30 Weeks!

Wow, 30 weeks always felt like the beginning of the end, I can't believe that we are finally here. 10 weeks left...well, between 7-12. I'm starting to get curious as to when I'll go into labour. I've read that Gestational Diabetes babies generally come early, I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Size:

Our cabbage is weighing in at about 3lb and is measuring roughly 15.75in from head to toe! This week the eyesight is developing although even at birth the little one's eyes will hardly be able to see right in front of his or her face. Otherwise, lots of weight being put on those little bones and hopefully some hair growing on that little head.

Pregnancy Symptoms:
Well I can still say that I have really no painful symptoms, however in the last week I have developed some serious breathlessness. This baby is so high up in my ribs I can barely breath. Whenever I have to sit I start to pant and there is absolutely no way that I can lay on my back for more than 10 seconds. That's really not so bad though.
I can't say that I have any other symptoms really... I still haven't woken up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I'm sure that's just around the corner. I feel bad that I don't have more to put in these categories.

Life Happenings:
We had another midwife appointment last week, and the little babe is still head down. I'm starting to allow myself to think that he or she may actually stay that way!
On another note, I only have 28 shifts left at work! I can't believe how fast these last few weeks have gone. I'm expecting time to slow down in the coming weeks as I get more and more uncomfortable.
We haven't had too much excitement in the last few days since we got back from our trip just mainly doing things inside since the weather has been slightly ghastly! I look forward to spending as much time as possible outside as soon as the weather smartens up.

Weekly Highlight:
Saturday night Ben and I had a date night and went to a movie. It was just lovely to get out and even though the movie was pretty awful it was a great night out.

Once again I'm so incredibly sorry for the terrible quality of this weeks photo but it will have to do. This is me at 30 weeks!

Here is a more aesthetically pleasing picture. What you see here is 4 POUNDS of delicious strawberries! Since my diet is so highly limited I have to enjoy the few things that I'm allowed to, and luckily strawberries are pretty good for blood sugar!

Banana 'Ice Cream'

I've always somewhat scoffed at women who complain about pregnancy cravings. I always assumed these women just used pregnancy as an excuse to indulge in their every whim. Well, I can say that I've been humbled in the last two weeks. I feel like ever since I found out about my issues with blood sugar ALL I've wanted needed is ice cream! The problem is that ice cream is NOT the best thing to indulge in when you're trying to cut sugars out of your diet. I did get some 'diet' (low fat/low sugar) ice cream which I have allowed myself to have once, but I'm still hesitant to have it as many times as I 'need' i.e. every day. 

Getting to my point....I found a 'recipe' on pinterest the other day for 'ice cream' made entirely out of banana's! I say 'recipe' because it's not much of a recipe, it's just frozen banana in a food processor with organic peanut butter and cocoa powder. I thought it was worth a shot so today I made up a batch and IT'S GOOD! I'm so happy that I've discovered an alternative to dairy ice cream that is still palatable. And since the only ingredients are banana's, peanut butter and cocoa, it's diary free, sugar free, and a good source of protein! WIN...WIN...WIN!

Let me share with you my process....

I started with 8 banana's that I already had in the freezer. I found since the banana's had already been pretty over ripe when I put them in the freezer that the banana flavour in the 'ice cream' was very strong. You can cut up ripe banana's,put them in the freezer for an hour let them freeze and use them that way. This will also minimize the banana-ee flavour.

I would recommend cutting the banana's before they are frozen. Peeling those banana's and cutting them while they were frozen was a little difficult.





I used a Vitamix (heavy duty blender) to mix up my banana's but I hear a food processor should work just fine. It did not take long at all for the banana's to become that frozen ice creamy texture. I then added my peanut butter and cocoa.

I used chunky peanut butter which accounts for the crunchy texture of ice cream. Another thing to keep in mind is that the longer you leave it in the freezer the more the texture becomes like ice cream.

I'm not going to say that this is as good as regular ice cream by any means, but when you've got the pregnancy cravings working overtime, and you're trying your darndest to eat well this does hit the spot.

If anyone tries this please let me know how you like it and any ways to improve it! 

