35-week update

How far along: 35 weeks – if I go into labor now, the OB won’t try to stop it, and there’s a 99% chance baby girl will do well!

Meds: all taken daily – prenatal vitamins, vitamin D, DHA, probiotic, Levothyroxine 100 mcg

Gestational diabetes: I’ve had some high numbers after lunch, even though I ate about the same as before, so I had to really cut back on carbs then. Salad with protein seems to be the way to go. The MFM specialist was overall very happy with how my numbers are doing, so it looks like I’m still off insulin for now!

Baby is the size of: a honeydew – 5 lb 11 oz by the MFM’s measurements today!

Belly pictures: Rare full-length pictures, with a dress from my favorite line – so glad it works well for maternity too! And amazed I didn’t have to have it hemmed – usually I have to for maxi’s. If I could live in this dress the rest of this pregnancy, I would – it’s that comfortable.

Total weight gain: No change from last week, currently 17.8 lbs up from pre-fertility treatment.

Stretch marks: None.

Sleep: Still only sleeping consistently 5-6 hours a night – hopefully I will get more when I’m not up late trying to catch up on work. Just have to make it through next Friday!

Symptoms/Feeling: Definitely feeling more tired earlier on in the day at work. The constipation is getting worse, despite my all-day intake of water and chia seeds. I try to tell myself it’s the closest thing to practice I can get for delivery.

Best moment of this week: Definitely the sight of her cute nose and lips from below just now!

Then followed by seeing a couple previews from our maternity photo shoot over the weekend – any doubts I had about splurging on this no longer exist, especially since she was so affordable! The photographer did an amazing job, and once she edits and processes them in a couple weeks, I’ll post the ones that keep us anonymous 🙂

Miss anything: Time and bread. I have been really craving it lately 😦

Movement: Yes, serious alien action going on around here throughout the day.

Food cravings: I want breeeeeeaaaad. And caaaaaake. And cooooookies. Lol.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing these days, thank goodness.

Labor signs: A few Braxton-Hicks.

Belly button in or out:  It looks like a very short volcano – outer skin is pooched out but the indentation is definitely still there.

Wedding rings on or off: On and loose, crazily enough.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy mostly, but I think I will be much happier once I’m done with work. At least we’re just about done interviewing for the open position and have picked somebody to make an offer to. I have my last 12-hour day tomorrow, and a 10-hour day Monday. Those will be the toughest to get through.

I’m stressing a little bit about finances, since I realized I will have more unpaid days thanks to very little sick leave left after time off for IUI’s and IVF last year. We should be fine, I just have to be extra careful about spending, especially with our largest estimated tax payment coming up in June. Unfortunately I just got word that my car brakes are on the low side, and I definitely don’t want to have to worry about that after baby girl arrives, so there goes $700.

Purchases/preparations for baby: Hubby has stuffed most everything baby-related into the future nursery, but we still need to clear out the closet and bookshelves to get everything put away. I have a baby shower at work next week, after which I plan to make all the final purchases for things we really need. Need to test out the car seat on the Baby Jogger City Mini to see if it’s easy enough to avoid buying a snap & go – I’d rather not spend that money if I can help it.

Looking forward to: A lot happening this weekend – Baby 101 class (I felt silly signing up for myself but really want hubby to go through it and of course will join him in solidarity), friend’s bridal shower, kid’s consignment store tent sale, SUP yoga class, and brunch with some girlfriends. And I wonder why I’m so behind on work and laundry…

30-week update

How far along: 30 weeks – 75% there!

Meds: all taken daily – prenatal vitamins, vitamin D, DHA, probiotic, Levothyroxine 100 mcg

Gestational diabetes: Had a couple high post-lunch sugars, but all the others have been fine. I’ve learned I definitely can’t eat fruit yogurt as my morning snack – only later in the day can I seem to tolerate it.

Baby is the size of: a large cabbage

Belly pictures: Funny how before pregnancy, I didn’t like stripes, and now they’re on a bunch of my maternity clothes!

Total weight gain: Up 0.2 lbs from last week, so an even 16 lbs higher than my pre-fertility treatment weight.

Stretch marks: No signs yet!

Sleep: Better since I flipped the Snoogle around to support my expanding belly more.

