Week 32...

Finally! We got to see the baby for the first time in 3 months today as it was our first of the weekly ultrasounds from here til it's time we get to meet our little man. Both Mimi and my hubby got to come with me to the visit today. As usual, he was hamming it up -- constantly moving around to the point that we almost didn't get a "good" picture of his little face or get a "good" reading of his heartbeat. But he finally cooperated and we were able to get both...along with a little bonus action from our son. We got a ton of pics from today's visit, but I've scanned in the 6 that I like the best. Well, I didn't scan them in; the guy at Kinko's did b/c I figured they'd do a better job than Scotty or I would. Wrong. As you can see, the genius guy at Kinko's scanned the top two pictures upside down. M-A-N is all I can say. No disrespect to my husband or any of the competent guys who read this blog; I know none of you would have overlooked this important aspect of the pics. This guy was just clueless, I guess, that u/s pics should be viewed one way -- and that's not upside down. Anyway, if you can't read what the captions on the top two pics say, the first one is pointing out his hair (if the tech says so -- she looks at these every day; I don't, but I still don't see any hair). And the second one is a picture of his balls -- "I'm a man." She kept trying to get a good shot of his business, but he wouldn't oblige. She kept saying, "Come on, show me your testicles." Scotty commented that she wouldn't be the first female to say that to him. Typical guy... The second two pics are of his face. You can see that he has chubby little cheeks. So cute! But then again, I am already partial to the beauty/handsomeness of this kid. The last two pics, and I think these are our favorites, are our son giving us the "thumbs up" sign and a "peace" sign. Just his little way of telling us that everything is fine and he's doing well. Which the nurse confrimed. Based on his measurements and such, he's still measuring about a week behind, but everything looks great. His weight was estimated to be about 4 pounds. I was expecting a little less although 4 lbs. at this stage of the game is average. I'm expecting him to be between 7 and 8 lbs at birth.

BTW, I don't really think he knows about "thumbs up" or "peace" just yet. I'm sure he was just about to suck his thumb or on his hand since that was part of the reason that it took us so long to get a decent facial picture of him -- he kept his hands too close to his face. But, it is funny to think about him communicating via sign language already. OR, maybe he's just a genius! I think I like that. Well, that's about it. I'll go back to the doc for another u/s and visit next Wednesday.

OH -- and this is big -- I found out from my boss, who is trying to help ensure us a spot in the daycare we want, that we're in the top 10 and that they're expecting 4-5 infant spots to become open in January/February. We may be #2 on that list, or #5, or #10. I don't care. I just hope and pray -- and I ask you to do the same -- that we get in this daycare when we need to. They are one of the best in BR. It's convenient to my office and Scotty's. I half-jokingly told my boss that if we didn't get in that I would be bringing my baby to work until we had a spot available at this particular daycare. We should know more in November or December at the latest. I'm just going to have faith that we will continue to be smiled upon and that things will work out. I've always done that and don't intend to stop anytime soon.

Week 31 -- and counting...

I had another doctor's visit today. Everything went great! The baby's hearbeat was 148 bpm, and as always, he was moving around like crazy. My blood pressure was fine, and my blood sugar's been great -- I'm still not convinced I have GD, but will continue to follow my dietary guidelines and prick my fingers 4 times a day to be on the safe side. I've gained 15 pounds so far. And even if I gain a pound a week from here on out like the books tell me I will, I will be under the 25-pound threshold that Dr. G initially set for me. Yay me! At this visit, I also received my flu shot for the year. After much deliberation and independent research (mostly done by Betsey), I decided not to get the swine flu vaccine. Like I told my doctor, there just isn't enough evidence on the long-term side effects of the vaccine, PLUS, I don't understand how it's not safe for infants under age 6 months, but it's safe for my son who is not even born yet. My doctor had no problem with me not taking the vaccine which was a relief.

Next Wednesday begins my weekly ultrasounds/sonograms and I am pumped! I am so looking forward to seeing better images of the little ninja who kicks me in my ribs and wakes me up in the middle of the night with his activities. He's much more active in the afternoon than any other time of day, plus it's more convenient for me work-wise to leave an hour or so early so all of my appointments are towards the end of the day. Next week, Mimi (Debbie) will be down here for work and will be joining me for my u/s as Scotty may or may not be out of town for work. This will be her first "introduction" as she called it to her grandson. My mom, Grandmother (or possibly Gran -- she's going back and forth now as to what she wants to be called), is probably going to make the trek down from North LA later on in October for her first live viewing of the David Scott Rainwater, Jr. Show. I just hope that we're able to get a few clear images of him. His prior u/s pics look like every other baby and I'm ready to have a better idea of what HE looks like. We decided not to do the 4D u/s, so there will still be some mystery to our child since we already know he's a boy, but I'm really ready to see him!

