31 Weeks

I am 31 weeks and 3 days pregnant now! My how the time flies! I am counting down the weeks in single digits now! It is so hard to believe. When Mr Lucky Bud took my photo for this week, I almost didn't believe that was me!

We are still just in project mode right now to get ready for the baby.
Baby Lucky Bud has continued to sleep through the night now that he does not have a bottle in his bed, so I decided to move Little Lucky Bud into that room since they will be sharing once the baby is born(the baby will sleep in our room for a while, but we will have a few visiters from Seattle in the early months so I want that room free. Plus I want to start making it look like a girls room!). I couldn't believe how easy of a transition it was. Little Lucky Bud is so good, and it doesn't bother him if Baby Lucky cries a few minutes, and they have both slept in the same room great for about a week! I feel so accomplished. There are all of these things that I have stressed out about and dreaded doing, and then it all turns out great!
We also painted our baby girls bedroom, I put together her crib and dresser and Mr Lucky Bud extended the backyard patio with paver stones and laid about 15 rolls of sod to fill in some old garden patches and dead grassy areas. It has been a busy week. I felt so accomplished! I am not one of those people that you could drop in on anytime, and my house would be clean, so the thought of going into labor, and the midwives coming over to a messy house and not having the house clean when the baby arrives, totally stresses me out. That is why I am going crazy with all of these projects, and trying to get the house in order, hopefully before my 36 week house visit by our midwives.

Little Lucky Bud turns 3 tomorrow and we had his birthday party today. We had an egg hunt, flew kites then had a BBQ with some friends and family. It was a great day, but my feet hurt soooo bad! If I stand more than 2 hours lately I feel like standing on my tippy toes because my heels and arches get so sore.

I also have gone back to throwing up every now and then, but at least I am never nauseated which is much worse. These days it is because of heartburn, or because the texture of a food will gross me out for whatever reason. Last night I made homemade nachos with refried beans, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, etc. On one of my last bites I took note that it was very creamy. I almost instantly threw up. Little Lucky Bud stood next to me rubbing my leg saying, "Oh sweetheart! Are you okay honey?" It was so sweet.

This week according to babycenter.com our baby is about 3.3 lbs and over 16 inches long! They also say she is going through a growth spurt, which would make sense because I have been extra hungry lately. I am still enjoying my yoga classes and have a few more Bradley Childbirth Education classes to go. I love my Bradley class because it is one of the few times that Mr. Lucky Bud and I get to spend time together without a million things going on. 

This part of pregnancy has been really fun for me. I feel pretty good over all and am officially looking like a pregnant lady!
I finally took a picture! I posted a comparison picture too. What a difference 10 weeks makes!

21 Weeks

31 weeks, 3 days

Plugging Along

How far along: 31 weeks and 6 days. Just over 8 weeks to go! So crazy to think that we're less than 2 months out from the due date!

Total weight change: Going by the doctors scale at my 30 week appointment, +23.

Maternity clothes: All.the.time.

Stretch Marks: No new ones.

Movement: He's been a wriggler this week. There was one night I felt a distinct flip from transverse to vertical (no idea which end is up..thinking head down). That brought on a pronounced movement change, namely that I can feel things more. In the last day or so the locations of the movements have changed again. I'm starting to suspect he might be back to transverse. *sigh* Oh & I got my first rib kick this week as well. OUCH!

Sleep: Typically up 3-4 times a night for the bathroom. Otherwise alright, I guess. The wrist braces seem to be helping with the carpal tunnel pain at night.

Best Moment This Past Week: The increased movement.

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: Pelvic pain. With the change in position and his growing my pelvis, particularly my right hip, has been pretty achy. I've also had some cervical pressure that is sometimes painful.

Belly Button In or Out: Still an inny.

Cravings/Aversions: I'm liking peanut butter again this week.

Symptoms: Tingly fingers, particularly on my right hand. Bloat, including the infamous cankles. Hip pain and presumed cervical pressure.

2 Months to Go!

Today marks another milestone...two months until Baby Magnolia Bud is due to arrive! I'm 31 weeks, 1 day today. Now, I know that most babies don't arrive on their due date, and most are actually late--with more than 50% of babies arriving after their due dates in most of the studies I've read. So really, while I could theoretically deliver this baby full term anytime between 6 and 11 weeks from now, I'm glad to know I have a greater than 50% chance that it will be between 9 and 11 weeks from now.