Symptoms/Feeling: Still really good, going to enjoy it while I can, since I know the last month will be a rough one!

Best moment of this week: Scoring some really great deals on ThredUp, eBay, and Craigslist for myself and the baby 🙂

Miss anything: Still time – notice how late I’m writing this post! And I still have gifts to wrap after a 12-hour workday tomorrow

Movement: She’s definitely getting stronger in there – I can easily see her thumps and kicks through my clothes now! Started doing the forward-leaning inversion from Spinning Babies to see if that helps her move out of breech – I just need to remember to do it more often.

Food cravings: I’ve had my fill of ice cream as bedtime snack for a while, so I bought a plain cheesecake from Trader Joe’s, and plan to eat slices of that at night with some strawberries and crushed Brazil nuts!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Thankfully no, since I’m basically avoiding poultry now, lol!

Labor signs: Just the rare Braxton-Hicks.

Belly button in or out:  Some of the skin is definitely pooching out a bit, especially at the end of the day when I’m more bloated, but it’s still definitely an innie.

Wedding rings on or off: On and loose for now…

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy, trying to enjoy all the moments while I can, but at the same time a little panicked at only having another 10 weeks or less to go!

Purchases/preparations for baby: My sister forwarded my registry info to my parents, thinking they might want to purchase us one of the larger items like the crib. However, they took one look at the Ikea Gulliver, and proclaimed it too “cheap-looking”. Sigh… They sent me a link to a Graco crib, which we were pretty meh on the look – too classic-appearing for us. So I sent them links to a couple of the Baby Mod cribs, and lo and behold, we have this two-tone Modena arriving next week! Hubby’s actually not crazy about the two-tone, but I love it, and think it’ll tie in the rest of the furniture in the room that’s white and wood.

I also scored a barely-used Joovy Zoom 360 jogging stroller off Craigslist today for just 60% of the retail price! We’re all set for strollers now, since I got a Baby Jogger City Mini at a big consignment sale in the fall 🙂

Looking forward to: Whoa, my first baby shower is happening this Sunday – that totally snuck up on me! And my sister arrives in town next Wednesday, and she’ll be hosting another shower for me that following Sunday. We’re attending a friend’s baby shower and another friend’s wedding this Saturday. These next several weekends are kind of nuts!

29-week update

How far along: 29 weeks

Meds: all taken daily – prenatal vitamins, vitamin D, DHA, probiotic, Levothyroxine 100 mcg

Gestational diabetes: Sugars have been nice and stable the times I check – I’m currently just checking a first-morning fasting every other day, then 1 hour after either breakfast, lunch, or dinner on the other days, so it’s possible I could be missing some highs. But I will believe in my diet and willpower! I made this delicious lentil vegetable soup with bacon Sunday night, and that made it easier to have something ready to go when I came home for dinner. We’re expecting our first delivery of Hello Fresh today (if you’re interested, you can use my referral code 6KPDSS to receive $40 off your first delivery), since I didn’t like the options for Gobble this week (and Gobble only delivers to CA and NV at this time).

Baby is the size of: a butternut squash

Belly pictures: We’re experiencing a heat wave! Which makes me happy to finally wear my warm-weather maternity clothes 🙂 Another lovely find from Target.

Total weight gain: Crazily enough, no change from last week, so still almost 16 pounds up from pre-fertility weight. She’s definitely growing based on the increased strength of kicks I’m feeling. I think I gained too quickly prior to the GD diagnosis, and I’m now evening out more to where I should be (my mom gained just over 20 pounds with me and my sister).

Stretch marks: Still nothing, and very thankful!

Sleep: Had my first bad night’s sleep in a long time last night, getting up 4 times to pee. I think I’m going to have to give up my occasional green milk tea as bedtime snack The caffeine seems to affect me more now. Will need to find myself a nice vanilla rooibos to drink instead.

Symptoms/Feeling: Hips still hurt occasionally, but I continue to exercise a lot, and I think this has a lot to do with how I feel and look. People keep marveling that I have no swelling whatsoever. I think every woman is different with every pregnancy, but I’m sure the GD diet contributes to me feeling this great!

