Dietetic Freedom

I must say that I have been enjoying the freedom of no longer having gestational diabetes these past few days! No pricking of the finger, no worrying about when I can eat . . . I had cinnamon toast with breakfast! Fruit with lunch! Two servings of pasta with dinner! It's been so nice!

On the other hand, I can honestly say that I felt better when I was following the diet. I've gotten used to the smaller portion sizes, and more carbs make me feel bloated and heavy. Eating protein with snacks, eating smaller amounts more frequently--it all just made me feel more even-keeled. And I am missing the exercise! Even though it took up an inordinate, non-sustainable amount of time, all the time on the treadmill gave me lots of time to myself just to think and to listen to praise music on the Christian radio station. I am looking forward to starting back again, although NOT 3 times a day!

I have decided that I am going to give myself a week of eating whatever I want. That should help me work through all the birthday/ birth day/ Valentine's day cheesecake, chocolates, candy, and other goodies that have appeared in our house over the past week. Then I am going to start back on a modified gestational diabetes diet. By "modified", I mean that I will enjoy eating dessert at Bible study and other special occasions, and not be so totally anal about every serving size. But in general, my strategy will be less carbs and more protein. I do have to go back and have a 2 hour glucose test done in a few weeks (sometime before my 6 week post-partum appointment), to make sure the diabetes has gone away. Hopefully I won't have any problems with that! It's one thing to go on a diet . . . it's another thing to do all that pricking.

3 Days Old

So Faith is now all of 3 days old. Since we got discharged early, she had a follow-up doctor's appointment this morning. She is down to 7 pounds, 13 ounces, but my milk came in yesterday, so I am sure she'll start gaining it back. She also has a touch of jaundice, but again, that's par for the course for our fair-skinned babies. That's the good thing about it being #7--you pretty much know what to expect, so it's not too worrisome. The only thing that is potentially worrisome and different from everyone else is that she has not passed her newborn hearing screening in her right ear. That's the test where they bounce sound waves off her eardrum--the waves go in, but they haven't been to be read coming back out again. At the hospital, the doctor said it was because she was still so young--not even 24 hours old when they did the test there--and she still had too much fluid and vernix in her ear. And that's pretty much what they said again today. Still, that's weird. We'll have it done again when we go back for her 2 week well-baby check.

Faith has been busy being loved on here at home. She also has spent some time in the snazzy swing from Johanna, which makes Anna very happy, LOL. She loves that swing!

I don't know if there has ever been a baby surrounded by as many people who adore her and want to hold her! There is always a line whenever I'm done nursing. I am constantly having to shoo people back while I'm nursing, or all her brothers and sisters would practically be sitting on me!

Anna is still so thrilled to have a real, live baby in the house. She constantly carries her baby around, and she really imitates whatever the person holding Faith is doing. Here my mom was holding her, so Anna got a blanket (in this case, a super-soft one that was a present from Elizabeth) and very carefully arranged herself and her babydoll so that they looked like Grandma and Faith, with lots of sideways glances, just to make sure things were perfect!

Faith is a good nurser, and she's been a pretty happy and calm baby. She's not much of a fusser so far anyways. I'm feeling good except for my milk coming in. I think this is my least favorite part of having a newborn. I love the first 2 days, when you feel good and aren't yet engorged! Faith is still wanting to sleep more during the day and wake up and be more alert during the night, but she is improving. We're all just enjoying snuggling her cuddly little baby self, and rubbing her soft little baby head! She's a sweetie!

Faith Amy is here!

Faith arrived yesterday, February 8, at 11:54 AM, at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and she was 21 inches long. We came home this afternoon, and everything is going fine! Now, for more details . . .

I continued having bloody show Saturday night, as well as these "gas pains". The pains were never regular or very strong, but I did assume they were contractions. I just was afraid they weren't doing anything. If I got up to go to the bathroom, I would feel one or maybe 2, but they certainly weren't waking me up or anything.

I woke up Sunday morning fully intending to go to church. I ate breakfast, debated about whether or not to walk on the treadmill (decided "no"), helped people get ready, and showered and got myself dressed in church clothes. All the while, I was feeling pretty uncomfortable with these pains, which were in my back, mainly. I got on my hands and knees and crawled around for awhile, and I rocked my pelvis a lot, knowing that the baby was probably not in a good position and that should help. Finally, at 10:00, everyone else was ready to go to church, but I decided I was too uncomfortable to sit through a service, so Bob and I didn't go. Mom said I should call the labor ward and see what they said, but I told her I knew they would just say to come in, and I didn't want to do that and have them tell me the contractions just weren't strong enough to do anything, and that they would give me some pitocin. I wanted to wait until the feelings were in a more regular pattern. Up to that point, they weren't regular, and they weren't long--less than 30 seconds long.

After everyone left, I updated my Facebook status to say that I was having contractions, but that they were in my back, and I was trying to get the baby into a more favorable position. I also piddled around, getting the rest of my stuff into my hospital bag. I brewed up my super-strong raspberry tea pint that I drink when I go into labor to help ease labor pains. It is supposed to be 2 cups of boiling water over 1 ounce of tea, brewed for 30 minutes. I realized at that point that maybe I wouldn't be able to wait 30 minutes for the tea to brew, however. Hmmm. At that point, these feelings were definitely happening pretty regularly, about 3-4 minutes apart, although they were still only 30 seconds long, and it wasn't like I was breathing through them or anything. I just felt more comfortable leaning over when I had them. So I leaned over the couch, and I realized that I was actually quite sweaty and clammy and most likely in transition. Hmmmm.

