Dairy Queen

I felt badly about strapping Nadia in the carseat again after she had already spent a decent amount of time there in the morning. So before we got in the car, I promised her that we'd get some ice cream at the mall. I had gone two weeks without having any ice cream, and that's a VERY long time for me. We both enjoyed the blizzard very much! I really don't think I have gestational diabetes. Those who have it tell me that they don't feel well after eating something with a lot of sugar in it; I felt fine after eating the ice cream. I know someone who also failed only1 of 4 blood draws during the 3 hour test, and she was told "Congratulations, you passed." Well eating less ice cream and such should help keep my weight gain in check if nothing else!

I do need to have Paul take another belly shot as it's been awhile. I haven't forgotten Tamera's request! I must say I felt better today about the size of my belly when a cashier at the grocery store told me how good I looked. She was comparing me to another pregnant woman she knows whose belly is much bigger than mine. I have to say that this comment put a smile on my face!

Sooooo Big!

When I was pregnant with Nadia, I lamented the fact that although it seemed obvious when I looked in the mirror that I was pregnant, it wasn't until I was about 32 weeks along that strangers would ask me questions like "when are you due?". I think in part people are scared to assume someone is pregnant and find out that they're not. I had looked forward to being pregnant for SOOOOO long, and I wanted the world to know so it was a disappointment to me that it was only obvious for about 4 weeks (since I gave birth at 36 weeks). However once I actually got to the point that strangers were commenting, I realized that being that big wasn't a very comfortable experience physically. As the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for."

I figured that this time around I would pop out sooner since that seems to be true for most women in subsequent pregnancies. I think I was about 26 weeks along when strangers started commenting on my pregnancy this time around and that has certainly been true in the past couple of weeks. I've even noticed students I pass in the hallway (whom I don't know) just looking down and staring at my belly. It actually feels weird since normally it would feel awful if someone was staring at my abdomen (when I wasn't pg). When I was pregnant with Nadia, the OB measured my belly at each appointment once I hit a certain week. My belly hasn't been measured even once this pregnancy. I thought maybe it was something only done during one's first pregnancy, but I have since talked to others who were measured in subsequent pregnancies. In the last week I have had quite a few people make comments about how my belly is soooo big. If you had asked me how that comment would make me feel when I was 30 weeks with Nadia, I would have probably said that would be music to my ears. For whatever reason, I've felt self-conscious when it's been said to me this time. It wasn't ever said when I was pregnant with Nadia. The scary thing is that if I make it January 13th, I have exactly 9 weeks to go. I kind of doubt my belly will stay the same size for that long, LOL. I have been using the almond oil again, and so far I don't have any stretch marks. Hopefully I won't get any. My belly button is stretched very thin, but it hasn't popped out yet. I guess if I do have gestational diabetes that would lead to a larger baby and belly. Frankly since Nadia was so small, a larger baby sounds just fine to me, especially since I'm having a c-section.

This morning Nadia and I went to MOPS. The speaker was a lawyer who talked about legal documents parents of young children should have. We don't have any of the three that he discussed (Will, Power of Attorney, and Living Will). That is definitely going to be one of my goals for 2010. I've been wanting to have a will drawn up since Nadia was born, and hopefully we'll actually get around to it next year. We should at least just write our own even if we don't make it to a lawyer's office. Of course I hope these documents aren't actually needed for a LONG time! When we do make it to a lawyer, I think we'll just do all three documents while we're at it. One of the nursery workers in the room Nadia was in this morning was one of my college students. I had her as a student in fall 2008 and have her again this semester. She's a non-traditional student (probably older than me). She was glad that she got to meet Nadia. I found out this morning that a new MOPS group has formed that is closer to where we live. I need to find out when their meetings are held before I decide if I'm going to switch groups or not.

Nadia's two newest words are "bear" and "ball." It's not surprising that she likes balls, but I do find it amusing that her favorite ball is a basketball. I mean a regular basketball, which is not something you usually see a 16 month old playing with. Sarah said that it's the same when she's at her house - she'll play with other balls, but her favorite is the basketball. Daddy will be happy to teach her how to play if she still likes basketballs in the future. :-)

Mommy's little helper

My appointment to be trained with using a glucometer has been scheduled for November 17. They said it will take 2 hours. It's with the perinatologist office (maternal fetal medicine) where I had my last two ultrasounds. The day after my appointment I'll be 31 weeks; that means the longest I'll need to prick my fingers will be 8 weeks.

Nadia is becoming Mommy's little helper. I figure I might as well put her love of putting things into "containers" to good use. She has been putting her bath toys away in the basket for several weeks. Other ways she's helped me recently have included putting her clean socks away in her sock drawer, putting dirty clothes in the hamper, and putting plastic containers and lids in her cabinet after I've taken them out of the dishwasher. Now we need to teach her to put her toys in the toybox!