Best moment of this week: Enjoyed a gorgeous Saturday morning stand-up paddling, then in the afternoon I PR’d my one-rep max barbell deadlift at 180 lbs, completely smashing my prior record! I probably could have gone up another 10 lbs, but both hubby and I agreed my form broke a bit at 180, and I’m not willing to push myself to injury. But I do feel like 200 lbs is a distinct possibility in the next month or so. Crazy!

Miss anything: As always – time. We originally planned our big Ikea trip for this weekend, but looking ahead, hubby and I don’t really have the time for crib and shelf assembly for a while, so why bother adding more craziness to the clutter? Going to wait another month or so.

Movement: Definitely stronger movements in there, I just hope that includes turning herself around from breech! I’m starting to look into Spinning Babies a bit in the hopes that it helps, though my next visit/ultrasound won’t be for another 5 weeks.

Food cravings: I indulged in a piece of zucchini bread for my morning snack, hopefully that holds me over on sweets for a while. I’m hoping to find time to make these chocolate peanut butter energy bites soon, using stevia as a sweetener.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Getting a bit of heartburn in the evenings, but no nausea at least!

Labor signs: Just the rare Braxton-Hicks.

Belly button in or out:  It’s definitely still an innie, but it looks like it has a hood now, lol.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on and loose. We’ll see how long this lasts as it continues to heat up!

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy with a little bit of time-crunch anxiety mixed in. There’s a lot that needs to be done in the next few months, including for my job and keeping up with certifications and license renewals. Not to mention taxes and drawing up a will!

Purchases/preparations for baby: We finally sat down together Sunday to view the online Lamaze class. While it was helpful in suggestions for different positions, I’m glad we didn’t fork over more money for a full childbirth prep class. My husband already found it too “granola”, with its constant admonitions about making sure your OB wasn’t pushing you towards more unnecessary procedures. I had to laugh, knowing that classes on Bradley method and Hypnobirthing are much more into natural birth than Lamaze! My current plan is to try laboring naturally, but knowing that I will request an epidural when I can’t take it anymore. Of course, this is all only if baby girl will turn in the next several weeks!

I also took a great breastfeeding preparation class last night. In my profession, I’ve encountered many lactation counselors, many of whom I consider to be breastfeeding Nazi’s. Like the baby will have lost 13% of their birth weight and need to be admitted for jaundice and dehydration, and they still tell the mom that they don’t need to supplement like what the doctors are recommending! Seriously… So it was a pleasant surprise to meet one who is much more even-keel, and all about making sure that both mom and baby are healthy and supported, no matter how much breastmilk and/or formula baby receives. I definitely picked up some good tips that I can use not only for myself, but in my practice as well! After talking with her, I finally forked over money for a little-known breast pump that’s been getting more press lately. I was lucky enough to find somebody on Amazon that was selling it brand new after she won it in a raffle at a nursing conference! I really do feel like my biggest hurdle in the first year of life will be trying to pump after I return to work, so I decided the extra money was worth spending to try and reach my goal.

Looking forward to: Sunday will be lovely – SUP yoga in the morning, followed by brunch with good girlfriends, and then a massage 🙂

28-week update

How far along: 28 weeks – holy crap, less than 3 months to go!

Meds: all taken daily – prenatal vitamins, vitamin D, DHA, probiotic, Levothyroxine 100 mcg

Gestational diabetes: Had a high blood sugar after unwittingly over-eating at a restaurant, but otherwise my numbers have been nice and on target. And I still get to indulge in a small scoop of ice cream before bed, or sometimes a milk tea. Hurray!

Baby is the size of: an iceberg lettuce

Belly pictures:

Total weight gain: Down 1.2 pounds from last week, and almost 16 pounds up from pre-fertility weight. Bump and baby seem to be growing fine, but think I need to carefully increase my calories on my more active days.

Stretch marks: Nothing that I can see, and my massage therapist confirmed I have nothing on my back. Hoping I’m lucky and it stays this way!

Sleep: Strangely lately I’ve been feeling fine after only 6 hours of sleep. May need to experiment with sleeping upright in the glider, to see if I can stay asleep for longer. At least I don’t feel tired during the day.

Symptoms/Feeling: Still feeling good overall, I feel very lucky so far! The sore hips are annoying, but I can live with them, and have figured out how to position myself better when I sleep to minimize the ache. In fact, I’ve been feeling so good, that when weightlifting this past weekend, I actually came very close to my previous PR on deadlifts! So my goal this weekend is to set a new PR, and capture it on video 🙂 I was sore as heck the following few days, but recovered fine despite not being able to take Ibuprofen or use Salonpas.