I told Bob we needed to go to Bethesda immediately. We loaded everything up in the car, but as I was walking out to the van in the driveway, I was already feeling a lot of pressure and wondering if we had not waited too long. Bob zoomed along in record time, and we were so thankful it was Sunday morning, so there was hardly any traffic. We left our house at 10:50 and got to Bethesda at about 11:25. I prayed the whole way that things would slow down enough for us to actually get to the hospital, so I wouldn't have a Beltway baby! And although I kept feeling more and more pressure, I didn't feel the urge to push, and my water never broke.

We went up to the labor and delivery floor where they examined me in the triage room. The doctor said I had a slight anterior lip and a bulging bag. They wheeled the whole bed I was on into a labor room, broke my water at 11:50, and I was ready to push! I pushed a few minutes, and Faith was born at 11:54. You know how you always really remember your first birth, so when I felt her head getting close, it hurt, and I thought, "I so do not want her to stay right there through a whole 'nother contraction--that hurts!" Then the doctor said, "You're almost there--keep pushing!" So I did, and her head popped out! One more push, and out came the rest of her. Ahhhh. Every time I have a baby, I am so happy that you only have to have your first baby once! It definitely gets tons easier!

I couldn't believe it was all over so quickly. Everything was kind of chaotic, with people rushing in and out. I was just sort of in shock, but really glad that it was all over. The thing was, I didn't nurse right away, so by the time I got Faith back and tried, she really wasn't interested. She also started having a hard time staying warm, and when they checked her blood sugar level (because of my gestational diabetes), her number was really, really low--28. The pediatricians were called, and she was given a bottle of formula, since she wasn't interested in nursing. Then they tested her levels again, but only about 5 minutes after she finished eating. Her number was 38, which was still not that good. The doctors said they wanted to take her to the NICU and give her glucose in an IV for 12 hours, until she got rid of the extra insulin in her blood and could regulate her own levels.

At this point, my parents were on their way to visit us, having gotten home from church and eaten lunch. I knew the kids would be so disappointed if they couldn't see Faith, so I wanted them to wait to take her until the kids had visited. Bob asked if they could stick her heel again and take one more reading. They did, and her number was up to 60. They still wanted to take her, but they agreed to wait until 3:00, so the kids could visit.

After we took some pictures and let everyone exclaim over Faith, the doctors took her over to the NICU, with Bob following along. When they got there, the NICU nurses tested her glucose levels again, and they were up to 107--perfectly normal. So they decided not to start any glucose IV, but they would just observe her for awhile. After my parents took the kids back home, I went over to the NICU to nurse. I asked the nurse there how long Faith would have to stay if everything continued to be fine, and she told me 24 hours! She said Faith had to prove she was well, etc., and that once a baby was in there, they rarely left earlier than 24 hours later. Grrr. This meant I would have to get out of bed every few hours and trek over to the NICU to nurse at night. Plus, Faith looked like a chunky toddler in there, compared to all these preemies! She was right across from an adorable set of twins that had been there for 11 weeks. They had started out at a little over 1 pound each, and now that they had chunked up to 4 pounds, they were getting discharged the next day! Faith the newborn looked like a giant compared to them! Since she didn't even have an IV line in, it seemed silly for her to have all these leads attached, and all this care. I started praying that she would be able to get out of there sooner.

Her glucose numbers continued to be just fine, and when I went back to nurse at 7:00, a new nurse told me the doctor was getting ready to send her back over to my room! Yay! So around 9:00, she was discharged from her little stay at the NICU. She has been a great nurser so far, and I was glad to be able to nurse her in bed, instead of far away in a rocking chair, with a ton of beeping and activity going on around us!

Since she was doing fine, and I was feeling fine, we got discharged this afternoon, making it home by 3:00. Everyone was excited to see us! Now we're just settling in. It's great to be home! I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight, without corpsmen and doctors coming in all the time for various reasons. I will say that all the people we dealt with at Bethesda were so very nice. It was really a good experience all around. Very impressive, especially for a military hospital!

Still Here . . .

Well, no birthday baby for me. Oh well! That would have been fun though--I share my birthday with my uncle, my mom's brother. So if I had delivered today, that would have meant that my grandma and my mom also would have also delivered on the same day! But it was not meant to be . . . I have continued to have bloody show all day today, and I'm pretty dure I lost my mucous plug this morning, but I jsut haven't had any sort of regular contractions. Or really too many contractions at all, to be honest. My plan is to take the castor oil tomorrow afternoon after church.

I did have a wonderful birthday, though. I went out to lunch with a group of 4 other ladies. We had been in a Bible study together for 2 years, but we stopped meeting last summer and just never started up again. I have really missed them, so I was so thrilled when one of them sent us all an email this last week suggesting a get-together! We spent almost 3 hours at a local restaurant catching up over lunch! It was so fun!

After the afternoon basketball games for Nathan and Luke, Bob grilled some absolutely delicious steaks, and we had a real feast. We also had baked potatoes, green beans with almonds, and spinach strawberry salad. You can't get a yummy meal like that for 10 in a restaurant for any reasonable price! Plus, he had stopped at Sams and bought some mini cheesecakes and a caramel apple pie for dessert! Yum! After walking on the treadmill for 40 minutes, my blood glucose number was 130, which isn't too darn bad considering the big meal and the cheesecake!

