chubba cheeks....

I work for a doctor's office and every day at my job have to ask patients to plan on a 3 hour appointment for their first visit with us. Well, today I received  dose of my own medicine as I visited with a specialist on Maternal and Fetal Medicine to manage my Gestation Diabetes.

I first met with their on staff dietitian. She was super nice, very helpful with her explaining things and seemed confident that I would be able to control the GD with diet alone. I received a blood glucose meter and diet plan for counting my carbohydrates. I have to check my sugar 4 times a day, record them and fax to the specialist weekly. They will look at my numbers to make sure I am staying on track and don't need medication. They also checked my urine to be sure sugar wasn't spilling out into there (learn something new every day!) and then the bonus of all of this......ULTRASOUND! It's always such a joy to see our peanut on screen, and it will forever amaze me what they can see. My US tech was great, she told me everything she was taking pictures of and even was willing to double check the gender, ya know, just to be REALLY sure! And I could tell right away when they zeroed in on her face, she is looking a LOT like her big brother did - especially those CHUBBA CHEEKS!  Baby D is about 4 lbs, her heart rate was at 147 and she is measuring in the 43rd percentile for overall growth. All her parts look good and no abnormalities at this time. All in all she is very health and strong. I have another scheduled US in month to make sure she is still growing on track and ensure she is not growing too much too fast.

Tyler is still super excited and continues to ask when she's going to come out "cuz he just loves her so much!"  (his words not mine) This weekend we (and by we I mean me) got his old cradle painted so now at least if she does come early she will have a place to sleep.

Allen is coming along with the race car, which is good because believe it or not first practice is just ONE week from Saturday! Eek! He better get cracking. Although it is soon, I am excited, because it sure would be nice to have a finished bedroom (and living room!) in the basement before she comes! It's about to warm up here the next couple weeks, so we'll finally be able to start to get R dun! (and by we, I mean Allen)

As for me, I will just do what I am told by the docs, suffer through these 'awesome' allergies and try to patiently await my little ballerina's arrival. HAHA! It's starting to hit us all, the reality of expanding our family. I pray God will give me the strength to take it all on!

time flies.....

This past Friday, March 8 I had my 29 week check up with Dr Conner. For this appointment I had to complete the ever dreaded 1 hour glucose test. This involves mama-to-be drinking what most describe as "really sugary kool-aid" ever, when in fact it's actually it's more gross than that and you have to consume it in 5 minutes, and it's ORANGE (some people may like it, I am not a fan) Then 1 hour post drinking this oh so delicious stuff, your blood is drawn and send for testing to see how your body handles/breaks down sugar. The rest of my appointment merely involved the normal measuring, weighing and listen to the heart rate (always a blessing!) I am still measuring on target, weight gain is within the normal range and Baby D was all kinds of hyper after consuming so much sugar so early in the morning, her hear rate was into the 150's this time!

Monday, I got the call with my results.....epic fail. Sugar was about 180, meaning I would have to undergo the even MORE dreaded 3 hour glucose test *sigh* and I would have to do it ASAP, eh-hem, the very next morning. The 3 hour test involves drinking even more concentrated sugar drink (at least it was fruit punch this time) again within 5 minutes AND in addition to fasting for 12 hours! They drew my blood prior to drinking the even more oh so delicious drink, and then every hour for 3 hours after that. It really wasn't so bad except that I just worked a 14 hour day, I was drained, hungry, tired, weak, and trying to keep the drink down (bleh!) The next day I called the office for the results and just as I suspected, 2 our of 4 vials we abnormal, giving me diagnosis of Gestation Diabetes :(  Boo! I am now being referred to a specialist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine who will manage the GD for the rest of my pregnancy. I will being seeing them on the 26th where I get the pleasure of meeting with a Dietary Consultant and receive another ultrasound (okay so there is ONE plus side). In addition to now having high blood sugar, they checked my hemoglobin (iron levels) and have dropped a few points there as well. Boo again! I am now taking a supplement in addition to my prenatal vitamin to hopefully keep the levels up.

In TYLER NEWS, he is growing up WAY too fast for my liking. A couple weeks ago Allen signed him up for his very first season of t-ball! He will play in the Pinery Park league just like Daddy and I have never seen him so excited about something (well other than having a baby sister) He is looking forward to going shopping for baseball shoes with Allen and I just ordered him a special bag to keep his t-ball stuff in.

Last night, Mommy, had the pleasure of signing him up for......KINDERGARTEN!!! I just can't believe that in what will seem like a few short months my biggest guy will officially be an elementary school student. It saddens me and excited me at the same time, it's just hard to believe this day has come already. Before I know it we will be shopping for a new backpack, lunch box (man has he waited a LONG time for one of those!) and all kinds of school things he will need I'm sure.  Time flies when you're having fun.....so they say......

in the home stretch!

