Here I am ... halfway to my next goal of 28 weeks. I'm 26 weeks today!
And... it has been a rough week to say the least. Last Thursday night, I started coming down with a nasty cold. I'd had little touch of something all week, but this was when it started to get bad. My throat was super sore, and by Friday evening I couldn't get up off the couch! I spent all weekend lounging and sleeping either on the couch or in bed. I used an entire box of Kleenex on Saturday, and on Sunday the coughing started. By Monday, I'd pulled a muscle in my stomach from coughing. I was even starting to make a wheezing sound as my cough "sucked in". I knew come Monday morning, I needed to call my doctor. I don't remember a cold ever taking me out so much in my life. I guess I understand why pregnant people die from the flu now!
My doctor wanted to see me, so I trekked over there for a visit. The visits are NEVER short. I spent
1-1/2 hours there... mostly waiting. She felt I just had a virus. Listened to baby girl's heartbeat - 143 beats per minute and sounding fine, and took my blood pressure - I was unhappy with the result there, it was showing 128/85, which is definitely higher than I've been in this pregnancy. She felt that may just be the stress the cold was putting on my system. She did write me an Rx for cough medicine, and definitely suggested I should take some time out to rest. Rest and fluids was the only thing that was going to get me better. I was already staring down a more than busy week at work, but I'm proud to say I took some initiative to actually say I needed a time out to rest, and took a good portion of the day off on Tuesday. I am feeling like I am finally on the mend now, but I've been warned it could be slow.
Tomorrow we have our standard every 2 weeks check up. We will have a full ultrasound this time, which will include checking on the baby's growth. I am nervous as usual, but especially nervous for this growth check. We are still hoping and praying that she is doing better or at least the same, and we can have a little more relief to make it to 28 weeks. I also am really hoping that my blood pressure will be down from Monday - as it is much too early for me to start down that road here at only 26 weeks.
July 5th - next Tuesday - I will be going in for a fetal MRI and another echocardiogram.
So... lots of upcoming appointments and tests to clear a few more hurdles. All providing more information on our baby's prognosis and giving doctors the information they may need to help her once she is born. Lots of anxiety where we are hoping to find small moments of peace.
Speaking of anxiety... the bills finally started coming in the mail this past week. While we are extremely blessed to have really good health insurance, I've been informed that my prenatal care will not be covered 100% by my plan, because they only cover "routine" prenatal care at that rate. And they think I'm not routine...
I'll leave you this week with a picture of how chaos can actually promote peace. Thanks to some great friends and family both buying and sharing previously loved little baby girl clothes. I laid everything we had out on Sunday and this is what resulted... I called this - PINK EXPLOSION!
And... it has been a rough week to say the least. Last Thursday night, I started coming down with a nasty cold. I'd had little touch of something all week, but this was when it started to get bad. My throat was super sore, and by Friday evening I couldn't get up off the couch! I spent all weekend lounging and sleeping either on the couch or in bed. I used an entire box of Kleenex on Saturday, and on Sunday the coughing started. By Monday, I'd pulled a muscle in my stomach from coughing. I was even starting to make a wheezing sound as my cough "sucked in". I knew come Monday morning, I needed to call my doctor. I don't remember a cold ever taking me out so much in my life. I guess I understand why pregnant people die from the flu now!
My doctor wanted to see me, so I trekked over there for a visit. The visits are NEVER short. I spent
1-1/2 hours there... mostly waiting. She felt I just had a virus. Listened to baby girl's heartbeat - 143 beats per minute and sounding fine, and took my blood pressure - I was unhappy with the result there, it was showing 128/85, which is definitely higher than I've been in this pregnancy. She felt that may just be the stress the cold was putting on my system. She did write me an Rx for cough medicine, and definitely suggested I should take some time out to rest. Rest and fluids was the only thing that was going to get me better. I was already staring down a more than busy week at work, but I'm proud to say I took some initiative to actually say I needed a time out to rest, and took a good portion of the day off on Tuesday. I am feeling like I am finally on the mend now, but I've been warned it could be slow.
Tomorrow we have our standard every 2 weeks check up. We will have a full ultrasound this time, which will include checking on the baby's growth. I am nervous as usual, but especially nervous for this growth check. We are still hoping and praying that she is doing better or at least the same, and we can have a little more relief to make it to 28 weeks. I also am really hoping that my blood pressure will be down from Monday - as it is much too early for me to start down that road here at only 26 weeks.
July 5th - next Tuesday - I will be going in for a fetal MRI and another echocardiogram.
So... lots of upcoming appointments and tests to clear a few more hurdles. All providing more information on our baby's prognosis and giving doctors the information they may need to help her once she is born. Lots of anxiety where we are hoping to find small moments of peace.