Vintage Baby Clothes

So the other day I was lamenting to my mother that I had no clothes yet for the baby, blah...blah...blah... and all of a sudden she got this look in her eye and ran upstairs. She then started hauling boxes out of her bedroom. We spent the next hour or so going through boxes and boxes of old clothes that my siblings and I wore when we were wee ones. Well, we now have quite a variety of clothes for the little one ranging from newborn to probably 3 years old. I thought I'd snap a few pics of some of the outfits, I can't wait to dress our little girl or boy in some of these precious old pieces. 

This is a little onesie that my mother made for my oldest brother. She has about 5 of these that she hand made and I absolutely LOVE them. She also has a whole bunch of cute little tee's with little collars to go underneath, they make quite a cute ensemble.  

This sweater, hat and booties were made for my oldest brother, by my grandmother. I absolutely love the details, I'm a little curious to see how it would work for a boy...we'll have to wait and see.

This little number was not homemade but I have so many fond memories of my younger sister in it that I had to add it. 

It's hard for a picture to grasp the fuzziness and cuteness of this winter jumper. It looks so vintage and is still so soft, I really hope it will fit our baby come winter time.

This dress was mine. I have real live memories of being in this dress, I loved it when I was 2 and I still love it now. After two boys my mom dressed me up in dresses as much as possible and I LOVE all the cute little summer dresses that she saved. I also love the fact that she had so many outfits that weren't just pink. If we have a girl, you better believe she's gonna be stylin'!  

Here is my brothers sailor suit. They come with adorable little navy blue shorts as well. A part of me wants a boy just so that I can dress him in this when the time comes. SOOO cute! 

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29 Weeks!

As I'm writing this 29 week update I'm sitting in a cabin by a beautiful lake. We decided in April that we needed to get away for a few days at least one time before the baby is born, so I booked the time off and Saturday evening after work we headed out and drove the 4.5 hours to Elkwater Resort. My Aunt and Uncle own a cabin up here in Cypress Hills and they are always so willing to let us come here and enjoy what they have. So far our weekend has included, walks by the lake, great games of scrabble, excellent food, going for a stroll up to the quaint little store for ice cream (I was good and passed on the ice cream). Soaking in the hot tub (I also passed on that...), watching movies late at night, and most of all just relaxing! It's been a hoot and we still have a full day left, now on with the update!

Size:

Our little butternut squash is most likely about 2lb 10oz and over 15in! That is crazy big, however I know it's only about 1/3 the size he/she will be at term! The head is growing bigger and the bones are hardening.  At this point this little one is mainly putting on fat as well as developing those precious little lungs. 

Pregnancy Symptoms:

I still feel so lucky at how little discomfort I've experienced so far. This last week I did break down and visit the chiropractor, however it was due to a popped rib, nothing baby related and luckily an easy fix. My hips have started to feel a little 'creaky', especially after a long walk, but nothing bad AT ALL, I'm still waiting for the low back discomfort and the massive pressure of the baby pushing on 'stuff' while you walk. I did detect some swelling after our long walk in the heat yesterday, luckily it quickly went away once I sat down and cooled off so I'm not worried at all, I expect that to get worse before the end of this summer. Due to this Gestational Diabetes I have to monitor my weight much closer and I haven't gained any weight in the last 2 weeks so that's good too. I really don't want to obsess over the scale, but dealing with insulin issues you have a much higher chance for weight concerns and issues with the size of the baby so they like to monitor it quite closely (yuck). 

Life Happenings:

I guess I kind of already went over this at the beginning of the post, I'll think of something else... Other than the amazing opportunity to take it easy this week life has been pretty much the same, just the way we like it! However, Ben starts a new job in 2 weeks, which is very exciting for us. He is definitely done with being self employed, at least for this period of our lives. I only have 7 weeks left of work!!! I have a countdown on my phone and that's only 30 individual work days (I'm only working 4 day weeks now)! I'm actually not dying to be done work and if I can work past 37 weeks I'm going to try, I'm just anticipating my discomfort level once we're midway through July. 

Weekly Highlight:

Spending the weekend with Ben and Rose, I love the lake life.

