Giuliana: Labor and Delivery

Friday, June 8th was one of the weirdest, most painful, and happiest days of my life.

I spent the week doing what I was instructed to do- which was nothing. Just peeing on sticks and poking myself with a needle. My sister-in-law Melissa flew in from Idaho on Wednesday evening for my baby shower on Saturday and she was staying with us. I felt bad because Brian still had to work, and I felt like I was pretty boring to hang out with on Thursday, but it was nice to have the company!

On Friday morning, I woke up on the early side to drive to the hospital to turn in a 24 hour urine sample because they were monitoring me for preeclampsia. (I won't go into details, but let's just say that 24 hours leaves you with a pretty hefty jug of pee to be lugging around.) I figured while I was there, I would also turn in our pre-admit form so it was one less thing we had to do come time for labor. 

I had just sent Melissa a text message before I got into my car to let her know I was on my way home, I wanted to take a quick shower, and then we could go head over to my mom's house to help her set up for the party the next day.

At 9:15, about half way into my drive, I felt a little pop, but assumed it was the baby kicking. Until I felt a little leaking. I was wondering if she kicked me so hard that I peed a little.  

Great, now my car is going to smell like pee.

Then I realized, that it was definitely a pop that I felt- was it my water that broke??

As soon as I got home and stood up outside of my car, more fluid came out, making it very apparent that it was definitely my water breaking.

I called my mom, she was on her way over. I called Brian to give him a head's up that he would probably have to be leaving work early. And then I called out to Melissa to warn her that our day was shaping up to be pretty different from what we were expecting.

 

My mom showed up at my house after what felt like hours. The three (4?) of us girls got into her car and headed off, back to my new home away from home, the hospital. 

 

Once we got there, they put me in a room and tested to make sure it was amniotic fluid- it was. That made me nervous. I had learned that once the water breaks, they want you to deliver within 24 hours to decrease the risk of infection. That meant the baby was coming. I was only at 35 weeks and 2 days- short of my 36 week goal and very short of my due date.

 

I wasn't feeling any contractions right away, and so I was feeling pretty good. I was joking around with my mom and Melissa. Brian was still at work answering some emails before he left for the day. Everything was going as smoothly as possible.

 

Then around 1:00 in the afternoon, things started to take a turn. I was 6 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. Brian still wasn't at the hospital yet. I was starting to feel contractions. And it was confirmed that I did in fact have preeclampsia. With that confirmation, I was hooked up to an IV with a Magnesium drip as well as an insulin drip since I was no longer allowed to eat or even get out of bed (I was deemed a "fall risk.")

 

Brian got there shortly after, and I was not feeling well at all. I had originally decided I wanted to do the whole birthing process naturally. That idea flew out the window once I started feeling some of those really strong contractions. I was miserable and I had no idea how long I would be feeling that way. The contractions were irregular. One lasted almost 10 straight minutes. So I gave in and got an epidural. 

As soon as they did the epidural, they also put in a catheter (which I didn't feel), and I was able to relax.

Smiling again

MIL and SIL keeping me company

 

 

 

They were monitoring me very closely- taking my blood pressure every 20 minutes, my blood glucose level every hour. Before too long, I was at 8 centimeters, which was good- I was progressing on my own, so they wouldn't have to induce. 

 

Hour by hour passed. Brian's parents and Melissa had left to get dinner and brought back some food for Brian. He headed out to the waiting room and by the time the poor guy got back to me, they had me on oxygen because the baby's heart rate was low. His face dropped and he looked so worried until we all explained it too him.

Around 9:00, they moved me into a bigger room and the whole family followed.

Ready for baby

  At this point, my brother and his girlfriend were there too. It was also around this time that I started feeling contractions again. Miserable contractions.

Fake thumbs up. I was miserable.

The hospital staff assured me that the epidural was continuously flowing but I was in PAIN! At one point, it seemed like no one had been in my room in a long time and I felt like every time I was having a contraction, I had to hold the baby in. When I expressed this, my mom got into mom-mode and went out of the room to look for someone. Apparently, my mom and Brian were told that there were 3 back to back deliveries and that someone would be with me soon. 

 

Before too long, my sweet nurse Allison was back in the room with me, I was fully dilated and ready to go. So she kicked out everyone but Brian, the moms, and Melissa. And it was time to push.

