YUCK to all of that!!

Family gathering with the Elliotts

This past weekend we had a nice, but short visit with Tobin's brother and family. Hunter is six years old now and much bigger. He even said the family prayer before dinner which I thought was great. I can't wait until Tanner can do that! Hunter is really good with Tanner and helps out in any way he can. He likes to carry stuff for us, and seemed to really enjoy pushing him in the stroller and feeding/sharing snacks with him. Hunter also had a bubble maker and Tanner thought that was quite funny. It was difficult to get a good pic of both Tanner smiling and the bubbles in the pic! As with most kids, Tanner watches everything Hunter does. I'm sure they'll be good pals when they get older and Tanner can actually talk with him.

On a more recent note, last night was THE WORST for contractions and pain thus far. The contractions were about 8 minutes apart, but only lasted about 30 minutes. Then, it was just constant pain. I literally thought I was going to have to be carried to the car! I could hardly walk and the pain was atrocious! I was already running things through my mind as who was going to come stay with Tanner, and who was going to meet us at the hospital, and where is my camera, are the batteries charged still, and is everything in the hospital bag? All things I should take care of and confirm today!!

My mom leaves this coming Monday to fly to Alabama and bring my sister and nephews home. They will be here for a week. I am really hoping Kinsey arrives because Mel and boys will not return until October. I feel that Kinsey will be OK to come early. I also know i n my heart that God has a plan to keep her in as long as she needs to be, so it is a real emotional conflict for me!

Tobin's dad is also battling some issues. He has a triple-bypass scheduled for this Monday, but that has been delayed due to an abscessed tooth that required emergency root canal! The dentist has to release him before they can reschedule the surgery. I sure hope Kinsey comes at the best time for our family to deal with everything going on!

She's still not here...

I went to the OB doc yesterday and it was all good news. They initially wanted to check me for dilation/effacement, but I wasn't so into the idea. That is some cruel and unusual pain I'm telling you. As it turns out, they ended up hooking me up to a fetal monitor and then doing another ultrasound, mostly 3-D, to check fetal stress and amniotic fluids, respectively. Kinsey wasn't under any stress and I only had one random, minor contraction. The fluid surrounding her was in abundance, so the doctor said all was well. She will be considered full term in two weeks since 37-40 weeks is considered full term. The fact that she's a girl and farther along in development, plus the fact that I had the two steroid shots, makes me feel much more comfortable about her arrival from this point forward. Oh, she still has big lips, but also seems to have Tobin's chin. Definitely not mine, as her chin has a little indent-like dimple under her bottom lip. Cute.

My belly feels solid, like she's out of room. I wouldn't say as hard as concrete, but close. There is now pain with every step, mostly in the pelvic area, but my back is starting to hurt as well. Rolling over in the night is quite the process. I've gotta remember to grab the body pillow and bring it with me and not get tangled up in the sheets, but still inch by inch I have to do a 180 to the other hip. Both hips and shoulders are bruised and I wake up needing Tylenol at least a couple of times in the night. That is in addition to the 4-6 bathroom trips. Geesh! In the morning, I feel much better than in the evening.
Tanner is doing very well. He is walking all over the place! We recently tried shoes on him and it was like learning to walk all over again. He absolutely wanted them off of his feet. He would lift up his little feet really high to walk too! SO cute! He is such a laid back kid. You'd think he would have some kind of problem or meltdown being with different family members and friends every day, but he just goes with the flow and plays like usual. He has taken a liking to water for sure. He likes to play in the hose and hang in the swimming pool. He doesn't squeal and go crazy, just smiles and chills out. He is soooo much like his father!

34 weeks tomorrow!

Well, this was THE goal. Each day on top of 34 weeks is three days NOT in the NICU. I have managed to keep her inside for six weeks beyond what we originally thought back on June 4th when my body decided to go into labor. Tomorrow, I am to stop the medication that prevents contractions, which essentially means I may have more pain and the contractions may return.
I can have more freedom outside of lying in bed all the time; however, I am supposed to ease into it since I have lost a lot of stamina. I have lost weight overall and have only gained 23 pounds thus far in this pregnancy. I gained 32 with Tanner and we have already passed the point of when he would have been born. So, Kinsey wins the contest of who stayed inside longer!

This is a picture of Tanner enjoying some spaghetti noodles with Papa.

It's all about the carbs!

Well, as of this past Tuesday, when I emailed in my blood-glucose numbers, none of them were above the target range. Things have changed a little since then...not horribly, but I have been above my target range 4 times.

I think I know why on three of my readings. I had blueberries on my cereal at my bedtime snack two nights in a row. That shot my morning/fasting number over 90, just by one or two. Then, on Thursday, I was STARVING, yet I had already eaten my breakfast and my morning snack, and it wasn't time for lunch yet. I have to check my blood and eat my breakfast eight hours after my bedtime snack. That's a problem. It usually falls between 5-6am!! So anyway, I decided to eat a peach. Sounds healthy enough. At lunchtime, I had my normal diabetic menu, but chose a plum for my lunch fruit. Well, two hours later, my sugars were 133 and the limit is 120. That darn peach did it to me!!! Then, my reading after dinner last night was over the limit, and for that I have no answer.

