Baby Showers

First. let me just say that I am one lucky lady! I have three groups of people who are my support system and who I really care about (and they care about me too!). Each group threw me a very nice baby shower to celebrate Baby Bug’s impending arrival. Each shower was very special and unique and I am so grateful that there are people in my life who were generous enough to host these gatherings for me. I genuinely loved getting to spend time with family, friends and co-workers and celebrate this little life that will be joining us very soon.

Shower #1 - Family and friends in Colorado
My aunts (with the help of my mom, cousin and a family friend) threw me a fabulous shower in January (while I was still allowed to travel). The theme was an owl in a hot air balloon (since owls are a part of my nursery decor and both Dave and I have won photo contests taking photos of hot air balloons) and the theme was carried out in the invitations, cake, favors and decorations!

My aunt even made super cute cookies with the owl in the balloon but unfortunately my cookies were a bit damaged on the plane ride home. Oops. I should have taken a picture of them at the shower, while they were still perfect. Lesson learned.

Other than the crushed cookies the shower was wonderful! I got a chance to spend time with a lot of people who I don’t get to see as often as I used to since we’ve moved to California. And I was extra lucky that my brother, sister and sister-in-law flew in from Texas for the occasion! I wish we would have gotten a picture of the whole group, but luckily my mom got a few shots of individual tables.

But one of my favorite pictures from the day is of me and the grandmas-to-be! From left to right is Dave’s mom, me and my mom. Such a sweet picture!

Thank you to all of the family and friends who took the time to celebrate baby with me! It was so good to see everyone!

Shower #2 - Friends and family in California
My girlfriends Kendra, Margaret and Jennifer threw me a lovely baby shower the first weekend in March. From left to right below: Jennifer, Margaret, me and Kendra.

In attendance were many of my California friends (all from church), Dave’s aunts Jan and Cathy (who also live in California), my mom (from Colorado) and Aunt Pat (also from California). From left to right below: Aunt Jan, my mom, me, Aunt Cathy and Aunt Pat.

We had a great time playing games, eating and praying over Baby Bug. It was a very special day and I think all of the ladies who came to celebrate this little guy and welcome him into our church and California family!

Shower #3 - Co-workers
My last shower was thrown by some of my co-workers; Diana, Melanie and Marv. We had it at the grill on the winery property and just hung out, ate yummy food and (everyone but me) drank wine (because that’s kind of what we you do when you work at a winery).

I wish I would have taken more photos but I was too busy chatting with everyone. Oops! At least I have these two to share.

Thanks to all of my co-worker friends who came to celebrate Baby Bug’s arrival! I look forward to getting reacquainted with all of our wines with all of you once I’m able to sample again!

Thank you to EVERYONE who came to one or more of my showers! I am definitely all set for baby’s arrival this week. We certainly do feel loved (and spoiled) and I look forward to sharing the news of Baby Bug’s arrival with all of you! Cheers!

I’m a blogging slacker…

So the last eight weeks have been a blur. Between 50 hour work weeks, twice weekly nonstress tests, weekly doctor visits, every two weeks visits to the diabetes center, getting the baby’s room ready, spending time with Dave and trying to keep up with housework I’ve had little time (or energy) for blogging. I really hate when that happens in life because I love looking back and seeing what we were up to at different times in years past. But, since this has been a crazy time and I’ve been a total blog slacker I’ll just have to catch you up with things in bullet points!

• This gestational diabetes thing really put a damper on our usual Valentine’s Day plans. Since I’m so restricted in what I can eat we decided to forgo any sort of special meal and just do an activity together. So, Dave found a play for us to go to! It was a Sherlock Holmes play and it was very nicely done. We enjoyed our night together we may just have to make a habit of going to more plays! I also don’t want to forget to mention the beautiful flowers and balloon that my wonderful husband personally delivered to my office on Valentine’s Day. That was so special and I’m so lucky to have such a thoughtful husband :-)
• Speaking of gestational diabetes… I am so over this. I mean, I would do anything for this kid to keep him healthy but I can.not.wait for the diabetes to go away. I am so done taking my blood sugar four times or more a day, having to go to nonstress tests twice a week and counting carbs at every snack and meal time is getting so old and all I want is a piece of pizza or a full plate of fruit or some creamer in my (decaf) coffee. You had better believe that I will do everything in my power to prevent diabetes in the future, as long as I can still have the occasional sweet :-)