Officially 29 weeks preggo today! Bring on the big belly, the feet/ hand swelling the gas and indigestion! Somehow this time has gone by so fast yet taken forever at the same time. And even though this pregnancy has not been the easiest on me, I wouldn't trade it for the world! We have truly been blessed and each day I thank The Lord for his blessings 😊

Tyler continues to be excited and anxious for the arrival of baby sister (mom and dad are too!) Allen makes compete fun of me for being such a Twi-hard (aka obsessive Twilight fan) but I have to say the way he is attached to me and how much he says he loves her already its like she is his Renesme. I believe that he'd do anything for her and he'll protect her and be there for her as they continue to go together. I hope that rings true when she does make her arrival because I believe that he will make a wonderful big brother!

We are busy getting ready for baby girl. Allen is working hard to get race car done so he can spend the rest of time until delivery finishing Mommy and Daddy's new room in the basement 😄 as well as the nursery and Tyler's new big boy room too! Lots of changes at the Davis household - it's quite exhausting but all the excitement makes it worth it! And for those of you who are wondering.....we have a few names picked out but sorry not telling until we meet her first! Guess you'll just have to put you patient panties on and wait😘

kitchen graduate

Last night Tyler competed his final cooking class for this winter. He is already talking about singing up next time it comes around! Last night they made "Creep Crawly Bugs" which we basically just hot dogs rolled in crescents decorated with potato stix and ketchup or mustard. He had NO interested in eating them, and I couldn't just let them go to waste, so yes Mommy at them all! He got to take home a cookbook with all the recipes, pictures he drew and even pics of classmate and with Mommy.

Even though the things they were making were more fun and silly I do feel like it has made his love to be in the grow. I made some egg salad the other night, and he has NEVER had any desire to even try an egg, but he thought my egg slicer was the coolest thing since sliced bread. He was right there and wanted to put in the mayo, sour cream and stir it all up. Watched me peels the eggs and just curious as George the monkey. I hope he continues to want to learn in the kitchen as he would make some lucky lady VERY happy (she has to get through me first of course!)

Well I am now twenty-seven weeks (woo-hoo!) why that seems so much closer to me I don't know, but 90 days sounds even closer to meeting our sweet ballerina girl!

Over the weekend I dealt with quite a deal of pelvic and pubic bone pain, and let me just say you have NO idea exactly how painful it is unless you've dealt with it before. On Sunday I had it, and was so miserable I literally felt ill. I decide to give the join belt another try, and even thought I have not been up to doing my exercises I have had a TREMENDOUS amount of relief. I guess if this is what I have to do to get through the next three months, it's worth it to remain out of pain and wear something that is only slightly uncomfortable.

As racing has now resumed on our TV and he continues to work on the car, I can tell that Allen is really getting pumped for the upcoming season. People always ask me how I deal with it or how I CAN deal with it and it's like this: He has so much love and passion he puts into this sport, anyone who knows him knows he wants to go fast and when you see his face light up like a kid on Christmas - how can you ever take that away?

My world once again is about to turn upside down, this I am realizing. We have a lot to do, in order to prepare for it all, and hopefully with a helping hand from God we will make it!

i can't complain

This past Friday I had a check-up for Baby D. Mom is measuring right on target still and Dr Conner is very happy with my weight gain (as am I!) and sorry but no, I am not going to disclose that piece of information :) Heartbeat continues to stay around low 140's and she loves to show off just how strong she is by kicking the Doppler no matter where it goes. I am feeling MORE and MORE movement from her every week it seems. As a former dancer as a child for 7 years I have decided to dub her my "Ballerina Girl" as the movement is constant, strong and if you could see inside I bet you would see her practicing pirouettes and leaps abound in there! I am always thinking of how neat it would be to have a camera that could view inside and capture those precious first movements.......

I am still having quite a but of pelvic/pubic bone pain. Physical Therapy has helped some, but if you've ever been you know how costly and time consuming it is, so I am putting that on hold for now. They have had me purchase an SI Joint Lock Belt to help hold those joints together and allow for some support as my body does not seem able to support itself. However I can not complain as I have been blessed with this opportunity to have another child (and a girl at that!) and I know the end result will be SOOOOOO worth it!

Tyler has been getting over quite the virus that seems to be going around. Three days of a fever that I did EVERYTHING I know to do and could not break it! So lovely couple days off work and 5 day at home snuggling with my Monkey, he is more attached to me now than ever. Oh well! He is UBER excited about his baby sister and constantly hugging my belly, so maybe when she graces us with her presence he continue to hug "her" and not by belly - lol!

Meanwhile, Allen is getting to work on his car for racing season - he's got a pretty good head start and looking forward to see the new paint job he has in mind this year! Tyler has been so excited and just literally longing to pop rivet that body on for Daddy! In addition to prep for racing season he will be a big help in prepping for Baby D as he FINALLY finishes off the basement - woot woot! I am so thankful for him and all he has done to at least try and understand what I'm going thru (and supportive even if he doesn't!) and have full confidence that he will work splickity fast to get basement done in time. Three things I look forward to: Double sinks in the bathroom, bigger room, and doing laundry on one level!