Now for some pictures! 

29 week bump taken on the boardwalk by the beautiful lake.

My chubby little swollen fingers after our hike. I'm lucky the swelling went down or my ring may have been stuck on.

Ben concentrating on our scrabble match, he beat me by 3 points! Next game he's going down!

I just have to add this one too, Ben went to get a beer from the fridge and Rose jumped into his spot, I guess she wanted to play too.  

Please excuse me while I vent.

*WARNING*

If you don't want to hear someone blow minor inconveniences out of proportion than read no further. I apologize in advance for the pettiness of my griping.

Perhaps it's hormones, or just my childish nature coming out but boy do i feel hard done by today... I really have no reason to complain, my job graciously changed my hours so I now have Fridays off. You'd think this was awesome? Today, not so much. I had no errands to run and I didnt try to come up with some since it was mucky and rainy outside. I puttered around at home, doing a load of laundry, folding another couple loads, but nothing truly productive, if I'm truly honest I didn't actually get out of my housecoat till after 12....To make my 'horrible' day worse, my dear husband is STILL working and it's after 11:30PM that's over a 14 hour day! (poor guy) I made supper more than 4 hours ago and it's just sitting on the stove getting cold and nasty. My dog got a hold of pin cushion and when I found her she was lying on the ground picking out pins from the darn cushion with her evil little paws and tossing them willy-nilly all over the room. Needless to say, she's currently in her kennel on a time-out. Today was just one of those days...In the grand scheme of things I need to remember to be thankful for what I have. Thankful for my day off, for a husband who works so hard for us. Today I'm humbled, when I read over what I wrote I see that I let my emotions get the best of me. Hopefully I will learn from this and not let the little things get to me, this is my goal. 

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Here is a picture that even on the cloudiest day brings a smile to my face. I love my family!

28 Weeks!

Well, we have officially entered the 3rd trimester and I'm kinda freaking out. This means that we've already ventured 2/3 of this pregnancy, and the end is near. I feel utterly and totally unprepared. I feel like every person that I come into contact with asks me if we have the nursery ready, if we've bought all the things we need, if we have names picked out etc...etc...etc. We have done NOTHING. I have no clothing for the little gaffer, there is no bedroom carefully painted and prepared we are nowhere near agreeing on a suitable name.  I wonder if it's normal to feel overwhelmed, I hope so. It's so unbelievable that in a few short months there will be an entirely new person in my life that will TOTALLY rely on me, 100%. That's a lot of pressure to perform and do things 'the right way'. I don't even know what the right way is...I also know that I have a tendency to over think things and to worry, I'm trying hard not to, but when you have a constant reminder punching you in the ribs it's easy to let your mind wonder to dark places... Ok, there was my moment of vulnerability, now moving on!

Size:

Now, despite all of my fretting, I'm still amazed and excited that our Chinese cabbage is roughly 2lb 3oz in weight and almost 15in in length. This little one is now sporting eyelashes and may be able to detect light through the womb! The brain is also doing some MAJOR maturing and billions of neurons are developing. Of course there's also a steady amount of fat being packed onto that tiny skeletal frame! 

Pregnancy Symptoms:

I feel like I've all of a sudden entered the high energy phase that's supposed to happen in the 2nd trimester. This last week I have had a TON of energy and have felt amazing! I think it may be due to my relatively drastic change in diet. I'm hypothesizing that maybe eating truckloads of carbs every day was what made me kind of sluggish, and now that my diet consists of mainly fruits, veggies and protein my system is actually responding well, I don't know. 

Last week I met with a dietitian regarding my gestational diabetes (GDM) and when she looked at my numbers she said I was doing well and that I am definitely able to control it through diet alone for now. YAY! I meet with her again this week and we'll see if she still feels that way. I have been quite rigid with myself diet wise, (excluding the ice cream I had yesterday) and I think if I continue to stand strong this little babe and I will be ok! 

Well the back pain that I complained of last week is TOTALLY gone! I'm pretty amazed actually. I think perhaps the baby shifted a little because my low back feels great. Under the right side of my ribcage I have a constant sensation of pressure and the fairly regular punch or kick, but those are still fun and not painful....yet. 