So far, we've made a lot of progress on our to-do lists. We've painted the nursery, the nursery furniture has been delivered, picked up some baby gear (much of it from friends and family--through gifts and hand-me-downs), almost finished painting our second floor, made space for baby's feeding supplies in the kitchen, finished our birth classes, partially written our birth plan, and chosen a boy name (we're down to two possibilities for girl names).

It seems like we've gotten a lot done, but we still need to finish the nursery decor, prep our cloth diapers, install the co-sleeper, pack my birth center bag, finish our birth plan, take a breastfeeding class, buy the stroller and breast pump (provided we don't get them at our upcoming showers), and finish painting the second floor. I'm so happy that list is shrinking as the weeks go by!

Lots to think about in the next two months...but I'm finally feeling like everything will get done!

Lots of Love,
Magnolia Bud

31-32 weeks - our little squash!

OMG, as usual I can't believe how quickly time is flying & how close we are to meeting our little miracle in person! We have been hard at work knocking out some of the major things on the Baby Worry Bud to do list I made up, which is quite extensive, lol. I am super DUPER excited about everything coming up over the next couple of weeks - this week we have our maternity hospital tour on Thursday & our Baby WB shower #1 is this Saturday in Mr. WB's hometown (being hosted by my MIL)! I am so excited! We spoke to his mom the other day & she told us about 20 people should be there - probably some we (or at least I) don't even know, but it'll be so much fun opening all her cute gifts & seeing everyone! We are leaving on Saturday since I have to work on Friday (& can't really use leave right now until the babe arrives or closer to my due date), and we'll come back early Sunday!

Speaking of MR. WB's fam - we had a talk about how visiting would go when the baby arrives & he is going to ask his mom what her plans are this weekend. The problem is - we only have two bedrooms in our little townhouse - ours & the baby's. Our dog other child sleeps in our room on the floor (he has comfy bed on the floor), on Mr. WB's side of the bed. We have a futon that can convert to a full size bed in the basement, but besides that, we don't have any room for many people to stay. I also don't really want a lot of people staying over - his mom is a definite since I'm sure she'll wanna be around her only grandchild when she arrives for a few days before she has to go back home for work, but besides that...I really want us to have our family time to adjust to our new life with the baby. It'll be an adjustment for all of us - me, Mr. WB & the dog & I guess I just don't want the added stress of feeling like I have to host guests - do you know what I mean? At the same time, his family lives hours away & mine is right around the corner, so they can just come over & visit whenever. And my parents & sisters & brother will all be able to see the little one MUCH more often than his family. I can see how he  feels about that, but we live where we live & work where we work, so there's not much I can do about it. He understands, but I think he just wants me to understand as well. And I do, but that doesn't change the way I feel about a lot of people staying over our house literally RIGHT after we come home with the baby. Did/do any of you have to deal with a similar situation? How did you handle that? I want to be fair - I love him & his family & want him this to be a very happy time for us, not a stressful one. Le sigh.

In other news, my baby buying obsession has picked up again over the past couple of weeks. :o/ I couldn't help it! I just happened across lots of cute stuff @ great prices recently, so I got:

This cute little personalized pumpkin beanie (since she'll be a fall be beh) from Etsy Seller cherylengelstad.

And these...

 

A cute & very functional diaper caddy & Boppy cover from Target.They were both on my Target registry & I know it's bad to buy stuff of the registry before your shower(s), but they were both on sale for a great price (more than the discount will be for the completion of the registry) & both were online only items (thus less likely to be purchased as gifts), so I went for it!

And finally:

This cute baby sling, leg warmers & bracelet gift set from Seven Everyday Slings (the makers of Udder Covers). IDK if I'll actually use the bracelet {probably not}, but the sling & leg warmers are adorable! You can use the sling from infant to 6+ months & I got a one-time use coupon code for a FREE sling (a $39.99 value), so all I had to pay for was the difference between the sling alone & the gift set + shipping. You know I can't resist free stuff, so I went for it too!

That should be it for my buying stuff for awhile. I think her showers over the next couple of weeks will satisfy my fix for a bit, so I should be good until she arrives, minus the stuff we may still have to purchase that we need if we do not receive them as gifts.

