Gestational Diabetes

My friend met with her doctor and got the skinny on what she can/not have. It looks like we have to avoid carbohydrates and pump her full of protein. There is not enough research out about splenda yet so the doctor didn't feel comfortable having her use it in her food or drinks so we will skip that.

Hubs has a friend who has been diabetic his whole life so we emailed him and he was a fantastic help!

We are no longer going to be doing a full menu now because she doesn't want us to have food only for her or have to be jealous of others. Instead I found a bakery that does regular cakes as well as diabetic cakes so we will be getting cupcakes from them. In addition we will also have water, decaf sugar free tea, peanuts, cheese (I was told not wine cheese) and crackers, and maybe a few other small items. This way she isn't tempted by unnecessary things and she is thrilled with the changes.

I learned that if she eats cheese after having something with a bit of sugar in it, the cheese will help breakdown the sweet (which I find useful even for myself).

Thank you ladies for all of your help I hope it all goes smoothly!

Baby Shower Help

I am co-hosting a dear friends baby shower in a few weeks, the decorations have been picked out, the invitations have gone out, and the games (not by my choice) have been picked. What's left you say? The cake, well lack there of.

I am responsible for the cake, food, and drinks, however our guest of honor found out today that she has gestational diabetes therefore it seems cruel to have a cake that she can't enjoy.

She meets with the dietician early next week to get her list of haves/nots and I plan to make the menu centered around that. Have any of you had gestational diabetes or known someone who has? Do you have any yummy suggestions that we might be able to include for the shower?

Our friends baby

Okay she isn't our baby, but after our kids (of course) I have to say that they have THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BABY IN THE WORLD!!! Seriously she is just too beautiful to express into words!!! They all seem to be doing well, just settling in to the newness of parenthood. This sweet girl has a perfect name and I can't wait to kiss her cheeks!!!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for her health and safe entrance into this big scary world!!

This is where I found her after I got out of the shower.

Prayers

Update: Baby girl was born shortly after 6:00 edt, mommy and baby are doing great! Thanks for your prayers

Our friends were due on the 16th but she is currently in the hospital with baby on her way. Please pray for safety over both of them. I will update more as we know more!

Top Chef/Baby Update

Baby got her shots today. :( Poor thing! She weighs 9 lbs 11 oz. and is following in her sisters footsteps of being smaller, she was in the 20-25% for everything but her head. Her poor head is negatively off the charts, the smallest percentile that they have is 5% and she measures BELOW that. Of course the hypocondriacs are quick to start rattling off things they thing might go wrong, but then tell us "well we will just watch her and we will need to see her back at four months". Duh! They are going to have to see her for immunizations anyways. Oh well the poor girl has a little head, I just hope it grows proportient with her body for her own sake. All is well though, she is resting/recovering from her morning trama right now.

I left the doctors office though and called my good friend that just moved and told her and to which she hollared "SEE I TOLD YOU SHE HAD A LITTLE HEAD!" At the hospital she kept saying that to us, and we would joke that her kids just have HUGE heads....turns out she was right. Very funny stuff though. In my evil scheme to get back at her for being right I informed her of our fabulous gas deal yesterday....to which she wasn't happy about. Apparently even though they live on the west coast now...the land of "mother earthlings" they can't get E85 gas like they could here. Stinks for them!
_____________________________________________

We don't watch much t.v. around our house, in fact the only reason we have BASIC cable (i.e. we have literally 15 channels 6 of which are spanish channels) is because we live in the middle of nowhere so if we want to know ANYTHING in the world we had to get the nice $10.00 a month package. Anywho hubby is addicted to Top Chef, usually while he watches it I am either reading or doing some mundane chore.....until last week. I watched it with him and boy is that a fabulous show!

Last night was a "super sized" episode where they were to create a new frozen meal that could go from frozen to cooked in under 10 minutes. It was interesting what they came up with....some I might buy others not so much.

I have to say Bravo does a good job of keeping it relatively clean, but I can't get over how much those people drink! Seriously some of them are always drinking...I am quick to say (in my judgmental tone) that they need help...but then I remember it is t.v. and I am sure it is boosting their ratings (which in of itself is sad).

Okay if you are still reading you haven't fallen asleep hurray! I'm off to rest/recover myself from this morning.

Tomatoe....Tomato

Well after a long process of trying to find out what is causing baby to throw up and have hurtful gas the winner is........tomatoes. We love tomatoes in this house purreed, smashed, diced, anyway you can hand them out we eat them (especially me). Hubby and I were discussing what all we make with tomatoes in it, and boy it really is almost a staple....ketchup with homemade fries, homemade pizza, spaghetti, meatloaf, fajitas, and the list goes on. There is a pill that she could take but we really don't want to medicate her (don't our kids get enough drugs) if I can do something to prevent the acid reflux myself. We will be regrouping and coming up with a whole new menu around here.......I have to say I am going to miss the red stuff but it is for the best and who knows maybe she will outgrow it, if not that is okay too.