I had a midwife appointment last week and it looks like our little baby is head down. This didn't mean much to me because I know there are many more weeks in which the baby will most likely flip upside down and right side up. I'll be more excited if he or she is head down at 35/36 weeks! I also found out at my appointment that my iron levels went from low to high so it looks like Floradix worked it's magic.  I'm pretty sure I was only taking it for about a month and my numbers drastically improved, which is super excellent! 

Life Happenings:

I feel like this category is always boring and the same....Our life as of late doesn't consist of much other than work, eating, sleeping and spending time with friends and family, oh and walking the dog... This week was no different. I feel very blessed that my energy level is up, work is actually enjoyable to go to, which for a little while it wasn't. 

We had a great mother's day. We slept in, actually missed church, which was bad on our part but boy did it feel good at the time. We then had a lazy afternoon, enjoyed being outside, Ben played volleyball while I watched and also managed to burn half of my face. Later on we had a picnic in the park with Ben's mom and finished the night off by watching the Survivor Season Finale with some good friends. It was a really good day. It's so crazy to think that next mother's day I will actually be someone's mother. 

Weekly Highlight:

I honestly think my highlight has been the BEAUTIFUL weather that's all of a sudden made an appearance. It is such an amazing thing when the sun shines and the grass is green. I can't wait to soak up as much fresh air and sun as possible in the next few weeks before it becomes too unbearably hot...

 Life is good!

Here's a 28 week photo, not the most flattering, but you get the idea...everything is getting huge...

 I just had to add this one. My sister and I took lil' Rose to the dog park right in the heat of the afternoon and she was just hyperventilating like crazy when we got home. Too cute!

Another pic I just had to add. Ben just LOVES this dog like you wouldn't believe! Any time we're home those two are together, as I've said before, if Ben loves our child 1/4 as much as this dog that kid is going to have all the love he/she needs!

Since it's Mother's Day (week) I had to add a picture of the best mom I could ever have asked for. She was amazing at getting down and playing with us. She has always been a friend to me. I hope I can be half the mom she was for us!

27 Weeks!

Size:

Our cauliflower is just under 2 pounds and 14.5 inches long. His or her little brain is very active and they are on a schedule now, waking and sleeping at regular times. I've definitely noticed active times and quieter times as far as movement goes. I also feel like I've perhaps started feeling pushing into my ribs, I don't know if this is too early but it sure feels like the right side gets the odd little jab. I week away from the 3rd trimester!!!!

Pregnancy Symptoms:

Well, I got some bad news this week... I am positive for Gestational Diabetes. I don't even have to go for the 3 hour glucose test, the test was that conclusive. I've spent quite a few hours today researching diabetic diets and I've stumbled upon the Brewer Diet which is pretty intense but seems to have good results, I'll talk to my midwife on Wednesday as to whether I should follow it or not, but I am determined to control this darn diabetes with diet and exercise. I'm also DETERMINED to NOT be considered a high risk pregnancy which having uncontrolled or insulin dependant diabetes automatically makes you. If I have to give up all foods that I love for the next 3 months to attain that goal and to have a healthy baby, then I will. 

I'm also beginning to sense just a twinge of pain in my low back. I feel it quite specifically around both of my sacroiliac joints so I'm assuming its due to the stretching of the ligaments of these joints to allow for a baby to pop out a relatively small space (the pelvic outlet). I truly feel lucky that I have had as little pain as I have so far, I honestly have nothing to complain about. Ben did comment and say that I'm starting to slightly waddle so I guess even though I don't notice it, my belly is starting to effect my walk a little....It's all downhill from here!

Life Happenings:

I'm excited to say that my job is being significantly altered for my current condition. As of next week I will be going down to just 33 hours a week and I will no longer have any shifts longer than 9 hours. I even get 3 days off! I'm also not going to be working past 6PM anymore which I'm SOOO excited about.  

Life seems to be trucking along just swimmingly. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I know that I'm always saying that I want it to slow down, but it doesn't seem to!