Anyway, as promised in my last post, below are some pictures of the nursery in it's current state. We're probably going to leave the furniture as it is in these pics, but may be adding a couple of things here and there -- definitely adding some things to the walls.

Baby bed with current occupant -- the tiger. My giraffe room theme is now becoming more of an animal/jungle theme courtesy of Scotty who couldn't resist this at the store.

The curtains -- love these!

The dresser (with a bunch of "stuff" on it), the rocking chair/glider which we had recovered to go with our motif, and Lola who still doesn't know what to make of all of these new things.

That's about it for now. If someone could please tell me how to center my picture commentary underneath my picture, that would be great. I can't seem to figure out how to do it without changing the alignment of the entire post. More info to come after next week's visit. Possibly even an updated belly pic before then!

Busy Weekend

Whew! I need a weekend to recover from the weekend. Do you ever feel that way? It's like vacation -- when you return after being gone a few days, you need a few more days to catch up on the things you missed doing while you were gone. Anyhoo, as I've mentioned previously, my friend from college, Alicia (Price now Crooks), was making the bedding and curtains for the baby's room. Well she just finished it and I received my package in the mail on Saturday. I was soooo excited to get it! Everything turned out beautifully. I'm simply baffled how some people have great creative talents like sewing or drawing/painting, and the rest of us -- or maybe it's just me :) -- are lucky to sew on a button corretly. Oh well, I guess my talents lie more in the people-arena or in having the ability to see things. Not like psychic stuff, but being able to envision how something should be done or what the finished product will look like. Which brings me to the point of my post.

As soon as I found the bedding I wanted to use giraffe-print with blue, I knew that was "the one" kind of like most decisions I make...when something's right, you just know it. Same thing with the baby bed and dresser. Yes, I went back and forth between two different sets, but it was strictly from a financial perspective that I did so. I actually let Scotty make the final call when he went to pay/pick up the furniture. He picked our original choice, which I was 100% in favor of. Yes, it was the slightly more expensive choice than my Plan B, but it was so classy and versatile, that we really had no choice. Sorry, you'll have to wait a few more days for pics of the furniture b/c I'm too tired (or in this case, lazy) to get up and go to the other computer which has all of our pictures on it to upload any on this post. But I digress. For the past couple of weeks, Scotty and I have been cleaning out closets and getting more organized in preparation for our upcoming bundle of joy. This weekend, we were able to move the desk and such from the office (now baby room) into the extra bedroom which we also did some rearranging in. Then, we moved around the furniture in Baby Rain's room...well, Scotty did -- I just supervised for the most part. And let me tell you, supervising can be tiring. Not nearly as exhausting as moving around the furniture in the extra bedroom (twice) and then in the baby's room, but tiring nonetheless. Once the nursery is a little more "complete," I'll post pics of it. We don't have anything on the walls just yet (see previous posts), but I have no doubt that we will in the very near future. THEN, I'll post some pics.

We had a couple of visitors over the weekend. On Saturday, Racheal (Evans) Bellemin came all the way over from Port Allen (about 10 miles outside BR in the opposite direction of our house) just to see us and check out our progress. Lola loves Rach as she and I were roommates when I adopted The Bean, AND she was the one who started calling Lola "Bean." So needless to say, Lola was ecstatic with our visitor. Then Lauri, one of my coworkers who lives a mile away, came by with her little girl. Lola was less than thrilled with this set of visitors, but it's only b/c she doesn't "know" them well enough. However, she will be excited tomorrow night when her Grandmother arrives. Mama and David have to come down to BR so she can get some education on Tuesday, so they'll be coming to our abode tomorrow evening.

I have to go back to the doctor on Thursday and will make another post then. I'll be sure to post the pics of the bed and dresser sans giraffe-print decor. I know you can hardly contain yourself. :)

Website update

Although I corrected it in my previous post, Rachel's website is www.thepeekabootique.etsy.com. Sorry if I directed you to an incorrect site! Send her an email if you see anything you like or want to customize something -- thepeekabootique@gmail.com. Thanks!

29 weeks...

Yes, it's a terrible picture of me due to the shadows and the fact that I'd just gotten done walking up and down my street...twice. However, this is what I currently look like -- belly-wise. Apparently, walking helps regulate blood sugar, especially after mealtimes, so my goal over the next few weeks is to try and walk more after supper at least several times each week. I can't walk as much or as fast as I could pre-pregnancy, but it will still help with endurance and stamina when it comes time to birth this little man.