 

This is where the whole experience seems surreal. Granted, I was a bit drugged up, but I remember the whole thing perfectly. Allison held my left leg back, Brian held my right and she instructed me on how to push three times while holding my breath with each contraction. 

 

So we started... without a doctor. I was so confused- who was going to catch the baby? Shouldn't there be more people in here? But I was in too much pain to say anything. After a couple of pushes, Allison announced it was time and went out to get the doctor... who came back with a team of TWELVE people. 

 

It was around that time I realized how serious everything was. This whole team was necessary because I was giving birth to a premature baby. A baby whose level of health and ability to survive so early outside the womb was really unknown. 

I pushed from about 11:00 pm until 11:31 pm when my sweet little Giuliana was born. I screamed the entire time. I got what I wanted- even with the epidural, I felt everything. (A lesson in being careful what you wish for.) At one point- as her head was coming out (which took at least 2 different contractions, maybe even three), I yelled out, "I can't do this!" Looking back, I feel ridiculous with all my screaming and moaning, but at the time, I was in the most pain I have ever felt in my life. I feel bad if there were any expectant mothers in labor that could hear me because I probably scared the crap out of them! 

 

But what an awesome reward I got out of it- Giuliana was born at 5 pounds, 13 ounces and 19 inches. Small, but not too bad for as early as she was. She was also very healthy- all 9's on her APGAR test and able to breath on her own (crying right away!)

 

 This was pretty much all I could see of her after she was born. But I could hear her crying, so that was reassuring.

Poor little thing

Brian got to cut the umbilical cord.

I finally got to hold her... for about 30 seconds...

And then she was off to the NICU.

At that point, I was exhausted and glad that the hard part was over. The doctor stitched me up (I had some tearing) and Allison brought me a turkey sandwich and fruit salad- my first food in about 14 hours. Then our families left and Brian and I were wheeled off to the NICU to really get to meet our baby for the first time.

*****

We didn't get to hold her that night. She was hooked up to machines and they were monitoring her breathing and how well she could regulate her own body temperature. 

 

We got to look at her and oooo and ahhh for maybe 5 minutes before they brought us to the recovery room. 

 

It was almost 2 am, and I sent Brian home so he could sleep comfortably and be with Kevin. (My dad had gone over to our house earlier in the night to feed him and take him out, and our friends Mike and Kristen were with him for most of the night.) 

 

I was still a fall risk- I had to be on the magnesium for 24 hours after labor. And I had to take motrin every 6 hours. I was sore, but feeling good overall. Before I knew it, I was asleep for the night...

Bummer x 10

I'm not even know where to start with this post. I guess I'll start with the good news- I'm heading into my 35th week of pregnancy. The baby is still at a normal size, her heart beat is great, and she seems to be doing well! And thank goodness for that, because I cannot say the same for myself.

I mentioned last week that I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. At first this news seemed completely devastating, but that was a pretty selfish reaction and one that was felt mostly I really like to eat and pricking my finger 4 times a day did not sound appealing in the slightest.

After about 3 weeks of playing around with my diet and testing my blood sugar, I've settled down from the disappointment of that diagnosis and I'm looking at it as something that just needs to be done. There is still a lot about GD that confuses me (and frustrates me), but here's what I basically know...


Gestational Diabetes

Again, I'm a PE teacher, not a doctor, but the way it's been explained to me is that GD is a form of diabetes that exists only while you're pregnant, and it's because your hormones from the placenta are not allowing your body to produce enough insulin to regulate your blood sugar and turn it into energy. As long as the GD is controlled, it should not affect the baby. If left untreated, it can lead to high birth weights and the higher likelihood of a c-section and other possible complications during delivery. Untreated GD can also lead to problems for the baby after birth like jaundice, difficulty breathing, low blood sugar levels, and an increased risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life.

When I was diagnosed, my numbers weren't incredibly off, so I have just been diet-controlled. This means I don't have to inject myself with insulin everyday (woo-hoo for that!). Playing around with a diet has been tricky. I love chocolate, I enjoy eating out at restaurants, and I strongly dislike measuring out my food... like figuring out ratios of protein to carbohydrates.

