Pregnancy Woes

What can I say?  The end is near!  Yay.  This week I am 33 weeks along.  Just 7 to go.  So many people have said to me that my pregnancy has gone by so fast.  I have to agree that for the most part it has.  I think that probably has a lot to do with the fact that we didn't tell that we were pregnant until I was into my second trimester.  The last few weeks have not been so fast for me though.

I hate to complain.  I mean, I am always so grateful for the chance to carry another baby.  I have a friend who is going through fertility issues, one that delivered a stillborn last year, and one that is currently on hospital bed rest just trying to make it each day a little farther so I feel like its completely insensitive for me to utter one single syllable of complaint.  But....this is in fact, my blog.  It is where I can document my life.  I don't want to spill a sob story, but I want to remember that pregnancy number 3, has not been my easiest.

I was bound to have a harder pregnancy.  I mean, its just tempting fate to have 3 'textbook' pregnancies as my dr had always told me before.  Things have been a little different, a little more weird, but nothing that I would consider bad or hard.  Then I had my glucose test.  I failed it.  That's right, folks!  I have gestational diabetes.  Woo-hoo!  Five percent of pregnant women get this, and I have become one of that magical number.  I already have delivered to 9lb babies, and gestational diabetes babies tend to be bigger, so now the dr is really on the alert.

Lucky for me, I am not a hard core out-of-control diabetic.  I am not having to take insulin.  I technically don't even really need to monitor my blood sugar.  The dr wrote me a prescription that I should take twice a day and that is that.  Except, its not.  I like to avoid medicine if I can when pregnant.  I came back asking if I could try to control this with diet and exercise.  The dr gave me the green light and was impressed that I wanted to even try that, because its so much easier to take the meds and be done with it.  I am eating better.  I do a very brisk 2 mile walk on my treadmill everyday (enough to make me sweat), and biggest of all I've completely cut soda from my life.  That may not sound like a big deal to you non-soda drinkers, but for me its huge.  There is nothing like the tingly sweet taste of a cherry pepsi sliding down my throat.  Its like manna from heaven if you ask me.  My mouth waters just thinking of it......

I also bought a cheap monitor from Walmart and check my blood about 4 times a day.  I wanted to see how things would go.  Well, its not going well.  Despite my best efforts my sugars are still all over the place.  First thing in the morning before I eat I check my blood and the doc wants it under 100.  It is rarely there.  Usually it sits closer to 107.  Two hours after I eat it should be under 120.  This one I manage most of the time.  What is so frustrating to me, is that sometimes I can eat things that I know are verging on the 'bad' side for me and have my sugar at a 91, while other times I can eat well and its hitting 110.  Its just all over the place.  I finally broke down and started taking one pill a day.  Still the effects are the same.  I may have to just submit to the fact that I have to have the help of the medicine.  boo.

This 4 times a day of monitoring have made my days seem long.  I just want to eat a freakin chocolate cupcake now and again!  That shouldn't be too much of a pregnant lady to ask, right?  There is one positive though.  Because of the worry of a way too big baby they have had me come in for 3 ultrasounds and another is scheduled.  I have only had one for each prior pregnancy.  It is amazing to see a baby this developed.  When we went in last week, we could actually see Nash yawning and blinking his eyes and that was just in the 2d ultrasound, not the 3d or 4d one.  He looks great.  So far, so good.  Nash has us all worrying, but he measured in at 4lbs 2 oz (which is never completely accurate) and is in the average range.  I still fully believe he's going to come out big because that's what the other 2 did, but only time will tell.

Some of the other things that they have to worry about with the gestational diabetes is excessive weight gain on my part, high blood pressure, and too much amniotic fluid.  All of these have not been a problem for me thus far.  My weight gain is very very little, my blood pressure is almost low, and my amniotic fluid is a little bit high but its holding steady so its not a worry right now.  I will also be receiving not 1, but 2 non-stress tests....at least, thats what I think they are called.  We'll see how Nash manages that and then go from there.  I've been told that often they will induce you around 38 weeks with the gestational diabetes, but I'm not sure if that is in the plans yet for me.

