True Life: I'm a [Mommy] Blogger

A few weeks ago I linked-up my general/catch-all blog for the "True Life: I'm a General Blogger" link-up that Tara and Mrs Monologues were hosting... this week they're hosting a "True Life: I'm a Mommy Blogger" link-up!

For all the newbies from the link-up, welcome!

I'm Rachel, we live in northern Illinois and I am a new mommy to 6 and a half month old Jaydran Alexander (we call him Jay for short), born on February 4, 2011.

August 14, at his 1st county fair!

My son's name is quite unique (our last name is Johnson, so we felt he needed a unique 1st name since there's a million and one Johnsons in our town!) and if you do a Google search you'll find that he's the only one with that name too! The story behind it is that my husband came up with it. He writes sci-fi as a hobby (and hopefully professionally someday!) and when he played baseball as a kid, one of the boys on his team had a sister named Jaydra. Liking the unique-ness of the name, he decided to make Jaydran the male version of it and use it for his writings. And yes, it's also the name of his World of Warcraft character, which caused me to initially veto the name but it grew on me and it seems to fit Jay as well, as he's quite an awesome little boy!

So this is my mommy/personal blog, as I chronicled our journey of trying to have a baby, my pregnancy and our adventures of being a family!

Having dealt with quite a bit so far (gestational diabetes, "failure to thrive" and eating troubles, breastfeeding woes, hydrophrenosis and a UVJ Obstruction requiring eventual surgery), I hope that by sharing my experiences and struggles I might be able to help other moms experiencing what I have and give them answers and insight to things they might be wondering (I know I tend to Google a lot when I'm looking for an answer or someone who's been there, done that and can offer insight on what I can expect).

Anyways, Jay is a special little guy who's had quite a rough start in life.

He LOVES Elmo!

Before he was born they were concerned about his femurs being a little a on the short side and his left kidney appeared to be enlarged. Due to a lack of growth between weeks 30 and 37 they decided to induce me at 37weeks, 5 days so he was a few weeks early. To be honest, labor was pretty easy - took just under 9 hours and was natural (but with a dose of dilauted to help with the back labor) and I honestly didn't feel much of anything until the last few hours, not to mention I went from 7-10cm dilated in about 10 minutes and the last half hour just flew by (you can read his full birth story here). His kidney was still enlarged though so they diagnosed him with hydronephrosis and had us start seeing a local urologist.

We also tried breastfeeding for the 1st few weeks however instead of gaining weight he lost weight! Then he gained a little back but not much so the doctor had us spend a week in the hospital while we tried to figure out why kiddo wasn't eating enough to grow. I found out at my 6 week post-partum check-up that they failed to mention to us that there was a knot in the umbilical cord, which would explain his eating problem - he got used to eating just enough to survive and his stomach never got big enough to take in more! Ever since the week in the hospital with him hooked up to a feeding tube to stretch his stomach out he's been quite the eater now, eating several full bottles a day, 2 servings of rice cereal for breakfast and veggies and fruits for dinner (he hates peas though, lol...).

He had a little too much fun
with his peaches!

As far as his enlarged kidney... the local urologist sent us up to the children's hospital in Madison for further testing where we learned that the blockage is at his bladder and not up at the kidney like we initially thought but that there is no reflux which is good. They referred us to a pediatric urology specialist at the children's hospital up there who has us coming up there every 3-4 months to check on it, saying that it appears to be a UVJ ureter obstruction. He'll most likely need to have surgery by the time he's 2 to correct it though, as his left ureter tube is pinched off at the bladder and they'll go in, take it off, snip it and reattach it to the bladder.

The idea of my baby having surgery so young is something I try not to think about, as I don't want to worry about it until it's time, however the specialist was very comforting and made me feel confident about it, saying he's done it plenty of times and has always been successful so far. I am not too thrilled though that he'll have a surgery scar though. Not gonna lie, with his week long stay in the hospital and all the testing they've done on his kidney, it's been really hard having to watch them do all this stuff to him... fortunately he's so little he probably won't remember it when he's older, although it wouldn't surprise me if it's what causes his monthly night terrors (he's had 1 a month since he was born, where he freaks out in his sleep for several minutes and won't wake up out of it).

Chillin' with daddy!