Best moment of this week: Always great to see baby girl on ultrasound with hubby at our appointment this morning. As usual, she was kicking and moving a ton in response to the probe. You could see her actually holding the umbilical cord while covering her face with her hands – yeah, pretty glad I decided not to get a 3D ultrasound, she is just not that cooperative in there!

Miss anything: Indulging in chocolate throughout the day. And if only time could stand still just long enough for me to get some serious de-cluttering and nesting done around here.

Movement: Crazy active in there, and I have to admit, I’m not doing formal kick counts because she kicks and moves so much throughout the day, I figure I should be fine.

Food cravings: I’ve consumed 4 eggs today. Normally I eat half of this healthy pancake recipe for a snack (bananas have a lot of sugar), but since I was home this morning, I indulged in the full recipe for lunch. Yummy!

Easy flour-less protein-packed pancakes: Blend 2 eggs, 1 banana, 1 Tbsp natural no-sugar-added peanut butter, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and pinch of salt (I use a Vitamix, a food processor should work fine). Pour silver dollars onto a greased skillet/griddle on low heat. Add pinch of chia seeds prior to flipping and finish cooking.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope, and very thankful!

Labor signs: Just the rare Braxton-Hicks.

Belly button in or out:  It’s smaller, but still an innie.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on and loose.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy for sure – staying active definitely helps me feel good!

Purchases for baby: Picked up the glider! More gifts have been arriving on our doorstep – thus the serious need for de-cluttering, especially with the first of 3 baby showers taking place in just over 2 weeks!

Looking forward to: Stand-up paddling this Saturday – SUP yoga starts up again Sunday but I have to work. Will definitely be taking class the following weekend if this weather holds! We also have a breastfeeding class next Wednesday. I feel like hubby probably doesn’t need to attend, but at the same time, I expect breastfeeding to be the toughest part of the first few months, and any extra support I can get from him would be great.

27-week update

How far along: 27 weeks – OMG, how is it the 3rd trimester already?!

Meds: all taken daily – prenatal vitamins, vitamin D, DHA, probiotic, Levothyroxine 100 mcg

Gestational diabetes: I survived the wedding and birthday party without too much trouble! And yes, a slice of delicious marble wedding cake was my bedtime snack that night – with an awesome fasting sugar the next morning 🙂 It’s nice not having to poke myself 4 times a day, but tougher to remember when I should be checking. I seem to have developed a good routine for the work week, and will hopefully add more variety after the gestational diabetes nutrition talk I attended at a local motherhood center.

Baby is the size of: a cabbage

Belly pictures: Seriously, Old Navy maternity dresses are the best!

Total weight gain: Up 0.4 pounds from last week, so now an even 17 pounds up from pre-fertility weight. Much more on target than when I weighed this much over a month ago!

Stretch marks: Still none I can see! But my linea nigra that had previously stayed below the belly button seems to be making a thin winding-road appearance above!

Sleep: Mostly good – I stay on my left side without a problem for at least 5 hours, but then my hips start to ache and I flip to my right, only to realize baby girl tends to push up into my ribs more when I lay that way. So back to my left – think I’ll reposition the Snoogle so that it supports my belly more, and hopefully that helps.

Symptoms/Feeling: The occasional sore hips and round ligament pains, but really, I feel pretty darn good! We’ll see how things go as this trimester progresses.

Best moment of this week: Hard to say – it was a whirlwind weekend. It was nice to enjoy some pampering, and get my nails and hair done before the fancy black-tie wedding Saturday. Then the next day I attended my aerial studio’s closing/teacher’s birthday party, and danced one last time in that space. Very bittersweet, but so amazing to feel loved and inspire the other women there. Afterwards, my friends took some fun pictures of me handstanding against the wall, climbing, and holding various upright aerial poses. If I can figure out how to convert them to silhouette images, maybe I’ll post on here some time. A friend suggested I even hang one in the nursery, haha.

Miss anything: Whoa, 3 months to go, and still 2 months of work left, along with weekends packed with various social obligations, and of course baby and lactation prep classes. Not sure exactly when we’re going to be able to clean and set up the nursery??