Speaking of anxiety... the bills finally started coming in the mail this past week. While we are extremely blessed to have really good health insurance, I've been informed that my prenatal care will not be covered 100% by my plan, because they only cover "routine" prenatal care at that rate. And they think I'm not routine...
I'll leave you this week with a picture of how chaos can actually promote peace. Thanks to some great friends and family both buying and sharing previously loved little baby girl clothes. I laid everything we had out on Sunday and this is what resulted... I called this - PINK EXPLOSION!
This morning I was doing some googling and found this:"About 1 in every 1,500 to 2,500 newborn babies has Turner Syndrome. Yet according to research, monosomy X is present in about 3% of all conceptions, but about 99% of affected babies are miscarried or stillborn. The condition is thought to be a factor in roughly 15% of all miscarriages."
(source)
And...I sit here amazed to be at 25-1/2 weeks, to feel my baby kicking. I hate odds! They have not been my friend, but I am beyond grateful at this moment. Getting to the point where I can write those words has not been easy - a journey of anger, tears, questioning, pleading - and maybe I won't even feel this way tomorrow, but I do right now.
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well."
-- Psalm 139:13-14
My sister shared this with me last week, and it is so powerful I just wanted to share it with you. God knows our baby's name. He knows her future, and I just can't help but think at this moment that a baby with only a 1% chance of making it - and yet is still here with us - must have a very special purpose in life, whatever the course of that takes.
(source)
And...I sit here amazed to be at 25-1/2 weeks, to feel my baby kicking. I hate odds! They have not been my friend, but I am beyond grateful at this moment. Getting to the point where I can write those words has not been easy - a journey of anger, tears, questioning, pleading - and maybe I won't even feel this way tomorrow, but I do right now.
"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well."
-- Psalm 139:13-14
My sister shared this with me last week, and it is so powerful I just wanted to share it with you. God knows our baby's name. He knows her future, and I just can't help but think at this moment that a baby with only a 1% chance of making it - and yet is still here with us - must have a very special purpose in life, whatever the course of that takes.
For once I didn't fail a test... Let me repeat that I DID NOT fail a test.
So adding to this list of 50 things losing weight has given me:
#51: NO Gestational Diabetes this time!
Yep... you read it right, at over 100 pounds lighter than my last pregnancy, I passed - with flying colors according to my doctor - the 3 hour gestational diabetes test yesterday! With all the doom and gloom around this pregnancy having just this one thing in my back pocket really feels better than even I thought it would.
Studies show that having a BMI over 30 pre-pregnancy, increases your risk of gestational diabetes, and once you've had gestational diabetes your risk of getting type 2 diabetes within 5-10 years is 50-75% at the over 30 BMI, but only 25% at a normal BMI. (source) I've never been one to believe in statistics and odds... because I've hit a .2% of something happening twice now within 4 years... but odds you can actually control with a healthy lifestyle - I'll take those!
The hygroma... the possible Turner or Down's syndrome... the heart defect... the grim statistics... those are with the baby - those were out of my control from the beginning. Just typing that statement has been a long road towards me accepting that very statement. But this - this is the one thing I did have control over, and when I failed the 1 hour test last week I was pretty devastated. It was lucky I actually made that post of the 50 things earlier that day, or else I'm pretty sure I would have never posted it. I felt like every pound, every small victory was suddently erased and meant nothing. But now... that has all been redeemed! I do NOT have gestational diabetes! No poking my finger 4 times a day... no extra worries for the stress it takes on the baby... and honestly best of all a reduced risk of preeclampsia! 3 cheers for all of those things, especially when I've so desperately needed a win in this pregnancy!
So adding to this list of 50 things losing weight has given me:
#51: NO Gestational Diabetes this time!
Yep... you read it right, at over 100 pounds lighter than my last pregnancy, I passed - with flying colors according to my doctor - the 3 hour gestational diabetes test yesterday! With all the doom and gloom around this pregnancy having just this one thing in my back pocket really feels better than even I thought it would.
Studies show that having a BMI over 30 pre-pregnancy, increases your risk of gestational diabetes, and once you've had gestational diabetes your risk of getting type 2 diabetes within 5-10 years is 50-75% at the over 30 BMI, but only 25% at a normal BMI. (source) I've never been one to believe in statistics and odds... because I've hit a .2% of something happening twice now within 4 years... but odds you can actually control with a healthy lifestyle - I'll take those!
The hygroma... the possible Turner or Down's syndrome... the heart defect... the grim statistics... those are with the baby - those were out of my control from the beginning. Just typing that statement has been a long road towards me accepting that very statement. But this - this is the one thing I did have control over, and when I failed the 1 hour test last week I was pretty devastated. It was lucky I actually made that post of the 50 things earlier that day, or else I'm pretty sure I would have never posted it. I felt like every pound, every small victory was suddently erased and meant nothing. But now... that has all been redeemed! I do NOT have gestational diabetes! No poking my finger 4 times a day... no extra worries for the stress it takes on the baby... and honestly best of all a reduced risk of preeclampsia! 3 cheers for all of those things, especially when I've so desperately needed a win in this pregnancy!