Sleep Deprived

First of all a few people have emailed me telling me I haven't finished the story on what happened on Memorial Day.....scroll down below the "Goodbye" post and there you will find the story.

We are sleep deprived in this house.....it comes with the joy and blessing of a new little one but we have forgotten how much "fun" little to no sleep can be. In time it will pass so for now we will just be in a zoned tired state for a while. There is something to be said about those that have their babies quickly and all in a row, you are at least tired and exhausted for a small period of time but then you are done with it, as opposed to forgetting what it is like all together and then starting over!

It is just a phase but don't expect much from me over the next few weeks!

A Baby Story Finally Told!

On May 23rd I went to the doctors office and my amniotic fluid was low, border line dangerous so she put me on bed rest as my husband and daughter were slated to go out of town Thursday thru Saturday for his sisters graduation. His family was gracious and said he didn't have to come, but it was important to all of us that they go, so on bed rest I went. To be honest I have no idea how women survive MONTHS on bedrest a few days drove me bonkers! They traveled to and from safely and had a wonderful time, and boy did I miss them, as this was the longest I had been away from my daughter EVER! It was really really hard and my husband was gracious enough to keep in touch so I wouldn't have a complete melt down!

Sunday was business as usual.....after church the baby seemed to not move quite as much as she had (both babies have been VERY active in womb), but I just kept going.....by evening I was pooped (I was pregnant so nothing new there), but I had noticed she still wasn't very active. Monday morning rolled around and she hadn't moved for two straight hours, so I called the doctor and she told me to get to the hospital and she was meeting me there......she has 16 month old triplets and a five month old all of whom were screaming in the background, so I felt TERRIBLE but followed her instructions. I called the usual suspects to watch K for me but was having no luck as it was still a bit early on Memorial Day, three phone calls later I got help and was on my way.

I arrived at the hospital to nurses asking me if I was Mrs. _____, because my doctor had been waiting for me. I was taking to triage and set up on monitors, in the meantime my doctor came and yelled at me for not calling sooner (she graciously yelled though). She informed me I would be having a Bio Physical Profile Sonogram done, and then we would go from there. On the monitor the baby seemed to have a good strong heart beat, but then I was set up to the Sonogram, after about 30 minutes the lady providing my sono, started looking concerned and informed me that she was going to find my doctor quickly (to which I started to panic). My doctor returned and looked at the screen, looked at me and said "you are having a C-Section in 30 minutes." It turns out our sweet baby basically had no fluid left at all. I lost it momentarily so she was gracious enough to call my husband and inform him to get to the hospital now or he may very well miss the birth of his child. It took about three minutes to calm down and then I went into surivival mode, picked up the cell phone and started making phone calls, all the while the nurses were having me sign papers, giving me an IV, the works.

I had to arrange for one neighbor to come get my car keys and pocketbook, get my bag and other goodies and bring them to me and our keys to my other neighbor who had our daughter, luckily her husband and daughter were minutes away and he is a doctor so he came and sat with me for a while, and talked me down off the edge, and assured me he would be in the operating room if my husband couldn't make it in time (what we would have done with L we hadn't thought that far). Plus I had to call and check in with my daughter who was still sleeping, and the neighbor that I assured I would be home quickly (famous last words). Needless to say my husband was busy at work trying to close everything up (thank you bosses for letting him close for the day) and going 95 in a 55 speed zone (thank you Lord for watching over him). Meanwhile I called a few family and friends (with what time I had), all the while J (neighbor and his daughter) were with me. My sweethusband made it in about 40-45 minutes, but he didn't miss anything because there was another emergency C-Section ahead of me so he didn't miss anything. He got to the hospital and there was a changing of the guards. The nurses kept telling him how organized and calm I was and that they normally don't see people in my situation that calm....he told them I was VERY O-C-D and would expect nothing less. Within minutes of his arrival we were whisked into the operating room, where the rest is history!

Another interesting fact is that while I was getting my spinal they had my husband in triage waiting and there was a lady who was in labor and dialated but her babies foot was sticking out so they were also preping her for a emergency C-section and they were wheeling her in immediately after me. All in all there were 8 emergency C-Sections on Memorial Day!

Thank you to everyone for your concerns and prayers we greatly appreciate them!

Our Memorial Day Surprise

Well we had the baby! She weighed 6 lbs 10 ounces, and was 20 1/4 inches long. She was born 18 days early by an emergency C-Section (a story for another post when all are well rested) but was born in FABULOUS health with APGAR scores of 9 & 8! Everyone is doing excellent and we are so happy to have her here!! Big Sister is very protective and very proud of her new sister!

We will post more pictures after we pick up our disposable camera from the developer (see how unplanned it all was!!) Thank you for your prayers!!