Movement: Still her most active at 9pm. Oops, guess I should’ve started kick counts tonight.

Food cravings: Chocolate… I miss you so much! 😦

Anything making you queasy or sick: Thankfully no!

Labor signs: The occasional Braxton-Hicks.

Belly button in or out:  The forever innie, it seems.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on and loose.

Happy or moody most of the time: Pretty happy this week!

Purchases for baby: We’d been meaning to replace the decades-old small chest freezer in our garage, and I finally purchased a bigger upright version from Sears, to prepare for more storage we’ll need for breastmilk and ready-to-cook meals for us. Oh, and I highly recommend The New Mama Guide for all the expecting moms! It’s an inexpensive, short read that was written by a friend’s friend. I took advantage of the free Kindle release when it first came out, then my friend actually sent me the print version. Seems to have some useful tips for that 6-weeks postpartum zombie phase!

Looking forward to: Somehow I ended up with both a massage and a float session scheduled for Sunday – sounds like a great day to me! 🙂

26-week update

How far along: 26 weeks

Meds: all taken daily – prenatal vitamins, vitamin D, DHA, probiotic, Levothyroxine 100 mcg

Gestational diabetes: I saw the maternal-fetal-medicine specialist today for a more detailed ultrasound and counseling. Baby girl looked great and is measuring just a few days behind, which is appropriate for being Asian 🙂 He praised me for my good blood pressure and weight, and on-target blood sugars when following the diet. I can now check my sugars just once a day, though my breakfast and dinner numbers today were a tad high, so I’ll likely keep checking those the next couple days to make sure they don’t stay that way. I’m getting close to cutting out all carbs at breakfast soon – numbers are borderline. It’ll get tougher to control as the placenta grows and pumps out more hormones, so I do anticipate starting insulin at some point.

Baby is the size of: an eggplant (and approximately 1 lb 13 oz by ultrasound today)

Belly pictures: Another pre-maternity outfit – though before pregnancy, I would’ve gone without leggings, this is more tunic than dress now 🙂

Total weight gain: Down 0.2 pounds from last week, thanks to the GD diet, so still almost 17 pounds up from pre-fertility weight.

Stretch marks: None that I can see!

Sleep: Still pretty good, sometimes I wake up around 5am to pee, but I’m able to get back to sleep easily.

Symptoms/Feeling: Still really good, I occasionally get some round ligament pains, but they aren’t bad and don’t last long. Constipation is better (again – GD diet), I get heartburn rarely.

Best moment of this week: The MFM specialist had fun checking out everything on baby girl, including really detailed looks at her heart – he said it was easy to see since I’m thin. Then he took my favorite ultrasound image of baby girl yet – here she is covering her eyes and pouting! Hard to say whose nose she has, but I think she has daddy’s fuller lips.

Miss anything: As always, time! Everybody keeps saying to sleep as much as I can, but I feel like there’s so much to prepare before she comes along. I do get 7-8 hours a night pretty consistently at least.

Movement: She’s as active as ever, and I felt and saw her hiccup at the same time today on ultrasound – pretty funny! She’s breech right now, so those are definitely kicks I’m feeling in my lower right side a lot of the time.

Food cravings: Thankful for being able to fulfill my ice cream and milk tea cravings at bedtime, since the rest of my day’s consumption gets pretty boring.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope, been feeling good in this respect!

Labor signs: A few Braxton-Hicks here and there.

Belly button in or out:  Still solidly in there. I’m guessing it’ll flatten by late 3rd trimester.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on and loose.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy but occasionally hungry. Having to hold myself back when going out to eat definitely makes me grumpy. We have a wedding Saturday, and will be interesting to see how I’ll figure out portions then.

Purchases for baby: I’d bought a ceiling fan to install in the future nursery last month, since it gets very hot in there during the summer, even with air conditioning. The electricians installed it today, having to run a new power source to it since there was nothing in the ceiling before, and that makes it by far our most expensive purchase!

Looking forward to: Wedding and a birthday this weekend, though I have to really watch what I eat!

Awesome day, and blood sugar success!!