So that's my life right now.  Oh, and if you tack on some serious pain in my lower back, and now some lovely burning below my belly when I stand or walk too long because he's already head down and positioning himself to make his grand entrance into this world then you have a pretty accurate account of what this pregnancy has been like lately.  I don't want Nash to come too early, but stick a fork in me because I'm just about done.

Our 'Egg'-cellent Easter

With Easter falling in March this year, it seemed like it was over before it even started.  I had plans to make some sort of Easter decorations because I have none, but I never found the time.  Like always coloring our hard boiled eggs came down to the last minute too, but it was still pretty fun.

This year I found this super cool egg-coloring kit that was spill free.  It cost me a few extra dollars than the cheap regular PAAS 1.50 kit or whatever, but I figured it was money well spent with 2 little boys doing the dying.  Well, I was wrong.  It was a crappy investment.  It made more mess than any kit we have ever had before!  Plus, instead of the 5 colors promised we got jipped and there were only 4!  I will just stick with the cheap-o box next time. 

Brody and Ryder, however, still enjoyed themselves.  They were stripped down to just their undies as a precaution to not stain their clothes, and we covered the table also to save it from stains.  We had 18 eggs to color, and color they did.  It was a really fast project because neither one of them had the patience to let their eggs sit and take on really dark and vibrant colors.  The purple egg dye must have really spoken to them because that seemed to be the color we had the most of.  

We had been talking a whole lot about Easter for the 2 weeks leading up to the actual day, and again while we were coloring eggs we talked as a family about it.  The egg dying, Easter bunny, baskets, and candy are fun and all, but we really didn't want them to lose sight of what Easter is really about.  That's kind of a lot to ask of a 4 yr old and especially a 2 yr old, but we did it anyways.  We would say things like, coloring eggs is fun, but what is Easter REALLY about, Brody?  He would think for a second and then say, "It's about Jesus."  Yep, but what about Jesus?  "It's about his ez-erection (ressurection)."  Way to go him {maybe a pat or two mom and dad}.  Well, what does that mean? "Its when Jesus' spirit left his body and then came back to it."  You are right.  Where was Jesus buried?  "In the toon (tomb)." and who move the stone away from the tomb? "The angels."  and what's the name of that lady again, that came to the tomb to see Jesus?  "It was Mary."  Now can you remember where Jesus died?  "On the two sticks (meaning the cross)."  Just hearing our little 4 year old have such a grasp of what happened to Jesus made us so happy.  It is so easy to just get caught up in all the fun of the Easter bunny, but we loved that he really knew.  It made us realize that he does listen in Primary and family home evening more than we even know.

The next morning we heard the boys get up and just anxiously waited for them to come in our room to say that the Easter Bunny had visited our house.  Well, then we waited some more.  They were up.  They were obviously staking out the living room.  Trevor cleared his throat loudly a few times in the hope that they would know we were up and come tell us.  We heard exclamations of, "There's an egg!" and other cute things before they came running, breathless into us.  Brody is shouting, "The Easter bunny came!  I saw eggs and our baskets hanging!"  Ryder is so excited his words are failing him and all he can say is, "c'mon c'mon!" 

Sure enough we got up and they both had baskets hanging from the curtain rods.  Once those were down, inspected, and eaten out of a little bit, it was time to hunt eggs.  There were plastic eggs with candy all over the living and dining room areas.  This was the first year Ryder got so into it.  He found just about as many as Brody and at just as fast of a pace.  It was so much fun to see them exclaim and get excited everytime a new egg was spotted.  

After a big breakfast the boys stepped outside and found Easter Bunny tracks on the sidewalk and even more eggs.  One half of the lawn were eggs for Brody, and the other half for Ryder.  All of these eggs had money in them.  The Easter bunny was even more generous than I had thought he was going to be.....but the kids were thrilled and couldn't wait to carry their loot inside to put in their piggy banks.  

More candy was enjoyed before heading off to church.  It was kind of different having a fast and testimony meeting on Easter, but overall, it was still nice and you could feel the spirit.

Dinner was delicious at my Mom's house that night.  We all ate until we were too full and then played outside with a few little toys that were new.  It was a great end to our Easter day.