Weekly Highlight:
This may seem a bit lame, but since having this diabetes diagnosis I'm determined to get at least an hour long walk after supper every day, so Ben and I have been taking Rose to the dog park. It's so nice to see her running around having a blast with the other dogs, it's also so nice to be getting some fresh air. I'm also really encouraged since I've been checking my blood sugar levels 7 times a day now and it looks like I'm kind of figuring out what I can eat, so it looks like I'll be able to control it by diet and exercise alone! What a lame highlight....sorry folks.

I've been trying to drink Nettle tea that I got from the health food store, an additional attempt at raising my iron levels.

Here is Ben and the dogs on our BEAUTIFUL walk last night. I LOVE Saskatchewan spring!

Here's a belly picture for 27 weeks.

26 Weeks!

Size:

Our cucumber is measuring around 14 inches and almost 2 pounds!!! I sure have felt a pretty massive growth spurt in the last week or so. I haven't worked up the courage to actually weigh myself but boy is this belly starting to have some weight to it! I can't believe the countdown to this little one's due date is under 100 days! It doesn't mean much to me seeing as I have a feeling our due date is sure to come and go with no sign of any baby yet, but it's still crazy to think that the birth is at least close to 100 days away!

Pregnancy Symptoms:

Well there are quite a few of these creeping up here and there now. I have gotten a liquid iron supplement that tastes like you're drinking a frying pan and boy is it NASTY, but hopefully it will do the trick, I'm looking forward to seeing how my numbers improve after the next test! 

Blood pressure seems to be staying low, usually hovering around 100/60, so I'm not concerned there at all anymore. I've been taking it every morning and usually one other time during the day and it never changes much, I suppose that will be something to watch out for a little later on. 

Yesterday I did have a bit of a freaky incident, I was at work and all of a sudden I felt really strange. I broke into a cold sweat, I started seeing spots, I felt like I was about to throw up and I was extremely dizzy. I ended up actually excusing myself from the massage and going to lie down, after checking my blood sugar-sure enough it was low, I got some food in me and slowly but surely I started feeling better. I'm glad everything turned out fine but it gave Ben and I a bit of a scare. 

Friday I go for my blood glucose tolerance test where they check for gestational diabetes. I'm pretty concerned that I'll be within the diabetic range. I've been checking my blood sugars and they seem to be a little high in the mornings so we'll see how I do at the test. I may have to go on a pretty restrictive diet. 

Other than some minor discomfort due to gaining a gut I feel like I'm doing just peachy! Pregnancy is pretty amazing!  I'm getting pretty pumped to see how things change in the coming weeks! 

Life Happenings:

Well even though pregnancy is treating me fine, my tooth sure hasn't! After my 2nd root canal 2 Thursdays ago I developed an infection and was on antibiotics that seemed to take FOREVER to kick in. My tooth hurt like crazy and since I couldn't take much for the pain it was a pretty uncomfortable week. It's finally just now getting easier to chew and I would say the discomfort is relatively minor. 

On another note, we are registered and signed up for birth classes! We will be starting the class in June and it will run once a week for 12 weeks or until I give birth. Hopefully I give birth before the 12 weeks are up, seeing as that would put us well over 2 weeks past the due date. I'm really excited for Ben to become a little more immersed in birth related stuff. We are planning a pretty natural birth which takes a lot of preparing and learning how to deal with what we're going to be experiencing. I'm really looking forward to starting preparation for what is going to be a pretty intense experience for both of us I imagine. 

Weekly Highlight:

Well this isn't really a one time thing, but this week we've been living at my parents. It's been SOO nice having meals made and to not have to worry about anything house related. I get up and breakfast is ready for me! Not to mention we don't have to worry about getting groceries! We will be living here till the end of May so I'm certain it will get old after a while, but for now it's been REALLY nice. 

The stack of books that I'm reading though. A few of them I've read before but it's definitely not a bad idea to read them again, in my opinion. That top one is for Ben, I told him he had to read it cover to cover...I guess we'll see how that goes.

A pic of my 26 week belly. I know it's not a good one but it's the best I have at the moment. I'll have to take some better ones for 27 weeks!