25-30 weeks

::written at 31 weeks along, Barrett is 3 years old::

I have just a few updates to record for this stretch of pregnancy, as well as recaps of a few doctor appts. This will probably be lengthy though because you know I'm a rambler.

We will start with my appt with Dr Said, my new endocrinologist. I was scheduled for a quick meeting with him along with the dietician and diabetes educator when I was 27 weeks along which was just a few days after Christmas. All of this was mostly a recap of what I had to do with my pregnancy with Barrett but it was nice to get a refresher. Dr Said was super nice and we discussed my last pregnancy and history as well as what he is looking for as we move forward. We discussed my A1c which actually went down just a bit from when they took my A1c at the end of my last pregnancy. I have since forgotten that number but that was promising to hear. He was not concerned about this being a future issue, at least for many years. I am more susceptible to getting diabetes in the future but it isn't something I need to be concerned about at this point. He gave me a quick run down of what he expects my numbers to be and then sent me off to meet with the diabetes educator.

Again, this was a refresher. I met with one other expecting mother, Liz, who was in her first pregnancy. This was pretty laidback and I was able to include some of my experiences from last time. One thing that did change slightly was my alloted grams per meal. I was given 55-65g for lunch and dinner during Barrett's pregnancy but they were only alloting me 45-55g this time around. Not a huge deal because I learned pretty quickly that 65g was too much for me anyways. I usually try to stick close to 50g which is really not too hard. I'm more likely to just skip carbs all together during a meal which actually is not at all recommended. The baby needs carbs but it just needs less of them. I'd rather eat all.the.carbs or none. Something I need to be conscious of. I got a new meter reader and did some test shots of taking blood and recording it along with learning how to apply the insulin should we need to be put on that. At this point, neither of us were needing insulin.

Lastly, we met with the dietician to talk about food and meal plans. I have to admit that this part was pretty lame for me. The dietician was great and discussed what we "should" be eating and what everything is recorded as in a normal situation but I found from last time that nothing is a normal situation. A half baked potato is 15g. So in theory, I should be able to eat a whole potato and still have about 20g left over for something else. No. That is too much for me. I pretty much have to eat something that is 0g for me to be able to eat a whole potato. I would be way too high if I ate a whole baked potato along with other carbs. It's similar for a pancake. Technically, a pancake the size of my palm is 15g, so 2 small pancakes are fine to stay in my range. Unfortunately, that is not the case and throws off my numbers. Basically, you can't go by the book. You eventually learn what is good and not good for you. I'm a total "by the book" kind of person but that is not how this works for me to be successful.

Anyways, we are about 3 weeks in and my numbers are looking pretty good. The eating 6 meals a day is an adjustment because it is time consuming but I've started to get in a groove. I haven't needed to go on insulin yet which is my personal goal. I have a follow up with Dr Said next week to review what is going on.


The other doctor appt I had was just a routine checkup with Dr Bennett at 29 weeks. It was really my 28 week appt but I was in Disney during that so we were a little late. I did the usual pee in a cup with no sugars or protein found. They took my weight and I actually went down a pound so I am up 8 pounds total. I'm pretty sure this happened right off when I was diagnosed with the GD last time too. The balanced meals has a big play into my weight gain. I gained 12 total with B so that is an arbitrary goal again this time. We will see. Blood pressure was good and I didn't have any major questions for the doctor. I inquired about when we would start growth ultrasounds because they like to keep an eye on the baby because of the insulin problem and she mentioned that she doesn't think she will start with me until 36 weeks this time, UNLESS I do get put on insulin myself. I was thinking I got one at 32 weeks but that might have been to do other measurements that they couldn't get during my 20 week one. The 36 week ultrasound was when they found my low fluid and resulted in bed rest so that will be a big milestone to reach. Otherwise, nothing much to report. Dr Bennett is having wrist surgery which means I will be meeting with one of her partners for my next appt but otherwise she will be back pretty quickly. No question that she should be back for my delivery which was a concern of mine. I want no one else but her to be involved in this if I can help it. I think she was a big factor in my success last delivery.


Otherwise, things are going along really quickly. I'm 31 weeks today which means we are really getting into the home stretch. Less than 30 working days for me and it really could happen within 6 weeks from now (or even less!). I was pleasantly surprised at how well I handled Disney. Our daily breaks were huge for my energy but I was not really uncomfortable at all. The driving part was difficult but riding in the car was fine for the most part. I'd imagine we walked 3-4 miles a day and that was not a problem. Barrett made me carry him so much which certainly was tiring but not miserable. If we went even 2 weeks later, I think I would have had a harder time though. I found 30 weeks to be the date that things have started to get a bit more difficult. I'm sleeping really good for the most part but quite a few wake ups to change positions. I'm literally awake for 1 minute though so it doesn't bother me. The insomnia thankfully has mostly passed. It is only every so often I have a period of wakefulness. I maybe wake up to pee once a week too. I can usually make it the entire night. Dry skin is back but the cold weather has a big play in that. I did bust out the snoogle this week and it has helped the occasional back pain. I don't think it's mandatory at this point though. Sometimes it can be more of a pain to shift positions with that thing in bed with me.

Nursery prep is in full swing. I have just about everything for the room that we need. I still haven't found curtains that fit the bill and I have a few more wall projects to do but some of those are name related, which I will get to later. Crib got put up last weekend which may be a bit early but it was either put it up or let it sit in the basement. Might as well get it put together! I'll do a full post on the room after a bit when we are all finished. I'm really loving it so far!

Speaking of names, we are not very successful yet. I have a name that I think is a winner but Joe will not agree yet. I keep asking him to put together a list for me but that hasn't happened. I think we picked Barrett's name somewhere around the 8th month so I'm not stressing but I would like to lock it down here soon. I will go crazy if we wait another month! We won't refer to her by her name until she is born or tell anyone what our choice is but I still want to be able to think of her as her name. Otherwise, she may be Sister for the rest of her life.

Things are getting really exciting around here! So close!