• My dad had knee surgery at the beginning of March and is doing pretty well, but is still recovering. Unfortunately his recovery is taking a bit longer than expected which means he won’t make it out to California for Baby Bug’s birth. As disappointed as I am that he won’t be able to be here, at least he’ll be feeling much better and will be able to move a little easier before making the trip to meet his first grandchild. Get better soon, Dad!
• Dave and I really want to spend some more time enjoying our back yard this spring and summer and so we finally took the plunge and purchased an outdoor dining set. Well, maybe it was more like Dave convinced me it was a good idea when he showed me a cute dining set on sale at Target. If there are two things I can’t resist it is Target and a good deal! We’re enjoying it so far and look forward to spending more time outside very soon.

• Dave and I recently took a day trip to the San Francisco Zoo and we had a great time! It was fun to visit a new (to us) zoo and Dave really enjoyed taking pictures of the animals. I’ve posted a few of his photos from the day below.

• My mom and Aunt Pat came to visit in early March and we were able to spend a good deal of time prepping the nursery for Baby Bug’s arrival! Since they have left I put the finishing touches on the room and am super excited to share photos of everything in a separate post. Stay tuned this week for that :-)
• Speaking of getting ready for baby… we are all set for his arrival! The nursery is done, I have had a few wonderful showers thrown by family, friends and co-workers, the car seat bases have been installed and safety checked by the California Highway Patrol, my hospital bag is almost packed, the bassinet it set up in our bedroom and we managed to squeeze in some maternity photos. The showers and maternity photos will also get their own blog posts with photos.

• Oh, and I forgot to mention that that Baby Bug will be here no later than FRIDAY! With gestational diabetes they don’t like to let you go past your due date, and it happens that my doctor is off duty on my due date (April 2) so I am being induced on Friday, if I don’t go into labor on my own before then. We can’t wait to meet this little guy!
• Since I am so darn close to having this baby, I am officially on leave as of this past Friday. My doctor thought I was too stressed out to continue working at 38+ weeks pregnant so she told me I wasn’t allowed to work past March 22. So I wrapped up everything I could, handed things off to other people and am now home until June 24. Now I will (hopefully) have more time to update this little blog of mine. What a glorious 13 weeks this will be!

I think that mostly catches you up on everything. With my extra time this week I’ll be working to do a few more blog posts in preparation for Baby Bug’s arrival this weekend! We can’t wait!

38 weeks

How far along: 38 weeks

Size of Baby Bug: Baby Bug is the size of a pumpkin; about 18.9 inches to 20.9 inches long and weighs about 6.2 to 9.2 pounds

Gender: It’s a boy! 

Movement: He moves all of the time, but especially in the evenings. You can usually see my stomach move as he does his nightly kicks and punches. Dave is always shocked at how strong and frequent baby’s moves are. 

Sleep: It’s hard to sleep when you have to use the restroom every few hours, your body is sore, you’re stressed about trying to get things done before baby comes and you’re still working.

Food cravings: Anything I’m not supposed to eat with gestational diabetes… because if you’re not supposed to have it you want it more, right?

Food aversions: None at the moment 

What I miss: Carbs! Sweets, cereal, muffins, bagels, pizza, a big plate of fruit, Easter candy… you get the idea

Pregnancy side effects: Huge belly, leg cramps, being a little forgetful, having some crazy dreams and back aches

Best moment this past week: Doing maternity photos with Dave

Looking forward to: Meeting the little guy very soon! 

30 weeks

How far along: 30 weeks - only 10 weeks (or less) to go!