Now we're watching the Ben Carson movie Gifted Hands on TNT. I've always admired Ben Carson, and he has such a great, inspiring story.

So even without having a baby, this has been a wonderful birthday! But now I am really ready to go into labor . . .

Progress?

Well, I have had a lot of bloody show this afternoon/evening, so hopefully something is happening down there. I have had some contractions, but the baby is still in a weird position, and they feel different from the contractions I usually have--more like gas pains than menstrual cramps. She's still pretty high, I think, but I think she is facing the right way. Anyways, we'll see if anything further develops, but even if it doesn't, at least I'm hopeful that I will be more dilated on Tuesday. It's more than I had happen with Grace!

Nathan and I ran some errands today, and one place we went to was Walmart, so I could buy some castor oil. I did take castor oil before I had Anna, but it was more to relieve constipation rather than to start labor. I did have some contractions after taking it, although it did not start my labor. The bigger issue is that Anna passed meconium before birth, and I always wonder if it was because of the castor oil. I don't see how it could be, because everything I have read says that it does not pass the placenta, and the way it works physiologically would not carry over to the baby, but still . . . Anyhow, I have decided I will try taking some Sunday afternoon if nothing has happened by then. We'll see. Even though labor did not start with Anna, I was 5 cm dilated when I went to my appointment on her due date, and when they started the pitocin that morning, it was only a few hours until she was born--a much better experience that with Grace! But maybe just buying the stuff will show my body that I am SERIOUS about having this baby, and things will progress, LOL.

Today was a good day--I have already been celebrating my birthday, which technically is tomorrow. Nathan and I came home to find a beautiful bouquet of roses from Bob, and when Bob himself came home at dinnertime, he had a huge bunch of balloons of all manner of meesages--congratulations, happy birthday, it's a girl, I love you, etc. The girl at the dollar store was not sure what to make of the mixed messages! So maybe my birthday will also be my "birth day". That would be nice! You know how it is at the end--ANY day is a good day to be born!

Another Appointment

I had my last OB appointment this afternoon at Bethesda. The doctor said I was 3 cm dilated this time, so that's some slight progress over last appointment. She did a very thorough job of stripping my membranes, so maybe that will start something. I went into labor with Luke after having my membranes stripped, but not with anyone else that I can remember. I know I had my membranes stripped multiple times by multiple different doctors when I was pregnant with Jonathan, and he was still 2 weeks overdue and had to be induced!

The baby is still really high. In fact, as the doctor was stripping my membranes, she kept laughing because the baby was sticking her hand down there and pushing against the doctor's hand! Before the doctor stopped, she said the baby moved her hand back up by her body, so that's good. Hopefully she will move down, at least before the induction. They won't break my water with her so high, because they don't want the cord to wash down first.

So there you have it. I would say if I don't start having contractions tonight, then nothing will happen until I get induced. At least I have a homeschool co-op moms' meeting tonight to distract me.

Madagascar Report

Today was a big day for Nathan--he gave an oral report based on the research paper he wrote for the homeschool co-op writing unit. The 5th and 6th graders had to pick an African country to write about, and he picked Madagascar. He did a great job on his report and got good feedback from his teachers. I was happy with how self-motivated he was to get the report done, and also to work on his display. He did stuff with Powerpoint as well as figured out the pictures he wanted to use. I really didn't have to do much at all, which was nice. My parents have friends who work for the same organization they do, and they have actually visited Madagascar. They were kind enough to email us some pictures, and then we also got a few off the internet.

It turns out Madagascar is an interesting country. Did you know that 1/4 of the plant and animal species in the world are found in Madagascar? Many of these species are native only to Madagascar. Also, most of the people there are not African by heritage. They actually are descended from Indonesians, who somehow traveled over there a long time ago. "Malagasy" is the adjective you use to describe things from Madagascar.

Actually, all the oral reports were very interesting. I stayed and listened to about half of them, including Nathan's. He was pretty nervous, so his first few sentences were directed to his notecards, but after he had to start pointing out things on his display board, he loosened up and started looking at the audience. He did really well, overall.

After all the kids were done, they had an "African feast". Everyone brought in food from their African country. We brought a dish called "varenga", which is boiled, shredded, roasted beef. We put it over rice, since that is a very important staple in madagascar, and they eat it for every meal. It was really good! I was amazed at how much food there was, and also at the great variety. People really went all out! A lot of stuff was pretty starchy, so I didn't sample it, but everything I had was very good!

Another OB Appointment

I had another appointment this afternoon, at 38 weeks and 3 days. The doctor did check my cervix--I am all of 1 cm dilated (a "loose 1" however, LOL), but my cervix is still long and not really effaced, so nothing much is happening there. Sigh. I go back again next Thursday, and we'll see if any progress has been made.

The good news is that the doctor was so pleased with how well my glucose numbers have been, that I only need to prick my finger to check them twice a day! Yay! I really wasn't expecting this because last night Bob and I went out to Cheesecake Factory on a date, while my parents took the kids to Family Night at Chick-Fil-A. I had a Chinese Chicken Salad, which was delicious, but I knew I shouldn't have eaten the whole thing, even with taking off as many of the puffy rice noodles as I could! The bigger issue was the piece of Godiva chocolate cheesecake that Bob and I split. Yummmmmmm. It was so good! I must say I thoroughly enjoyed every bite, even though I knew it would wreak havoc on my numbers! When we got home, I hopped on the treadmill for a good 45 minutes. When I tested my blood after 2 hours, it was 150! I can't imagine what it would have been if I hadn't done all that walking! But the doctor said I was entitled to splurge every once in awhile, and she wasn't worried about it at all! Whew!

