Southern Shower

My friend Amy did an amazing job!

The weather was nice, so my parents came down.  J.T.'s family made it from VA, TN & GA.  We had almost everyone come that we had invited.  It was such a great day.  J.T. even stuck around for the whole thing!  I didn't get too many pictures on my camera, but my mom, MIL, and Amy all took pics so I hope they share them soon.

Expiration Date on Sleep?

I have been so very fortunate to have had minimal interruption to my sleep this pregnancy.  That all changed without notice Monday night.  It took about two hours to wind down after getting home from class (read 11:00) and once I did I woke up every hour to pee.  Waking up for the day around 4am-yowza.

This cycle repeated itself each night this week except I have been able to sleep closer to 6.

To this point in life I have been pretty much an 8 hour a night (weekends 9, 10...) so I suspect this is getting me ready for my sleep deprived life.  Ella will be glad I had the practice:).

32 Weeks

A baby girl who is quickly running out of room but does not seem to stop moving + achy legs + twice a day heartburn + sleep deprivation =

I am hoping that week 31 was a fluke and 32 weeks is when I bounce back.  I'm sure it only get's easier from here, right:)?!?

Surprise Shower

My wonderful and amazing TA (teaching assistant staff) surprised me with a beautiful shower today:).  Sunday is my "southern" shower and my school shower is next month.  Most of these lovely ladies work a shorter day than the staff at large, so they wanted to be sure to have an opportunity to celebrate Isabella (and me).

We are truly blessed with the people God has placed in our lives!

Ella learned a new trick

and she likes to practice several times a day!

31 Weeks

Another (Successful!) Drive Thru OB Appointment

BP is still 120 over ... ?  I can't ever remember the second number when they take it.  Hopefully it is the least important of the two.  It still feels high to me, but they said it was totally normal.

Ella had the hiccups when the nurse found her heartbeat, so it was funny to feel them AND hear them:).  Her heartbeat was right at 140 again and she measured 31 weeks.  This girl is nothing if not consistent!

I asked about using the tub for labor.   I was a little disappointed to hear that once I was in active labor I could no longer use the tub (wouldn't that be when the relief would be most needed?!?) because they need to monitor the baby.  I understand their reasoning, but am no longer counting on the tub being my saving grace.

We are at once very two weeks appointments now, so hopefully the pattern of successful drive thru appointments (including the impressive less than 5 minute wait time before we are called back) continue for the remaining 9 weeks!

Open Enrollment + Pregnancy Brain=Tears

Ughhh!

For six years I have faithfully clicked all of the right buttons to ensure that my medical insurance was 80/20 versus the 70/30 we get by default.  Each year without fail I filled out the stupid health assessment, clicked the box that said I don't smoke and typed in the name of my primary care physician.  And for 6 years I have not really needed much out of my insurance.

Well to clarify I couldn't use my insurance for what I REALLY needed (infertility treatments), so I used it for my annual appointments, monthly refill of thyroid meds, and some vaccinations I needed for work and school.  I was close to being like the insurance companies dream candidate.  Now when we actually NEED as much financial support as we can get on the medical front, I blow it.

Our enrollment period is in October and somehow I managed to fill out the health assessment, but failed to click the non-smoker box and type in the name of my primary care physicians.  Two blank boxes=paying 10% more for all of my 2017 OB visits, my glucose testing, delivery and Isabella's medical costs once she is born!!!

I discovered my mistake when I called the insurance company today to begin the process of ordering my free breast pump that is perk of the 80/20 plan.  No perk for dummies like me that can't click a box and type a name...I cried for a good 15 minutes over being a dummy:(.

I am trying to work things out through my HR department, but since the mistake is mine it's very much a long shot.

Ughh!!!
 

Hospital Tour

Today was our first of four things we are doing at the hospital to get ready for Isabella's arrival--we toured the hospital!

The tour itself was uneventful, but it was exciting to see and begin to think about what would be going down in about 10 short (hopefully!) weeks. 

Well, you know, exciting and scary because while it will be exciting to meet her there's the whole getting her out part I have to do first.