Resting

Going on bed rest today.....hubby will update more sometime next week.

Thanks for your prayers

Update

Well I had another appointment yesterday morning, all is well in baby land....cervix is thinned but nothing else is happening so to quote my doctor "It could happen tomorrow or in two weeks". I go back for a sono on Wednesday, so we will see then. She still has a very good strong heart beat, and up until now she has been measuring "big" but it seems her growth has slowed some and she is now measuring average (5.5 lbs). She has started to turn transverse-breech, so we are really praying that she will turn herself back around before her big arrival. If she hasn't turned by Wednesday and nothing has happened the doctor will try to turn her, which I have heard is not a very pleasant experience.

Thanks for your prayers!

One of my neighbors is expecting their second little girl has been dialated one cent. for three weeks now, and we have another friend who is having a girl and she has been dialated one cent for about a week and a half now.......girls must like to be unpredictable (even though ALL BABIES are really unpredictable).

___________________________________________________________________

Happy Birthday to the best Little Sister in the WORLD!!!

Girls, Girls, and more girls!

We found out today that J's cousin is expecting their second little girl! He has one other cousin that is expecting in October so we will have to wait until next month to see what they are having.

CONGRATULATIONS we are so happy for the two of you!

Baby Check-up

Well I went to the doctor today and I haven't gained ANY weight since my appointment two weeks ago. I have been walking more but that is about it, so who knows the body does something interesting!

Baby is doing well, still measuring big, but has a good strong heart beat which is the most important thing.

K brought her stethoscope to show our doctor, that she too could be a doctor! Here she is posing in the waiting room.

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update.

The Clock Is Ticking.....

I have a little over six weeks to go until my due date, and up until these last few days I have been blowing thru my pregnancy with few worries......and I know everything will work out. But today I am stressing big time.....so I am going to go relax and pray for peace! Will you please pray for me?

Congrats!

Our friends that are expecting shortly after us have found out that they too are having a GIRL! Of course mommy and baby are healthy and doing wonderful as well, which is just as wonderful!

Step away from the Chocolate

Well it finally happened.

I didn't just fall off the wagon; the wagon was going 70 mph, down a windy road, and I JUMPED at full force!

Up until my doctors appointment yesterday I had gained 23 lbs, which is really impressive considering at that point I was 29 weeks along and I swear I think I gained 23 lbs with Claire within like a month of getting pregnant!

I have been so proud of myself for eating healthy (I actually craved salads, fruit, and healthy dinners).

Well something happened in the last two weeks and if it wasn't JUNK, UNHEALTHY, AND FULL OF STUFF THAT NEITHER I NOR THE BABY NEED, I didn't want to eat it. Seriously it was horrible, Easter candy on sale at the grocery store was screaming at me, last time I went shopping I ate _x_ number of ice cream cones before I even was done shopping! I went to the discount bread store the other day and realized I could buy six cupcakes for the price of two if I bought them in a box, so I did! I came home froze what I hadn't already ate on my 8 minute drive home, and managed to finish the rest of them within 15 hours. I have had headaches from eating sugar, did it stop me? My solution eat more!!

I was nervous going to the doctor yesterday for my check up, I really was, I thought I had gained 5 lbs and my doctor is REALLY REALLY strict when it comes to weight so I thought 5 lbs was going to get me a good lecture...so imagine the lecture I got when I got on the scale and learned I had gained TEN POUNDS in three weeks??????!!!!!

The nurse even said "Oh you are gonna get it Mrs. S." My reply "Oh I know!!!"

Claire and I sat in the room waiting for the doctor to come in....the door opened slowly and I was afraid to look up at her. She did lecture me, she even told my 3 year old to tell mommy "NO!" if I was eating cupcakes or chocolate. Which in itself is hilarious considering my daughter has eating lots of junk lately too (when she used to NEVER EVER get this kind of stuff unless she was with grandparents), so we will see how effective this is going to be.

To be honest even I was mortified, TEN POUNDS! That is a baby! Claire and I walk about 2-3 miles every day and I think we are going to have to take the hilly route (with her fussing I am sure) and extend our length at least to make myself feel better. Today I packed up remaining junk and put it in a bag, and my d.h. took it to his work for his employees. I felt like I was loosing my mind when he left this morning, seriously it wasn't pretty! I have a headache right now as I type and I am insistent that I need some chocolate, I have a feeling I am going to be detoxying over the next few days and the mood may be a bit stressful in the house...pray for J. and Claire.

It's a .....

News from our last doctors appointment

CONGRATS!!

We just found out that one of my husbands dear friends and his sweet wife will be welcomikng their first baby due in September! I know they read this so congrats you two!!! We are so excited for you, and we can't wait to meet the new little bundle of joy! I am really excited that our babies will be three months apart the same distance as their daddies, I hope they grow up to be friends (even with distance) just like their daddies were! Too fun!

Big, bountiful, blessings from above!