More!

I had planned on using sign language to communicate with Nadia far more than I actually did. She used the sign for milk, but other than that she wasn't using any signs, and I stopped signing to her a few months ago. A few days ago she started using the sign for "more" when she wants more of something I'm feeding her. I was shocked the first time she did it as it's been months since I've shown her the sign. I had no idea she remembered it since she never used it back when I was trying to teach her "more" and "all done." I do want to teach her more sign language in the future, but for now we are just working on expanding her spoken vocabulary. The word I can get her to say on demand for other people most easily is "elbow." She now says "night night," "hi," "hello," and "bye bye" at the appropriate times such as when she's pretending to talk on the phone or when she's waving to someone. "Up" used to be her favorite word. Her new favorite word is "no" - surprise, surprise, LOL! The only name she used to say when calling for someone was "mama," but she has recently started saying "dada" when she's trying to find her Daddy.

I have gone on strike with carrying her up or down the stairs. It's enough of a workout just getting my own pregnant body up the stairs. Months ago she preferred to go up herself, but lately she's preferred to be carried. I have learned the trick to getting her to climb up quickly is to put some object she wants to hold a few steps ahead of where she is. If I keep moving the object up the stairs, she climbs them very quickly. She generally fusses when going down the stairs, but I think that will pass as long as I am consistent in insisting she do it herself. Of course yesterday at Grandma and PopPop's house she wanted to climb their stairs all the time. It's not that she can't do it. So Mommy will not be carrying her any more. She's a big girl!

Nadia was really well behaved yesterday considering she got very little sleep. She didn't get her morning nap because of Sunday School and church, and then her afternoon nap was only 40 minutes long because she took it in the car as we were driving to get together with Paul's family to celebrate his mom's birthday. Paul didn't want to leave until his football game was over. She did sleep almost the whole way home, but then she couldn't go right back to sleep so she didn't actually go to sleep in her crib until after 9pm. Thankfully Paul stayed up with her as I was exhausted. Hopefully she'll take two good naps today to make up for the sleep she lost yesterday.

She was very excited to see Sarah at church yesterday since she hadn't seen her in a week. She'll be going to Sarah's just 8 more times in 2009. Can you believe I only have 10 more classes to teach this semester including tonight's class? That doesn't include the 3 nights of final exams or one more faculty meeting. It's exciting to think I should only be making 14 trips to work in the next four months in light of the break between semesters and then my maternity leave (presuming Ian doesn't come early). The only other time I've had 3 months off of work since 1989 was the summer of 2004 when I was transitioning from an adjunct position at another university to my present position; we moved that summer so I was busy packing, unpacking, painting, etc. My maternity leave won't be a restful time as I'll be in that infamous sleep deprived stage, but still it will be nice to have lots of time to spend with Ian and Nadia. The ironic thing is that during my maternity leave, I'll actually be receiving my full salary for the first time since September 2008 even though actually I'll be at home. When I go back, my salary will drop back to 50%.

I have been doing some birthday and Christmas shopping lately. This morning I ordered the chair pictured at left for Paul's birthday. It was on sale, which is why I bought it today even though his birthday isn't until January 3rd. It cost more than I usually spend on a birthday gift for him, but since this will be the big "40" for Paul, I thought it was okay to spend a little more than usual. He's been wanting a new office chair, and this one looks like it should be comfy as well as go perfectly with the other NY Giant items I've given him for that room in the past. I hope he likes it!

I wish I had a picture that showed Nadia's full outfit that she wore yesterday. The photos above don't show the Clifford that's on the bottom corner of the dress or how cute she looked with her black patent shoes. The dress is size 18 months and it didn't quite hit her knees. Some size 18 month dresses are still long enough, but I guess in some cases she's ready for size 24 months! The top photo is of Nadia with her Grandma. The second is of Millie (Paul's sister-in-law) with her grandson, QJ (our grandnephew). Yesterday was the first day we got to meet QJ and hold him. The third photo is of Paul's mom with her first great grandchild, and the fourth photo is of Nadia playing with her cousin, Shawn (QJ's uncle). I think next year Nadia and QJ will have fun playing together, and eventually Ian will also have fun playing with Nadia and QJ.