So we'll see what the next few days bring. I can tell the baby is still pretty high by how much she is able to move around, and by how much pressure I have on my pubic bone, as opposed to feeling the pressure in my pelvis itself. Hopefully she'll get the picture and start making moves toward coming out. We are all eager for that to happen--especially me!!

Snow Day

My Mom and Dad got in safely last night, and we were sure glad they came yesterday as opposed to today! It started snowing this morning, and it would not have been a good traveling day at all!

It snowed enough that our co-op was cancelled, much to everyone's disappointment. I decided we would just take a snow day, as opposed to doing any regular school stuff. This was a popular decision, LOL. Nathan decided to make pancakes for breakfast in celebration. It was nice for me to have a day where we didn't have to go anywhere OR do school! I did laundry while the boys worked on a puzzle that Grandma and Grandpa brought. After lunch the boys went outside to play in the snow. Anna and Grace also went out for a little while. After shoveling the driveway (why do you think we have all these boys?!), they went down to the end of the cul-de-sac to go sledding. They made a little ramp so they could catch some air when they hit a certain stump, and much fun was had. Anna even went down this ramp thing with Nathan. He said she laughed, but as soon as they were done, she told him it was too scary, LOL. Shortly thereafter, she and Grace came in. The boys stayed out for awhile. I love, love, love when they can stay outside all afternoon!

Nathan came in first, and we set up our new cocoa-latte maker, which I won in that basket from the orthodontist. When we were in the last time, the receptionist gave me the box, which had all the instructions in it--definitely what we needed to be able to try it out! Now let me be the first to say this is NOT a machine I would EVER just purchase. A kitchen appliance dedicated to making hot drinks?! I don't think so. But since we do have one, and it happened to be free . . .it turns out that it is really great! We put in the liquid (we used half water and half milk) plus the hot cocoa powder mix, put the lid on and turn the thing on. It mixes everything up and heats it up to the right temperature and there you go! Thirty-two ounces of hot cocoa on tap! Usually we're heating up tons of water, getting powder everywhere, etc. This was very non-messy, and everyone could serve themselves. I'm a fan. Poor Caleb still had to heat up water for his apple cider, but all the non-dairy-allergic people thought it was great.

Jonathan was the most sad about co-op being cancelled. While the older kids are having a writing unit, the K-4 and K-5 classes are doing a unit on community helpers. This week they were supposed to take a field trip to the library and the police station. He was very sad to miss out on that! Last week they learned about bakers, and they got to make pretzels and decorate sugar cookies. The week before that, they learned about doctors and nurses. A nurse came in and talked to them, and they got to doctor up their stuffed animals. Too cute! The first week they learned about farmers. Their project was a head made of a panty-hose knee-high stuffed with something that looks like what you put at the bottom of hamster cages, along with some grass seed right at the top. They tied a nose in it and sent it home with us to water every day. We have been doing that faithfully, and I am pleased to report that Jonathan's grass man has indeed sprouted a head of (somewhat thin) hair. It is long, however, and before the guy goes for the questionable "comb-over" style, the boys are anxious to give him a trim.

Some of you who have faithfully read my blog for awhile may remember the Shrek chia pet my brother so kindly passed on to the boys after he received it at an office Christmas party. Amazingly, this cheapo version of a chia pet turned out even better than Shrek, if you can imagine it!

Tomorrow we;re back to our regularly scheduled school day. Unless the baby comes, of course. But since there have been absolutely no signs of any impending action, I think we're good to just plan on school!

Getting Closer

I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow, so here are some belly shots, courtesy of Nathan. As a side note, I will be thrilled when he grows just a few more inches and can take pictures of me more on eye-level, without looking up. Love that double chin. Once again, I am carrying in that "she stuffed a basketball under her shirt" way, like always. Front on, it's not too bad, but from the side . . . well, it's a large basketball, LOL. The red sweater is a newer addition to my maternity wardrobe, thanks to Amy, who gave it to me when she was out visiting back in October. I love it!

Speaking of clothes, I am definitely in that awkward phase where nothing really fits at all. "Modern" maternity pants--the ones with just that band of strong elastic around the top--don't go high enough to stay up over my ball of a belly, so they immediately roll down. Then I feel like my pants are around my knees, or at least the crotch is. Gravity just works against them. I have one pair of comfortable jeans--I call them my "third trimester jeans". They have a big maternity gusset that goes all the way around, and they go up over my belly enough to stay up. Unfortunately, I do have to wash them occasionally, and I do sometimes have to wear something other than jeans. That's when I am in trouble! If only I could live in sweats. Well, actually I sort of do, LOL.

I had a good appointment on Friday. The doctor said I was doing so well with my glucose numbers that I didn't even need to come back for 2 weeks! I decided to go ahead and make an appointment for next Friday, however. This is because she said they would probably examine me and maybe strip my membranes at the next appointment, once I was over 38 weeks. I figured having an appointment next week, as well as the week after, would give me 2 more appointments before my due date. I am scheduled for an induction on Feb. 10 (my due date), since they won't let me go past my due date because of the gestational diabetes. I want as many chances as possible to start labor off without being induced! On the plus side, when I asked how early I would have to arrive for an induction, she said it wouldn't be until the afternoon! They do all their c-sections in the morning, so I would call in the morning, and they would tell me when to show up in the afternoon. That is so much more civilized than having to be there at 7:00 in the morning! But I am still hoping and praying that I will just go into labor on my own.