Simply put, what has been working for me is a diet high in protein (eggs have been my best friend), lower in carbs, and almost non-existent in sugar. I found that occasional sugar and carbs are okay, as long as I FUEL UP on protein along with it. My biggest problem has been trying to fit in a night time snack because my morning blood glucose numbers have been high. But I'll get back to that later...

So I've been attempting to keep my levels in check with diet and the way I know how well I'm doing is with the finger pricks. I have to do a fasting check along with a check for ketones first thing in the morning. I'm still not completely sure what the whole ketone thing is about, but I know my number is supposed to be non-existent/low. To test for the ketones, I have to pee on a stick first thing every morning. To test my fasting blood glucose levels, right after I pee, I wash my hands then prick my finger. I prick my finger three more times throughout the day- 1 hour after each meal.

One more thing- exercise are supposed to be helpful. Up until last week, I was still going to the gym every morning. Then I got sick- a really bad sore throat. I couldn't talk, I would wake up all night long, I couldn't drink. I tried to go to the gym once, and it kind of set me back a couple of days and made me feel worse. Here's something important to note- while I was at the gym, I weighed myself. I had lost 4 pounds. Up to this point, I had only gained 20. (I was at the doctor yesterday and it turns out I've lost 2 more, bringing my total pregnancy weight gain to 14 pounds... hmmm....)

Since the baby is measuring a healthy size, I'm going to go ahead and assume that the weight I'm losing is my body atrophying from my lack of exercise. I've been itching to get back to the gym. But again, more on that in a little bit...

Friday, June 1

I was so pumped up for Friday- it was the last day of work, and then I would be home free to continue to work on my projects for the baby! I went to the gym, finally feeling better from almost TWO WEEKS of that crazy sore throat. I sent my mom (and workout partner) a text telling her that my stomach wasn't feeling so hot, so I wasn't going to go to the spin class that we usually do. I was just going to to the elliptical instead. My stomach was just feeling heavy- like the baby dropped and was hunkered down pushing on my pelvis. Not really painful, just uncomfortable.

I was on the treadmill for about 4 minutes when I started feeling more uncomfortable. I decided to stay on for 15 minutes, then switch to walking on the treadmill where I felt like there would be less bouncing. I managed 15 minutes on the treadmill before calling it a morning and heading to my mom's to get ready for work.

At work, I was not feeling my greatest. I felt like I needed to sit down a lot. I couldn't keep up walking fast with my co-workers to get all of our last day papers signed off. I was just feeling crampy and gross. I was thinking that maybe it was Braxton-Hicks contractions. One of my co-workers said that maybe the baby did drop. All I knew for sure was that I was really uncomfortable.


Saturday, June 2

I woke up Saturday not really feeling any better. My mom told me that she was skipping our step class that day (she's been working hard on getting everything ready for my shower that's coming up this weekend) and I agreed, saying that I wasn't feeling up to it anyway. Brian and I had plans to go to Ikea to get a couch for the nursery (which is coming along, btw). He drove and I remember I had to keep stretching out because my stomach was bothering me so much. We had a successful trip and set up the couch that evening while we watched the Kings win another Stanley Cup game. :) Brian did all of the work while I read off directions. I remember leaning over the arm of the couch at one point, and I just felt so uncomfortable. Like, it was hard to breathe. I started googling Braxton-Hicks contractions and early labor. What I was feeling felt a lot like what was being described as early labor, which at 34 weeks, is not such a great thing. We went to bed early- Brian had to work the next day and I was planning on going to my parents' house to help my mom and hang out...

Sunday, June 3

Brian left for work pretty early, so I got up and jumped in the shower. With all of the previous night's googling still in my head, I figured I better start keeping my legs shaved every day and my hair looking nice- you never know when you might have to go to the hospital, right?

Call it mother's intuition or something. I got out of the shower and got dressed, straightened my hair, then went to the bathroom before heading off to my parents... and there was some blood when I wiped.

Immediately, tears came to my eyes.

It wasn't that much blood, but enough to the crap out of me. I put a panty liner on and then headed off to my parents'.

My stomach had still been cramping and it was getting worse on this particular morning. I had to keep stopping whatever I was doing and hunch over. I explained to my mom what I was experiencing. I went to use their bathroom to find that the panty liner that I had just put on about a half hour before was filling up with bright red blood.