Frosty Pine

Yesterday we went to Lowe's to buy a gallon of paint for Ian's room. I let Paul pick the color as he has a very good eye when it comes to choosing paint colors. We brought along the wallpaper border, and he decided that a pale green called "Frosty Pine" would be the best choice. I can't wait to see Ian's room after we decorate it in about 2 weeks! We also bought a carbon monoxide detector while we were there. We ended up getting one that also measures natural gas. It was twice as expensive than the ones that just detect carbon monoxide, but since we have natural gas heating our home, it seemed worth the investment especially since natural gas makes Paul rather nervous.
Yesterday Nadia said the word "touchdown" again. She had said it last Sunday, but since I only heard it once, I hadn't counted it as a new word yet. She said it a couple of times yesterday - very clearly! You can tell her parents like football that "touchdown" was one of her first 50 words, LOL. You can see from the photo in yesterday's post that she also shares our affinity for pizza. She ate almost an entire slice last night!
Yesterday I got an email from someone in Michigan who read one of my journal articles and was wanting to do additional research on the topic. That was a pleasant surprise. I admit it's easy to just focus on the goal of tenure & promotion when writing articles. It's nice to think that people are actually reading them. :-)

Didn't Pass

I didn't pass the 3 hour glucose test, but I have not been given the diagnosis of having gestational diabetes (yet) as you have to have two abnormal levels to be diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Of the four blood draws (fasting, 1hr, 2hr, and 3hr), three were normal. Unfortunately my level at 3 hours was 149, and 139 is the upper limit for "normal" for that blood draw. The doctor said this means that I need to begin blood sugar monitoring with a glucometer at home. I have to be seen once a week to review the results. If at any point it seems that I have developed diabetes, more treatment will begin. I am glad that January 13th is only 9.5 weeks away as I'm not looking forward to pricking myself several times a day or going to the doctor once a week. Of course Ian is totally worth it, but it would have been nice to avoid a glucomoter like I did when pregnant with Nadia. The upside is that maybe I won't gain as much weight the next 9 weeks. I haven't had any ice cream in a week, and I haven't done any baking. Unfortunately my favorite food groups are dairy, fruit, and carbs. I don't generally eat much protein or veggies, which I think are the ones lowest on the glycemic index. We shall see what other changes I need to make to my diet.

I was planning to attend a function for ladies at church this morning, but the theme of it was "Chocolate Boutique" and that didn't sound like a good thing for me in light of my glucose issues. So I stayed home. I did go out last night. My friend, Cheri, who hadn't seen Nadia in more than a year and had never been inside our new house, came by and visited with us for 15 minutes before she and I left for a Barlowgirl concert. It was great to be able to spend some time with her. Tomorrow afternoon we'll be spending time with Paul's family as today is his mom's birthday. We hope she's having a very special birthday weekend!

Nadia's vocabulary continues to expand. Some of her newest words include "knee," "elbow," "baby" (said in reference to her dolls), and "uh oh." She has a word for belly button, but since it's not something others would comprehend, I am not counting it as a new word. It's sort of like "beh buh." She certainly makes good use of the word "no" lately, LOL!

Contractions are back

Tuesday I started having rather painful contractions again. They weren't AS bad as the ones I had at 23 weeks which even hurt around my back, but still they haven't been very fun. I wasn't able to stand during class very much on Tuesday night. Yesterday I felt just plain awful between the contractions and that terrible 3 hour glucose test. I skipped choir rehearsal and went to bed early. I am feeling much better so far today. Hopefully the contractions will stay away. I didn't have painful contractions like this until 36 weeks with Nadia. I keep telling Ian that it's too early for him to be born! I'm hoping to make it until at least 38 weeks this time. Monday the doctor's office called me right around 8am to tell me that I had failed the test on Friday. I am hoping that since I haven't been called today it means that I passed the 3 hour one. I sent an electronic message so hopefully they'll write me back later today. I don't like to be left in suspense and although I can access many lab results online, for whatever reason glucose isn't one of the ones that they let patients see.

Anemic

I was correct that the lab results indicated that I am anemic. I don't think they would have mentioned it to me if I hadn't asked about it. I am glad I can view my medical record (at least portions of it) online. Dr. S called back and said that I should take one iron supplement a day, and that if my stomach could tolerate it, I should start out taking two a day just to get my levels back up to where they should be. I took one today. I'll see how I fare before I go to two a day. I went ahead and took one Colace also as I know what the side effect of taking iron will be.

Paul still wants Nadia to spend some time at the neighbor's house today, but I'm thinking in light of her morning nap he won't mind keeping her at home tomorrow morning when I'm at the doctor's office. It's not that he doesn't enjoy spending time with her; he definitely does!!! It cracks me up though at the difference between moms and dads. I have never taken Nadia to a babysitter so I could get work done at home. I find ways to watch her and accomplish what I need to do whether that's grading papers or doing housework. I think Paul is probably like most fathers in that he doesn't feel he can accomplish anything else while he's in charge of Nadia.