My parents are on their way right now! There have been some snow flurries so far, but hopefully it will be okay through the mountains. It looks like they left at a good time, since their area was supposed to get a few inches of snow tonight and on into tomorrow, as was Pennsylvania. We are all so excited to see them!

Nesting Update

I'm still trying to get stuff done, and I'm pleased to say that I have made some progress! We're jsut about done with appointments, other than my OB ones (next one is tomorrow afternoon). Luke had an orthodontist appointment yesterday, where we got the good news that he'll get his expander taken off Feb. 18! Of course, he'll be getting a retainer, which may be a lot more of a hassle . . .

This morning we went to Kiddie Kandids and had pictures taken of all the kids. I had pictures taken of Anna and Grace almost a year ago, but the last time I did all the kids was when we were in Colorado for Nana's funeral, and I was pregnant with Grace. For some hormonal reason, getting this done before the baby comes was very important to me. The pictures turned out fairly well--it's so hard to get 6 kids all smiling and looking good at the same time--but I was happy overall. Then we went to Ci-Ci's for lunch. I was really nervous about this, since I've had pizza before, and it's given me troubles with my glucose numbers. This time I exercised 35 minutes this morning before we left, and then as soon as we got back, I hopped on the treadmill for 40 more minutes. The result (after salad, 2 slices of pepperoni pizza, 2 brownies, and a bite of Grace's cinnamon roll): 107 for my reading! Yay!

I spent yesterday afternoon working upstairs. I got our closet cleaned out so we can put the pack-n-play in there, and I got all the laundry together so I can do a load of newborn stuff. I also got the car seat down from on top of the garage fridge--that definitely needs to be washed!

On Tuesday I went to Babies R Us and bought one new thing for this baby--a "SwaddleMe" baby blanket. It seems like a good idea, and hey, it doesn't seem too extravagant to spend $10 on a new baby, LOL. There's really nothing else we need. Johanna gave us their swing, which is super-duper nice--that was about the only thing I had thought of. As a side note, Anna is so excited for when the baby comes, and she tells anyone who asks that "When the new baby comes, we'll put her in the swing!" I hope the swing lives up to her expectations, LOL!

I have thought of one other thing I'd like, and that is a new glider/rocking chair. The one we have we got before Nathan was born, and it frankly wasn't the top of the line 11 years ago either. Now, after 6 babies and 3 moves, it is on its last legs. You sort of have to sit in it with your legs braced a certain way or else it doesn't glide smoothly and is really squeaky. New ones are ridiculously expensive, so we've been looking on craigslist, but nothing perfect has come up. We'll keep on looking.

So I'm coming right along on my list of things to get done. Tonight I'm taking a break from new baby stuff, and I'm scrapbooking! I guess I need to organize some photos so I actually get something done!

Snow! Finally!

It snowed today for the first time this year. We did school this morning, since we are getting ready for a several week break with the new baby, and all morning long, the boys were checking outside to see if it would stick. I didn't even know it might snow today, so I kept dampening their enthusiasm--"It won't stick; we're not supposed to get any accumulation; just enjoy how pretty it looks, etc". But it did accumulate a few inches, which motivated them to finish their schoolwork, and they spent the afternoon outside playing in it. They shoveled the driveway, sledded down the hill at the end of the cul-de-sac, and Luke and Jonathan built a cute little snowman in the front yard. It was so NICE to have them outside all afternoon! Of course, it was in the 30's, so the snow was the really wet kind, and they were all absolutely soppping wet when they came in. A small price to pay, LOL.

Anna went out for about half and hour as well. She was not at all sure about the snow, and she wouldn't walk in it for awhile. The boys had to carry her off the front porch and over to the shoveled driveway! She got over it though, and she even sledded awhile, until she got snow in her boot. Then she tried to take it off, and well, things deteriorated. Nathan brought her back crying loudly, and I decided it was naptime, which was not a popular decision. Hopefully it will snow again before the winter is over--I'm sure she won't be afraid of the snow then!

Catch-All Post

I've been meaning to blog about several things, but I just haven't had the time or inclination, it seems. So here is a post of odds and ends, in no particular order.

1. Praise the Lord, I had a really good OB appointment on Thursday! I saw the same doctor that I saw last time, and the first thing she said to me was how great my numbers looked, and how it must have been just all the stress and sickness that made me have some higher readings the end of December, as opposed to a great increase in insulin resistance! So, no mention of pills. Yay! I go back again next Friday. My numbers have been really good this week too. Being back in a good routine, with healthy kids and good nights sleep, plus tons of exercise, does wonders for my blood glucose numbers!

2. Grace is picking back up on her eating again, thankfully. I weighed her yesterday, and it looks like she is back around 20 pounds, so that is good. She is enjoying all the chocolate protein drinks and extra snacks, LOL. Best of all, she just seems happier, so she is obviously feeling good. She got her shots Thursday afternoon after my appointment, and thankfully she didn't seem to get sick or have any problems from them.