Today was a great day all around! Spent a gorgeous morning stand-up paddling with a friend. I’m not as efficient since I can’t twist as much as before pregnancy, but balance was no issue and I still felt pretty strong. I wasn’t planning on leaving the safety of the harbor, but when I saw how calm it was outside, decided to try heading out. I went to my knees through the wave break, then hopped on up, and felt great! Stable enough to paddle out far enough to visit the sea lions at their buoy. A woman who paddled towards us called out to me about how great it was that I was out there – up until that point, I hadn’t really thought about how much I’m showing right now, especially since baby girl had been lulled to sleep by the wave action. We also spent a good amount of time leisurely sitting and paddling, and catching up. It felt amazing to get out there after 4 months away, and I can’t wait until my next chance! I still had enough energy for a kettlebell workout in the afternoon while hubby and his friends did their regular weightlifting workout.

And another big reason to smile today, my first day of all great blood sugars!

• Fasting of 72 after my small scoop of ice cream with Brazil nuts last night.
• 102 an hour after breakfast – chicken, spinach, and bell peppers with 1 Tbsp Greek yogurt (great substitute for sour cream!) wrapped in a multigrain tortilla.
• Orange and hard-boiled egg for morning snack before paddling. Afterwards I ate lunch of Vietnamese shaking beef, watercress salad, and garlic noodles (leftovers from Valentine’s dinner I cooked). Blood sugar 100 an hour later.
• Half of this recipe for 2-ingredient pancakes (2 eggs + 1 banana) for afternoon snack after kettlebell workout. Then we went out to dinner with a friend at a place known for their Chinese soup dumplings. I was really nervous about this, but ate only 7 dumplings (as opposed to my usual 15+), 1 slice of green onion pancake, a spare rib (after blotting off lots of glaze), and lots of asparagus and mushrooms. And an hour later, blood sugar of 102 🙂
• Tonight instead of ice cream, my bedtime treat is a green tea latte (Taiwanese style). Yay!

So now I know my approximate carb tolerance – <20 g for breakfast, <45 g for morning snack and lunch, <45 g for afternoon snack and dinner, and <30 g for bedtime snack. This is pretty low, but on previous days when I’ve gone a little higher, my sugars went out of range. Today showed I definitely have more room to go up on carbs when I exercise vigorously (not just relaxation or prenatal yoga). It feels great to finally be getting the hang of things!

Frustration

I had such high hopes this morning! I know I need to give myself some more time to figure out what works for me. After all, I’ve only been checking my blood sugars for 4 days, but I’m still frustrated after 2 high numbers this PM.

• After the prescribed small scoop of ice cream with some crushed Brazil nuts before bed last night, I tested this morning and had a great fasting sugar of 82.
• Whipped up a breakfast wrap using a multigrain tortilla, one fried egg, a slice of turkey bacon, and some wilted spinach, and had my best after-breakfast sugar ever of 114!
• Morning snack of an apple with peanut butter and 3 Triscuits. Then lunch of 3 oz chicken, 1/2 cup oatmeal cooked in 1 cup almond milk with flaxseed, and a half a large tomato. My blood sugar after was 153 😦
• Afternoon snack of an orange and a hard-boiled egg. At dinner, I ate 3 oz baked salmon with spinach, a multigrain English muffin with mashed avocado, and a cup of lactose-free milk. Afterwards blood sugar was 142, and this was after a 20-minute brisk walk with the dogs!

Yogurt and cheese have been OK for me the last few days, but I’m beginning to think plain old milk and almond milk just aren’t going to do it for me. So I’ll have to take a calcium supplement to make sure I get enough. Oatmeal is out for me since I can’t stand it just cooked in water. All right, tomorrow is a new day, and at least I get to eat ice cream before I go to bed tonight!

25-week update

How far along: 25 weeks

Meds: all taken daily – prenatal vitamins, vitamin D, DHA, probiotic, Levothyroxine 100 mcg

Gestational diabetes: I had my “class” today, which was short since it was just a private session and I’d already done so much homework. I definitely don’t need insulin right now, but she predicted I may in the last month as the placenta grows and pumps out increasing hormones. She did give me some stricter blood sugar numbers than I’d read online – 60-89 for fasting, and 60-130 for 1 hour after meals. Based on these targets, my issue is the mornings – I’ve had one high fasting number in the last 3 days, and my after-breakfast numbers are consistently high. So as healthy as it is, no more oatmeal for breakfast – but I can eat it for lunch, ha! I need to limit carbs in the morning to just 20 g, and then 30 g at each meal and snack the rest of the day. Funniest thing she instructed me to do was eat ice cream as my bedtime snack – this helps to balance out insulin and glucagon activity overnight while not eating for so long, so that my sugar in the morning is nice and low. Crazy, right?? But so happy the ice cream in our freezer won’t go to waste!