Size of Baby Bug: Baby Bug is the size of a cucumber; about 15.2 inches to 16.7 inches and weighs about 2.5 to 3.8 pounds

Gender: It’s a boy! 

Movement: Ninja baby is still very active. His movements are getting stronger and more frequent. His busiest times are when I am laying in bed or sitting quietly (sitting at my desk at work, eating a meal, on the couch, etc.). And now, when he’s super active, you can see my stomach move - crazy!

Sleep: Still pretty good, although some nights my hips get really sore from having to sleep on my sides which makes it difficult to sleep

Food cravings: Anything I’m not supposed to eat with gestational diabetes… because if you’re not supposed to have it you want it more, right?

Food aversions: None at the moment 

What I miss: Carbs! Sweets, cereal, muffins, bagels, a big plate of fruit… you get the idea

Pregnancy side effects: Huge belly, leg cramps, being a little forgetful, having some crazy dreams, and I think my hair is getting darker

Best moment this past week: The beautiful baby shower that my aunts threw for me! Another post about that will be coming soon!

Looking forward to: Going to our child birth prep and and infant care classes this weekend and organizing all of the wonderful gifts I received at the baby shower which will make me feel much more prepared for baby

A new challenge

Sorry for the blog silence, folks. It’s been a busy few weeks with traveling to Colorado, the holidays, and getting back into the swing of “real life” after being off of work for a week and a half. But the biggest thing that has happened recently is that I’ve been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes (GD).

It was shocking and a bit overwhelming to say the least. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all, but in case you’re not familiar with GD here’s the overview:

Because of all of the hormones in my system I have become resistant to my own insulin. If my blood sugar is not well-regulated then there is the potential for baby to grow too big too quickly before delivery. If that happens, he may either have to be delivered by cesarean section or, if they have to deliver too soon, there can be complications as with any premature baby.

The good news is that I have been referred to a specialty diabetes clinic who is regulating my diet and is monitoring the blood sugar tests that I now have to take four times a day. For a week now I have been following their diet and testing my blood sugar and I have only had one reading be out of range of what they want. I was told at my first follow up appointment today that I get an A+ for my meal plan and blood sugar readings for the last week. Now I just get to keep that up for the next 12 weeks or so…

My food guidelines are that I get 2 servings of carbs at breakfast, 2-3 servings of carbs at lunch and dinner, and 1-2 servings of carbs at my three designated snack times. The idea is to break up my carb consumption throughout the day so that there isn't a huge spike or drop in my levels at any one time. They also encourage me to eat more complex carbs that break down into sugar slowly so that the energy is released over time and my system isn't hit with a ton of sugar all at once. I also have to balance the carb servings with proteins and fats so that things balance out.

Where things get tricky is dealing with what they consider a carb to be and mixing all of my new "carb" rules with the pregnancy rules. For example, they consider both fruit and milk to be a carb. Also, because I'm pregnant, I have to limit the amount of artificial sweeteners I have, which means I can't just have "sugar free" things. The other thing is that if my carbs are limited then I need to make sure that the carbs I am eating are not wasted (for example, in sweets) so that baby is getting the nutrients he needs from the limited number of carbs I can have.

Basically, I have a thick packet of things I can and can't eat and in what amounts. Can you believe that 17 grapes count as one serving of carbs? Not 16, not 18, but 17. Good grief. It's like fitting together a big puzzle when I plan meals and snacks every day. Quite frankly it's a bit frustrating, but I'm beginning to figure it out. I guess I’m doing something right since I got a good review from the dietitian today.

I will be meeting with the dietitian once a week or so to review my blood glucose numbers and adjust my diet as needed to make sure that my glucose levels are where they should be and baby stays healthy. If for some reason my levels are not staying well-regulated with diet and exercise then they will consider using injected insulin to help better control things.

But the better news is that after delivery my system should correct itself and I will be free of diabetes :-)

So that’s the latest scoop in my life. I guess sometimes it takes a little extra hard work to keep your kiddo healthy; and this mama is ready to do whatever it takes to make sure that happens.