My hubby works a lot (he has both a day job as an inventory & purchasing manager for a Verizon authorized retailer and works 3rd shift as a part-time UPS supervisor - we're hoping he goes full-time there soon though so he can quit the day job) leaving me to take care of Jay most of the time during the week. I do work part-time though at The Children's Place which is pretty nice as I get 25% off Jay's clothes (and sometimes 40% when they do employee appreciation weekends!) on top of whatever the sale price is - he is quite the well dressed little guy! Fortunately my parents don't live too far from us so my mom babysits Jay when hubby and I both have work so we don't we have to worry about daycare.We also have a domestic Egyptian Mau kitty named Tiger and she will be 3 years old in October and we just bought and moved into our first house back in April! Needless to say, it's been quite a year for us!

Showing off his shades!

For now, Jay is our only child and we've discussed it and decided that we'll most likely wait until after his kidney/ureter issue is resolved before we decide to try for another (so probably when he's close to 3). Ultimately we'd like to have at least 1 more kid and maybe a 3rd (I love Jay despite my lack of experience with little boys however I would like to have a little girl too).

Jay is quite the well-behaved baby though, only really crying when his mouth hurts (due to teething - he currently has both his bottom front teeth) or he's hungry or overly tired - he behaves very well in public! He loves Elmo and anything with Elmo's face on it, he enjoys staring at pictures and playing in his baby walker. He is also VERY curious about electronics such as smartphones, computers, the remote control and the PS3 controllers! He doesn't crawl yet, but is very close (he drags/scoots himself across the floor instead!) and he does like to roll EVERYWHERE! His bedroom is being painted to look like world 1-1 from Super Mario Bros and he has various Mario Bros and Star Wars collectibles throughout his room!

 And some more pictures of Baby Jay:

One of his 1st pics, 6lbs 7oz, 19inches long & a full head of hair!

One of my favorite pics - Jay & daddy

 

He was soooo little!!

My poor baby with his feeding tube in,
pumping his tummy full of milkies

Being all cute during our move from
a 1 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house!

Our little family (minus Tiger our kitty!)

37 week appointment & hospital growth ultrasound

Today I had my 37 week check-up today and the NST stress test looked good, as did his placenta and fluid. Jay's still head down and in the correct position too, with his fundal height measuring 36cm, and heartbeat was in the mid-upper 130s. I mentioned this glob of mucus that was on the tissue when I wiped the other day and the doctor agreed with me that it was probably the mucus plug.

I got home from the clinic and the hospital called me, requesting I come in early this afternoon for the growth ultrasound, so I went before the weather got bad. Felt kinda bad as hubby couldn't get off work at such short notice or take a long enough lunch break as he just started a new position at work today, however he told me to go ahead and go since it took so long for them to get it scheduled. Kinda wished he had been able to come though, given what we found out...

I'm soooo confused though!

At the 30 week scan the hospital did, Jay was measuring a bit bigger than average overall. Then at the 35 week scan my clinic did, everything was showing right around on target, minus his femurs, give or take a week. Today he's measuring small - his gestational age is showing him to be measuring about 34weeks instead of 37 and his femur is still showing to be about 32-33 weeks! They estimated his weight as being 5lbs, 12oz - only a 7oz gain in the last 2 weeks (he was about 4lbs 13oz at 30 weeks).

They said it could be a number of things - he could just be on the shorter/smaller size as no one in my family is taller than 6ft, they said it could be that I have an infection that may be causing his growth to have slowed down that much, and then they said there is the possibility that it could be Downs Syndrome (we didn't do the additional testing for it as I'm not at high risk and it doesn't run in our families and it's not like there's anything you can really do about it anyway).

Honestly, I think it's this low-carb diet they have me on, as that's the *only* thing that's changed in the last 7 weeks, although the high risk doctor I met with for this ultrasound said it shouldn't have had *that* much of an effect on him... if it was Downs they can usually tell by the face though, right?

The doctor said I could have an amnio if I wanted, but hubby and I don't see what the point in that would be - if he has Downs, he has Downs... can't really do anything about it - even the doctor said the only point would be to confirm or deny it and help us "prepare."  She also said I could get some blood testing done to see if I have any infections that could be affecting him so I think I might do that, as if I do have any infections obviously we'd want to get that cleared up anyway...

As far as his kidneys...