I called my mom into the bathroom and showed her. She just looked at me and said, "We got to get you to the hospital."

I called the labor and delivery department just to make sure and they told me yes, to come in as soon as possible.

As soon as I got there, they hooked me up to a bunch of monitors. The first one was the doppler and I could hear the baby's heartbeat- to my immediate relief. They kept taking my blood pressure (which was high). They determined that the cramping I was feeling was actually contractions. Like, real ones, not Braxton-Hicks. They also figured out that I have a UTI which could have been brought on because I was dehydrated. (Which could have been because of my sore throat- it was really hard to drink that whole last week and a half.)

After about 3 hours of sitting there with my mom, they released me with the instructions to drink A LOT more water and make sure I have a low salt/sodium intake. I was in preterm labor (any labor before 36 weeks is considered preterm). Because my blood pressure was so high, they were worried about preeclampsia, so I have to make sure I'm watching for other symptoms. I had to get antibiotics for the UTI, so now I'm taking those with breakfast and dinner for 5 days. Oh, and the worst part- BED REST.

They wanted to write me out of work, but I proudly told them I was done for the summer. So they were like, perfect, and you can't do anything else either. I was like, "But it's okay for me to take the dog out, right?"

Nope. No walking the dog, no shopping, they didn't even want me up and cooking for myself. They literally want me sitting/laying down at all times unless I get up to go to the bathroom. That made me cry. It was like a reality check- this is serious.

My mom kept Brian updated about the whole situation. He was able to get home a little earlier than planned that afternoon and he was very good about helping me.

We headed to bed around 9:30 and the cramping contractions were getting worse. More intense, closer together. We learned in our Lamaze class that you go to the hospital when contractions get "stronger, longer, and closer together" or follow the 411 rule- 4 minutes apart, for 1 minute each, for an hour.

Brian started timing these contractions- they were only a minute apart and lasting for a minute. It was miserable. They were one right after another. I couldn't fall asleep, I couldn't get comfortable. And after we timed them for a little bit, we decided to call the hospital again to see what they thought.

Sure enough, they told us to come back. We got there around 10:30. We were there until after 2 am. I was hooked up to all of the same machines. The same doctor was working and she said she thought I might be back before the night was over. My BP was still high so they were monitoring that the entire time and making sure there weren't any signs of preeclampsia. They had me click a button every time I was feeling a contraction (which was often). They did a cervical examination and the doctor said again that I was definitely in preterm labor- my cervix was shortening. She said "hopefully we can get another week out of you."

source

They re-emphasized that I need to be on bed rest because we want the baby to stay inside of me for as long as possible. Scary stuff. Definitely not what I was expecting from this week.

Brian and I were talking about how unprepared we felt- I still wasn't done painting furniture yet. We didn't have the car seat yet- how would we even get her home?? We haven't done our big house cleaning yet or fully prepared the nursery anything for her arrival.

We went home that night a little scared, very overwhelmed, and extremely tired.

Monday, June 4

Brian took Monday off, partially from being tired (2:30 am bedtimes are not easy to recover from when you have a 5:30 am wake up call) but mostly because the baby could come at any moment, I was miserable, and he wasn't comfortable leaving me yet.

I was up off and on the entire night with contractions. When I woke up, (after my usual pee on a stick and take my blood routine) I went downstairs so I wouldn't bother the boys with my moaning. I did manage to fall back asleep- curling up on the couch has proven to be far more comfortable for me than sprawling out in bed right now. Brian woke me up in time to get ready for my regularly scheduled doctors appointment.

This particular appointment was with the sweetest midwife who was extremely easy to talk to. She already knew about my whole debacle from the day before. Again, my blood pressure was high, which worried her. She also wanted to do a Group B Strep test. When she did that, she told me she was pretty sure that I was losing my mucous plug and she wanted to do another cervical check.

She determined that I was about 80% effaced, 1 cm dilated, and at 0 station.

Source

Source

0 station is pretty much the last stop before the decent into the birth canal, and it's still just a bit too early for any of this business.

She said reiterated that I need to be on bed rest, think only happy thoughts, and that my goal is to make it to week 36. That would be next Wednesday, June 13th... still an entire month before her due date.