I had a doctor's appointment this week. I've gained 13 pounds, and the baby's heartbeat was 146 bpm. This is the lowest it's been so far, but not surprising at all considering that he's getting bigger and bigger every day. My doctor told me that I won't have to go on meds to regulate my blood sugar and that whatever changes I'd made to my diet were working well enough. Yay! I just have to keep telling myself that these changes are only temporary and that I will be able to drink the biggest coke I want after the baby arrives. In fact, I've already decided my post-birth first meal. Assuming the baby is not born on Thanksgiving Day, I think I'd like a big, greasy hamburger with french fries and a ginormous coke from this little grill right around the corner from the hospital. It's not too far from my office, so I was eating there every couple of weeks or so. Since my diagnosis, though, I've had to cut back on those kinds of foods, so I probably won't go back and face those temptations for a while. Anyway, due to the GD, my doctor wants to monitor the baby's growth weekly starting in a couple of weeks. I go back to see her again on the 24th and then beginning on the 30th, I'll have weekly ultrasounds. When the nurse called me to tell me that they were all scheduled from the 30th until I give birth, that was kind of a sobering moment for me as I realized, "Oh crap -- time is running out on us!"

We do have part of the nursery "put together." Scotty and Lee went last weekend to get the crib and dresser and put them together -- pics to come once the room is closer to completion. My friend Alicia is making the bedding, curtains, etc. for me, so I should have that arriving soon. My next step is to get stuff up on the walls. Enter Rachel, aka Boo, my little sister. Boo's always been quite the artist. For some time now, she's been painting canvases and such for friends having babies and giving them as gifts. Everyone loves them so much that they always end up requesting more of the same. She recently decided that she wants to do this in addition to her real estate (or totally in place of it if it takes off), so she's putting together a website (http://www.thepeekabootique.etsy.com/), where you can request specific designs, themes, whatever and she'll do it for you. In order to have more pics for her site, she's offered to do the whole baby room for me -- picture frames, growth chart, canvases, etc. I'm ecstatic! Thanks, Boo -- I will gladly be your walking advertisement. :)

As promised, here are two pics from the wedding a few weeks ago:

The Anders Family

The Anders/Randall Family

We still have our season tickets for the Saints. So Baby Rain attended his first NFL football game today. It's never rained on us for any Saints game ever. However, that was not the case today. Even though I happened to have my umbrella with me, we still got drenched. Once we made it into the game, our blue jeans were soaked to about mid-calf level, our hair was wet, and it's a good thing I wasn't wearing a white t-shirt b/c it was soaked too. I can't fit into my regular Saints attire (a child's large jersey), so I improvised with a stretchy/kinda tight black shirt with black and gold beads. This was probably going to be the only Saints game I go to this season unless we change our minds, otherwise, I would've just gotten another shirt. Anyway, here's a pic of Scotty and me from after the game:

Happy Birthday -- You Have Gestational Diabetes!

As of Thursday, I'm officially the big 28. As of Thursday, I was also diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, I went to have m 3-hour Glucose Tolerance Test I mentioned in my last post. With 3GTT, you have your finger pricked when you first arrive at the doctor's office to have your fasting blood sugar reading taken. Mine was 83 -- less than 90 is good. Then, they make you drink twice as much of the thick, sugary drink as you have to with the 1-hour test. An hour later, they prick your finger again for the 1-hour reading. Mine was 222 -- less than 160 is good. Then another hour passes, another finger prick, and my 2 hour reading was 160 -- less than 140 is good. I didn't even have to stay for the last finger prick b/c I'd already failed...again. I was quite upset at first as I'd done very little research on GD prior to the test b/c I just knew that I wouldn't have it; I didn't fit the profile. Well, apparently half of the women who are diagnosed with this (normally) temporary condition do not fit the profile either. GD is one of the more common conditions associated with pregnancy. Basically, your pancreas can't make enough insulin to break down the sugars in your body thus resulting in high blood sugar. I've learned that by my having this condition, my child has a greater likelihood of being overweight and getting Type 2 (Adult-onset) Diabetes later in life. I too now have a greater (20%) chance of becoming diabetic. However, by maintaining an active lifestyle and eating right -- both of which I''ve always pretty much done -- this permanent condition can be avoided.