At first they couldn't tell if it was fluid or a double kidney, but the doctor looked in closer and said it looks like fluid and said it's not uncommon for that happening with little boys. She said there's not really much we can do about it until he's born, which then they'll check and make sure it's functioning correctly or not and go from there. She said they prefer the liquid to be 10% or less and his was at about 11% so she was going to mention to my doctor when she talked to her about maybe having me deliver next week at 38weeks, meaning they would induce me and Jay would be 2 weeks early.

Aside from the kidney and his growth having slowed down they said the rest of his vitals look good...

Can I be done already? I'm tired of all the doctor appointments and the frustrations that keep coming up =/

35 week appointment & growth ultrasound

So today I had my 35 week appointment.

It started out just like all my other appointments, with us doing the 20 minute stress test. Jay wasn't as fussy about it this time, as I think he's gotten used to it happening, but he did squirm and kick/punch a little bit but he eventually seemed to give up and went back to sleep for a bit.

Then we had our growth ultrasound to see how much he weighs and how he's measuring.

I noticed when the ultrasound tech was measuring his head that it was measuring a little big as the gestational age the machine gave for it was 36+6. The tech also explained that the "white stuff" we were seeing was his hair, saying that he has quite a bit of hair already! Apparently he's taking after daddy, as daddy has a bit head and I guess when he was born he had so much hair they joked about him needing a haircut! lol...

We didn't get a lot of photos this time around, as he doesn't have that much space so he's kinda squished in there and getting a clear view of his face is a bit tricky - she did get part of the side though!

Right now they said he weighs 5lbs, 6oz and overall he is measuring on target for his gestational age and is measuring in the 32nd percentile.

However... the doctor did go over with me that his femur's measuring a bit small - the machine showed it being about 32weeks when we're in week 35... she said it could be nothing but maybe machine error and so we're going check again in 2 weeks just to make sure. She said it is possible that maybe he's just going to be on the shorter side, inheriting my "shorter" family genes instead of hubby's "tall" genes too. But we won't know for sure until he's born and they measure him outside the womb. She said don't worry about it for now - she thinks it's a bit strange too that we're just now noticing this after how many ultrasounds that we've had.

So that's pretty much it for today - said my glucose numbers are looking fantastic so she's not too concerned about that, just keep doing what I'm doing. And clearly the diet and stuff has worked in slowing his growth down as he's now on target and not measuring all big like he was 6-7 weeks ago.

One thing's for sure - even if he does have shorter legs, he sure knows how to pack a punch with them as it feels like he's constantly beating up my uterus! lol...

34 Week Appointment and other news

Today I had my 34 week appointment, which seemed to take FOREVER as by 9am the my clinic was really backed up for some reason! I was there for 2 hours today when normally it doesn't take more than hour!

I was a bit scatterbrained this morning too - I was being lazy and didn't bother washing my face this morning, opting to throw on some quick mineral foundation, but in my quest to leave and be on time I realized halfway there that I forgot to brush my teeth, trim my "womanly" facial hair and I left my urine sample sitting on the bathroom counter. Honestly, I'm surprised I left the house in actual clothes and not pajamas! lol...

Anyways, we had the stress test again this morning - took us a minute to find Jay's heartbeat as we couldn't find it in the spot we had been the previous times, and they didn't have the volume up quite so loud, but regardless, he started squirming and getting all antsy/fussy like he usually does.

That took about 20 minutes and it was back to the waiting room to wait for our weekly quick ultrasound check of the placenta, fluid and his placement - that was a good 15-20 minute wait. Fortunately they had the movie Despicable Me playing in the waiting room today which was a nice change of movie, as usually they rotate between Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat or one of the older musical classics like Sound of Music.

The ultrasound went quick - it seems Jay is still head down like he needs to be, but he's shifted a little bit which explains why we found his heartbeat for the stress test in a different spot. They said his fluid is measuring at 16.5, but that's still plenty and he seems to still have some space in there too. Next Monday we're doing another growth anatomy scan to see more accurately how he's doing size-wise and if we can expect him to be early or not at this point.

I met with the doctor briefly and was able to get my glyburide prescription refilled. She went over my glucose numbers with me too. A friend on Facebook who has diabetes suggested the other day that I try doing a few minutes of cardio after lunch to see if that helps my number any so I started doing 10 minutes on the exercise bike after lunch on Saturday and Sunday and sure enough, my numbers were under the cutoff. I mentioned it to my doctor and she said if I wanted to keep that up instead of increasing my dosage that that was fine with her, so we're going to try that and see if it continues to work, as the rest of my numbers look good.