According to The Bump, baby girl is the size of a squash & is about 3.75 lbs. & 16.7 inches. My ute is pushing up near my diaphragm & crowding my stomach, which can lead to shortness of breath & heartburn. All of that is definitely happening to me - it's not extremely unbearable, but not fun either. Baby Center says that I can help myself out with these symptoms by sleeping with pillows propped up & eating smaller meals more often, both of which I have been doing. I'm also normally pretty sore in my feet, legs, hips, sides & lower back by the end of most days & exhausted. Mr. WB is pretty good about helping me out if I need it in the evenings & gives me frequent massages whenever I need them too. Love him. At my 32 week appointment this week, we met the newest Dr. at my OB practice & I actually really like her! I'm so happy I feel comfortable with all four of them, so whoever delivers her, I'll be happy with. I surprisingly have no preference at all. The appointment was pretty routine - peed in a cup, did a weight & blood pressure check & the Dr. met with us briefly & checked the baby's heartbeat with the doppler - a healthy 144 bpm & everything else was normal too. Baby WB is in the head down position & getting plump & prepared for birth, which is just 5-8 weeks away now! She's moving away a lot still - more shifting than kicking, but she still kicks a lot too. Can't believe how close we are...and we can't wait to meet her!

And now on to my 31 & 32 week bump pics. We were originally gonna do some maternity shots this past weekend, but re-scheduled due to semi-crappy weather, so now we are waiting for two weeks since we'll be out of town this weekend. I'm actually kinda happy we are waiting two more weeks for the maternity shots - perhaps the belleh will be a little larger? It's pretty big now, but I figure a bit of a bigger belly couldn't hurt for the pics, right?!

31 weeks:

32 weeks:

I am CRAZY busy at work until late next week, but hopefully I'll have time to pop in & give some updates on our maternity tour & shower this weekend! 

31 weeks? Where did time go?

Where did the time go? How the heck did it get to be July.. almost August? How the heck did I get this big? How the heck am I going to make it? Eeek. Is this really happening?

Besides being scared I’m doing great. Well great minus the regular appointment I had with my doctor. Apparently while I was there my Blood Pressure was a little high. Not that high but something to be watched. As a good girl, and as hard as it is to do nothing and have Mr. OB do everything, I have been sitting on my butt doing nothing. I don’t know if that is what is causing my Blood Pressure to go down or if that day it was just a fluke but it is nice and low and the way I like it to be. No more scares please.

Pepper kicks all the time. She loves to kick after I eat or in the afternoons. She loves FRUIT. Seriously if I have cake or fruit in front of me, FRUIT IT IS! I love it. All kinds. I’m not partial. She also loves Corn and Peanut Butter. Not together or maybe? I also ate french fries and dipped them in my frosty from Wendy’s and her father had this look of disgust on him. Seriously it was awesome. Sweet and savory. I want some now!

She is also on top of my bladder which means every day and night I have to constantly pee. Seriously I should wear a diaper. Its getting pretty crazy. I think I pee about every 2 hours at nigh. I guess that’s getting me ready for the sleep I’m not going to get right?

I’m beginning to prepare and get ready. I need to get my hospital bag packed and hope to get everything in it and purchased this weekend. Also Pepper’s nursery is really coming along great. Pictures will be at the bottom! We still need to put the decal in the custom frame her dad made her, however since we are keeping her name a secret it wont go in there for a while. Also I'm making some wall decor for the other side of the hutch. We are also waiting for the poms to come in to hang and Worry Bud made Pepper this awesome fabric mobile we need to put up. I can't wait. Knowing all we have to do is hang up stuff makes me so happy. That really doesn't take much work or effort at ALL!

We had our first shower this weekend and it went so well! We got wonderful gifts including a pack and play and an activity mat. She is so spoiled! My next shower is this weekend and I can't wait to visit Mr. OB's hometown of Baton Rouge. If only the Tigers were playing..

31 weeks!

