30 weeks

Week 30. Wow...only 10 more weeks to go (11 weeks max since they'll be inducing me if the little guy hasn't arrived by November 14th--thank you Gestational Diabetes).

I can't say my 3rd trimester is going as swimmingly as my first two. After getting past the "virus" and getting normal blood sugar readings for a week I seem to have slipped back into some very high (and very sporadic) readings. I'm getting really burnt out on pricking my fingers and obsessing over every little bit of food I eat. I actually ended up losing 3.5 pounds this week so that brings my grand total of weight gain since my pregnancy to 10.5 pounds. While they warned us that women with GD will sometimes lose weight eating this way I can't help but feel that I'm also getting beat down and bored by food and food options. It's no longer fun or interesting to eat. It's more like a stressful waiting/guessing game--"will this screw up my blood sugar or not?" I fear that medication is the next step--I'll find out next week. Honestly though, at this point it might be for the better because playing this game is stressing me out.

Including my commute I usually work a 12 hour day. I'm beginning to think that this is starting to negatively impact my overall health too. This week I noticed that by 5:30 I was completely beat down and could no longer concentrate. By the time I left work I was shivering (in 85 degree heat), half way home I'd have to have the AC on because I was hot and then I 'd get home and could barely move for the rest of the evening. It's a tired so big and deep I have to literally convince myself to stand up 20 minutes before I actually do. After the 20 minute pep talk to get up I've been getting a mild fever (aound 101 degrees) which in turn jacks up my blood sugar readings so then I go to bed frustrated only to wake every hour or so all night long to go to the bathroom. When the morning comes I feel fine...until 5:30pm hits and then the vicious cycle starts all over again.

Aside from all that my lower back is constantly in pain. Unfortunately there's not much I can do for that--aside from pelvic stretches and Tylenol. I'm also looking into some prenatal massages. I keep telling the little man that perhaps he should find a new position. Although he seems dead set on this diagonal, head down thing....apparently the same way his Daddy was positioned in Grandma's belly.

Obviously something's got to change. My doctor is supposed to call me in the morning. We'll see what he says.

Icky Finger Tips!

It's official. My fingers can now no longer bleed. I just tried to do my blood sugar test and it took 5 tries. Is there some diabetic trick that I don't know about?! I've only been doing this 4 times a day for 3 weeks. What will my poor fingertips be like in 2 more months?!!?

Happy Dance, Prenatal Visit, and Jeremy's off to Germany

Today is the fist day in almost two weeks that I feel back to my usual self. I am so relieved! And just to add a gold star to my day I found that my fasting sugar was under 100--which meant that my after breakfast sugar didn't skyrocket. Soooo, what this all means is that perhaps my virus, or whatever, was really doing a doozy on my numbers! If I keep this up over the weekend then I'll know for sure that my readings are normal, the virus was wreaking havoc, and I won't have to go on medication! Yay. Do the happy dance.

I had another prenatal visit that went very well. Weight, blood pressure, fundal height is all good. We talked about my Gestational Diabetes a little bit. He feels like I'm probably stabilized now and my numbers will be good so medication may be unnecessary. A few more days and we'll know for sure. He said, however, that I will be subjected to more visits and more tests because of the GD so they can make sure the baby is healthy and not getting too big. If I don't have the baby by the 14th (of November) they will have to induce labor for the baby's health. He said a normal pregnancy could go until the 21st, but not babies from Mommies with GD--they can only go a week past the due date.

On an icky note Jeremy left for Germany today. He'll be back next Thursday night. It always sucks when you have a travellin' loved one, but it's especially hard when you're 7 months pregnant and have been feeling horrible. The timing sucks, but at least I am feeling better today and I'm NOT 9 months pregnant. :)

28 weeks

Okay, so turns out the ickiness I was feeling last week was indeed some nasty little virus. By Friday I was sick as a dog. It was the strangest little virus ever though. One minute I felt great and the next I was burning up with a fever of 102/103 and then it would break and I'd be chilled and just shaking to the bone.

We were down in Costa Mesa visiting Jeremy's parents so in my good spells I managed to hit up some stores with Grandma/YaYa/Booboo-she's-still-deciding-on-her-Grannie-name Yoches. She was out of control and spent way too much money on me and Baby...but, we're both fashionable now and very grateful. When I tried to pay for some things I was immediately reprimended. It's cool how the Grandma hormone just appears out of nowhere and rages. If there's one thing I'm slowly learning--you can't really argue with a Grandma no matter what name she goes by. :)

So, the whole point is that I'm feeling back to my normal self and am ready to deal with the next 82 days or so.

Today was a rough day...

I had my morning appointments with my Gestational Diabetes Doctor and my nutritionist. Both were nice, but they didn't deliver the greatest of news to me. Basically, my fasting blood sugar is too high. They commended me on my eating habits and said that I'm doing everything right. But, because my fasting sugar is high, my after-breakfast sugar is too high (like 157!) even if I eat cottage cheese and a whole wheat muffin.