I am quite surprised at just HOW MUCH of an affect 10 minutes of cardio after lunch can have on my glucose reading! For example, today I had a Jimmy John's sandwich for lunch and didn't exercise right away as I was a bit tired (more on that in a minute), I took my reading an hour later and it was 150 (remember, my cutoff is 140). I promptly dragged my butt over to the exercise bike and rode it for 10 minutes and took my reading again - 131! Talk about what a huge difference just a little exercise can make!

I've been super tired these past few days though - I practically feel like a narcoleptic I'm so tired during the day! I keep having to taking naps on and off... kinda annoying as I have other things I need to get done (like finish cleaning up our closet or work on my Mario Bros paintings). I also had my first bout of 3rd trimester insomnia as I couldn't for the life of me fall asleep last night - granted, I had Jay beating up on my uterus no matter what position I tried to sleep in, but still... I just could not fall asleep!

I worked at The Children's Place the other night, after hours. They had most of us there working on scanning and counting all the inventory. It wasn't too bad - a bit tedious, but a simple enough job to do. I spent a little time with a scanner but spent most of the night double counting clothes and rotating them.

We need to get finished on the closet in our bedroom in the next few days - I got my side of the closet cleaned out and hubby said he'd work on his tomorrow. I have a few trip-loads of stuff to take to the storage room down the hall though and I know hubby's going to have some stuff to take there of his too. Now the problem is figuring out how to get the changing table here and the couch in our bedroom to my parent's house, as my aunt has the changing table, but they're leaving for vacation on Friday and my uncle is out of town Monday through Wednesday and my dad is out of town til Friday and we need 1 other guy to help us move it. A thought occured to me though that at least 1 of my brother-in-laws is in town on Wednesday so hubby's going to see if maybe he can help... oh but I just realized, we have our Newborn Care Class on Wednesday night so that might not work as I'm sure it's going to take at least an hour to get there, carry it out of storage, drive it back and drop off the couch. Hm...

Also, I have an update on my father-in-law! They sent him today. His heart and lungs are stable, although they're still not entirely sure what the deal is with his kidneys as they're not doing a whole lot better. They are planning on having him do dialysis 3 times a week though to help with them. This is at least a lot better news that the scare we had the other day - there was some talk that he might have myeloma which is a type of cancer and they thought maybe that was causing his kidneys to not function! They tested him for it though and the results were negative, so that's good at least! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers though - they've been much appreciated!

This week's follow-up and glucose frustrations

Yesterday I had my 33 week follow-up appointment, which consisted of the 20 minute Stress Test (which Jay still hates and after a few minutes into it he seems to wake up and starts beating up my uterus) and then a brief meeting with the doctor to go over stuff.

She said everything with Jay looks good and measured his fundal height as being 34cm, which is right on target as I'm starting my 34th week on Sunday.

We went over my glucose readings... I've had some abnormally high readings this week for lunch and I honestly can't figure out why which frustrates me as I'm eating the same meals I've been eating since they put me on the diet and the readings after were fine then but now they aren't. I'm just frustrated as it seems like we get one set of numbers under control (first dinner, then fasting) but then another set goes all out of whack! She told me to get my numbers for Thursday and today and if either were still high to call the nurse after my reading today and see about upping my prescription.

Well... yesterday's number was fine but today's was 16 points over so I called and waited for the nurse to call me back only for her to tell me that both doctors were out for the rest of the day and that she couldn't prescribe me anything without their go-ahead so I'd have to wait til Monday.

Since I'm almost out of the pill (glyburide) I went ahead and refilled the 2nd 2.5mg one that they had written me prior as well as refilled the prescriptions for my meter supplies. Went to pick em up at Walgreens though and they said they couldn't fill the glyburide one yet as they were waiting on my insurance. They asked if my dosage had been upped, which I confirmed, and they said that's why, as the 2.5mg was for 30 days and it hasn't been close enough to the 30 days for them to approve the refill so I need to let my doctor know that... so I'm not going to be to take it on Sunday as I only have enough for tonight and tomorrow - guess I better be prepared to explain why my fasting number might be high on Monday at my appointment. *sigh*

Someone on Facebook who has diabetes mentioned that after meals they do a little bit of exercise which seems to help get their levels down, as it burns some of the sugars. I think I'll start doing that this weekend - hop on the exercise bike for like 10-20 min after lunch and then take my reading when the hour is up and see if that helps it any.