After each appointment now, I have to meet with a GD team that goes over my numbers and is there to support me. Because my fasting numbers have been high, they wanted me to go on a pill (the last step before insulin) to see if that could help my fasting numbers... one more pill to take.

Because my blood pressure was still high, I had to go back to labor and delivery for the third time in 24 hours. I was hooked up to the same machines and asked all of the same questions. Brian has been so patient throughout this whole thing. He made phone calls to the moms to let them know what was going on. I sat there patiently, reaching out to me every time I groaned in discomfort.

After drawing more blood (the results can back normal) and watching the baby for a bit, they determined that I was ready to go home.

It was around 4:00 that Brian and I were in the car. (My appointment was at 11:10)

I was still having contractions pretty much until the time we went to bed. Throughout the night, I woke up maybe 8 times with contractions.

Kevin has been taking very good care of me

Today has been better though. I have been mostly off of my feet- which has been a very difficult task for me. I hate being bored and I hate depending on others, so this isn't easy. Pain-wise though, I feel better today. I get a dull pain low in my abdomen, but with the baby that low, it makes sense. My back hurts occasionally too- which I've been warned can also be a contraction- but all in all today, I've maybe only felt light contractions about 4 or 5 times. This is like heaven compared to how I was feeling yesterday and Sunday.

So for now, I'm taking it day to day. Work ended at a perfect time because they wanted me to take off work now anyway- especially once they discovered I teach PE! I'm hoping to make it until at least next week for the baby's sake. If I can go even longer, obviously that would be ideal. I just want her to be as healthy as possible.

Sometimes I feel selfish because I want to be able to eat whatever I want again, and I want to be able to go shopping or work out or even RUN! These last couple of days or weeks will be a true test of my character and how selfless I can actually be. It's definitely been a learning growing experience for me. I'll be back with updates whenever I can!

Higher Edumacation

It's been another busy week around the Collins' house!

Today is Kevin's 2nd birthday!

Unfortunately, we aren't getting the chance to celebrate it just yet. 

Do you see that little red bump in his arm pit?

Do you see it now? We noticed it a couple of weeks ago. He also had his two year check up last week, so I pointed it out to the vet. She said it was a skin tumor- which can either be completely benign or cancerous. And that's just plain scary.

So we had an appointment to get it removed today.

My dad came with me to pick him up in case he was too lethargic/out of it to get into the car or up our stairs. (If I wasn't about 8 months pregnant, you know I would have lifted him like a champ.)

He was able to jump up into my car all by himself, and other than some slight crying, he's been doing very well!

He even posed for some pictures after we got home!

It's a pretty gnarly wound and he has to go back in two weeks to get his stitches out. But he's doing well in general. Much better than I was expecting. And we should get results back within a week.

*********************

Annnnnnddddddd...

I finally graduated with my masters degree in Kinesiology!!! 

I wasn't going to walk at first. I just wanted to be done, and I knew it was going to be hot outside, and I was going to be all big and pregnant, and I didn't know anyone else graduating. Boo.

When I graduated with my bachelors degree SIX years ago, I had this huge clique of friends and we were rowdy and excited and on the brink of beginning our lives. 

This time, there was only one masters candidate that I recognized from one of my classes two years ago. We sat next to each other and spoke for a bit, but it was a totally different vibe. 

Our friend Ashlee (the one that introduced me and Brian ♥ ) was getting her bachelors degree in Kinesiology, so Brian and I found her and hung out for a little bit.

But we had to part ways to line up, so that was relatively short lived.

Long story short, I got three hugs from my favorite professor, I got the satisfaction of walking after years of work, and I got to share it with my family- even the baby!

That is one proud husband/dad! I love him!!!

Mom and Dad

Brian, me, and mom and dad

Me, Brian, and his mom and dad

I snuck out as early as I could (7:30!) and we met up with my brother and his girlfriend for some dinner. 

It's kind of awesome- I finally feel done-ish... I'm waiting until I actually get my diploma in the mail. As soon as I do, I'm recycling SOOOOO many journals and studies and drafts of my paper. 

