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!

24 Weeks

Size:

Our corn cob is measuring almost 12 inches and weighs in a little over a pound!!! It's crazy to think that if the baby was born now it is possible that the little one could survive, however I'd prefer if he or she could stay in there for at least another 16 weeks. 

Pregnancy Symptoms:

I am definitely starting to notice more symptoms as of late. I had blood work done a couple weeks ago and found out that my hemoglobin is low, which means that I'm anemic and need to supplement with iron. When the midwife called to tell me she mentioned that being anemic can cause extra exhaustion as well as difficulty breathing. I thought this was interesting considering just in the last couple weeks I've been super out of breath and tired. I thought my blood pressure was high, but at our appointment we found out that my blood pressure was actually in the healthy low end, 110/70. I'm actually really relieved that it was my iron and not my blood pressure as having low iron is not near as much of a concern as high blood pressure. 

Movement has also been pretty steady, I find the little one is most active while I'm working. Or late in the evening. I actually saw the baby move from the outside the other day, that was very exciting! Ben has yet to feel or see any movement but any day now I'm sure he will. 

We had a midwife appointment this week and it looks like my uterus is measuring 2 weeks big. I was assured that this doesn't mean that we're going to have a big baby or go into labour early, I'm thinking maybe the baby just had a little growth spurt, let's hope so!

Life Happenings:

Well,  even though pregnancy has not been overly exciting as of late, I have had some non-pregnancy related ailments. So at about 21 weeks, I was up all night with a toothache. I called my uncle as soon as I knew he would be up the following morning (he's a dentist in medicine hat). As soon as I described my symptoms he immediately knew that I needed a root canal ASAP. He was able to squeeze me in the following Monday so, 5:30 Monday morning Ben and I headed out to medicine hat for the dreaded root canal. As it turns out, I was an abnormal case and he was unable to complete the procedure. The last couple weeks have been quite painful as I've been waiting to see a specialist. Luckily, today is the day and in 2 hours I will be getting this tooth fixed for good! (hopefully)  

We have also made our first baby purchase! We have a stroller/carseat combo and a bassinet. I felt like it was way to early to start getting stuff but I guess the more we spread out the purchases the less it will be all at once. 

We have also gotten a new vehicle. We were in the market because our other two were not reliable for a baby. The car actually ended being the same one that we had a year ago, we just got it back, so it all worked out really well. 

Weekly Highlight:

I can honestly say that the highlight of my week, and what I've been looking forward to has been having today off of work to go get my tooth fixed! Isn't that ridiculous! I am a little annoyed that it's going to cost somewhere around $1500, but I just can't wait to be done with this dumb pain.

24 Week Bump

 Rose got put in the stroller box, she didn't like it much

 I'm so curious to see what this baby will look like. I'm the one on the left and Ben is the chubby one on the right, I hope the baby takes after him...hehe

21 Week Update!

Size:

Our carrot is measuring about 10.5 inches from head to toe and is weighing about 13oz. The eyebrows are also beginning to form! I think this little gaffer had quite the growth spurt this week, I feel like I've exploded in these last few days. I'm still managing to squeeze into my original work pants but I'm quite certain that I have VERY few days left in those pants. So amazing!

Pregnancy Symptoms:

The growth is still good and constant. This week has definitely been more eventful as far as symptoms go than the last. Thursday evening, so at 20+4 weeks I felt movement for the first time! I was in a massage working on a clients neck and all of a sudden I literally felt like my stomach flipped, right below my belly button. Ever since I have been feeling little flips and twitches, it's the best feeling in the world.

Also, you may remember last week my mentioning that I had pulled my groin, well, I should have knob better and have realized that it's my round ligaments stretching. I had thought that it was too early but apparently not. I have been walking to work and they say that walking can really get the ligaments to start stretching.

Life Happenings:

This week just flew by! Once again I worked all week, but still had some good fun. Tonight we went to a joint birthday party at some friends house. The party was for 6 of our friends as well as Ben. Ben's birthday is coming up on Friday, yay!

Weekly Highlight:

Definitely getting to meet my friend Allison's new baby girl, Norah. She was only a week old, and SOOO little. Newborns are so amazing, they sure don't stay that small for long.

Here is a picture of m 21 week bump.

The Good Report.

So I've decided to try a little series here on the blog. I'm only going to commit to 4 weeks, we'll see if it catches on. Ben always likes to call me a pessimist, I on the other hand like to refer to myself as a realist. I think being a realist there is a tendency to focus on the negative and I do see Ben's point, so for the next 4 Fridays I'm going to try to compile a list of all the things in my life worth being happy about.

The Good Report:

• I am really grateful for a job, one that keeps me really busy.
• I've been sleeping much better this last week than I had been before.
• I've finally gotten used to decaf coffee.
• Very rarely do I want to kill Rose. (it used to be quite often...)
• I've had to walk to work lately, and it always ends up being the best 40 minutes of my day.
• Ben is always on time picking me up from work, he's so punctual!
• I know we've been living in this house for 3 months already but I'm still so incredibly happy to have FREE laundry and a backyard where we can let Rose out.
• I am loving Wednesdays and Fridays because I don't work until 3 so I have the whole mornings to myself.
• I felt the baby move for the first time last night, yay!

Well I think that is it for this week. My dad always says that the more you focus on the positive the easier it is to think of positive things, so hopefully with each week the list will get longer and longer!

20 Week Update!

Wow, I can't believe we are halfway to having our baby. Time is flying by way too fast. I can't believe I've already been pregnant for a season already, and that there are less than two more to go! I think I'll try to update weekly on this pregnancy just so that I can look back on how everything changes. I'm already feeling so big! I have a couple categories that I'll try to fill in weekly, no promises but i'm going to try, so here goes!

Size:

Our cantaloupe is measuring 14cm long and 11ounces. He or she is in the 49th percentile, so about as average as they come. The baby was also measuring two days small which is apparently just excellent! I know all this because we had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday. It was so neat to see the babe suck on their little fingers and squirm around. The legs were tightly crossed right over top of 'the goods' so finding out the gender is out of the picture. I think we're ok with that. It will make it all the more exciting on the day of the birth!

Pregnancy Symptoms:

I don't really have any symptoms besides growing... still no movement, I'm sure it will be soon. I may have pulled an adductor (my groin) so walking around is slightly painful but that's not really pregnancy related.

Life Happenings:

Life has been busy but not overly interesting as of late. I'm working 6 days a week so pretty much any free time I have I'm either sleeping, eating, cleaning or enjoying some rare but quality time with friends.

Weekly Highlight:

Ben's basketball team, Victorious Secret just played in the finals for their division and WON!!!!! I am so proud of them! Ben scored three 3 point shots as well as some 2 point shots, he was ON FIRE! Next year they will be moving up 2 divisions and I can't wait to bring our little baby to all the games! Watching their games has definitely been a highlight of mine these last 4 months.

Here I am at 20 weeks feeling pretty large already

The team had an amazing fan turnout. Pretty impressive that the bleachers were packed for the

F division final!

It's about that time...

Well, I guess it's time to make an announcement! Ben and I will be welcoming a little human being into our lives sometime in early August! It's quite the shock and I can't say it's something I'm totally ready for, but I'm sure we'll adjust as things happen.

Here is the first belly picture, taken at 18 weeks

19 weeks

And the beautiful profile of our perfect little babe at 19+5weeks

I can't believe we're halfway to having a little baby with us. The last 4 1/2 months have gone by faster than ever and I can only imagine the next 4 1/2 will go by just as fast.

And here is a lovely shot of our current baby!