Baby is the size of: a zucchini

Belly pictures: Still my favorite maternity dress!

Total weight gain: Stayed the same as last week, almost 17 pounds up from pre-fertility weight. Will be interesting to see if my weight gain slows on my GD diet.

Stretch marks: Still nope!

Sleep: Really good, though I keep waking up 15 minutes before my alarm. Probably a good thing.

Symptoms/Feeling: Really good, some aches and pains but they seem to be more from working out than from pregnancy!

Best moment of this week: Squeezed in some much needed girl time at my aerial studio, which is sadly closing in under 2 weeks. I can still do a headstand, and climb to the 14′ ceiling! I’ll be going again for the last class ever next weekend, and my teacher and classmates want to take pictures of me – going to be tough to find something photo-worthy that I can still wear but it would be pretty cool to show my daughter one day 🙂

Miss anything: Holy crap, where is the time flying?? Hoping to get the hang of my new diet soon, since right now it consumes a lot of my time to plan, eat at the right times, and check blood sugars.

Movement: Still kicks and thumps all over the place, I can’t tell the difference so can’t figure out how she’s laying in there yet.

Food cravings: Let’s not talk too much about this, given my new diet. Though thankfully, I discovered I can have a milk tea as my bedtime snack and have a good fasting sugar in the morning! 🙂

Anything making you queasy or sick: Strong odors, but actually nothing crazy this week.

Labor signs: A few Braxton-Hicks.

Belly button in or out:  About a 1/2 fingernail deep, lol.

Wedding rings on or off: Still on and loose.

Happy or moody most of the time: Definitely a moodier week with the gestational diabetes diagnosis, but I feel grateful that I should be able to keep it under control with diet and exercise.

Purchases for baby: Still holding steady, I think we will go pick up the already-purchased glider by the end of the month. First I REALLY need to get our bedroom cleaned out though.

Looking forward to: Yet another peek at baby girl at my MFM specialist appointment next week. I’ll be in for many more ultrasounds now, to monitor her growth closely.

My tools for dealing with gestational diabetes

So after one episode of hysterical crying to my sister after getting my abnormal glucose challenge result, I did what I always do when faced with a tough situation – researched the hell out of it. Armed with a shopping list, I stocked up at the grocery store yesterday, then came home and proceeded to work on a meal plan for the week. This is a snapshot of the Google doc spreadsheet I’ve created:

So the basic goal is to distribute my carbs evenly throughout the day, and balance them out with protein most of the time. Even light walking after each meal is supposed to help bring blood sugars down, so I’m trying to time meals and snacks before my existing walks and work-out sessions. I based my meal structures off this pamphlet from a medical group, though I tweaked the carb amounts because their framework allowed for quite a lot of carbs, which I don’t think I need.

I’ll learn more when I have my first GD teaching appointment this Thursday, and see what the NP recommends specifically for me. Technically, I should be attending a class with other newly diagnosed diabetics on Wednesday, but there is no way I can get out of clinic that day. Fortunately the NP in charge of the GD program also happens to be the same NP who performed 2 of my IUIs! She was able to squeeze me in Thursday afternoon for a private session. I will also see the maternal-fetal medicine specialist next week for a consult and I assume a level 2 ultrasound.

I picked up my glucose meter at lunch today, and was pretty impressed. I don’t think I’ve handled a glucose meter personally since I was in residency, and they have come a long way! Mine can download to a computer, which makes it easy for providers to quickly check my blood sugars, and it also picks up on patterns without using a computer. I had to charge it and calibrate it using the control solution while I was at work, so I didn’t test for the first time until after dinner tonight. Which came back at only 88! Huh… We’ll see how the next few days look, and I also have fasting labs tomorrow to check a glucose and hemoglobin A1c. The NP said that if my fasting glucose is >92, she wants to start me on long-acting insulin at bedtime. And here I thought I was done with subcutaneous injections! We shall see…