Pepper's Nursery

Glad we had a "not medically necessary" sonogram

Last week Mr. Hopeful bud and I showed up at our doctors office for a 3D/4D sonogram. I had to sign a waiver that said this procedure was "not medically necessary" and would not be turned into insurance. Mr. HB was excited to see our little girl again, but didn't really care if we had this sonogram or not. However, me being the over protective mother already, wanted to take every opportunity offered to see Baby Hopeful Bud before she arrived. When I first laid down, Baby HB decided it would be funny to have her umbilical cord all around her face, so we couldn't get a clear picture of her at all. So the ultrasound tech told me to walk around, drink some cold water and Mr. HB told me to do some jumping jacks. All of which I did in hopes that she would move around and we could get a clearer pictures. Well her umbilical cord moved out of the way, but it was replaced by her hands directly in front of her face. Mr. HB said she was being "stubborn like her mom." I said she is just being shy. We got a couple good pictures, even with her hands up by her face. We counted 10 fingers and 10 toes. She has the most adorable little button nose and mouth. The tech thought that it looked like she had some hair on her head. She weighed approximately 3 pounds and 1 ounce and all of her measurements were proportional. She had a heartrate of 148. All signs were pointing to the fact that she is perfect. We left with huge smiles on our faces and some adorable photos of her.

The next morning one of the nurses from the doctor's office called and said that one of the doctors reviewed Baby HB's sonogram and found fluid on her kidney so they were referring us to a Perinatal specialist for a Level 2 sonogram. My heart sank as tears swelled in my eyes. The nurse kept saying that I shouldn't be worried, that it was just a little bit of fluid, but I couldn't really comprehend what she was saying. She had already called the specialist's office and set up an appointment for us on April 15th. I thanked her and again she told me not to worry. Unfortunately instead of not worrying, I turned to Google. Big mistake!! Needless to say I was reading worst case scenarios and started having alot of questions and concerns. I called the nurse back and she called another specialist office and got our appointment moved up to April 7th (tomorrow). I have been very calm and confident this whole week and weekend leading up to tomorrow, until this evening. Now I'm getting a bit weepy. Here are a couple of the options that could be the reason for the fluid in Baby HB's kidney: 1) Best case scenario is that is is nothing and that she just forgot to pee that morning, 2) her urinary tract has not developed properly, or 3) there was a kink in her urinary tract caused by the way she was positioned that caused the fluid build up. In her past sonograms the tech has mentioned that she has a good level of amniotic fluid around her, so that is a good sign.

Our appointment is at 1:30 pm tomorrow, so many prayers will be said between now and then. Hopefully it is just a precaution and it's nothing. If the sonogram shows more fluid and the cause of it, then we will be more prepared on what to anticipate come delivery day. Either way, we get to see precious Baby HB for the fourth time tomorrow and for that I am excited and very blessed. Again, hopefully this will be the last time until she graces us with her presence in June.

I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

Stay hopeful!

:) Hopeful bud

Skinny Cow...

Craving sweets on a low carb diet SUCKS!!! But I found a loophole...

Skinny Cow No Sugar Added Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches... they are going to get me through this diet :)

Ok so they have 140 calories but they only have 30 grams of carbs! Which means I can have one for my evening snack and not feel the least bit guilty!!!

Photo Credit

Boy Was I Wrong!

My apologies for not posting sooner about the gestational diabetes diagnosis but I wanted to wait until after my second appointment with my nutritionist to make sure I had a good understanding of what I was dealing with.

It all started with this post. I was feeling VERY defeated, mostly because I had a very misconstrued idea of what gestational diabetes was. I thought it was my fault, I thought I had done something wrong, and worst of all I thought I had failed.

Last Thursday I had my first consultation with my new nutritionist. First off she took my weight (up almost 15 lbs) and my blood sugar (73) both of which were normal. Then she taught me how to use my new glucose monitor - good thing it's pretty easy and (fairly) painless since I'd be doing it 4 times a day; fasting before I ate breakfast for the day, then 1 hour after each breakfast, lunch and dinner.

My new best friend.
Photo Credit

Here's some information I found from the American Diabetes Association that I found really helpful:

"Pregnant women who have never had diabetes before but who have high blood sugar (glucose) levels during pregnancy are said to have gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes affects about 4% of all pregnant women - about 135,000 cases of gestational diabetes in the United States each year.

We don't know what causes gestational diabetes, but we have some clues. The placenta supports the baby as it grows. Hormones from the placenta help the baby develop. But these hormones also block the action of the mother's insulin in her body. This problem is called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance makes it hard for the mother's body to use insulin. She may need up to three times as much insulin.

