Any day now!

I just looked at this blog and realized that we haven’t updated since July. Oops! In our defense, when this family does big things, we do a lot of big things, all at once! Bullet point lists seem to be the best option in times like this…but beware, following the bullet point list...a long baby blog!

• ·         Schlaich Family Camping at Lake Chelan at the end of August
• ·         Started school in the beginning of September (this includes Sam starting his new job at Reardan, which he loves!)
• ·         Closed on our new house (we love it…it is almost put together except for hanging stuff on walls and the garage…)

·         And of course Baby is well on his or her way!!!

Baby brings me to the meat and potatoes of this post. I know that with Baby coming, this blog may be put on the backburner yet again, so I wanted to take some time to go through the pregnancy a little bit.

My pregnancy has been easy in terms of not having any morning sickness, no major issues except for the one brief scare in the beginning (due to my being overconfident and moving risers by myself), and then my diagnosis of gestational diabetes at the beginning/middle of summer. I always thought my blood pressure would be an issue as my blood sugar was always great before pregnancy, but that turned out to not be the case.

I was tested for gestational diabetes around 24 weeks, much like every other pregnant woman. My mom had always warned me to make sure I fasted and to do the test in the morning. When my doctor told me I needed to take the test without any warning, I had already had a big glass of milk and a nice filling bowl of Chex Rice Cereal (FYI – rice has some of the highest sugar content of any carb…). I mentioned this to the doctor and she told me that it was fine…this was a non-fasting test. Guess what? My sugars came back abnormally high. I still have not figured out why we didn’t redo the test, or at least do a longer length test. In my gut, I still feel that I would have tested fine had I fasted before the melted otter pop drink like most people. But, alas, my opinion didn’t matter and it was off to the races for us with SO MANY extra doctor’s appointments and specialists and…and…and…

The past 15 weeks I have seen a diabetic educator, nutritionist/dietician, endocrinologist, perinatologist, and had more tests than I can count on my fingers and toes combined. I have learned a lot. Some of the most important things I have learned are about food. I am a carb eater. Big time. You don’t really know what all has carbs in it until you have to pay attention for medical purposes. Milk? Really? 15 grams of carbs??? Oh yea. Not. Fun. But…on the food thing…I have also established a habit of portion control, something Sam and I struggle with because we love food so much. I have also learned very recently to trust my instincts about my own health. I was put on insulin at night because my morning numbers were reading “high.” High for a pregnant person apparently…but not high for a normal person. The insulin made me feel sick to my stomach in the middle of the night regularly, and even after adjusting it 12 different times, each to a higher amount, still didn’t change my morning sugars. I took myself off of the insulin a week ago, feel much better throughout the night, and my morning numbers are lower than they were on the insulin. And Baby is not getting any “extras,” which I feel much better about. I am so glad to know that I followed doctors orders and Baby did not get too big too fast and we did not have to deliver early. My mind set about taking care of myself shifted from doing it for me, to doing for this other living thing relying on me. It wasn’t about me, but it is shifting back as I am becoming more motivated to lose “baby weight” after the pregnancy is done…more on this later.

Every week for the past 7 weeks I have had to see the perinatologist (a high risk pregnancy doctor) due to the gestational diabetes and the risk of Baby getting too big. I get an ultrasound and two non-stress tests every week. This was really cool at first. I got to hear the heart beat all of the time, and we (quite literally) have a photo album FULL of ultra sound pictures. So need to get to see our baby so often. I can officially say the novelty has worn off and the sheer number of appointments is overwhelming and time consuming. I am ready to be done. I know most pregnant women say that at the end of their pregnancy…but really…reporting blood sugar numbers once a week, seeing MY doctor once or twice a week, and seeing the perinatologist twice a week is adding up to a lot of copays and time in the car and offices. I am happy to report that Baby is DEFINITELY not too big and is coming in between the 35^th and 50^th percentile in size and appears to be very healthy. And super cute J.

Now onto the baby weight…I am VERY proud of the minimal amount of weight I have gained throughout this pregnancy. Because I did not start at a healthy weight, I was told that I could only gain 9 pounds. In my head I was thinking “But I weighed 9 pounds when I was born…that is impossible!!!” Well folks…never say never. I am happy to report that I have gained…nothing. Not a single pound. At my last weigh in at the doctor’s office, I had gained 4 pounds in a week, but my hands and feet were also balloons. I reweighed this morning as the swelling is down a bit, and I am even a pound less than where I started. And the last pair of maternity pants I bought? Those are a size down from the first pair. So in my head I am thinking that means I have actually lost about 25 pounds (the amount healthy sized people gain during a pregnancy) and within a few weeks of giving birth I can expect to weigh a bit less than when I started. I don’t know for sure that it will go that way, but I am very happy and proud of what I was able to accomplish with mostly healthy eating during the pregnancy. I am SO motivated to get healthy knowing that I can! Whenever I try a diet or exercise program I usually don’t see result right away. This is frustrating and I always end up quitting when I don’t see something working. Having to do this for 9 whole months has shown me that it takes time, effort, and that I CAN do it.

Baby is due in just over a week…I have had contractions off and on, some regular, some intermittent…Sam and I cannot wait to meet our son or daughter and welcome him or her into the world with our family and friends at our side. Thank you to everyone who has supported us these past nine months. We’ve certainly needed it! Next post…Baby!!!

~Cheers! Heather