3. We are in the throes of the Upward basketball season. We're doing it at a different church this year, and we are liking the program. We also really like the fact that it's only about 5 minutes away from our house! This is Luke's first year to play on a team, and it turns out he is an excellent basketball player (taking after his cousin Pilot?!). Even though he is small, he is very athletic and coordinated, and he just moves well with the ball. Who knew he would be so aggressive? Plus, he is a good shot, so he usually makes most of the points for his team, even though he is not a ball-hog, and he passes the ball often to teammates so they can take shots. Unfortunately, most of them could not hit the broad side of a barn, so . . . He is definitely the best player on his team, but that hadn't mattered, because before yesterday, his team had lost every game. This was very discouraging for Luke, who is very competitive. We have had lots of talks with him about how his lessons from this season might have to do with just improving his skills, and those of his teammates, while learning that winning just isn't the most important thing.

That is all in contrast to Nathan, who, although this is his third year of playing, is just an average basketball player, who handles the ball okay. He has made some baskets, which is great, but he is definitely not the best player on the team or anything. But that hasn't mattered to him, because until yesterday, his team was undefeated! It's just been funny to see the differences in attitudes.

4. We are sputtering along in school, at least that's how it feels. Since we got back, we have had tons and tons of appointments, so our normal schedule has been very disjointed. I wanted to get all these things out of the way before the baby comes, though.

In co-op, they are working through a writing unit. In the fifth and sixth grades, they are writing a short research paper on a country in Africa. Nathan picked Madagascar, and so writing this paper has been taking a lot of his time. He sent in his rough draft yesterday, and they'll get that back n Tuesday. Then they have to make corrections, and they also have to put together a little display of pictures, etc. for the fifth week activity, which will be on Feb. 3. All the other kids in the co-op will go around at look at all the displays.

Luke's class is working on writing short stories. I was amazed when he came home the first Tuesday and typed up a story about a boy named Jake who wanted to play football but was too small to ever make the team. Hmmm . . . wonder where he gets these ideas?! He has since revised the story, but still . . . he is not a very eager writer, so I was happy that he took the initiative to write something on his own, outside of class. Other than that, however, co-op hasn't taken any extra of his time, so he is pretty much doing regular school stuff.

The one thing we haven't been doing much of lately is Latin, which is highly unusual for us. We are soooo close to finishing Latina Christiana II--only 3 more lessons--but somehow I am just not motivated to really work on it. Each night, when I normally think of sentences for them to translate in the morning, it's like my brain is just fried and I can't come up with anything. I'm definitely blaming that on pregnancy, but it's all I can do to review vocab during the day.

We're still working through the Story of the World IV cds in the car. Good thing we've had all those long trips to Bethesda! I've really enjoyed doing that, and it's led to good discussions. We finally finished listening to all the chapters we had previously read (as a review) and are onto new chapters. We are doing some mapwork and other things at home for chapters I think are particularly important, like the one on the peace agreement at Versailles, which was at the end of World War I.

Well, I am sure there are other things I meant to post about, but that's all I can think of right now. That will at least catch you up on us! I'll be sure to let you know if and when anything starts happening. I'll be 37 weeks on Tuesday, and my parents will get here, Lord willing, Monday, Jan. 26. We are all excited to see them again, and it will be so nice to have the extra hands! In the meantime, I will be trying to knock things off my at-home to-do list--things like washing the infant carseat material, which is dirty from being in the garage, and cleaning out our walk-in closet so the pack-n-play will fit in there. Plenty of stuff to keep me busy, but not so much running around!

Well-Baby Appointment

Yesterday afternoon was Grace's well-baby appointment. We again left right after co-op to trek on over to Bethesda. Once again we discovered that Grace is a very light-weight child. In other shocking news, the earth is round, and the sun is hot. So she weighs all of 19 pounds and 3 ounces at 20 months. This is not a completely accurate picture, though, as she was all the way up to 21 pounds before Christmas. I knew she had lost a few pounds with all this sickness and her not really eating much. She is slowly picking her pace back up, as far as how much she eats, but for awhile there, especially after the night of vomiting, she really could not have cared any less if she ate anything at all.

So the doctor was mildly concerned. Grace has been in the 5th percentile, and now she's pretty much not on the charts. This is where I am so glad we're at Bethesda, instead of the Fairfax Clinic. I really, really, really have liked all the pediatricians we've seen here, and the one we saw yesterday was actually our primary care manager, who we've seen before, and in fact just saw last week for Anna's appointment. Some continuity in care! What a concept! The doctor said she knew how skinny all my kids were, so she wasn't really worried, but she just wants to make sure that Grace starts gaining back again, and doesn't get any smaller. This is also my concern, especially since we're right in the middle of winter, and she could get sick again. Sickness is what really takes it out of a skinny baby.

So the doctor gave us some ideas to help her gain. Grace gets heavy cream on her cereal instead of whole milk, she gets cups of chocolate Carnation breakfast mix with her snacks, and we're supposed to put butter or olive oil on everything we can. Unfortunately (and ironically, given my diabetes), Grace doesn't really LIKE breads and things that you would put butter and olive oil on. Sigh. She's more of a protein/vegetables/fruit girl. Combine her lack of love for carbs with her high metabolism . . . I am extremely jealous, shall we say, LOL. I guess she'll never get gestational diabetes!

I am supposed to make an appointment to bring Grace back in for a weight check in a few weeks, when the new baby has her 2 week well-baby check. In the meantime, we've been pushing food on Grace like you wouldn't believe. She had two bowls of ice cream last night, and two bowls of cereal this morning, as well as a cup of yogurt between breakfast and lunch. We have been to Walmart and gotten the breakfast mix, as well as half-n-half (no heavy cream there, so that will have to wait), so we're set for a few days. The good news is that she has actually been eating what we've been pushing. The past week she has mainly been turning up her nose and saying, "Nooooooo" at everything. She really is feeling better finally. I am just praying that she won't get sick again from being in the nursery at co-op yesterday!!