Another week... as of today I'm 25 weeks... 3 more weeks to my next goal of making it to 28 weeks.
Like I said in this post - things are pretty much staying the same right now - and for now I'm really OK with that. My big thing of the last week was FAILING the 1 hour glucose test for gestational diabetes. I did have gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with "L", and my understanding is that once you've had it in a pregnancy there is about a 90% chance of getting it in subsequent pregnancies. This morning, I'll be fasting and spending the first 3 hours of my morning in the hospital lab drinking my special drink (I getting quite accustomed to the deliciousness that is the glucose drink) and getting blood taken 4 times! I bruise easily when I have blood taken so I figure I should look totally beat up by the time I get out of there tomorrow. Going the whole morning without eating anything - until probably 11 am - is also not my idea of a good time. You think... it is no big deal, but that is because you are probably not pregnant right now. Food is important - it keeps away the sickies and the headaches. I am not holding out any hope that I will actually pass the 3 hour test. I guess the most I can say is SURPRISE ME (for once)!
This past weekend I spent quite a bit of time purging boy clothes . Pregnancy is too difficult for me, and I'm not planning on doing this again. Since I'm having a girl, then I have no need for boy clothes, and it felt good to clear up some shelves in the basement. I was able to give a friend some for her new little guy, and I took the rest to a local kids store where I netted negative 50 cents because I bought some really cute girl stuff - squee!! The rest is going to charity, and I have lots of empty bins just waiting to filled with precious little girl clothes.
I think I'm finally starting to look pregnant vs. fat. I'm about 18 pounds above my goal weight and have gained around 26 pounds total since getting pregnant. I have gained most of my weight so far in the butt and hips. I don't pop out, but I do get wider.
I could use a huge favor. I need meal and snack ideas for gestational diabetes. I have to stick to fairly low carb - especially with breakfast - as hormones are highest in the morning during pregnancy. I believe I can have 1-2 servings of carbs at breakfast (15-30 grams) and 1 carb per snack - which always has to be mixed with a protein, and lunches and dinners can be 2-3 carbs (30-45 grams). I'm not much of a low carb person, so this gets tough for me. If you have ideas, or know of any great websites to visit, please leave me a comment. Thanks!
Another week... like the little engine that could I'm chugging my way on to 26 weeks.
Like I said in this post - things are pretty much staying the same right now - and for now I'm really OK with that. My big thing of the last week was FAILING the 1 hour glucose test for gestational diabetes. I did have gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with "L", and my understanding is that once you've had it in a pregnancy there is about a 90% chance of getting it in subsequent pregnancies. This morning, I'll be fasting and spending the first 3 hours of my morning in the hospital lab drinking my special drink (I getting quite accustomed to the deliciousness that is the glucose drink) and getting blood taken 4 times! I bruise easily when I have blood taken so I figure I should look totally beat up by the time I get out of there tomorrow. Going the whole morning without eating anything - until probably 11 am - is also not my idea of a good time. You think... it is no big deal, but that is because you are probably not pregnant right now. Food is important - it keeps away the sickies and the headaches. I am not holding out any hope that I will actually pass the 3 hour test. I guess the most I can say is SURPRISE ME (for once)!
This past weekend I spent quite a bit of time purging boy clothes . Pregnancy is too difficult for me, and I'm not planning on doing this again. Since I'm having a girl, then I have no need for boy clothes, and it felt good to clear up some shelves in the basement. I was able to give a friend some for her new little guy, and I took the rest to a local kids store where I netted negative 50 cents because I bought some really cute girl stuff - squee!! The rest is going to charity, and I have lots of empty bins just waiting to filled with precious little girl clothes.
I think I'm finally starting to look pregnant vs. fat. I'm about 18 pounds above my goal weight and have gained around 26 pounds total since getting pregnant. I have gained most of my weight so far in the butt and hips. I don't pop out, but I do get wider.
I could use a huge favor. I need meal and snack ideas for gestational diabetes. I have to stick to fairly low carb - especially with breakfast - as hormones are highest in the morning during pregnancy. I believe I can have 1-2 servings of carbs at breakfast (15-30 grams) and 1 carb per snack - which always has to be mixed with a protein, and lunches and dinners can be 2-3 carbs (30-45 grams). I'm not much of a low carb person, so this gets tough for me. If you have ideas, or know of any great websites to visit, please leave me a comment. Thanks!
Another week... like the little engine that could I'm chugging my way on to 26 weeks.