Regardless, I have been able to focus on baby crafts and finishing the end of my teaching school year. (Only 5 more work days, by the way! Then I'll have my biggest hiatus since I started teaching- with a little bit of baby thrown in for good measure!)

Please keep Kevin in your thoughts- we need this guy around and healthy for awhile. He's really looking forward to being a big brother and I'm looking forward to hanging out with my two healthy babies this summer! ♥

Top of the third

Warning: I'm going to be kind of all over the place with this post. I haven't written in a long time and there is A LOT of catching up to do.

First, I'm at 32 weeks as of Wednesday- that means 8 WEEKS LEFT!!! Give or take 2 weeks, of course. (Crap, that means it could be 6 weeks...)

This is what the beginningish of the third trimester is leaving me looking like:

Yup, it's attractive. 

Week 7 was the first week we took a picture. That was around the time I was thinking I was about 20 pounds overweight. Ha!

Week 13 was the last week of the 1st trimester. I was bloated, but still weighed the same.

Week 28 was the end of the 2nd trimester (about 2 weeks after our San Diego trip) and I was up about 17 pounds.

Now, I'm up 19 pounds, but definitely feeling HEAVY. I attempted push ups yesterday and although my upper body strength has always left something to be desired, I used to be able to do 25 at a time. Yesterday I could do 2 sets of 5. And that belly was getting close to the ground!


Working Out
Why yes, I've still been going to the gym. I stopped recording my workouts on here, but I'm pretty much in the same routine as before- elliptical 3 days a week, classes 3 days a week. I have had to tone down my intensity and I've been having to take a lot more water breaks, but I'm still working. Brian and I have been going on nightly walks with Kevin too, and that's been nice and relaxing.

MY BODY- the good, the bad, and the ugly
I'm going to go out of order here and start with the ugly because- knock on wood- there hasn't been much ugly. Sure, I'm gaining weight, but it's pretty much all in my stomach. My group ex instructor keeps telling me that you can't tell I'm prego from behind, so that's nice. But that weight in the front sure does make it difficult to bend over. And get out of bed. And slouch. So then onto the good...



It's still early, but no stretch marks or weird lines yet. My innie belly button has remained tucked in- again, nice. Especially since it's getting HOT and I'm planning on wearing a bikini still. I will say this though- my belly button is stretching out a bit, so it's bigger. But that just makes it easier to clean! Overall, I've been having a pretty mellow pregnancy. Until 2 weeks ago. So here's the bad...

Gestational Diabetes
I will admit that I don't always make the healthiest food choices. What, there are donuts at our meeting? It doesn't matter if I just ate breakfast at home. Oh, you say you want chocolate chip pancakes? Right-o. Should we order dessert? Why, of course we should. Dumb question.

But I have always been healthy. I exercise, my blood pressure has always been stellar, I've never had an overnight stay in the hospital. I am aware of what I eat, but I have never enjoyed counting calories or paying attention to my carb vs protein intake.

Well, on May 4th, I got a wake up call. 

Let's go back to November. I had to take a routine glucose test. You have to drink a sugary orange drink and then your blood gets drawn an hour later. The result has to be under 130 mg/dl. Mine was 111. Good.

In the meantime, I've been eating my standard food. I didn't really even have much of an appetite until maybe a month ago. Around week 28, they want you to go back to test again, just to make sure. No problem.

I should have known something was different. The first test, I felt fine. This time around, I felt gross. My head hurt, my stomach hurt. I had to put on my little sea bands that I got for our cruise to prevent motion sickness. (I've kept them in my purse this entire pregnancy.) I haven't had to use them since the first trimester. (Still not sure if they work, but I never threw up, so I'll take it!)

Anyway, Brian said it's probably because I needed to eat. He was probably right because as soon as I did, I felt better. I should have taken that debacle as a sign, but again- I've never had any major medical problems and my last test was fine.

Well, my results came back- 160! That's 30 mg/dl over the limit. No good.

So I had to take a 3 hour glucose test. And yes, that's about as miserable as it sounds. 

You drink another sugar drink with even more sugar. You give blood once before the drink is consumed, and then once every hour on the hour after that- 4 blood tests total. 

I was mostly worried about being bored, but it was the day after my final defense, and I had some editing to do, so I sat in the lobby of the hospital, editing my thesis, waiting to have my blood drawn.