A Day Off

I'm not feeling so well today. Grace was sick last week--she vomited for a few hours Wednesday night, and has just been "off her feed" the past few days. She doesn't seem to have any real symptoms, like a fever or diarrhea or anything, but she's not eating too much, and she's definitely not her usual perky self. Of course, when you only weigh 20 pounds and are 20 months old, not eating much is not a good thing. She has a well-baby appointment on Tuesday, so I will talk to the doctor then if she still seems this way. I'm assuming I have picked up whatever her bug was, minus the vomiting.

I worked at our co-op last Tuesday (and will be there for the next 3 weeks as well), and the thing is, Grace has gotten sick just about every. single. time she has been in the nursery. I guess the church we meet at, which is a very large one, doesn't rigorously clean their baby toys or something.

Anyhow, last night I was just sort of queasy, and I was that way again this morning. Sort of like when you're first pregnant, and there's just that persistant edge of queasiness. Hey, maybe I'm pregnant! I should test or something. So I went ahead and ate my usual gestational diabetes breakfast of 1/2 c. bran flakes, milk, and a hard-boiled egg, which did not really agree with my digestional tract. After spending some time in the bathroom, I told Bob I didn't feel like I could go to church, and I went back to bed. I slept for a few more hours, and I felt better as long as I laid in bed. As soon as I got up, though, I felt queasy again, so I have pretty much just laid around today. This has been surprisingly hard to do. I know there are so many things to do, plus I didn't exercise, which is a huge thing for me at this point. The guilt! And what on earth are you supposed to eat when you are having tummy issues and have gestational diabetes? The BRAT diet is nothing but carbs. Finally I decided on a banana and half of a cup of yogurt. My numbers were fine after that, which was a relief.

I'm feeling better, so I guess I'll eat a normal dinner. Both Bob and I were supposed to work in the nursery during evening church tonight, but Bob said he would just do it. I tell you, the temptation to try to get something done with everyone out of the house is really great, but I am just going to have to resist. I think maybe the reason I'm not feeling well today is that I have been overdoing it a bit, what with all the exercising, doctor appointments, taking the Christmas stuff down, and huge trip to the commissary, plus normal stuff like school and laundry. Next week is shaping up to be another busy one, with 2 trips to Bethesda, helping at co-op, plus various other little things. Just a little over 4 weeks before my due date! No--I am not going to think about all the stuff I need to accomplish before that . . . I am going back to bed.

We won! We won!

When we got back from Ohio, there was a message on our answering machine from the orthodontist's office--I won the "parents' giveaway", but I wouldn't be able to claim my prize until January, because they were closed between Christmas and New Year's. This morning, Nathan had a consult there, so I was able to pick up my prize basket! We won a "hot chocolate" themed basket, with 2 large mugs, marshmallows, Ghiradelli hot cocoa mix, napkins, a large platter, and a hot cocoa/latte foamer and dispenser. The dispenser should be nice--I guess we just make a lot of hot chocolate, put it in there, and then let everyone get their own on tap? It didn't come with any directions, so we're sort of on our own here, LOL.

Of course, winning this giveaway in no way makes up for having a lot of kids, all with narrow jaws. We found out that Nathan also has a narrow jaw, as well as a slight overbite. On his right side, the top teeth do not meet the bottom teeth correctly, which is because of the small jaw. Also, (the reason we brought him in), he has this "little" tooth, which didn't form right. The orthodontist recommended an expander for him as well, then braces, and then some sort of bonding to build up the tooth until a permanent crown or something can be put on it, after he is 18. Sounds expensive! We need to decide and do something fairly soon, while his jaw is still malleable. The only question is if we should start the process here. We very likely might not be here after this summer, so I just don't know if we should start something and then move. The financing lady did say that changing orthodontists in the the middle of treatment is usually very expensive. Great! One option might be to just do the expander right now, leaving it in until we start somewhere else. We'll see. Just another area of uncertainty, LOL.

Pregnancy Update

I'm 35 weeks along now, and I had an appointment yesterday afternoon at 1:30. Everything looks fine, and the baby's head is down. We talked a lot about my glucose numbers. I did really great until the girls got sick in Ohio, and I had several nights of very little sleep. SInce then, I've had a harder time keeping my numbers under 120 during the day. What I've found is that if we have a quiet day, where I do my exercise, and we don't leave the house, then I don't ahve any problems. But as soon as we run errands or something, then my numbers will be higher. Not too high--like 121 or 122--but higher than they want.

For example, I ate a turkey/cheese/spinach sandwich and 1/2 pear for lunch on Monday. Then we went to the health food store, library, and WalMart. I rushed back home, put the girls down, and took my reading, and it was 121. Yesterday we had co-op, where I had to stay and work as a "floater", mainly helping in the K-4/K-5 class, then we left from there and drove to Bethesda, after I ate a peanut butter sandwich, carrots, and an orange for lunch. My reading, which I took after parking and walking in, was 123. Then we spent the entire afternoon at Bethesda because I had an appointment for Anna, Caleb, and Jonathan after my appointment, and they had to get shots. We ended up waiting over an hour to get the shots, so we didn't leave until around 5:00, and we didn't get back home until 6:00, so that was a stressful, tiring afternoon with neither girl (nor me!) getting any sort of nap. After dinner, my number was 122.

