Updates

I haven't been online much lately due to the fact that we're now living in our apartment full-time and I won't have internet until Monday at the earliest (and it's killing me, let me tell you). I'm sitting at Panera right now, eating a roast beef sandwich and asian chicken salad and using their wi-fi.

BUT! I have a picture!!!!! No, I didn't have the baby yet, but since I'm "borderline gestational diabetic," I've been getting weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests. Last week the baby didn't want to cooperate and kept its little hand in the way of its face, but this week the baby cooperated!

Say it all together now... "awwwwwwww" ;-) Justin's liked looking at the ultrasounds, which hopefully I won't have too many more (because that means the baby would be here).

It's been extremely WINDY in Erie the past day and a half, with gusts up to 60mph, but luckily so far we've only had a power flicker or two. There are plenty of business and houses that don't have power though (this is the 2nd Panera I've gone to today, since the first one closer to my house has no power).

5 years down - many, many more to go

Five years ago today, it was cold (but not bitter), snowy (but only a little), and hectic, beautiful, and wonderful all at the same time. Our families and frieds all (jokingly) complained about us getting married in the middle of winter, but we ski. We met skiing, we got engaged skiing, and we wanted to go skiing on our honeymoon!

It's been a great five years - yes, we've had ups & downs (especially the last year), but in a few weeks, we will have a new little challenge to overcome - and I'm sure we'll do just fine.

Less than a month to go!

I know it's been a while since I've last posted, and for that - I'm sorry. I've been busy, not so busy, and just plain lazy lately. Let's see if I can cram all the updates into this one post :-).

Christmas
My Christmas was pretty much uneventful - my family did presents on Christmas Eve, which freed Justin and I up to drive to his mom's on Christmas Day. Both of my sisters stopped by, and about the only thing I can complain about is that my youngest sister, Nikki, gave me totally rude presents. Back around Thanksgiving, she called me and asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told her a maternity sweater in size XL. If it looked too small, then she could get a 1x, but XL should be just fine. What did she get me? A red shirt and a red fleece jacket with Tigger on it (I'm not a big fan of Pooh either), in SIZES 3X!!!!! Regular sizes! Hell, my regular size is just XL (maybe 2x depending on the chest area). Thanks so much. Luckily she left the tags on, and I had mom take them back to Walmart and return them for store credit. His family's Christmas was the day after, and his mom's gift to everyone was a family photo. Just what I always wanted when I'm 32 weeks pregnant... to stand in the front row with my hands under my belly, and try to look happy about it. Thanks so much MIL... At least I had a cute outfit to wear.

Dec 29 was my first visit at my new OB's office. We got our family history's redone, and then Justin got to see me depants and get my cervix checked. Fun fun. "Nice to meet you too, Doc!"

New Years'
Justin and I didn't do anything - we drove back to the house in Ohio, got Chinese food, and about 10:30, I fell asleep on the couch. I did wake up around 11:30, and got to see the ball drop.
(Then we went to bed). [we're such party animals]

The guy came from VW to inspect my car the next day, since it's due back by Feb 28. (I'm not going to keep it). The only thing I have to pay for is the damn $219 dent my sister got in my car, back when she was using it to drive to work when she lived with us. I'll never see that money, so I'll just chalk it up to experience... as in, I'm experienced in not letting her use ANYTHING of mine, nor will I ever feel comfortable leaving my baby alone with her.

I got a call on Jan 9 from my new Dr's office, saying they FINALLY got the rest of my records from TN, and oh yeah, I do have gestational diabetes (the test was a freaking MONTH ago!!!) When I went back to the dr's office on Jan 13, I talked to the OB and asked for a retest. They didn't even know how much solution I had drank for the 3 hour test (75g), so they thought my numbers were inflated, and they're not, but even though I went for the retest, I still have to monitor my sugars. At least I got to go through the holidays eating sugar, but now I'm concerned that if I really DO have it, that there could be issues with the baby, since it went unchecked for a whole month. When I called the OB office to get my prescription for the test strips and lancets, they said my repeat 3 hour looked good, but I'm not going to hold my breath until after my appointment Tuesday when I talk to the Dr again.

I really hate having to prick my fingers 4x a day, monitoring how much I eat and when, and oh yeah, I have to check my ketones in the morning (it's a pee test. If you get up several times in the night to pee, just when is the "first" morning pee???) The worst part is my stepdad has a sweet tooth and he keeps asking me when I'm going to make him dessert. Yeah, I'm going to torture myself by making dessert when I can't eat it myself. Sure. Keep dreaming, dad.