I met with the doctor on my birthday (after having a small piece of birthday cake with very little icing), and she gave me the news. Basically, I just have to tweak my diet a little bit, quit my coke habit (I was only having one every few days anyway), take my blood sugar 4 times a day -- first thing in the morning and two hours after every meal, and keep a food diary of everything I eat and drink. I also have to incorporate more snacks into my diet, which I was doing on a sporadic basis, but now I have to be more consistent with it -- fruits, peanut butter and crackers, etc.). I started this yesterday and my blood sugar readings have been very good so far. I should only have to do this until the baby arrives, then this condition should go away on its own. However, until then, I'm considered "high-risk" and starting with week 32 of my pregnancy, I'll get to have weekly ultrasounds to monitor the baby's growth to make sure he doesn't get to herculean porportions as having a big baby is one of the potential side effects of GD. :)

Last weekend was Mom's wedding. The church was filled to capacity with well-wishers, family, and friends. Mama and David both seemed very happy and relaxed throughout the whole thing. Rachel, Brad, and I (and our significant others) met David's two boys the night before the ceremony. The apple didn't fall far with either of them as they both seemed every bit as nice and polite as their father. We were able to visit with everyone -- friends, family, people we didn't know -- throughout the afternoon on Saturday, which was nice b/c we rarely get to see a lot of them. We had family come in from Memphis and Houston as well which was nice. Pregnant-brain Sarah forgot the camera, so I didn't take any pictures. As soon as I get my hands on some, though, I'll post them. Jessie, my bff from childhood was there with her baby Olivia, and she posted some pics if you want to see them. We're very happy for Mom and David as they seem to be a pretty good match. Welcome to the family!

That's all for now. I know my posts are long, but since I'll be going to the doctor more often, I'll have more to write about more frequently. For now, I must go get ready for a Southern Living Party at Home at my friend Racheal's house.

I've never liked failing a test...

I can count on one hand the number of times that I've actually failed a test -- any test. So you can imagine my surprise when I went in for my Glucose Tolerance Test this morning and failed. By two points. For those of you who are not familiar with how this works, you go in first thing in the morning after not eating anything for 12 hours or so. They draw your blood and check your blood sugar. My fasting blood sugar was 81 -- pretty good. Then they make you drink this thick, sugary cup of grossness, wait an hour, and test your blood again. As I'm waiting for this second test, I saw my doctor. Everything was fine. Baby appears to be growing appropriately and I'm feeling lots and lots of movement/kicking -- All. The. Time. Even in the middle of the night. The baby's heartbeat was 157. Oh, and I've gained a total of 11 pounds, which is great according to Dr. G. I go back in three weeks and then I'll start going every two weeks. Kind of scary to think that we're in the home stretch. And that in a little over 3 months, I will be shooting a human being out of my hoo-ha. Not literally of course b/c who has that kind of muscle strength. But nothing short of amazing nonetheless. Back to my visit. So I'm done with my doctor when it's time to have my blood sugar tested after drinking the orange goo and waiting an hour. The magic number was 140 or less. My blood sugar was 142. I wanted to ask the lab tech if she could just put me at 139, I was just 2 points over. But I thought better of it and besides, she probably wouldn't do it anyway. So now I have to go back next Tuesday for the 3-hour Glucose Tolerance Test. Yipee (dripping with sarcasm).

My nurse called me later on in the afternoon to give me the news. No newsflash here. The lab tech spilled the beans earlier. Additionally, I'm anemic. Again, no newsflash here since I was anemic the first time they drew my blood several months ago and have been taking an iron pill every other day ever since. She told me to continue taking my iron supplement like I have been since I can't tolerate the side effects of taking it every day. For those of you who've had to take iron, you know the side effect of which I am speaking. For those of you who don't, let's just say that it's why some people have to drink/take Metamucil...

Now to a more pleasant topic, we're just starting to clean out the office which will become the nursery. I think we've pretty much settled on a crib and already have a couple of "antiques/sentimental pieces" (a dresser and cedar-closet-turnded-bookcase) that will coordinate with the crib, now we just have to make room for it all, so we'll be rearranging some things between the current office/future nursery and the guest room and getting rid of a few dust collectors -- the futon and an armoire that are currently just taking up space. It's amazing to me that I grew up in a house with 4 other people (one of whom I grew up sharing a bedroom with) that was about the size of our current abode, and yet, our little family is quickly outgrowing our 3-bedroom, 2 bathroom home. Times have changed, I guess.

We have Mom's wedding this weekend. I hope I can still fit into my dress. I'm 95% sure that I will. I'll be sure to upload a pic of the Human Tootsie Roll (me in my brown dress) including a bonus belly pic since I haven't done one in a few weeks with the next post.