My test scores came out like this:

Component	Your result	Standard range	Units
GLUCOSE, FASTING, PRE 100 G GLUCOSE PO, SER/PLAS	95	<95	mg/dL
GLUCOSE 1H POST 100 G GLUCOSE PO	174	<180	mg/dL
GLUCOSE 2H POST 100 G GLUCOSE PO	154	<155	mg/dL
GLUCOSE 3H POST 100 G GLUCOSE PO	123	<140	mg/dL

Not so bad, right? Wrong. That first score of 95- that's not good. They want you under 95. I was right at 95, so that means I was 1 point too high. And that left me with a diagnosis of borderline gestational diabetes. I'll go into more detail about all this in another post. 

Here's the quick version though- I'm on a pretty strict diet, I have to pee on a stick every morning to check for ketones, and I have to prick my finger 4 (FOUR!!!) times a day. But again, more on that later.

For now, here's a picture of Kevin cuddling his future baby sister...

 He's going to be an excellent brother.


I'll be back soon with more updates!

San Diego Babymoon Day 1

Now that it's almost been a month, I figured I should recap our little "babymoon" vacation. We debated where to go. Ideally, we wanted to go to Hawaii. It's one of our favorite places to visit, it's not that long of a plane ride, and who knows when we'll be able to make it back after the baby is born.

But it was still a little nerve wracking to be so far from home at 26 weeks. Plus we were planning our vacation for spring break and it would have been more expensive to go for a couple of days than it was to go for our honeymoon.

We decided that San Diego was a perfect location for what we wanted to accomplish (relax) and what we wanted to spend (not much).

On the drive down, I asked Brian if we could stop in Temecula for a couple of hours. That's where I went with Alexis and Rachael for my bachelorette party, and I thought Brian would enjoy it there. 

I was right! We had some awesome cheeseburgers for lunch and walked up and down Old Town antique shopping. We found a gift for my brother and some awesome old Golden Books (remember those??) for 69 cents each! Baby has quite the book collection started! Then we were on our way.

It was kind of like coming full circle because our first little vacation together was in San Diego.

San Diego Zoo, April 2010

The last time we were in San Diego, we went to the zoo, Little Italy, some museums... it was awesome, but we wanted to do some different things this time around.

We decided to spend more time in the downtown area- the Gaslamp District. So that's where we stayed! We spent the first two nights at the Gaslamp Plaza Suites Hotel.

Our view

It was an awesome location, right in the middle of the downtown area, within walking distance to all kinds of restaurants and shops.

The hotel itself was a new kind of experience! It's a historical site that was built in 1913 and at 11 stories, it was the city's first skyscraper! It used to be an office building and it was converted into a hotel in the 80s. Each room is a suite with a little kitchen and living area. They served breakfast each morning on the rooftop. It was quaint and unique!

After we checked in that first day, we explored the hotel and then decided to go for a walk around the city. We made our way down past the convention center and over to Seaport Village to explore their shops. 

I got really excited when I spotted a duck and her ducklings. Motherly instinct kicking in?

 

We walked, shopped, and people watched. Some of our favorite things to do!

We walked back towards the hotel and we passed Petco Park, where the Padres play. We had tickets for later in the trip, but it was cool walking around the stadium. It's so much more fan-friendly than Dodger Stadium. (Another reason not to like the Dodgers??)

We started discussing dinner. We were both still pretty full from lunch, but we had noticed a Ghiradelli chocolate shop near our hotel. So we split a chocolate banana sundae. Perfection! By this point, it was past my bedtime after 8:00 and we were tired from walking around all day, so we decided to call it a night. 

We had an early wake up call the next day anyway... Sea World!

To Be Continued...

So this thesis thing...

I had my final defense this afternoon. Basically, it's a presentation of everything that I've been working on for the last 5 or so years in front of a committee of my former professors (but it's actually open to anyone interested), and they have to decide if my work is good enough to be published and my degree granted.

I was really close to finishing before Brian and I got married. Like, I was done with all of my classes, but I still had writing to do. Well, obviously planning a wedding is a lot more fun than writing a thesis, so I took the 2010-2011 school year off to focus on wedding fun. I jumped back into it this last Fall, ready to be done once and for all.