3 Hour Test

I didn't pass the 1 hour diabetes test this time. With Nadia, my glucose was 128 after the 1 hour test. This time, it was 138. Some OB's use 130 as the cut-off (under 120 is ideal) and others use 140 as the cut-off. Dr. S must use 130. This means I have to do the 3 hour test which involves fasting for 12 hours before the test and having blood drawn four times over a 3 hour time span. I'm not looking forward to that as I usually eat breakfast at about 6:30am, and my test is scheduled to start at 8am on Wednesday. I know a lot of people fail the 1 hour test and pass the 3 hour test which means they don't have gestational diabetes. Hopefully that's what will be true for me! I will ask the neighbor if she can watch Nadia on Wednesday morning. Looking online, my red blood count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were all low and my red cell distribution width was high. All of these point to anemia. I asked the nurse if I should start taking iron in addition to the prenatal vitamin, and she said she'd check with the doctor.

Yesterday Nadia did take two naps for the first time in four days. Her morning nap was one hour long, and her afternoon nap was 90 minutes long. She also slept 11 hours last night. YAY! She wakes up chattering happily when she sleeps 11 hours or more compared to waking up crying if she sleeps less than that. If she takes an afternoon nap today, it will have to be at the neighbor's house this afternoon.

Sarah called me Thursday night to say she had the flu and couldn't watch Nadia on Friday during my doctor's appointment. Thankfully, Paul's parents said they could come up. Friday night Sarah called and said the doctor said she'd be contagious for five more days. So Saturday I called our neighbor to see if she could babysit Nadia today and tomorrow. Thankfully she is able to do so. I can tell the flu is really bad this year. My sister, Wendy, had the swine flu last week. She actually started having symptoms the same day she returned to Chicago; thankfully we didn't catch it from her while we were together in Maryland. Last Wednesday someone was supposed to come and give us an estimate on installing a fence on our property. He called to cancel due to his wife having the swine flu and him having the seasonal flu. Today someone was supposed to come and tune our pianos, but he called last night to say his children had the flu, and he needed to stay home with them today. I am very grateful that thus far we three have escaped the flu (seasonal and swine). Nadia still has a runny nose, but other than that we're healthy.

January 13th

I haven't been sleeping well lately for a variety of reasons - all of which are related to being pregnant. Most of them are physical things like hip pain. However, one reason was that I have been going round and round in my mind about VBAC vs. RSC (repeat c-section). Yesterday morning I decided that Paul and I should talk about it one more time and make a decision so that I wouldn't keep thinking about it. I listed out for Paul all the pros and cons of each that I could think of, and he had me look up a few facts such as the mortality rate for c-section (we already knew what it was for VBAC). If the decision were 100% up to me, I'd attempt a trial of labor, but I feel on a decision like this I need to defer to my hubby. His preference has always been RSC. So that's what we're going to do. I am not looking forward to being in pain for a couple of weeks, but if that's what it takes to have a healthy baby boy, it's definitely worth it! It does feel nice to have the decision made. I guess I didn't need to switch hospitals. Now I wish I had just stayed put because the first hospital is closer. If I hadn't needed to wait an hour for the bloodwork, I would have been in and out in 30 minutes this last time, and that never happened at the other OB clinic, so maybe it's all for the best anyhow. I'm actually not really crazy about Dr. S (whom I've seen 3 times now), but who knows who will do my RSC and I won't be seeing him that many more times as my next appt is at 32 weeks. Ian might decide to come sooner than 1-13, but that might be his birthday, and that's only 10 1/2 weeks away!!

Ian's clock came in the mail on Friday. Isn't it cute? We need to go pick out the paint color in the near future as Paul is going to paint Ian's room in about 3 weeks.

The last two pictures were taken yesterday. Next year we'll take Nadia trick or treating. Nobody comes to our house. Paul got Nadia a Halloween card, and Grandma got Nadia the pumpkin (which lights up). As you can see from the picture below, our penguin loves boxes!

Nadia has only been sleeping 9.5-10 hours at night lately. Hopefully we can get back up to 11 hours, which used to be the norm for her. The last 3 days she's either taken only one nap, or if she's taken two, one of them has only been 20 minutes long. Saturday and Thursday she only had morning naps, and Friday she only had an afternoon nap. I don't know if it's because of her runny nose or tooth #12 that is still coming in or the flu shot she got on Friday or a combination of those factors, but hopefully we'll get back in a good 2 nap routine in the near future. Of course "falling back" one hour this weekend doesn't help. We had been putting her to bed later than usual the last few days in an attempt to help her switch her body clock one hour. As expected though, she woke up at 5:15 (new time) this morning. Whomever came up with this plan couldn't have been a parent of a young child!

Her newest animal sound is "oo" (for an owl), and her newest word is "uh oh." A few days ago I recorded a short (32 second) video of Nadia enjoying her belly button and giving teddy bear a hug. I wanted to also record her saying "eye" when I pointed to a picture of an eye in a book, but she was too intent on hugging teddy to do that.