I'm just sooooo frustrated with the stupid glucose stuff! I'm not quite ready for Jay to be here yet, but at the same time I can't wait to be done with the glucose monitoring and all that as it just frustrates me too much, especially right now with my hormones all crazy. It's frustrating how 1 bad/high reading can dampen my entire mood =(

Less than 6 weeks to go... less than 6 weeks to go....

I was able to get my meter test strips for cheaper though this time, as I had enrolled in the Freestyle program and got my membership card. Walgreens said I can use it every time I just have to have it with me and let them know when I pick it up as they have to manually enter the info in each time, so I guess that's good as it saves us nearly $50 on my meter supplies.

I did a little bit of shopping tonight which helped better my mood a little bit.

I had to pick up a few things at Walmart we were running low on or out of and I had to get a storage bin for our walk-in closet as we're going through that this weekend to make room for the changing table/dresser unit that's being brought over later this week. I also bought a knock-off of the "Shoe-Under" product you see on TV as Gordman's had a 12 pair version on sale for $3.99 before Christmas and I checked and it was still on sale. Most my shoes that are currently in our closet I can't wear right now anyway because they're high heels or they're shoes for special occasions that I don't wear all that often anyway and since we need the space, putting them in an organizer under the bed would probably be best for now - as it is, right now I'm only wearing my snow boots, my new Skecher Shape-Ups, my lower block heels, and my slippers.

I also stopped by The Children's Place to check the schedule for this upcoming week - to my surprise I'm *actually* scheduled for hours this week rather than just all call-in's! That excites me. I also bought a few things that were on the winter clearance Monster Sale (take an additional 50% off the current sale price) and with my 25% employee discount I got 4 items for $11 - can't complain about that! I got him 2 fleece hoodie zip-ups and 2 long-sleeve collared onesies.

I think I overdid it, carrying stuff in tonight though, as I didn't want to make multiple trips so I threw everything in the new storage bin and then carried that from my car, up the front steps and into the building (then I dragged it down the stairs and through the hallway). I've been having minor Braxton Hicks contractions off and on since - oops! The annoying thing is though, half the time I think it's a contraction and the other half I can't tell if it's just Jay stretching/pushing hard like he sometimes does as I always feel the contractions on the same side that he's curled up on ><

Nothing too new with my father-in-law as far as we know. Sunday he was breathing on his own without the oxygen tube and then on Tuesday night they moved him out of the ICU and to similar room on a less critical floor. Hubby went up to visit him after work on Wednesday and said his kidney's were doing slightly better, but still not up to par, as previously they were only functioning at 15%. He had a chemical stress test done on his heart on Wednesday as well (where they give you a medicine that has your heart simulate like you're running on a treadmill) but we haven't heard the results of that yet.

Anyways, that's how things are here...

33 Week Appointment

Today (Monday) I had my 33 week appointment at the doctor's office.

It's becoming quite routine - check-in at the front desk, wait for them to come get me, weigh me, go spend 20 min doing the stress test, head over to ultrasound for a quick check on the placenta and fluid, go back out to the waiting room, get called back again and meet real quick with the doctor where they measure my belly and go over my glucose readings.

Jay DOES NOT seem to like the stress test at all. He was fine for the first few minutes but then started squriming and kicking/punching up a storm several times throughout. He seems to be fussy in the sense he doesn't like anything putting pressure on my belly (aka "his space") and he doesn't seem to like constant beeping noises from machines. 2 non-doctor appointment examples of this: the other morning, hubby rolled over and put his arm across my belly to snuggle, putting a little pressure on it - Jay started kicking/punching at it, like he was telling him to move his arm off "his space" lol... also, when we went to the ER when my father-in-law was first taken to the hospital one of the machines started beeping consistantly like the stress test machines consistantly amplify Jay's heartbeat - he must have heard it as he started squirming and kicking/punching like he was trying to find the plastic monitors they put on me during the stress test to make it stop, lol...

He was pretty active during the ultrasound today - she was trying to check the pocket or whatever where he's mostly hanging out in but was having trouble getting a good measurement as he kept moving, lol...

His heartbeat was up today - 154bpm (it was 133bpm on Thursday, but he after the stress test he went back to sleep so that's probably why).