I finished writing it last semester, and only needed to have it read by my adviser, make some edits, and them have my committee approve it. Easy. We all thought it would be done by January/February. Somehow, it still all got pushed to the last minute- like the deadline for submission is next FRIDAY! 

Believe it or not, 8 days early is actually pretty good for a master procrastinator like myself. That's assuming that my committee passed me, of course...

Well...

I PASSED!!! 

So that's all pretty much over! I was stressing about today too. I don't mind public speaking, but it's pretty intimidating to present years of work to professors in the field. Professors that hold my future in their hands. Professors that could potentially cost me more time and money if they make a lot of demands.

I spoke to quickly. I said "um" maybe 86 times. I stumbled over some words. I was dripping sweat.

But I was passionate about what I was talking about, I was able to give strong answers to each of their questions, and I had some pretty awesome visual aids. 

I am going to sleep well tonight!

I'm writing on my lunch break right now, so my time is limited. I just wanted to check in (if anyone is still reading) and let you know I'm still alive and well and very pregnant!

I have a lot of fun stories and pictures to share, but first things first- I'm defending my thesis tomorrow evening, so most of my concentration has been on that recently.

In short, I'm still going to the gym as often as I can (usually 5-6 times a week), work is going very well... so well, in fact, that I may have a happy announcement soon, I'm finally getting a rounder baby bump so it doesn't just look like a fat-guy belly, and I've been starting to "nest" but I don't feel like I can really concentrate on the nursery/house until after tomorrow!

I still need to post about our babymoon, update some pictures, and show you what the finished book case looks like! Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow night with some good news! :) 

DIY Silhouette Tutorial

Silhouettes seem to be all the rage right now and with a new room to decorate, I wanted to get in on the action! I found several tutorial that seemed easy enough- but I don't have a projector and after seeing how expensive self-adhesive vinyl can be, I decided to forgo that route for a first time project. This is my super easy version of  DIY silhouette art...

First, you find (or take) the picture that you want to use. I would say if you're just using someone's head, use a profile picture. But if your subject is an animal, it could be fun to use a full-body shot in an off-beat pose, like I did here. For this project, I decided to take a new picture of Kevin. The only problem was that Kevin happens to be a total ham.

He will pose for the picture and then as soon as the shutter clicks, he will lunge for the camera. He really enjoys smiling. Needless to say, it's not easy to get him to focus on something other than the camera to get that profile shot.

Unless I catch him looking out the window. In fact, that's what he's doing as we speak I type.

Cute, right? Neighborhood watch at its finest. Anyway, I said something to the effect of, "Kevin, look at that bird!" and I pointed out the window. (There was no bird. I feel kind of bad. But I got my shot!)

Boom! He looks intense, right?
I uploaded it to my computer and changed it to sepia so I could see the definition around his head better.

Next, I printed that bad boy out, cut out around his head, and gathered my supplies...

Supplies:

• cut out of your picture
• canvas in the size you want
• acrylic paint
• paint brushes
• something to mix paint in (if you don't care for the colors the paint comes in)
• double sided tape (not pictured)

Once my supplies were laid out, I stuck some double sided tape along the edges of the back of my cut out.Then I positioned it on the canvas. Because Kevin was looking down when I snapped the picture, I thought he looked kind of sad. I wanted to make sure he looked more proud in his silhouette, so when I attached the picture to the canvas, I titled his head at the angle I liked.

Next, I mixed my paint. I wanted a soft pink, but only had hot pink, white, and brown. So I mixed a lot of the hot pink with a lot of the white and a dab of brown to get the shade I was looking for.

Then I painted around the edges (cutting in, I suppose), brushing out from the picture to ensure that my paint started at the edge of the picture and didn't seep underneath. I wasn't sure if this technique would work until I was finished...

After I finished the edges, I filled in the rest of the canvas so that the pink would be on the outside and the actual silhouette would be white. (If you wanted another color for the silhouette, paint the canvas that color first, let it dry, and then begin from the start of my instructions.)

After I finished my painting, I peeled off the picture, and ta-da!!!

 It still looks a little splotchy in the picture because it was drying, but it looks pretty sweet now that it's all dry!
And Kevin approves!

Now I just have to find the perfect spot for it in the nursery! :)