We did get an apartment though! We won't be able to move into it until after the 1st of February, but that's ok. We're allowed to move stuff in beforehand, so I put all my baby shower stuff in there, and we moved some kitchen stuff in already. This weekend we have our birthing class, a friend's birthday party, and then will be driving to the house (hopefully with our friend Paul) to get a bunch of furniture in both trucks and bring as much back as we can. Next Saturday (Jan 31) is our 5 year wedding anniversary, so I doubt we'll get much moving done then.

I'll try to do my next post soon, and write about the baby shower.

Back in civilization!!!!!!!

So Friday was my last day of work (*sniff*). I picked up Justin at the airport in Nashville on Friday night, then we stopped at Carrabbas and had dinner. It wasn't bad. I don't know if I'd go back, but it was nice to see what the hype was all about (note to Carrabbas: add some balsamic vinegar to your oil and herb dip mix).

Saturday morning we went over to the UHaul place and spent an HOUR checking me into the system and getting the paperwork done. (note to UHaul: TRAIN YOUR PEOPLE BETTER).

We spent the day packing, then went out to dinner with Joan and Dane. Dinner was nice, and it would have been nicer if we could have spent more time with them, but there's always the future!

Sunday I got up early, and let Justin sleep for a few more hours while I packed up the last of the little stuff. After he got up and took the last shower in the apartment, I took down the shower curtain and rod, got 2 bales of hay from the barn (and gave the baby horse, John Henry, at least 3 treats). We grabbed all the garbage, turned off the heat and all the lights, left the keys in the cupboard, closed the door, went across the street to get gas, and headed on the road. We stopped 3 times - twice for gas & food in the same stop, and once for ice cream at DQ. I do love the holidays, and the fact that just about everyone seems to have something peppermint flavored.

We got to the house in Ohio around 10pm, got the older neighbor kid to come over and help move boxes, and were in bed by 11:30. Justin got up super early to drive to PA to go to work, and I slept until 9am (ahhhhhhhhh). Today I've been slowly unpacking stuff and my goal is to get everything (or nearly everything) unpacked by tomorrow night so I can make it to PA to get my baby shower list done.

OH! And I *FINALLY* was able to get an appointment with my new OB in Erie. I had to have my OB in TN send my records again for the 50th time, but they did accept me, and my appointment is for Dec 29th at 3:15pm.

I'll miss my friends in TN, but it's good to be back home.

3 hour GTT (glucose tolerance test)

Well, I got up at 5am this morning (*yawn*), took a shower, grabbed my crocheting, and went over to the hospital. The nurse took my blood, then gave me the stuff to drink. It tasted just like orange pop, but I chugged it any way. The nurse kept telling me not to throw it up or else I would have to come back another day - but since I didn't have any problems with the stuff at the 1 hour test, I didn't think I would have any problems (and I didn't).

I really hope my OB calls and tells me I'm ok - my fingers hurt from the 4 pinpricks to get my sugar tested.

Here are my levels:
Fasting: 102
1 hour: 174
2 hour: 127
3 hour: 102

The only one that I figure I failed is the fasting - generally it should be below 95, but since I only failed one of them, then hopefully I'm ok.

Damnit!

Well, I got a phone call from the Doctor's office today... I failed my 1 hour glucose test with a 133 (they wanted below a 130), so tomorrow morning I have to wake up early and be at the hospital by 6:45am! That is SIX FORTY-FIVE in the morning!!!!!!!!! I'm not even awake by then normally!

Crap.

Please think good thoughts and hopefully I'll pass this test with no problems!

Oh well, at least I can try to get some crocheting done.

Updates

Thanksgiving went well - it only took me 2 hours to get through Cincinnati on the way North, and 40 mins to get out traffic caused by an accident just south of Cincinnati on the way back to TN.

I could definitely see how hard and utterly lonely it would have been this past year without my guinea pigs. This week it's been rather lonely around my apartment since they're at my parents house.

I went for my glucose test today to test for Gestational Diabetes. I have no instant gratification though, since they have to send my blood to a lab for testing. Only if there is a problem, will they call me (in about a week). On the plus side, I've only gained one pound since my last visit on Oct 29, so I really doubt I have GD. If you do have it, you tend to gain a lot of weight at once, and while I've gotten noticeably bigger, I haven't gotten any heavier, and my fundal height (the height of my uterus) is right on track.

The ladies at work threw me a surprise baby shower on Wednesday! It was nice - I got some really cute stuff, plus a lot of people chipped in and they gave me a gift card (so I wouldn't have to haul bigger presents back with me).

Tonight I will be flying in to Cleveland for Justin's company's Christmas party (it's tomorrow), and I will be flying back on Sunday, later afternoon. Hopefully my flights aren't going to be delayed at all!