One of the features of the labor and delivery rooms at this hospital is that they are all private.  Some person wiser than us asked what happens when the beds are full and the nurse said that has never happened so hopefully they don't experience a first in April!

Also each of the rooms has a jacuzzi tub for laboring.  This idea intrigues me as I had originally assumed I would be firmly planted in camp "give me all the drugs"; however, after doing some reading it seems like things may progress more quickly without.  So I am going to try to see how far I can go without drugs first and am hoping the tub will help.  Will ask the doctor more questions about it on Thursday.

30 Weeks

29 Weeks

Glucose Testing Take 2

Unfortunately, glucose testing part 2 did not go as smoothly as part 1.  The fasting blood draw went fine.  Drinking the now double dose glucose drink went well too.  I then settled myself in the waiting room with my timer (for the 1 hour blood draw) and book that I needed to read for class which I planned to read during this three hour waiting game.

20 minutes and a chapter later, I felt like I had been hit by a truck!  Sweaty, heart racing, nauseous, the works.  One of my teachers suggested I ask to lay down if I started to get sick, so I did.  The nurses were great.  They set me up in a back room in a recliner and said the nurse would come back to me to draw at the one hour mark.  The next 40 minutes sucked.  I kept feeling like I was going to be sick.  I couldn't read my textbook or phone.  I couldn't even flip though a magazine without feeling worse.  I was also dreading having to suck down more of that drink.  It was fine before, but now that I was sick it was going to be awful.

Finally, the nurse came back when my timer came back.  She couldn't re-use my "good vein" so she had to go in through my hand (ouch!).  She was super nice which helped.  I still wasn't feeling very good, so I asked her what would happen if I threw up.  She said I would have to start the process all over again.  "Well that ain't happening" I thought so I sucked it up and made it completely mind over matter.  She went to reset my timer and I asked about having to drink more and she said "nope, you just drink the one."  Hallelujah...I started feeling better already!

During hour number two I crashed and slept for most of it.  Hour three I felt much better.  Out of it, but not physically ill.

Then came the waiting game of waiting for the results.  I had googled my failing number and it seemed like there was not rhyme or reason as to what would happen next.  Some women with numbers higher than mine passed round one and some women with lower numbers failed.  It was truly anyone's guess.

Of course, these results did not come in as quickly as the first and I checked my email obsessively throughout the day.  Finally around 2 I got the following results:

Glucose Testing Take 1

I have a sweet tooth that few can rival.  As a result the closer we got to the glucose test the more apprehensive I got.  Monday I cut out most carbs and have not consumed much in the way of sweets since early last week.  On Tuesday I took the test.  The actual test went very smoothly.  The drink wasn't nearly as bad as what most people had claimed (thank you, sweet tooth!).  We then went in for the appointment which went smoothly.

Isabella's heart beat was right at 140 and I was measuring 29 weeks.  We also discussed the Braxton Hicks (normal).  I got the Tdap vaccine and the doctor recommended we might want to consider talking to grandparents and other family members to see if they would be able to update if needed as well.  The actual shot was fine, but my arm hurt for days afterwards:(.

We asked the doctor if there would have been any indicators to this point if I had Gestational Diabetes (GD).  She said no.  That it is frankly something you can just wake up one day and have.  There can be some elements like heredity and prepregnancy weight that play a factor, but also it could crop up from nowhere.

When I got back to school I did a casual survey of teachers I ran into.  Out of the 6, 5 failed the first round of glucose testing.  Only one was diagnosed with GD after the second round.  The odds were in my favor so I kept me fingers crossed.

This morning I didn't give it much thought and then I got an email saying my test results were in.  I clicked and...I failed:(.  Actually I failed BIG.  The cut off was a 135 and I was 160-gulp!

I scheduled my second test for tomorrow.  I have to take a half day...AND I can't eat breakfast...AND they have to draw blood multiple times (hello-I only have 1 good vein!)...AND I might have to cut out my favorite food groups...AND I might have to stick myself multiple times a day...AND most importantly this cannot be good for Isabella:(.