The doctor said everything with him looks great right now - his fundal height is measuring 33cm still (same as on Thursday) which makes it seem he's slowing down a little bit, growth-wise, as he was measuring 32cm at 28 weeks and there's only been a 1cm change in the last 5 weeks. 33cm is right where it should be at 33 weeks, so that's good. They said the placenta still goods and healthy and he's got plenty of fluid still. They said my weight was good too. So it seems like as far as he goes, the diet they have me on is working.

My glucose levels had a few "high" ones over the weekend - 2 of my lunches were just slightly over, however I asked the doctor if it was possible that they were high because I ate breakfast and lunch within a few hours of each other and she said it's very likely. Not sure why my fasting number this morning was quite high though... we're going to wait and see how the next few days go and decide on Thursday if they need to up my dosage or not.

So, that's that for now.

32 Week Dr.'s Appointment

This morning we had the first of our 32 week doctor visits, as they're now seeing me every Monday as well as having me come in for a follow-up at the end of the week due to the gestational diabetes so they can check how I'm doing with it.

Last Thursday (which I forgot to post about due to the holiday) they put me on medication - 2.5mg of glyburide (1 pill) to be taken with dinner - as while my dinner levels were looking good and under the cutoff since making the changes the dietitian/nutritionist recommended last Monday, my fasting numbers were still a little high.

Well... the pill seemed to get my fasting levels down the 1st day (Friday) but Saturday through Monday it was back to what it's been at (high 90s or 100 when the cutoff is 90). Today the doctor bumped me up to 5mg of the glyburide (2 pills) to see if that does it.

Christmas also messed me up a little, as they say it's difficult to count carbs when you yourself home-make food, let alone when someone else does it and we had 2 big Christmas dinners within 24 hours. I ate smaller portions but I knew that most likely it was going to be off and it was... although not too bad. The doctor basically told me to get back on track and keep monitoring my meals like I was now that Christmas is over.

Today they also started me with the weekly "stress test." What that is, is where they hook you up with the contraction belt like the one the hospital had me wear when we went after the car accident in October, and they have a separate one they put on you that monitors baby's heartbeat. You sit back in a comfy chair for about 20 minutes while they monitor baby's heartbeat and any contractions you might be having and it all shows up on the printout. Also, you get this button clicker too that you press everytime you feel baby move.

Yeah... Jay didn't seem to like this too much! He was quiet prior, however they had the volume turned up so they could hear for the heartbeat just outside the room at the nurse's station in case anything did happen (the hospital one was quiet) and I think that peaked his interest! After a few minutes he started moving around a little bit... and then he found where the hard round plastic contraction monitor was in the center of my belly and started kicking and punching it - he got in a few good ones! Hubby came with today and started laughing at how the lines on the printout machine were spazing when Jay was beating on the plastic monitor! He gave up after a few minutes but then soon found the similar monitor that was monitoring his heartbeat and he started beating on that one! lol... eventually he stopped and gave up, realizing that like the other one it wasn't going anywhere, but it was pretty funny!

He seems to have issues with things that press on my belly or when I'm curled up in a position that "cramps" his space and he's not shy about letting me know he doesn't like nor is he afraid to get aggressive and start beating until he gets his space back! lol...

We had a brief ultrasound today - she mainly checked the placenta and his growth to see how much room and amniotic fluid he has as well as if the placenta was looking healthy still and not old and icky. The doctor said 10-20 (forgot the units she used) is where we want to be and we were at 14.5 so she said that's good and he still has room without us having to worry. His heartbeat was 149bpm which is what it's been at the last few check-ups, so no change there and that's good. She also said he's head down, which is the position we want him to be, so that's good too!

Guess we'll see how my follow-up goes on Thursday!

31 week appointment and glucose diet follow-up

So I had my 1 week follow-up appointment with the dietitian/nutritionist this morning followed by my regularly weekly check-up at my OB/GYN clinic this afternoon.

My meeting with the dietitian/nutritionist went okay... she looked over my numbers and commented that yes, some of my post-dinner levels have been a bit high lately and said my fasting numbers were a bit on the high side too. She thinks part of it might be that I'm waiting too long between lunch and dinner and dinner and breakfast and not snacking enough. She counted up my carbs too and said without the snacks I'm not getting enough as I should be closer to 175 per day. So I guess I need to make sure I'm having a bedtime snack and a maybe one between lunch and dinner for when we're eating dinner late - she thinks that might help. She said it's up to my clinic whether or not they want to put me on medication to help with my post-dinner levels. Other than that, she said I'm doing good with keeping track of my carbs. I haven't made a follow-up appointment with her yet as she said it's up to my clinic and what they want me to do for now but she recommended I keep counting and monitoring levels for at least another week and see how it goes with the changes.