So the doctor said it could all just be stress, or it could be that my body is just becoming more insulin-resistant as I get more and more pregnant. I'm going to go back next week on Thursdya, and if I have had more high numbers, then she will start me on a pill that stimulates my pancreas to create more insulin. It's either glipizide or glyburide, I'm not sure which one. I did some research on the computer, and I guess neither one sounds awful. All the websites do say that only insulin is approved for use in pregnancy, but that studies have shown that these 2 drugs don't appear to corss over the placenta in large amounts and aren't harmful, etc. I wouldn't be taking it for very long--just a few weeks. I don't want to take anything, but the fact is, it is very stressful to realize that no matter what I eat or how much I exercise, my numbers will probably by high if we go out and do anything. I feel like such a failure when the number is high on my little monitor! And let's face it--I'm trying to get a lot of stuff taken care of these last few weeks before the baby comes. We have lots of various doctor/dental appointments scheduled (next Tuesday afternoon Grace has her well-baby appointment, plus shots, so that will be another stressful afternoon at Bethesda!), plus I need to go to the commissary and do other things. There aren't going to be a bunch of days where we just sit at home and relax, unfortunately.

So we'll see what happens this week, I guess, and I will mentally prepare myself for going on medicine. I'm not sure if that will mean more pricking or not. I know one of the risks, similar to insulin, is that my blood glucose would get too low, especially with exercise, so I might have to test more often. What a hassle! I'm tired of all this. Five more weeks . . . The doctor did say that they won't let me go past my due date, although they might let me go up to it.

craigslist score!

I've been wanting a piece of furniture for our dining room for some time now--something with doors, so we could have some more storage that no one could see, LOL. Our dining room functions as the catch-all room, since we never eat there (we have our small 6-person table in there), and the table is pretty much the only surface in there, so it is always so cluttered. I didn't want a classic hutch with glass doors, because I don't really have anything I want to display like that. Mainly I want to hide stuff.

I've been looking at thrift stores and on craigslist off and on, but I never really found anything. Bob looked Friday night, and he found this beautiful piece for $275! Amazingly, we were the first to respond, and we went to look at it Sunday afternoon. The people lived in Bethesda, actually closer to us than the hospital. We brought both vans so that we could take it home if we liked it, which we did! Ed and Zachary were kind enough to come over to help get it into our house. We think it really jazzes up our dining room!

The people lived in a cute older neighborhood of houses built around 1940. On the way back we stopped at an open house just because we were totally nosy and wondering how much houses in that area were going for. So, it was a 2-story colonial, pretty small though, with 3 bedrooms, and a detached garage that had been made into a pool room that smelled totally like cats. There was no yard to speak of in the back, just some terraces and a patio. It was really nice inside, having been totally renovated. It was going for the bargain price of . . . $949,000. LOL! Guess they haven't heard in Bethesda that the real estate market has tanked.

Big Girl Anna

Anna has spent the last 2 nights in a big girl bed! I know she's been ready for this for a few months now, but I also knew that she would be sleeping in a crib over Christmas, while at my parents' house, so I didn't want to make the switch, and then have her go back to a crib. We tend to make the switch later than other people do. Our kids don't fuss about being in their cribs, they don't usually try to get out of their cribs, and being older when they start out in big beds, they also are better able to understand that they aren't allowed to get out of that bed and wander around the room at will. But for the past few months, we've just left the side down on Anna's crib so she can climb in and out using a chair, thus saving my back.

We had our futon in her room, set up like a couch, so we just laid it flat, and that is what she is sleeping on. We happened to have an old comforter with pink flowers, as well as pink sheets, so she was happy as a clam with those! "Pink!!" She's slept really well the past 2 nights, and she's had good naps, so yay! Now the last thing we have to do is get rid of her pacifier during bedtime . . .

We left the crib up in the room because eventually Grace will make the move over there and share the room with Anna. That will be another few months though because we'll put the new baby in our walk-in closet for a little while. I need to put up some appropriately girly pictures in the room, and I'm looking forward to finding ones that I used to have in my room when I was a little girl. I know they're in a box somewhere . . .

Happy New Year!

Another year, another trip to the hospital . . . At least we ended 2008 on a good note, at the annual party at the L's house. Maybe I'll be able to post some pictures later on today. We counted down at 9:00, which was good, since I was so tired from our day at Bethesda (no sinus infection for Nathan yet anyways--just lots of sinus congestion and pressure). Grace was obviously feeling better, even laughing, something we haven't seen since before Christmas Eve! Caleb, however, was not doing so well. He kept complaining and whining through the evening.

We finally got home and got everyone to bed around 10:30, with me following shortly behind. This morning Caleb was up a little after 7:00 crying and complaining that it hurt to breathe. He didn't sound terribly wheezy, but I gave him his inhaler anyway. He was still upset and obviously hurting, so Bob took him into the Bethesda ER. It turns out that he has pneumonia! He is on antibiotics, as well as some prednisone because the doctor said he was wheezing. He also had a breathing treament there. We're supposed to follow-up with an appointment either tomorrow or Monday. I know the peds clinic is booked up for tomorrow, so I guess it will have to be Monday. Then we will trudge back to Bethesda Tuesday afternoon for my OB appointment, plus an appointment for Anna, Jonathan, and Caleb (although I'm thinking it won't happen for him) so they can get the 6 month booster shots they need. I'm trying not to get too stressed out thinking about all the driving, parking, and waiting . . . We are certainly starting off 2009 with a bang!