The doctor said that it will only get worse as I move along in pregnancy so he believes medication is inevitable since I'm only at 27.5 weeks. He went ahead and wrote me a prescription and said I should still talk to the nutritionist to see if she had any ideas. He was careful to explain that the medication is 100% safe for the baby.

The nutritionist was very supportive and helpful. She understood that I didn't want to go on medication until I absolutely had to. Unfortunately, there was little in my diet could she could modify without making me feel like I'm starving. She suggested that since my fasting was already high in the morning I needed to pretty much try a protein only breakfast to keep the after-breakfast reading low. If that doesn't work...well, I'm screwed. So, back to the drawing board...

To make matters worse I heard today that my brother was diagnosed as being diabetic. He too got a brand new toy--a shiny glucose monitor.

27 weeks (3rd Trimester Begins!)

We missed another photo last week (26 weeks) so this shows 2 weeks of progress.

My 1st and 2nd trimester were wonderful. I felt great, had good energy, with minimal food issues. I don't know if its psychosymatic, but once I hit the 3rd trimester (today!!) I started to feel different. Suddenly I feel bigger, slower...and in general, not so wonderful. I'm hoping I'm just fighting off some bug or something. We went to a campout last weekend with a bunch of our friends. Turns out most of them were sick or recovering from being sick--not the greatest environment for me I guess. Anyway, I'm hopeful this will pass because I know this isn't quite right.

On the bright side the baby's movements have become more intense. He's still kicking up a storm, but he also seems to be fond of rolling himself into a little ball where some hard part (his head? his butt?) stick out in a strange little bump...always on my right side. It's a very strange sensation.

Gestational Diabetes Class

I went to my two hour Gestational Diabetes (GD) class this morning. It was incredibly overwhelming and at times scarey. There 8 of us at all different stages of our pregnancy. One woman was only in her second month, while one was just weeks away from her due date. We learned about Diabetes in general (Type 1, Type 2 and GD), what we can and cannot eat, how to read labels and how to check our blood sugars.

Some things I learned:

• Developing GD has nothing to do with my weight or what I eat. It has to do with the fact that for whatever reason I am not producing enough insulin. And unfortunately, hormones that develop during pregnancy slow down insulin production even more. (So, if you're already not producing enough insulin, then you've got a double whammy.) You do, however, have a greater risk of developing GD if you have a family history of diabetes, are overweight or are over the age of 25.


• GD normally goes away immediately after birth, but you have a 40-60% chance of developing diabetes within 5-15 years after having GD and a 50-70% chance of developing GD in future pregnancies.


• Maternal risks of GD: difficult delivery (larger baby), increased risk of cesarean, high blood pressure, infections and increased fluid around the baby.


• Fetal risks: larger baby, immature lungs, birth injury/trauma, newborn hypoglycemia, newborn jaundice and premature birth.

For the rest of my pregancy I am considered to be a diabetic and must monitor what I eat and do regular glucose testing throughout the day. My new routine includes:

• Testing as soon as I get up to get my "fasting" blood sugar (reading should be between 70 and 100).


• Testing one hour after breakfast, lunch and dinner (reading should be between 100 and 135).


• Eating 3 meals and 3 snacks throughout the day that are balanced with carbohydrates and protein.

I am not allowed any sugar. None. Zip. Zilch.

Jeremy and I went to the grocery store tonight and spent almost 2 hours in there reading labels. Figuring out how to get 6-12 servings of protein 6 times a day is no easy feat!!

Gestational Diabetes

Just got the call from the Sweet Success program. I'm required to go to a 2 hour class tomorrow morning so I can learn all about the things I can and cannot eat. I'll also be given a monitor of some sort so I can check my blood sugar levels. After that I'll have weekly follow-ups to check my progress. The lady sent over an initial list of foods I can/cannot have. It's not terrible, but there are some things I will be sad to give up--mostly it just requires planning and an immediate need to get over my ice cream cravings. :(

Here's the info (my comments in red)...

Your meal plan should include 3 small meals and 3 small snacks. (Okay!)

You need to eat every 2-3 hours. (Okay, not a problem!)

Eating the same portions of foods helps to control your blood sugars. Especially CARBOHYDRATE containing foods like: bread, pasta, rice, beans, potato, corn. (Alrighty, just requires a little planning)

You must combine protein foods with every meal and snack. (More planning)

Protein foods are:

• eggs


• beef (ew!)


• chicken


• cheese


• fish


• nuts and seeds


• peanut butter


• pork (ew!)


• turkey (sometimes ew--especially if it's from Togos!)


• ham (ew!)


• lamb (ew!)


• shellfish


• tofu


• cottage cheese


• soy products