Gestational diabetes starts when your body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs for pregnancy. Without enough insulin, glucose cannot leave the blood and be changed to energy. Glucose builds up in the blood to high levels. This is called hyperglycemia.

How gestational diabetes can affect your baby

Gestational diabetes affects the mother in late pregnancy, after the baby's body has been formed, but while the baby is busy growing. Because of this, gestational diabetes does not cause the kinds of birth defects sometimes seen in babies whose mothers had diabetes before pregnancy.

However, untreated or poorly controlled gestational diabetes can hurt your baby. When you have gestational diabetes, your pancreas works overtime to produce insulin, but the insulin does not lower your blood glucose levels. Although insulin does not cross the placenta, glucose and other nutrients do. So extra blood glucose goes through the placenta, giving the baby high blood glucose levels. This causes the baby's pancreas to make extra insulin to get rid of the blood glucose. Since the baby is getting more energy than it needs to grow and develop, the extra energy is stored as fat.

This can lead to macrosomia, or a "fat" baby. Babies with macrosomia face health problems of their own, including damage to their shoulders during birth. Because of the extra insulin made by the baby's pancreas, newborns may have very low blood glucose levels at birth and are also at higher risk for breathing problems. Babies with excess insulin become children who are at risk for obesity and adults who are at risk for type 2 diabetes."

Since my blood sugar levels were only slightly elevated at both my 1hr and 3hr glucose testings my nutritionist hopes we can keep my blood sugar levels with diet and exercise alone. I'm very thankful for this because if things are too abnormal or can't be controlled with diet and exercise alone then I'd be forced to give myself insulin shots! Let's hope we can keep things in check! I am to eat about every 3 hours and include protein at every meal and snack and I have been following a 2000 calorie diet of 6 meals a day that look like this:

• Breakfast = 30 grams of carbs
• AM Snack = 15 grams of carbs
• Lunch = 45 grams of carbs
• PM Snack = 30 grams of carbs
• Dinner = 45 grams of carbs
• Evening Snack = 30 grams of carbs

I've never been one to follow a strict diet or count carbs and calories so when I first read my plan I questioned how in the world I'd be able to do this. I'm also supposed to test my blood sugar 4 times a day which I have to tell you is mildly annoying but if these things are the least I have to do to keep myself and Baby GB healthy then I'm not going to complain and I'm going to stick to it. Lets just say I have a new appreciation for those nutritional labels!!! :)

When I get up in the morning before I eat anything I have to test and my number has to be below 95. I also have to test 1 hour after each main meal and my number needs to be below 130. Two high numbers in a row and I am to call my nutritionist.

The first night I had all my information my testing didn't go so well - I ate what I thought was a fairly healthy dinner and I went over 130 - I immediately knew this was going to take a lot more work so I vowed day 2 would be better and it was. I did research, I started tracking every bite I ate into my Sparkpeople.com account, I went grocery shopping for healthy and low carb food options and my numbers have been in check for the last week.

I had my follow up meeting today with my nutritionist where she went over what I've been eating and where my numbers have been for the last week. All is well! She was very impressed at how seriously I was taking it and how well I've been doing. She weighed me again and I'm actually down 4 lbs?! Not that I'm trying to lose weight but that was shocking to me that even while Baby GB is growing (I feel like my belly sticks out further every day now) that I still managed just by eating right to lose weight. She did mention that I should be trying to get about 300 more calories than I've been allowing myself and that I should be exercising more. But other than that I'm on track and as long as my numbers continue to be normal I shouldn't have to meet with her in person again. I do have weekly check in's but I just have to e-mail her my numbers every Wednesday.

I honestly have to say I was 100% completely wrong about GD - I was convinced I didn't have it, that the glucose testings were wrong and that I was already eating healthy. I wasn't - but now that I am I feel great! Its amazing how much more energy I have.

With that, I will leave you with what thebump.com says Baby GB is up to this week... we are now 31 Weeks!!!

Baby's now the size of a squash!
Baby's going through major brain and nerve development these days. His irises now react to light, and all five senses are in working order. (He won't pick up anything from his nose until after birth, though -- smell is transferred through air, not amniotic fluid.)