At my regular appointment, the scale shows I lost weight. Last time I weighed in at 194, although I did have my snow boots on too as it was kinda icky out and I didn't want to take several minutes in the hallway putting them back on. This time I weighed in at 188.8 without my shoes on. They said it is possible that the shoes and the low-carb diabetes diet did it. They said if I keep it up a bit post-delivery in addition to breastfeeding I'll be able to shed off my pregnancy weight easily!

I met with one of the doctors I've only met with once prior today. I wasn't aware I needed to bring my glucose reading records with me but fortunately I had my meter on me. She flipped through it and I filled her in on what the dietitian/nutritionist said this morning - she said she was going to send my stuff over to the clinic today but apparently this doc hadn't seen it yet...? She said they were going to have me come in again on Thursday to see how the diet was doing after making the changes we had discussed today to see if that made any difference or not before they decide to put me on a prescription and told me to bring my sheets I've been recording my levels on in with me.

She said Jay's heartbeat sounded good - just under 150 - and measuring fundal height with the tape measure she said he was about 31cm... not sure how accurate that is though as he was measuring 32cm 3 weeks ago...?

I guess we'll see how things go!

Glucose Diet: Week 1

So I'm *almost* done with my first week on this low-carb diet they put me on for my glucose monitoring and I must say - I hate it.

Here's what they have me doing:

I wake up around 10/11am and take prick my finger with the glucose thingy and have the monitor give me my fasting number. I write that down, and then I make myself something to eat for breakfast.

For breakfast I can have up to 30g of carbs, although I've been cheating slightly most mornings as the dietitian/nutritionist told me my 2 slice of wheat bread with peanut butter was fine and that puts me up to 35g. I eat and then wait an hour and prick my finger again to get my 1hr post-breakfast glucose level number and I write that down.

Then I wait around for lunch which is sometime in the afternoon - she wrote it down for 2pm but I've gone as late as 4pm. I can also have a mid-morning snack between breakfast and lunch that is supposed to be around 15g of carbs. Usually it's a granola bar.

For lunch I can eat 45-60g of carbs. Lunch isn't too much of a problem - I usually have a sandwich of some sort with some veggies and a fruit cup or if I'm out I drive thru McDonald's and get 2 grilled chicken ranch snackwraps. Then again, after lunch I wait an hour, prick my finger and get my glucose level number.

I can also have a 15-30g of carbs snack between lunch and dinner as we figured I eat dinner later (around 8/9pm). At the grocery store I found I found these yummy fruit yogurt parfaits with granola you mix in that are about 23g so I've been using that as my snack now.

For dinner, like lunch, I can have 45-60g of carbs. Here's the problem though, I'm trying to eat more protein with dinner but protein has like no carbs in it so I feel like I'm barely meeting the 45g minimum sometimes so I feel like I have to scrounge up something else to eat. Also, I'm not used to eating breakfast every morning so by the time I get to dinner I'm not usually *that* hungry either. Another problem I'm noticing is that for the last 3 times now, I prick my finger to get my glucose levels an hour after dinner and they've been *just over* my cut off of 140, which really kind of annoys me.

I can also have a post-dinner, late night snack too of 15-30g although I only do maybe 50% of the time as lately I've just been so tired after dinner that I tend to just crash and pass out and go to bed early.

That's the thing I hate - I feel like crap on this diet. I feel okay for a bit after I eat but then I start to feel all tired and weak once the effect wears off as I'm eating less carbs which means less energy for me. It really kind of sucks. Tuesday, when I wasn't eating, pricking my finger or using the bathroom I spent most of the day asleep in bed I had no energy... and the rest of the week I've felt pretty sluggish, tired and weak too. My friend that does low-carb dieting often says it's probably just my body isn't use to it yet and it's in transition to it which is why I'm so tired from it.

Still, I hate it.

If Jay wants to come out in late January, I am a-okay with that! The sooner he's out the sooner I can get off this diet. Sure, it's got me eating a little better and there's stuff I'm eating now that I'll probably continue to eat after, but I feel like I need more carbs than what I have to function properly. That and the stupid test strips, even after insurance, are kinda expensive, so the sooner he comes out the sooner I can stop monitoring and using the strips which saves us money.