This diet is nothing like Weight Watchers or anything else. You don't look at what I've always trained myself to look at, like fats or calories. It's all about the carbs. So, I emailed the registered dietitian and she said that I should not eat fruit when I need more calories, due to the natural sugars I suppose. Here is her response:

"If you need a second snack or a little more food at one time or another, try eating more vegetables instead (cucumber slices, tomato slices, carrots) or a little more protein or fat (cottage cheese, a slice of cheese, celery and PB, a few nuts, etc.). Those will help fill you up but won’t really affect your blood sugars."

This past Thursday was 33 weeks. This coming Thursday is when bed rest ends and I can stop taking the Terbutaline every four hours. This Sunday represents the equivalent amount of time that Tanner was in the womb.

Overall, I'm hanging in there...just a little frustration here and there. Kinsey is doing well according to my OB. I would guess her to be closer to the 5 1/2 pound mark. The new nursery is coming along very nicely. Pics coming soon...

Finally! Some good news!

• Hello all! Just a brief update on my status with my perinatologist, or high-risk doctor:
  
  My cervical measurements are still around 3cm, believe it or not; therefore, the doctor said we are "out of the woods" and she does not need to see me for...get this...FOUR WEEKS!!

Kinsey is now in the 70% on size, weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 1 oz!!! That is one ounce shy of what Tanner weighed at birth!

Two more weeks of Terbutaline (to slow down uterine contractions) and bed rest. Then, I am released to do whatever I want and just let nature take it's course. That does not necessarily mean no NICU time for Kinsey.

I will still see my regular OB weekly and remain on the diabetic diet until delivery. Then, I can alter the diet however I see fit, but will still need my blood sugars checked six weeks post-pardum. If one is to develop Type II diabetes, she said it will happen within 10-12 years after giving birth.

My doctor also told me that this is nothing I caused. That made me feel better! I just happen to be in the 7% of women that develop gestational diabetes. She said that the "offending organ" was the placenta. The hormones released from the placenta and the ones released from the pancreas were not in sync. So, Kinsey was likely having to make a lot of insulin since my placenta was essentially causing her to live in a candy store, so to speak. Hopefully, there is time to get this under control before she arrives so that she does not have blood-sugar issues at birth.

So, this is what it's come to...

Yes, I'm depressed and frustrated. Out of the four blood tests ran on me Saturday morning, I passed two and failed two. Of the two failing ones, I was right on the edge on one and 4 points over on the other. I am going to write this post as honestly as I can, so if you're in a good mood, you may not want to be brought down by this posting! I do want to remember all of my feelings throughout this pregnancy, so here goes.

My gestational diabetes class was very educational, but also very overwhelming. There is a lot of carbohydrate counting involved in the meal planning. I was given a meal plan lined out by how many "carb choices" I am allowed (including milk, fruit, and starches), as well as how many servings of fat and ounces of meat. It doesn't matter what the calories or sugars say on the label, just total carbs. Nothing goes into my mouth without being written down for accountability and reviewed by the dietitian. I am limited to 1900 calories per day, consumed via three meals and three snacks. That's it. Nothing else.

Now, first thing of a morning I have to measure my blood sugars with my new One Touch monitor. This gives me the "fasting" reading. Then, I have my breakfast and measure by blood sugars again two hours later. Breakfast consisted of 8oz of low fat yogurt, NOT the big bowl of cereal I usually eat. After I poke myself with a lancet needle and squeeze out the blood, I have to touch the droplet with a test strip and let the machine do the reading, then record it in a log book. Of course, if I don't use the machine correctly or not enough blood comes out, I get to repeat the process and inject myself again. So far, this has occurred 2 out of 3 times. Lovely. Once that process has been accomplished, I get to eat my a.m. snack, which today consisted of one cup of fat free milk and one TBSP of reduced calorie peanut butter. I will say that I made that peanut butter last 15 minutes!!! I get a decent lunch and a good-sized dinner, taking my blood sugar measurement two hours after both of those meals. Then, a bedtime snack consisting of only one carb. A carb choice is anything that has less that 19 carbohydrates per serving on the label. So, prepared meals are not really on my agenda, at least for this first week. I wouldn't have a clue how to record all this data if there wasn't a label, and this is stressful enough as it is. This does indeed make me sad because there are many good friends and church people that are wanting to bring us meals during this time, but I just don't see a way of logging the data. I also do not want to cheat because that backfires on me and my baby. As I've said before, I cannot fathom giving birth to a large baby.

Now, I'm not saying that this isn't "do-able," and I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. I also realize that this too shall pass and I may not have to do this for very long. However, when you've been on bed rest for 28 days; your emotions are all over the place hormonally; you're bored, vertically challenged,and borderline depressed; you're trying to remember if it is time to take your meds to prevent contractions; you're trying to schedule who is watching your son, on what days, and who is dropping off and picking him up; keeping hydrated (dehydration causes contractions and higher blood sugars); and you tack on this regimented meal planning and documentation...on top of the adjustment of being hungry because you were obviously eating too much before now; AND you have to poke yourself with a needle four times per day.....it tends to make one a tad irritable and cranky. I spent a good 30 minutes just bawling this morning. That actually helped.

I have always been the type that gets irritable when I am hungry. I need to plan out different options for meals that have the correct amounts of what is allowed in each category, so it is not so stressful when it is time to eat. Guess I have plenty of time to do that....

My motto: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Repeat. Repeat.